NEW ZEALAND.

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 6853, 10 September 1887, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND.

I PKESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAMS. | AUCKLAND, September 0. Mrs Bishop, widow of Mr Bishop, who was assassinated at "Frisco, has tiled a statement of defence contesting the right of Mr Rae. executor, to get probate of Bishop's will. The grounds of defence are denial of the death of Bishop and an allegation that the will was made through undue influence. As the death of Bishop has been denied, the body will be brought over from San Francisco by the next mail steamer, so as to remove any doubt on this point. The police authorities in Auckland are evidently satisfied many of the fires of recent occurrence have been the result of incendiarism, and it is said that with the object if possible of discovering the fire-raisers, detectives have been on duty in the city during the night. At the Police Court to-day at Rotorua, James Pettcngell, a well-known Wellington pugilist, pleaded guilty to stealing a number of valuable wood carvings from the old runanga-house Hinemihi, of the ruined village of Te Wairoa. and was sentenced to one month's hard labor. At the Supreme Court to-day, for breaches of the marriage laws, by making a false declaration to the Registrar, Quinn and Johnston were placed under probation for twelve months; Mennix being sentenced to three months' hard labor. NAPIER, September 9. The Licensing Committee to-day thanked Inspector Bnllen for the steps taken to secure increased means of escape from licensed houses in the event of fire. The Chairman trusted that the far-seeing course adopted by the Inspector immediately on his appointment to the district would render impossible in Napier the recurrence of such lamentable events as had occurred <tt Blenheim. WELLINGTON, September 0. At a meeting of the Star of Wellington Lodge, 1.0. G.T., it was announced that the two grand lodges representing English and American jurisdictions would meet in Wellington in January next, for the purpose of forming one Grand Lodge for the whole of New Zealand. Two young men, engaged in Kitchen Sca»£M^^^^^ accidentally stepping into a small vat containing boiling water. A mixture of lime and oil was applied, and it is expected that the sufferers will be about again in a month. , „ . DUNEDIN, September 9. In the R.M. Court, the Magistrate gave judgment for £18 against the owner of a private siding, being the value of one of the tram horses, which had to be killed through injuries sustained by collision with a truck which was crossing the tram line. The Magistrate decided that the owner of the siding was liable because he knew of the danger of allowing work to be performed by two horses without a brakesman. . „ » DUNEDIN, September 9. The police have arre.-sted Williamson, senior, for uttering forged notes. It is understood that the younger prisoner made a full confession. i