THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi.` MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2794, 28 January 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi.` MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1878.

The 37th Anniversary of the Colony will be celebrated to-morrow, but the celebration will probably not be general, j for the custom has obtained of making holiday on provincial anniversaries rather*! than on the day which f?aw the proclamation of New Zealand as a British Colony. There is some reason in this, because ▼cry few who were present at the birth of the Colony now remain—most of them have joined the majority; and in, the years past, from the oldest to the youngest of the provinces, the provincial anniversaries have been regarded, while the 29th January has been disregarded, except in Auckland. In the latter place, however, it has been observed as a general holiday, the principal event of the day being the annual regatta, to which Aucklanders look forward with pleasure. Here at the Thames the 29th has been marked as the day on which the Sunday School children have their annual feast. This they will enjoy to-morrow as usual, should the weather permit, and we may quite expect that as in previous years there will be very little business done here, but that all who can will take advantage of the facilities offered, in excursions, &c, for holiday making.

A meeting of the Harbor Board was held at three o'clock to-day for the election of a chairman and for other business. Mr William Davies was re-, elected chairman, and the remainder of the business was then proceeded with, our report being necessarily excluded as the meeting had not terminated when we went to press. Mr Davies leaves for Auckland to-night to endeavour to get a grant of £50C3 from Sir George Grey for immediate works.

Mb John Goodam, C.E., left yesterday, for the South, to assume his duties as engineer to the Timaru Harbour Board, at a salary of £800 per annum. It would appear that the people of Milford —a small village north of Timaru—also want a harbour of their own, and are declaring against the Timaru scheme in consequence. Years ago fhe late Mr Balfour, marine engineer, set the question at rest between the two places, and as the Timaru Harbour Board have about £120,000 in hand, the harbour there is likely to be constructed.—Herald.

Mb J. M. Eoeson of Paeroa rode down from Ohinemuri yesterday morning in three hours. He believes that when the works now in progress or about to be undertaken are completed it will be quite practicable, if not easy, to do the distance in two hours and a half.

Ws hear that Mr Vangban of the Queen's Hotel h»s giren an order to lay down the footpath in front of his hotel with asphalt. This will be a booD, for the footpath at that corner has long been in a dilapidated state. The Pacific frontages are also, we believe, about to be done in asphalt.

The Union Steam Shipping Company's steamer Taranaki arrived in the Manukau this morning from Southern ports, and the s.s Taupo in Auckland by way of the East Coast. The Government steamer Hinemoa, with the Premier, Native Minister, and others, arrived in the Manukau early to-day. The Pearl, formerly trading to Ohinemuri, arrived at Russell from the Thames this morning, she having been transferred to the Bay of Islands, where she will no doubt find profitable employment. At the £.M. Court this morning one person, a native named Richard, was charged with drunkenness. He was on bail, and, failing to appear, his bail was forfeited. A besoltjtiok has been introduced in the House of Representatives, Washington, proposing a vote of thanks to Mr H. M. Stanley, the African explorer. At Nottingham, England, Mr John Robinson, a betting man, recently elected a member of the Town Council, offered to the ministers of religion the sum of £500 for the relief of the poor, and the offer was indignantly declined by all denominations. In the Colonies we are not so particular.

At the meeting of the Board of Education held on Friday, the members, after some discussion, came to the conclusion that the appointment of the Board of Governors of the Auckland College and Grammar School should be left to tho new Board. Tho following resolution was therefore passed :—" That in the opinion of this Board, the election of governors of the Grammar School should devolve on the Education Board to be constituted under the new Educatioa Act, 1877. That this opinion be reported to the Government, with a request that his Excellency may bo advised to appoint some day subsequent to the establishment of the new Board for the election of Governors, this Board undertaking in the meanwhile the supervision of the Grammar School, subject to the approval of the Government.'

A " Sobscbibeb " at the Thames writes to the Auckland Star inquiring what relation some of the shareholders in the Queen of Beauty tribute—the shares of which are quoted $.b tho Thames at one hundred each—bear to the old Company. He says ; " If the reports current at the Thames are true, there 13 evidently a screw loose somewhere, which I should like to see cleared

up. Can the shareholders call an extraordinary meeting to see if there is any truth in tho reports, and, if so, send anyone who lias been tho means of squandering property belonging to shareholders about their business P "

The first exhibition of Clifford's Mirror of tho World will take p.!ace in the Academy of Music to-morrow night. As this cutertainment will probably attract many visitors who do not give their patronage to ordinary shows, some few particulars as to the circumstances under which the Mirror was got together may not be uninteresting, especially us they must place the proprietor, Mr Clifford, in the position of a public benefactor rather than that of a modern Barnum, the Prince of Humbugs, with an eye solely to the main chance. Well, Mr Clifford, alter so many years' residence in Australia and New Zealand as to become entitled to the name " old colonist," went home. Tired of knocking about, he thought he would spend the remainder of his years in the society of his relatives and the friends of his youth. Like many others before him, however, he did not find that rest which he had pictured to himself. The active life he had led for over 20 years had scarcely fitted him for an autumn of indolent ease, and to divert his mind he commenced to travel. Travelling he met many fresh faces, and ere long the melancholy truth dawned upon him that a lamentable ignorance as regards the Colonies prevailed at home, even amongst people and society otherwise well informed. Some labored under the impression that the ordinary life of colonists was of a semi-savage character; that refined amusements we had none; that life and property were at the ; mercy of bushrangers and cannibal Maoris ; in fact, it was believed that the streets in the centres of population in Few Zealand were covered with flax bushes, and that each bush concealed a Native ready to shoot or tomahawk. Finding that such notions prevailed, Mr Clifford—who cherished a warm attachment for New Zealand, in which he had spent some of the most active and pleasurable years of his life—tried to remove them, by picturing the thronged streets, the handsome buildings, public libraries and other educational establishments.; but he could only retch limited audiences in this way, and he hit upon another 1 way. He said he would come back to the Colonies—having New Zealand particularly in his mind's eye— and secure photographic views of the beautiful natural scenery of the country and of the improvements effected by the colonists; pictures of our mountains, lakes and rivers, and of the magnificent buildings of our cities ; our harbor works, docks, shipping and other evidences of civilisation ; and show them side by side. By these means, he thought, he would convey a correct impression of what " the colonies " are like, and do some good by dissipating erroneous ideas. To do this, however, would take money—a good deal of money; and then a second thought occurred to Mr Clifford. It was to collect an extensive series of views of interest in the Old World and come and exhibit them to the denizens oF the new. To the old colonists many jpf these views must be interesting as havißg been seen in reality; to the young they must be interesting as possessing historic interest. For this purpose Mr Clifford traversed a good portion of Europe in'search of novelties; ascended Mont Blanc to obtain nature • printed pictures of the Monks of St. Bernard and their dogs, and the glacier country of the Old World; perched himself on top of the Monument for days to get a correct view of. London; ransacked the most famous art galleries for portraits of celebrated sculpture; and, in the end, succeeded in collecting some 2000 views of amost interesting character, with which, by the aid of the most perfect lime lightapparatus constructed, he is enabled to give an entertainment for ten nights, with a change"of programme nightly. We have sketched imperfectly Mr Clifford's design in his Mirror of the World. He has almost completed his collection of colonial scenes for exhibition at home, and will shortly proceed thither once more. We have no doubt that the entertainment provided for colouists will be fully appreciated here, as it has been in every place in New Zealand where shown.

A LABOE branch of a vine was left at the office of this paper on Saturday by Capt Butt, covered with the disease Oidium Tuckeri. The branch is four feet long, and well laden with clustering bunches of grapes, all of which are covered with " the grayish white bloom," the leaves and stem also showing signs of the disease. This adds another proof to what has unfortunately been before adduced of the presence of the disease in the district, and we would urge upon vine growers the advisability of taking measures to root out the disease. If allowed to have full play it will probably destroy all the vines in the plac#. In a letter from Mr Owden, Lord Mayor of London, to the Mayor of Wellington, the former says: " I congratulate you on the success of your efforts—proved as that has been by the payment of many handsome donations through your agents here. I feel sure that the English people will be delighted to see that the traditional warm-hearted-ness of British colonists still exists, and that suffering cannot be found in any part of Her Majesty's dominions which her subjects in the colonies, as well^as at home, are not anxious to alleviate."