FROM OTHER PAPERS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 81, 30 December 1907, Page 11

FROM OTHER PAPERS.

-.There was something of the phantom chase about a search in tho moonlight recently for a rumoured drowned man by tho Auckland water .' police, according to" tho Auckland "Star.; . The : captain of the ferry steamer Eagle; opened tho ivay by reporting, about a;quarter'<to ten, that on his way across lioni Dflvonport a quarter of an hour earlier u Bailing boat under ;full spread appeared in mifl-sfream, with .'a drifting dingey, close by, and ho appearance of living mortal on oithor. A'.'liftle. further tho mystory deeponed by the , appearance of what looked'like a dead man floating'' oii the -tide, the combination determining him to report to the police. The Customs-boat was immediately ■ manned . l>jr two .cftnstabks, and a diligent search instituted, whioh'took them as far as Dovonport whiirfjibut niiither body, nor drifting dingey, nor deserted craft of any sort showed up. There . was a - boat visible in the tlistarice,;'and; as nothing else was in sight, pursuit ''.was' made,, but, as one. of tho pursuing constables naively remarked, "tho furthor we wont: the farthor away she grow, until sho, , went; ont of sight- nltogetlier, ' so tho chaso 'was - abandoned, and a somewhat woary and disgusted pair of cons tables rowed'. their way back to town. Later inquiries elucidated tho fact .that a sailing boat had been'seen in tow of a. dingey outw'ard bound from No. 2 jetty:.at about 8 o'clock,. the probable innocent accessory with the mboii'to the alarm. ■Puhipirig. from the sump at Latimer Square and Hereford Stroets last ovening, tho fira engine 1 "Extinguishor"'..raised, a column of water , through tlie mains of tho Express Company's building.- to a height of almost 150 ft. (saj's the "Lytteltqn Times"). When the ; building wa? orecte'd" it was provided with an open stand-pipe to the street, to which; a :fire hoso could be attached, while every'floor, was'piped and fixed with hose, so that in case of'lire the engines conld sot in at onco and prorido all the floors with a high • pressure of water. Tho system had not been tried'Vnhtil last, eyehing, wlion ;two 'of • the • city."steamers took up apposition near'.tho building, .but ~on .its trial, it proved: more than satisfactory. 'Ono stoamer gave a .20fobt jet of water from a nozzle held on the look-otitrat ,a height of 120 ft;.,' where thore was -a ' very good pressure on evory floor. 'The''64fti iire-escapE was run up outsido the building,' ana from "it'ithe "Deluge"' threw a jet/'of,,.water ab.ovc the top parapet. While on r th'mr->.xhibit.ion practico . the ■ brigades took. the'Vportunity of giving the building .a.-wash down, and the operation proved attractive to a lame number of "spectators. 1 In "Erskine- Street, Sydney, just after a stri'rm;had subsided, a' l horse in a cart'sudderily .'"began clancirig .in < an extraordinary; way,'.and as!suddenly, stopped when it got, pist' the corner. A second horse attached; to a not. long afterwards, and it bqtiaved in'.a 'similar manner/, and seemed greatly . terrified. : Then a dog came along froin Day Street into Erskine Street/ and directly it reached the corner, it let :out an urioarthly hold arid tore off at top speed, which,',it nerer- relaxed till it reached Kent Stteet. . 'It .was then discovered, ihat there was'jsMething 'wrong p'ith< tho tram trolly -wire, ;.,arid>; 'that the- current was escaping, down i tho -iron? standard .into tho roadway, and;;that. the, horses! and dog must' have received a severe electrical shock. Tho traffic cqnstablo in the neighbourhood at once tooK . "'chti rgfe, and kept people off until the, tram o'ffioLils came' along and made good the 1 leakIt •. was , apparent l that the lightning hadj'struck the insulator, which was completely r fused, thus allowing tho current to es-cape-down the iron standard. It-wasfor- , f iinate .that no one was tempted to touch the standard while,tho curront was ecaping, otherwise' the r 9 '; would have been a' moro serious store to tell. •' .:. 'Lionel! Terry story is going the rounds intone of the up-country (says the Dunedin ."Star). ; Tho local constable had. spent the day riding, round the district in the (hope of; getting some news concerning the tscapee from. Seacliff. Towards nightfall he. heard that a strango'. man, tall, and of powerful build, and a mighty petlestrian, had been,seen earlier. in..the_evetiing:at.?..cei;taiii ;|place,.'near somo scrub. Thither the constable repaired ?oh horseback wuth'f speed.' ';In the! darkness lie fancied ,he saw;; tho'.prone-figure' of a man, secreted in the undergrowth. ,'Loudly he called to hini to como forth; buftherb^"was ho response. How, (was,lie to capturo, single-handed, the supposed man of reputedly great strongth iind ' endurance and',a clever boxer —while;;, lie • (theLconstable) , .was hampered with -.tho charge of. a restless; horse ?. Like a flashj-an, idea struck,him. Ho-would make a dash; on horseback at the object planted in the scrub; and trust to luck in disabling'him and;;offectihg an'easy Digging his ; spurs into'tho liorse'S'sides, he accordingly made a; desperate dash, yelling loudly at the same .time. True enough, .'he knocked over something l —but not the man lie was. after. It. .was ( a quadruped—a yearling calf, 'which' was 5 at .once on its feet, roaring lustily for its mater!'v, ••' v.-V;;;;. ; :U-'' v. A;iittle jhreeze fluttered; through. the Provincial Chambers, Christchurcli, when a farmervwho was giving; evidence in the fannlabourers' disputo' was. under examination. Theiiquestion, of; accommodation camd .'up, "and.(a'ccbi'ding to the "Press") the.witness ; stated, that ho had. visited one whare where the; appointments wero good,: but ;tho. occnpahtsthad; aljowed tho placo to get'into a filthy.- condition. . , "Who: was staying there?" Mr. Jftnes asked. "Mr. Kennedy!!'" .was the startling response. ' This brought'the .gentleman named to his feet with/a bound, and in a' rather angry tone ho dfma'nded: "Why do. you say, that? Doirt you ( know that I only , arrived . .there that mprhihg?" "No, I don't," replied., the .witness.i;'V"Didn't.-'-you wait ..-till ten o'clpck at night' to tell my emplo}'er that I was : ;a,.U,nibn man?" ,:Tho witness also denied this/'.'but, added that lie had heard Mr. Kennedysay that farmers "housed their men/like dogs and fed them like pigs.'! Mr. Kennedy said that he did not apply " this to :air'farmerß, but there 'were; such , cases, arid, the' Union would prove them. In explanation to the Board he! stated that the whare,was a good .one, but the morning the witness; saw ljim in it. was the first he had spent'there., The chairman '(Mr. Miiisori) said ; that the Board was perfectly satisfied with ;Mr. Kennedy's .statement. ' The Tiniroto correspondent of the Poverty Bay ' Herald"; roports that tho monotony of that-place fras varied tho other day. Six men. had been engaged for some time cutting out a oush section for a settler here. In' tho earlypart of last week it was' noticed' that one 6f the men was peculiar' in his manner, arid , oil, Friday ho was raving, mad.- All hands had to knock off work, and hide all slash .hooks and axes and.watch him. On Saturday, morning two of tho men came into the-station and rang up the police in Gisborne, ;who said they would advise tho police at 'Wairoa io 'go up. Six or : seven hours after, as the police had not arrived, - the ■ Bettler again. rang up the Gisborne station, but.'being unable to obtain any satisfactory re P]y> ,;theri sent a man 'to, Wairjoa for the police, but it was not until 10 o'clock on Sunday, forenoon that the police arrived. Meanwhile the men in the bush were getting sucb; a : rough time that it was decided to hide; everything, with which the ..man couldhurt and thev came into' Tiniroto, leaving the maniac to look after himself. About'B o'clock he^arrived at the station, and;,soon.made it evident,.'that it wanted more..than, the two men present to look after him.- On ringing up the Tiniroto Hotel four men ; came, down and' took it in turns to .iratbh'him all night. When the'police arrived', at 10 a.m. on Sunday they had a hard struggle to handcuff arid tic him with rope into a buggy, in which he was taken to Wairoa'.', The police (adds tho correspondent) are not to be in any way commended for their, smartness, and settlers throughout the : district will soou ' lose the confidence they should; have in the force if they do not act a7little'more.promptly in such an emergency.- ~ i