THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2999, 25 September 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1878.

We would remind the members of the Thames Rifle Bangers that the usual monthly inspection takes place on Thursday evening at the drill hall, Shortland. A full muster is requested. The prizes won at the recent competition, the Manning Champion Belt, and valuable-watch given by the Company to the Secretary, Strgt. Farrell, will be presented by Major Murray, who has kindjy acceded uo the request to make the. several presentations. At the company's meeting to be held after parude there will be brought forward several matters of importance to the cempan's welfare.

We are pleased to learn from Lieut. Watson, No. 2 Scottish, that the uniforms and helmets for that company may be expected from London by the 9th of November. Every rxpedition is used in London in getting ihe order ready as soon as possible.

We would remind members of Nos. 1 and 2 Companies and the band of Scottish Volunteers'of the inspection parade this evening in the Academy of Music at spven o'clock.' The Academy has been engaged for the inspection, as both companies are likely to muster more men than can be conveniently paraded in their own drill shed. It will also allow^civilians who may wish it to witness the presentation of the District Beit to Corporal Lucas. [Since the above was in type we have heard with regret that Mrs Fraser will be unable to make the presentations, owing to bereavement in her family, intimation of whicj was only received by letter to-day.].

The usual English mail supply of new music for the brass brand of the Scottish Volunteers came to hand last evening. In addition to the regular monthly numbers there is an extra gala number containing several new and popular dances as well as marches.

The Bank of New Zealand has recently .purchased premises at the corner of Hunter and Bolton streets, Newcastle, N.S.W., for. the sum cf £5000, and the necessary alterations and improvements to fit them for the conduct of banking business will be shortly carried into effect. The property occupies one of the most eligible sites for such an institution in the city. .

The band at the Christchurch banquet were rather hard on the Ministry, when the toast of His Excellency's Advisers was proposed. The air they considered appropriate to the occasion' was " The Vicar of Bray."

Fbom time immemorial (says an- Australian paper) weak- mindea persons have been at great pains to deposit coins of value, together with elaborate statements engrossed upon parchment, bundles of newspapers, and what not, in glass-stop-pered bottles, infoundation-stonesof public edifices, in the fond hope that posterity, centuries hence, would know who were respectively the president, treasurer, and secretary of the institution about to be erected. Architects, contractors, and workmen have from time 1 to time, over glasses of wine or pots of beer, laughed at the absurdity, w.ell knowing that so soon as the sun went down, the stone would be lifted, the bottle extracted, and the coins would be liquefied by a simpler and less scientific process than that of the liquefaction of oxygen.

ii.Thfi Journal Officiel announces that a ladyV'Mdlle. Dodu, in charge of the telegraphic station at Montreuil-sous-Bois, has* been appointed Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur. Her merit is that of having' intercepted some German despatches, at the risk of her life, while locked up in a room through which the telegraph wire passed.

The Borough and County chiefs, who have been lobbying in Wellington for some woe's past, reached Thames by the liotonuihana yesterday afternoon.

The San Francisco mail arriving yesterday was delivered in 40 days from London, the shortest time ever a mail was delivered here from Home. We believe the quickest mail to the colonies was 39 days to Adelaide, delivered by one of the Orient line of steamers.

- The Dunedin Carnival Committee have already received the handsome sum of £1586 7s for the funds of the Benevolent Institution, and some considerable addition to this amount is expected on closing accounts.

The Bev. S. J. Neill delivered the third of a course of lectures under the auspices of the Star of the Thames Lodge, at the Templar TTall last evening. There was .but a moderate attendance. MrGr. N. Brassey occupied the chair, and briefly introduced the lecturer, who took for his subject, " Health and Disease." He said he did not intend to enter iato the mysteries of the physician's art, but simply to give a few general hints which he hoped would fall "on good ground. He referred to the, symptoms of health and'disease, and to the primary laws of het»lth and the necessities of a healthy organisation, especially adverting to the nutritious nature of vegetable food. He strongly advocated the health - giving j properties of the matutinal bath and the conditions under which it should be taken. In conclusion he saH they must remember the lines of the sweet poet Longfellow: Joy, tempuxnce and repose, Slam the door on the doctor's nose. The chairman, in proposing a vote of thanks to the lecturer for h;s able and. interjsting discourse, expressed regrot that they (the' lectures) were not more appreciated, and suggested that. if the lodge under whose auspices this course of lectures had been given, saw their way to giving another course that children be admitted half-price. (Hear.) The vote of thanks was carried by acclamation, and a vote of thanks, proposed by Mr Honiss, was accorded to the chairman. This concluded the proceedings. . •

In addition to the presentation of the District Champion Belt and some company prizes to members of JN"o. 1 Scottish by Mrs W. Fraser at the parade this evening, a handsome sword and waist belt will also be presented to battalion drummajor McLean. The following characteristic letter accompanies the sword and belt, which are the gift of an honorary member of the corps:—" To the officer commanding Thames Scottish Volunteers. —Please find herewith'one sword, with which kindly equip the drum-major of the T.S.V. No. 1 for his especial use in guarding the insigpia of his office, until such time as some other fellow can supply a genuine " broad claymore " suited, to the thigh and thews of his drum-major-ship.—Compliments to self and company duly presented by—A N on-Combatant. Sept. 25th, 78."

In speaking of the match Australians 7. Cambridge University, the Saturday Review paya the following tribute to the capabilities of the Coloniel Eleven.:—"lt is probable that no eleven, either of Gentlemen or Players, could beat the University. The Australians have received their most decisive lesson, and yet, so uncertain is cricket, that on another day, they might make a very good fight with their victors. They have justified professional criticism based on their performances at home. They are more than a match for most county elevens, and it seems extremely probable that the best possible Colonial eleven could meet the best possible eleven of England. For a travelling team, which several good players (Mr Evans, for example) were unable to join, they have done wonders. Their visit has been a sounce of healthy enjoyment io many thousands of people, and we trust that-it has been no less pleasant to themselves."

.It will be seen by reference.'to the advertisement that the dates of the Charbonnet concerts have been altered. They will take place on the Ist and 2nd Oct., instead of the 30th September and Ist October, as previously announced. The first of the three concerts in Auckland was given on Monday evening, and is noticed in most complimentary terms by our contemporary the N.Z. Herald. Of Mdlle. Charbonnet the writer says:— " Many circumstances had enlisted on behalf of Mdlle; Charbonnet the liveliest interest, but any prepossession from t'his source proved altogether superfluous the moment the quality and style of her playing was recognised. At the same time her youth (she is not yet 19 years of age) is a permanent influence in ( her favour; not that it covers any defect, latent or otherwise, but that it is the guarantee for a freshness and earnestness which . never fail her, and the sincerity of an artless and degagd manner which instantly fives her possession of a hearty and unanimous sympathy. Anticipation has been more than realised, for, whatever may have been the result of individual experience, performances so finished and full of artistic purpose and insight as these are extremely rare." And again of the concerts as a whole :— "These three concerts are likely to prove musical events such as rarely "occur in a remote colonial nity like Auckland. No music of a higher class could be presented to an audience, and it would be difficult to find music of such highly ckssic import so admirably performed."

A f.iae has been expressed, says the Dunedin Morning Herald, that the apparent intention on the part of the banking institutions in this town to offer more favorable terms for 3epo"i s indicates a stringency in the New Zealand money market. We believe it does not. We are inclined to" think that a contemporary is nearer the mark, in a reference he makes to the Australian money market. In one of the Australian colonies money is hardening, and an anticipated withdrawal from JNew Zealand to meet Australian requirements may be prompting the .New Zealand banks to adopt this means of protecting their deposits. We have, ■in times gone by, experienced serious inconvenience from a drain of this kind, and we trust the present action of the New Zealand Banks will prevent a repetition of it.

That rather novel proceeding of his Imperial Majesty the Sultan—the proposal to sell his right to Bulgaria to the highest bidder'-—must have caused considerable surprise; but it. may be inteiesting to the student of history to know that although uncommon that a sovereign prince should sell territory, still it is not new. In fact, in the history of Europe this has occurred several times. Four hundred yecra ago Sigismund, Emperor of Germany (which was then elective, the electors being seven princes

of separate German 'States), sold his hereditary sovereignty to the Duchy of Bandenburg for 400,000 guilden—equal to about £200,000—t0 the ancestor of the present Gerpan Emperor. This is said to be one of the main causes of the great progress of Prussia. Carljlc, in his history of Frederick the Great, relates several similar " land jobs," though of leaser magnitude than the one above referred to.