The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1874.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1729, 18 July 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1874.

• i> -Ax Armidale paper says a miner there has bought another minor's wife for £30 cash, the teller to keep the children already borne. Wh understand that Mr John Borthwick ' has donated the lum of £5 to the funds of "the Short'and Convent School and £5 to the Miners' Accident Belief Fund. ' '. _ A report of the meeting of .the Ruby Goldmining Company and several paragraphs of ' mining notes were inadvertently left out in making up the Star last night. The matter appears to day. ■■ - Libektb, 14th May, says:—"The probability of a marriage between the Grand Duke Alexis, son of. the Czar, and.the Princess j Beatrice, is seriously spoken of in the political world. The Grand Duke Alexis was born in * ' 1850, the young princess in 1857." . ■ In a Provincial Government Gazette published on Thursday are published the Thameß Mining. Inspector's reports on the existence arid development of fire damp in the Crown Prince mine, with a view to the necessary precautions being taken for the safety of person* employed in mineron the goldfield. |

Two tenders from John Taylor, of Aucklnnd, have been accepted by the Provincial Government for luilding immigrants' cottages; 25 at £116, and 25 at £128 17s 6d. The tender of Frederick Hewin has been accepted for the supply of rations for the sick and destitute of the Thames.

A beoent telegram to the Melbourne Herald from Castlemaine says:—" Yesterday afternoon a schoolboy named Cattions, -while playing at horses with some companions, had liis neck broken by the boy who was driving him giving the string which served as reini a | sudden jerk. Tho unfortunate lad fell down dead instantly." CohtbACTOBS for the supply of telegraph : poles are informed by Gazette notification I that licenses to cut timber for this purpose en Waste Lands of Hie Crown may be obtained on application to the Commissioner of Crown Lauds, at the rate of payment of twenty-five shillings for each tree ; number of trees required and locality to bestatedby applicant. At the usual meeting of the Board of Education held on Thursday, in respect of an application by tho late pupil teacher at Tararu for a month's salary, the following decision was arrived at:—Teachers, like others, are entitled to a month's notice or a month'\S pay in lieu thereof. An application for additional salary to tho pupil teacher was refused. The tenders for supplies to the gaol, lunatic asylum,' old men's refuge and other institutions under the centrbl of the Provincial Government are published in Thursday's Gazette, and they afford an instructive lesson. Either the tenderers must have means of mating up for their (in some instances) abBurdly low prices, or else ordinary tradespeople are charging for necessaries prices which give more than a fair margin of profit. We regret we cannot publish the accepted tenders in extenso. A vai edictoby soiree was given t© the Eev. B. C. Butland last night by the members of hia congregation on the occasion ofr the rer. gentleman's departuro for the Thames. An illuminated testimonial and a purse of sovereigns were presented to Mr. Butland, and addresses were delivered by the Ee>.. Messrs Hill, Crump and Sharp, Captain Baldy, His Worship" Mayor Davies, and others, all expressive of the high esteem in which Mr. Butlatid was held, and general regret at his having to withdraw from his charge. ; M JoBHTTA Jacksow, Thames corresponde of the New Zealand Herald, has been tev ed with a letter at the instance of Mr Th mas Hicks, manager of the City of London Go mining Company, demanding an apology for certain statements made regarding a er v from that mine, juch statements being considered a reflection on the honesty and integrity of Mr Hicks. We have no doubt that a powerful journal like the New Zealand Herald will see its correspondent through any little difficulty into which he may have stumbled. We have to thank the local agent, Mr J. H. Jefferson, for the July number of the Sk'etcher, and Australasian of the 4th July. The former contains some graphic illustrations of King's Island, after the wreck ©f the British Admiral, a scene outside the Parl-a---ment Houses—"Waiting for a Division," a po; trait of Miss Carey, favorite Australian act ess; a supplement picture representing the Victorian navy in the new iron-clad turret ■hip of war, Cerberus, the old line of battle ship Nelson, and the sloop of war Victoria. Some ot^er illustrations of interest help to make up a number of great merit. Me. John letdon and one or two other Thamesites returned by the Hero from Queensland—the Palmar. Mr Leydon gives a very discouraging account of the diggings, fully confirmatory of that published in the letter from Mr. Wood a few days back. Not only are the diggings a comparative duffer, but disease appears to spare none. That fell complaint, fever and agu«, accompanied by dysentery, ha? made sad havoc amongst the miners, and many men who on the Thames were models of robustness—the embodiment of rude health—have been reduced to death's door, and have fled the country as plague stricken. Mr Leydon remained until he was so weak he had to be assisted on board the steamer.

Thb Poverty Bay Herald relates the following:—A cask of beef came to light on Thursday last under rather unusual circumstances. A prisoner was engaged in cleaning up the yard of the lock-up, when he came across a hard substance buried some few inches below the surface, which proved to be a cask of salt beef. On being exposed to the light of day, the cask was found to be in an advanced stage of decay, but the meat was in a far better state of preservation considering that it has remained hidden upwards of five years, ever since the eventful Poverty Bay massacre, when it was " planted " in case of a siege taking place. Although far from being decomposed, the beef was not exactly eatable, and it was again buried by the police. Two strange instances of the occasional mischief of the jury system are given by a writer in the Otago Daily Times. They are taken from an English letter:—-1. Some time ago, in London, a man was tried for robbery with brutal violence. Tho evidence was perfectly clear, and no defence was attempted. To the surprise of everyone the jury deliberated for 24 hours, and finally acquitted the prisoner. The reason afterwards .leaked out. Oae of the jurymen was the father of the prisoner," who was indicted under an alias, nobody suspecting tbe fact. 2. The other day five men (inJrelarid) were indicM for riot, having been out on bail. When they were called, all answered to their names. When tbe trial was." well; advanced if was; noticed that only four prisoners were present, and'immediately a hullabaloo was raised and a hunt made. After search ing high and low,, the truant prisoner was found—and where ? Sitting quietly in the jury box, having been duly sworn to try the rest! : .

Thb following touching instance of heroism Bays t-e P. B. Herald, is well worthy of record :—A runholder in this district, desired one of his men to clean a revolver, but, considering it probable that ho was not thoroughly acquainted with the management of fire-arms, he was proceeding to take the weapon toj pieces. The man informed him, however, thai he need not take the trouble, as he was ■well versed in such work, and on enquiry as to where he had acquired this knowledge he recounted the following thrilling incident : "I was on a station in Abytinnia, sir, at the time of the ditturbancel with the natives, and having to trave} tfo or three times every week,

from one outpost to another, a distance of some twelve or fifteen miles, my position wa9 rather a perilous one. I carried four revolvers, however, and was determined to sell niy^ife dearly if anything should happen. One day, about half way between the two out stations, I came acrosß a native— -he was evidently on the war trail, and from the manner in which he handled his long and cruel-lookiog lance, I felt a presentiment that it would..b* a battle to t the death. I draw.two of my largest revolvers, rode up to him—" '• Well," said his listener, who felt slightly interested as to tha-result of the encounter, " did you shoot him ? " "Ko, fir, I gare him a dollar, and he presented me with.his spear."