SOUTHERN NEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 169, 16 July 1908, Page 6

SOUTHERN NEWS.

(By Telegraph.—Press Associatio_.) PRICE OF BUTTER-D-NEDES", this day. i Butter has ben increased a penny peT . lb_ making the retail price Is. 5d., the ' highest price experienced in Dunedin for five years. The rise is due to a proI nounced shortage in supply, one of the ' results of the recent floods and -storms |in Otago and the outlying districts. j REMANDED TO DUNEDIN. WAIHI, this day. \ A young man named F. G. Melhop was arrested last evening on a charge of indecent assault, and at the Police Court I this morning he was remanded to Dune- ! din, where the assault is alleged to have 1 been committed. j FERE AT FEUDING. FEELDING, this day. j A six-roomed house, the property of i Mr. Blake of Bunnythorpe, was totally ! destroyed by fire at midnight last night. I The family were all away at the time j attending a social gathering. The origin lof the fire is not known. Nothing was ! saved. THEFT OF BOOHS. | WELT.TKGTQy", this day. Benjamin Diver, formerly a stationer in the Old Country, was before the Court to-day on a long list of charges of having stolen books from local booksellers of the value at each place ranging from 32/- to about fS. He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment on the first charge and three months' on each of the others. j concurrent. HEAVY FALL OF SNOW. DUNEDIN, this day. It is snowing heavily at Cromwell, and I there is every appearance of it continuing for some time. CHID BADLY BURNED. I CHRISTCHURCH, Wednesday. A distressing accident occurred in ' School-road, off Crescent-road, St. Albans, I this morning. A little girl named Gib- : bons, about five years of age. was playI ing in front of the fire, when her clothing caught alight, and in a few moments she I was enveloped in flames. Dr. Gerald j Russell was called in, and found the child had been shockingly burned about the body, ber right arm being practically charred. She was subsequently removed ito the hospital, and is in a very critical : condition. SLY GROG-SE____sG. DUNEDIN, Wednesday. I At Balelutha to-day, George Fisher, keeper of tbe Farmers' Arms boardingj house, was charged with unlawfully keeping whisky for sale, and pleaded guilty. The police raided the place on June 26, and found one bottle of whisky underneath a table in the sitting-room, and several glasses, which had evidently contained -whisky, in a cupboard in a chaff house. They found ST full bottles of whisky in a hole underneath tbe chaff bin. It was defendant's first offence, and the Magistrate (Mr. Eenrick, S.M.) said that he would take this into consideration, and also the further fact that defendant had pleaded guilty. He would be fined £25. with costs (£3 10s.), and the liquor would be confiscated. TNVERCARGILL. this day. James Anderson pleaded guilty to the ' charge of sly grog-selling, and was fined £40. Anderson lived in a hut, where ! liquor -was received and sold. THE GISBOEKE BURGLARY. I GISBOB-vE, Wednesday. Detective Rawle handed in a written ! confession made by Boniface on June 25 that he, together with Johnson and i Eeegan, bad committed the burglary. He admitted personally having entered Colebrook's room, and taken Mr. Cole- ! brooke's clothes, from which the other j prisoners took the keys. He said he had been compelled at the point of tbe revolver to join the others. All three accused reserved their defence, and were i committed for trial. ACCX_MA____.T_ON SC_IKL_ES' CONFERENCE. WKLIJNGTON, Wednesday. Tbe annual conference of the Acclimatisation Societies opened to-day. The Chairman (Mr Tripp), in the course of his opening remarks,, suggested that the whole of ELapiti Island should be acquired for a bird sanctuary. He considered more scenic reserves should be set aside as bird sanctuaries, and emI phasised the unsportsmanlike conduct of those who slaughtered ducks wholesale. | It was the duty of the societies, not only to find birds to shoot, but to preserve birds for those who should come after. The conference discussed the question of the introduction of the Australian stubble quail, which has been advocated by the Auckland society for some years past. Mr. E. W. Payton, one of the Auckland delegates, read a letter which stated that in America a high value was placed on birds of the quail family, as undoubted "farmers' friends." A motion to the effect that the Government be asked to remove the restric- | tions on this species of quail, was caTj ried. MAORI FARMING. WELLINGTON, this day. Testimony to the general improve- | ment of conditions of Maori life were ! given by Mr Ngata, M.P., at the Maori Congress to-day. He instance pastoral pursuits in the Waiapu and Cook counties, where the average clip of Maori 1 sheep had been increased in ten years from 4ilbs. to TJlbs. per sheep. He adI vocated setting up communal instrucj tional farms, to be worked by one or two hapus of back tribes, whereon young men could be taught agriculture. The Hon. B- McNab, Minister for Agriculture, promised that if Maoris would set aside virgin land for such a farm, his department would supply instructors.