THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1875.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2075, 28 August 1875, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1875.

W* remember when young—ere the principles of whist as a science had yet been impressed upon our youthful mind— we used, in spite of the winks and frowns of a not too conscientious partner, to •tnltify and mislead both friend and antagonist by a reckless playing of every card but the right ont, and draw upon ourselves black looks during the progress

of the hand, and plaintive remonstrance on its conclusion. On these occasions a rule was laid down for our guidance—not new, perhaps not true —whose bearing was " when in doubt play trumps," and as like most young players tyre frequently were in doubt, we not unfrequeatly^eted on this rule without rhyme or reason);, making the state of the game as-far as . our <side was concerned worse '•''than hitherto. Our partner used to complain, as may readily be supposed, and the lost the game—which was the general result —was that we were in doubt and acted accordingly. IJow this principle^ of betaking oneself when in doubt to some preconceived plan of action is not. limited by any "means to inexperienced whist playfe'rsf" a^Jwa'tdn our editoral: capacity know"to our cost. It is comical; to read of the waiter:"described by F..; Burnand, who, ignorant of the different sauces, &c, which should-be handed with the various dishes, regulated".his"'line of conduct by the'rule, "When in doubt, hand the lobster sauce.'' It,is equally comical to hear a march, played in such a manner as to leave you to imagine that the, instructions conveyed to, one of the performers were," when in doubt, beat the! big djum." But it is past a joke, when the same principle seem 3 fixed in the minds, of those who are Press Agents at the Bluff; who on the arrival of each succeeding mail seize on.the opportunity to telegraph to us at tbe cost of two words for a penny matter partly utterly unimportant, and partly utterly uninteresting, from having appeared in these columns some days—often weeks before. Just look at the column and a-half of news (?) in to-day's issue. About one half is worthless from old age—in fact a short article, appeared in these columns more than a week ago concerning part of it—and nearly half the remainder entirely worthless; and it is not too much to say that the items of real interest might .have been sent in twenty or thirty , lines. Take one or two items "as speci-mens-r" The present Lord Mayor nobly i maintains the hospitalities at the Mansion House !'' Who on earth at the Thames, unless he happens to be some friend or relation, cares anything about an officer of the city, ,qf London elected annually ? Why probably not one half the people know cv.ci* ,Jiis name. -He is evidently however consideredby the Press Agents at the Bluff one in whom colonists ought to take much interest, for only a little further down the column we have this— "At Dublin the Lord Mayor of London was splendidly entertained." It is of course right and proper that this reciprocity in matters convivial should exist between these magnates of corporations remarkable only for wealth and inactivity, and the Lord Mayor of London having feasted his brother of Dublin on whitebait and beef, has of course a right to expect the joys of Irish salmon and five year old mutton in return. But the mr habitants of the Thames for whose perusal these telegrams are sent and paid for, care not probably two straws about . the matter, and we protest in the name of cemmon sense to such details as these being sent to us under the guise of items of news sufficiently important to warrant their being sent by telegraph. Besides, if this sort of thing goes on where is it to stop? Perhaps on the arrival of the next mail at the Bluff we shall be informed by telegraph of how many glasses of wine the Lord Mayor drank, or whether the salmon at dinner disagreed with him to such an extent that he required sodawater next morning ! Lower down still we read that "the Lyceum Theatre is closed." Truly an interesting fact to those living thousands of iriiles away, and only warranted on the supposition that the Thames people are able to take thb nearest telegraph and arrive in London in time to witness Mr Irving play Hamlet and return to business next morning, and the senders jWere laudably anxious to prevent their fruitless journey and unnecessary disappointment. Of such nature are to-day's telegrams, and can any one say there is anything in them which would not hare justified them being crowded out if we had 'a press of local news, as is sometimes the case. We do not object to the expense of telegrams when there is anything in them of interest or importance to the readers of this paper. On the contrary. We encourage their being senti though we naturally protest against being denied the privileges accorded to morning papers, and having" to pay more than four timo3 their rate ; but even this we do not grumble afe if there is anything in them worth having; but we do object to our columns being rendered ludicrous, by publishing in them news of the nature quoted above and other matter perfectly stale. News we well know is hard to obtain, and we cannot expect it to be manufactured; but as we have said, it is preposterous that Press Agents when in doubt should telegraph the first rubbish , that comes to hand; and it is against this* /we have taken up our parable. . Anyone \ reading.part of what appears to-day would be justified in the opinion that the Press Agents at the Bluff kept a lot of itefts of news made up from the last mail a month old,.and immediately on tbe arrival of a fresh steamer telegraphed it off in hot haste, seasoned with a few additional items of no interest to give it the appearance of novelty. \

The Abolition Bill has passsd through its second reading after being made the sub* jecfc'of a debate which from its length had ceased to be interesting. Every member of the House with the exception of the absent Sir Julius Vogel has recorded himself as being in favor either of Centralism .or Provincialism by giving his vote on cue side or the other, or pairing

with some known supporter of opposite convictions.. It is rare indeed wo should think in the .history of any house of legislature that every single member to whom there was a possibility;bf recording his vote '.ejsher directly or indirectly lifts done so. Yttihis is the case^fn the division on the s*eondreadmgoTtl»e.Abolitionßill..Neither are,we surprised.jfs- ithwhen we consider %€ magnilutle':6fvfche interests involved, and the positive duty each member owes to his constituents of declaring openly which side he is on. By a majority of 55 "(lEcluding "".flieT members wKo- paired) against a minority of v2O the House has passed the Bill on its second readIn*,* the meshing which "is that the House by these respective numbers endorses the measure of Abolition as a principle, and declares itself in favor of Centralism. The bill may, and of course will now be picked to pieces, and probably many and perhaps great alterations made in it, but as a measure Abolition in some shape or form "is approved by the House in reference to the provinces; and their doom,long since determined on, has now been decreed.