Untitled

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 3, 3 January 1903, Page 4

A reception will be' held this evening at the Grand Hotel by the Consul for France and the Countess de Courte to meet the captain and officers of Che Protet. Invitations- are being issued to-day for a dance on board the warship on Monday afternoon. A ferry boat leaving the wharf at intervals will convey the guests to the cruiser and tfing them back.

A peculiar incident occurred at Napier yesterday afternoon. Cargo was being discharged from the steamer Tangaroa, and some of it had been placed on the railway line, which runs' along the breastwork, with the result that a locomotive running on the line ploughed into the eases of fruit,. furniture, etc., piling up debris for several yards.

Mr J. G. Holmes, late Commissioner of Kailroads in Western Australia, and member of the Parliament of that State for Fremantle, is in Auckland at present; on a holiday trip. He goes to Rotorua on Monday, and thence travels through the colony. .

The following , passage in the Waimate "Times" report of the Waimate Boxing- Day sports will strike most of. our readers as disclosing a very peculiar state of affairs: —"The running even ; ts wefe well and some, good finishes were witne.Ssea; Jja, one f or two instances matters were 'arranged.' but were not clumsily ddne, so the public lost nothing in the way of witnessing, .a 'tailmgTiip' race." The writer of the above would seem to think that everything is- all right, and neither the society or public have any' right to complain, so long as the competitors do not "arrange" matters clumsily. ...

A sad accident occurred at Kaitangfata (Otago) the other day, as a result of which a youth named William Eog-ers was fatally injured. The young fellow,--who is only 18 years of age, was engaged in a wrestling , bout on the beach at Kaitangata when he met "with the accident, and was, it is presumed, thrown heavily, as when picked up his neck was broken. The unfortunate youth was taken into the Dunedin Hospital, but after he had been examined his case was pronounced hopeless, and it is evidently only a question of time when the affair must have a fatal termination. Rogers' depositions were taken by the police.

A boy named John Jones was killed at Prospect, near Sydney, on tha 26th inst., under extraordinary circumstances. At the inquest the father of the boy stated that a stone from a blast in the Prospect waterworks quarry struck his son on the head. Witness and deceased and others were 250 yards from the centre of the quarry. He considered that the occurrence was purely accidental. Had the lad kept farther out, taken a wider circuit when coming , down to the valve house to be paid, he would no doubt have escaped. A red flag was flown on the most prominent paint on the quarry when shots were about to be fired, and a man called out "Fire!" Then all fiands were supposed to get out of danger. Thomas Thornley said he saw deceased walking towards the valve-house to get his pay. He heard several reports of blasts being fired, and his attention was drawn to the direction a stone was flying - , in a direct line towards where the deceased was walking. It was about as large as his closed hand. . Witness called out, "Look out!" in a loud tone. Deceased moved his head in the direction of the blast, but the stone hit him on the head before he eculd see it, and he fell. Witness ran to his assistance, and found him bleeding from the head, and unconscious. were two others walking .with deceased when he was struck. The inqnest was adjourned, to admit of the attendance of ot-her witnesses.

Mr Symons. for the last 17 years cutter with Mr A. Wright, has begun business on his own account, and is joined in partnership by his son, Mr J. W. Symons, who is a graduate tailor and cutter, first-class, with honours from the London Academy. This new tailoring establishment is now Symons & Son, with premises on the first floor of His Majesty's Theatre, Queen-street frontage. A large and select stock will be kept, with new shipments to arrive.

At St. Patrick's Cathedral to-mor-row night, the choir will repeat the selections from Haydn's "Creation," as on Christmas night, and Madame Lilian Tree will also sing* for the offertorium "H-ear ye. (Israel," from Mendelsohn's "Elijah."

The Devonport Ferry Co. announce trips to-morrow to the French warship Protet, and abo excursions to Rangitoto and St. Heller's Bay,

The Bayfield Sunday-school picnic was held yesterday.' The s.s. was chartered, and proceeded to Awaroa Bay, Waiheke, with about one hundred and sixty children and their parents and friends. The weath -T was all that could be desired. The spot was an ideal one for a picnic, and the shelter afforded in this lovely bay was taken advantage of by 26 yachts returning from the Waiheke regatta, which will make their appearance at their mooring in Auckland Harbour to-day or to-morrow. Sports and races were the order of the day for the young folks. Refreshments \v ere bountifully supplied, and all vied with each, other in making the picnic a great success. Mr. Gordon, the proprietor of this lovely spot, has about fifty people now staying at his large accommodation house, and it will doubtless become a favourite place of resort for jaded business people when it becomes better known.

An action was heard before Mr. Justice Pring and a jury in Sydney, in which Mary Jeffries sought .to recover £500 as compensation from H. G. Kilby for injuries inflicted on her by a bulldog, the property of the defendant. The case for the plaintiff was that she and her husband were vendors of poultry, and while plying her occupation she called at the defendant's place at Hunter's Hill. While walking down the pathway she saw a briridleTrnlTdog•rushing across the lawn at.her. It seized her by the leg, and had to be pulled off by her husband and the gardener on the premises. Her clothing saved her partially, but her leg was lacerated. She suffered greatly from shock, which brought on a serious illness. The defence was that the bulldog did not bite the plaintiff. After hearing evidence the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for £150 daanages.

A young woman named Annie Scott, a milliner, brought an action before Mr. Justice Owen and a jury at Sydney the other day to recover £1000 damages from Albert Denny, far alleged breach of promise. Defendant did not appear. Plaintiff's evidence was that In 1899 she was employed at Newcastle, when she became engaged to defendant With the full approval of his parents, it being arranged ithat they would be married in.three years. .Defendant had been carrying on, business as a grocer at Newcastle, but relinquished it, and his father arranged to take an hotel until his son- married, when he would hand it over to him to manage. 'It was decided that the marriage should take place in March last, arid shortly after tliis undertaking was made defendant asked her to "consent to tie engagement being' broken off. as.he desired to marry somebody else. She declined. Defendant afterwards left Newcastle and married a barmaid. The jury returned a verdict for £200.

A correspondent of the' "Cape Times," under date October 24, writes expressing surprise that nothing had been made, public regarding;; : aih iricii clferii *m&iah bccurred &t bury in the Malmesbury district on Friday, October 10. The facts are as follow: —Two British military .oncers, were out driving, when they were set upon by a crowd of roughs, men, women and children, numbering about 400. These people, most of whom were ex-rebels, were celebrating Mi Kruger's birthday by means of a kind of picnic, the men wearing slouch hats and feathers. On the approach of the two officers from the Piquetburg direction the mob jeered and hooted at them, and began to throw stones and missiles with the greatest freedom, calling out such expressions as "verdomde rooineks." Thi* naturally annoyed the officers, one of whom dismounted- from his cart, and mounting his orderly's horse, rode in among the crowd. He was, however, dragged from his horse, flung to the ground, and there kicked and attacked in a brutal and cowardly manner. Eventually he was rescued by one of the crowd, who warned the rest that if they did not look out the rooineks would come and rescue him and be down on them. The officers in question arrived at their destination badly bruised. • The civil authorities had taken no action in the matter.

The steamer Vivid runs her usual excursion to Riverhead to-morrow.

Attention of the travelling public is called to the advertisement in this issue of J. Matthie's 'bus service, intimating the new time-tob'fe for the Northcote to Lake 'buses.

Mr. Warren Blyth will sell on the premises, Karangahape road, on Monday, the balance of Macpherson's stock of drapery. The sale will be continued daily until the whole is disposed of. —Ad.