WELCOMING THE NEW YEAR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 91, 10 January 1908, Page 5

WELCOMING THE NEW YEAR.

' . THE SURF, FATALITIES. (FROM OUR ■ SrECIAI CORRESPONDENT.) - ' 1 . "Sydney,' January 4. Have you ' had tlio; "explosive stick" round your way yet?' It reached Sydney on New Year's ; Eve, > and • had • a stranger landed in the city that night, he might have imagined that a military bombardment was proceeding. The,noiso of trumpets, big and little, was bad enough; but,as night settled upon the devoted' city,' some tradesmen who must surely • have • been prompted by the spirit of-mischief put the " explosive stick " upon the .market. ,'Like an ordinary stick in appearance, this weapon is fitted at,the end with a piece.. of iron, to which is . affixed a detonator,-and when this is driven: against the ground with a- smart blow, - a' loud explosion' .takes, place.' 1 It is easy to imagino how readily these instruments of sound were seized .upon by' the straw-hiitted. youths and irresponsible lads who were out to demon-strate-to' all whom: it might concern that the Old Year was dying.. The loud reports, exactly -like the shots ■' of 'musketry, made night-hideous, superimposed as they were upon the ' squeakings of trumpets and a variety .of other ; noises, including . that of one 'peculiar ' toy which .imitated very'.' suc-cessfully;-the gleeful sounds 'of a' collection of ..barnyard- poultry summoned, unexpectedly tp.a' -meal. The:., climax of rejoicing .was reached.'when the rbysterciV resorted to the practice of, putting a number,, of the detonators beneath ,tho wheels pf tho ■ tramcars. As .the Post. Office bells chimed the hour of twelve, pandemonium was let loose by the crowd in,, Martin' Place, surrounding'that building. . Amid the .shrieking of the, booming of■ the " rip-saw" trumpets, the-sharp firo of the explosives, and tho singing and shouting of the mob, .1908 was ushered in, . and then /tho people, satisfied that they had dono their duty, went home. "We. are a curious humanity I - There; aro serious complaints. \of larrikinism in the city on New Year's .Eve. The "Herald" reports incidents of blackguardism on the part" of - hoodlums who apparently regarded themselves as . entitled to license which would'not have'been tolerated for. a moment at any other time, and correspondents, writing to that paper, assert that the condition of[ things was' disgraceful. The police authorities, on the other hand, appear to think'that'this so-called larrikinism was merely 'exuberance of spirits. The crowds in the streets,: one police' officer declares, were very sober, only 18 people having been locked up for drunkenness at halfpast ten at night on New Year's Eve. The explosive stick ", is likely to prove..such a nuisance, however—-indeed, stich a source of danger—that the police have decided to take action to prevent, its _use in future. THE.DEATH ROLL. ' The band of death has been busy this week, and. amongst those who passed away is the venerable'' Roman Catholic Archbishop of Hobart,:Dr.-Daniel Murphy, who has seen six Sovereign Pontiffs in the. chair of St. Peter. The present Pope. Pius X, was only a boy of,t<m'when Dr. Murphy received his mitre from. Pope. Gregory XVI,. and. when the Archbishop of Hobnrt celebrated his diamond episcopal jubilee, sent Jiim a letter of congratulation, with the Papal blessing and a eulogy of his " long and- arduous apostolate:" Born-in Ireland, on .the very day of- Napoleon's overthrow at Waterloo, and educated at Maynooth College, he was ordained a priest -on; June 9, 1838,' and at once volunteered v for mission service . abroad. India was selected as the sphere of his work, and he laboured so earnestly that lie was appointed coadjutor to tho Vicar-Apostolic of Madras, and afterwards became Bishop of Hyderabad. He was appointed to Hobart in 1866. Archbishop Murphy, who was in his 93rd year, was tfie oldest prelate of the Catholic Church.- . Dr. Lorimer Fisou, who laboured for many years until tho early eighties as a, Wesleyan minister, in Fiji, where ho became head of the college for the training of native teachers for mission, work, died this week-in Mel-. bourne.'.'rDr. Eison, who was a Cains College man, possessed a remarkable love for scientific pursuits, and devoted considerable attention to ethnology. In addition to publishing a number of papers through the 'Journal of the Anthropological Society of Great Britain," he was joint author with Dr .A. W. Howitt in thc<" Kamilaroi and Kurnai," an investigation coicerning the marriage customs of the* Australian aborigines, His "Tales of Old Fiji,' 'published in 1905, contains a lot of valuable information as to tho folk-lore "of-»tbe Fijians. He was one of the representatives cjf Australian science at the Oxford meeting of the British Association in 1894. The Imperial Government placed him on the Civil List for a pension of £150 in 1905, in l recognition of his distinguished services in tho branch of science which he had made his own. For 18 years Dr. Fison was editor of the Melbourne "Spectator," a position he had to give up because of failing health. He was 75 years of'age at the time of his death. A banker well-known in New Zealand whose name figuros on the death-roll of the Week was Mr. Ames Hellicar. whose long Period of service for the Bank of Australasia included experiences of the Thames in the early days of thq goldfields, and later on he spent some years in Christchurch and Auckland. Mr. Hellicar, who camo to Aus-' tralia from Bristol when only a boy of seven, entered the service of the bank in 1863, after completing his education at the Melbourne Grammar School, and after being Btationed at various branches in Australia and New Zealand, hecamo manager of -the Sydney , .branch-- .a position he held when the present fine banking premises at the corner of Martin .Place, opposite the General Post Office, were completed. He was for sixteen yearn manager at Sydney, and two ye;irs s-go was promoted'to be superintendent, but had to'retire eight months later, as he was attacked by paralysis.' THE TOLL OF THE SURF. Siirf-bathing is an'-'exhilarat-ing pastime, freply indulged in on tbo ocean beaches of the Australian coast; but. that it possesses terrors even for the most cautious and expert of swimmers is revealed by the melancholy fate of' Mr.. Walter Nev.e, one of Newcastle's oldest residents, who was swept out on Sunday morning by the remorseless. undertow, and-..drowned before assistance could be obtained. This occurred in the presence of soveral friends, who were bathing at the same time!, - Mr. Neve, who was a regular bather, having gone in for-a dip evory morning for the past thirty years, entered the water at a spot that has always been consafe. ' Though he wont out no further than his .fellow-bather?, ho was not taken to shore by a wave which carried the others to'tho beach, and though only up to his waist in the water, ho was taken off his feet, and, being an old man, probably had not the strength to regain' his footing. He made frantic signals for help, but in vain. In about half an hour's time the body was cast ud on the robks. During the week, tho changing winds and currents have formed channels la the sand, and no doubt this accounts for the fact that Neve was taken unawares. All of .which proves that even the best swimmer is' liable to bo caught in tho undertow. Only a day or two ho'fore two nurses bathjng on the same beach were caught by a wave, and, despite tho efforts of rescuers, one of thorn, Miss Agnps Quaylo, only twenty-two years of age, was drowned. In spite of fatalities of this kind, however, surf bathing remains exceedingly popular, and at Manly it is tho chief summer pastime for hundreds of Sydney residents. One of the latest to take to this form of amuscmont is Mr. Austin Chapman, tho Ministqr for Ci;st/ms, who, while he is in Sydney in the summer, is frequently in the surr at Manly. AN ACTRESS'S MARRIAGE. One of the most popular actresses in Mr. Julius Knight's company, Miss Dorothy Sidney, was married yesterday to Mr. Claude M'Kay, a member of the literary staff of the "Daily Telegraph," and formerly of the " Evening News'." The marriage took place at St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Phillip Street, the officiating clergyman being the Rev. John Ferguson. The bride was given away by Mr. Edwin Geach, and was attended by. Miss Taylor as bridesmaid, while Mr. E. J. Hill ■ « "vdney iournalist. ■ was best man.