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Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 45, 22 February 1910, Page 4

. The following is Mr. D. C. Bates' weather forecast for 24 hours from 9 a.m. this day: "Freshening westerly winds; after ten hours easterly winds strong to gale; expect warm and humid conditions, and unsettled and cloudy ■weather; glass fall." j

An interesting point came before the council of the Auckland University yesterday afternoon. It was with regard to the Taupiri Coal Company having constructed a dam, which raised the water of a lake. The result was that the water flooded agricultural lang belonging to the' University endowments, and at present leased to tenants. The tenants complained, and the council decided to instruct the solicitor to take action to have the obstruction removed, so that the waters fall back to the original level.

At a meeting of the Paxnell Council last night Councillor Johns moved: "That a copy of the accepted design for a free public library for. 1 ___cli, together with all necessary particulars re; la tive thereto, be forwarded to Mr. Carnegie with a. request that he make a grant for its erection." The Mayor (Mr. R. S. Briggs) seconded the motion, whic_ wis carried by five votes to _iree. This is the second a.ppeal 'by the Council to the ownex of Skibo Castle for, funds towards tho erection of a library, the .former one having met with' an intimation from Mr. Carnegie that the plans submitted and the amount asked for (£5000) were in his opinion much too ambitious, considering the size and importance of the borough. The present plans, the rr_ of a competition in which Mr. Hen-old, anahitoct, was the successful de_ign«r, provide for a building, tho estimated cost to erect which is £2500.

The erection of two feeder .pillars on the footpath of the Munukau-road by the Tramways Company was the occasion of a strong protest from a number of business people and other residents of ParneJl, including the matron of the Blind Institute, to the Borough Council last night. Permission was recently given by -the Council to the Company- to j erect two feeder pillars at certain positions, but. Councillor Thomas,'in moving last night that the Company bo informed that the boxes erected must be -eraoved, expressed the opinion that the Council had been misled. When they gave permission they understood that poles were meant, not boxes encroaching on the public footpath to tho extent of about 2ft. Gin., and sn<_i an act of obstruction should not be tolerated, specially in a borough in which on institution far tho care of tlhe blind existed. Couirallors were fairly unanimous on the subject, and the motion was adopted. It was decided also to draw the Company's attention to the racket created iry the wheels of several of the cars, with a request i that some remedy bo effected. j

At the Police Court this morning another rigorous complaint, touching the I condition of the remand cells at -tit-' Eden, was entered by a man who came before Mr. Kettle. This man said that the cells, which are the wooden cells in the old prison, are ' simply infested with vermin. "Two other men who -will come before your 'Worship to-morrow > will tell you the same thing. I speak for others. One of the men I speak of has been in gaol for six days and has had no sleep for the whole of that time. I am not exaggerating. Those cells are infested with thousands of bugs. Last night I had to walk about all night. I did not get a wink of sleep." Mr. Kettle said he had spoken to the visiting Justices about the matter, but these complaints were still being made. He would telegraph to the Minister of Justice on the subject today. Mr. Poynton, the Gaoler, has already given his explanation in reply to a complaint made a few weeks ago by another prisoner. Ho says that the complaints are altogether without foundation, .and that the cells are clean.

On Saturday afternoon the red beacon off the Railway wharf .it Onehunga collapsed. The harbourmaster has reported the matter to the Marine Department, and has marked the place meanwhile with a red buoy. The beacon was one of the last marks .to direct ships befSre turning to come up to the wharf.

The Onehunga Woollen Mills and the Onehunga SawmiJling Company and Taupo Totara Timber Company held a combined picnic on Saturday at Papakura in the Recreation Ground. There was a large attendance. During the day a number of races were run, and a most enjoyable day was spent.

The Auckland district of the Manchester Unity Oddfellows holds its annual lecture meeting on Thursday next in the Oddfellows' Hall, Cook-street. The district annual meeting will be held on Friday, commencing at 0.30 a.m. . S. Kirkpatrick and Co., Ltd., of Nelson, have issued a neat card entitled the two "X __" commemorating the arrival of Britain's great "X' 1 to the Dominion, and uujuiig ttttemt'em to ttttJj.. own "&" brand of |BUj_eji_r gTiaiity.-^- _ , J : '■:" ... - J:'.-..*.i.■.;-..:_

A company has been formed in London and Australia (says the "Argus!') for the purpose of providing Melbourne, Sydn ey, Adelaide, and Brisbane, and some |of the larger country towns with a complete service of taxi-cabs. ' The first batch, consisting of 300 four-cylinder cabs, with pneumatic tyres, will arrive in ApriL The field on which the new company proposes to operate in Melbourne I includes that now served by about 800 licensed horse-drawn vehicles. There are at present only 40 taxi-cabs, and the. jroI moters of the ■ new company propose a rate of fares equal to those now charged for horse-drawn vehicles.

Mr. Justice Edwards again took occasion in the Supreme Court yesterday to protest against the. method often adopted by police officers of proceeding by way of summary arrest rather than by summonses. "Why," he asked a detective who was in the box "why did you not proceed against this woman by way of summons?" The officer said he had received instruction to do so. His Honor: "Well, I've said so before, and I say so now, that I am! strongly opposed to the arresting of persons when it is possible to proceed against them by way of summons, and is a gross abuse of the criminal law. The object of arresting a person is .only to' ensure that person's' attendance before j the Court. 1 say these arrests are grossly improper, for they appear to be made with the object of obtaining admissions from the accused. I say most emphatically that no person should be arrested who may reasonably be expected to attend on summons." ' Referring to the decision of the Admiralty to adopt oil fuel, and incidentally to the remark of the commander of the Pegasus the other day, that the surest way to persuade the Admiralty to send warships frequently and ' regularly ' to New Plymouth was to make a success of the oil wells, the "Taranaki Herald" says, editorially:— "The highly encourag- 1 ing developments which have lately taken place will no doubt stimulate interest, and cause the Admiralty to regard New Plymouth as more than a possible source of supply for the Pacific squadron. Should this come about, it is difficuli. to conceive what it means for this Dominion, and especially, for this town and neighbourhood. It is a maxim among oil experts that 'where there ds a little oil there is a lot,' and it has already been amply demonstrated that there is more than a little in the vicinity of Motnroa. The Taranaki Petroleum Company has lost or sold a very considerable quantity, and has over 40,000 gallons of crude oil stored- Moreover, the prospects are daily improving. We -are not at liberty to publish any particulars .of negotiations which are proceeding, but we are in a position to state that more than one of the greatest ■petroleum development concerns in the world are actively interesting themselves in the matter, being satisfied from what has already been accomplished that the prospect's of developing a big field here are worth following up." "What is the use of our education if out of 10,000 children grounded in the earlier stages, 6500 leave school inadequately equipped for life to become the wastrels, thu drunkards, the ineffi- j cient- of lite social system?" asks Mr. __! ___, the outspoken Hawke's Bay Inspector of Schools, at the Education Conference in Wellington. The question is certainly a startling one (says the "N.Z. Times"), because it has'not been put quite in the same way before. It is of course extravagant to say that all children who leave school early become wastrels and inefficients, but ignorance is the mother of vice, and no child is ! equipped for the battle of life which leaves school after passing the fourth standard. Our free secular and compulsory education -system is theoretically intended to give equal opportunity to "poor" and "rich" alike, and Mr. Hill places his finger on the spot where if fails to do this. The problem is replete with obvious difficulties, but in the interests of our growing nationhood these difficulties must be tackled and overcome. it is essential for the "classes" as well as the "masses" that each unit, however humble bis or her subsequent vocation, should he educated up to the limit of his or her intelligence. An "education" system w_ich turns the bulk of its children out of the schools at the fourth standard, even though it provides an.expensive secondary school course for the remainder, is a delusion and a sham. An inquest was held yesterday at Kaukapakapa concerning the death of the man Charles Gilbert, of Union-street, Auckland, who was found dead in a ditch near the township. The medical evidence was to the effect that death was due to syncope, and the jury found accordingly.

Mr. Justice Edwards, sitting in the Criminal Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, had occasion to call attention, yesterday afternoon, to the action taken by two detectives who were detailed to "work up" a case against a woman charged with having, for an illegal purpose, used an instrument upon a young woman who, it was alleged, had voluntarily placed herself in the accused's hands for "treatment." It had been stated in evidence that the detectives i found their way into the young woman's room, at a time when she was seriously ill, for the purpose of obtaining information. His Honor recalled one of the detectives and asked him if'the doctor who was attending the case had given him permission for the interview. In . reply the witness said he was not ■ aware whether permission had been granted or not. His Honor asked if the witness thought he had any right to spend over .an hour badgering a woman whom he believed to be dying; y and added: "From what I know of you, detective, I believe you are a decent man, and that you' meant well; but I cannot too strongly de- i precate such a course, for it is absolutely inhuman, and I cannot too strongly conj demn it. I shall make some representa- \ tions on the subject, in order that instructions may bo issued to police officers as to what they should or what they should not do in such circumstances.'' ' A difficulty often occurs in securing a i quorum for a meeting of the Auckland I University College Council, as most of the members are busy gentlemen. Now that Mr. _?. E. Baume has been granted 12 months' leave of absence, the difficulty has increased. Yesterday, by dint of the use of the telephone, the meeting was started I by about 4.30 o'clock, when there were present: Messrs. G. D. Peacocke (who presided in the absence of the chairman) C. D. Grey (Mayor), T. U. Wells, Rev. w! Beatty, Rev. J. H. Simmonds, and Dr. W. McDowell. It was agreed to register tho School of Mines under the regulations for manual and technical classes. Various matters of routine were also dealt with.

Up till the present there has been a serious defect in the fire alarm equipment at the City Brigade Station, due to the fact that the fusing of a j single wire might out off the whole system from communication with the station. defect has now been remedied by the arrangement of the wires into nine circuits, with, a fuse on each circuit. In' the event of the wire for any. one circuit fusing, only night alarms can bo out off while repairs axe being Affected, . ' >'