FROM OTHER PAPERS

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 155, 25 March 1908, Page 8

FROM OTHER PAPERS

Considerable alarm, was occasioned in Timaru on Thursday night by the firing, three times 'in rapid 1 succession, -of a revolver, . says the ' " Timaru; Post." . The shooting took place in the heart of the town shortly after six o'clock, when a good raajiy' people Ivors about. One of" the bullets pierced the upper pane. of in the National Mortgage; and;. Agency Company's offices, and crossed the main > office within a.. short distance of one-of " the company's omployees, embedding itself in the brick' wall directly opposite. The window damaged was that nearest tho entranco door, and tho nature of 'tho hole, a clean-cut circular one, showed that the bullet had been discharged' at no great distance. The ,glass in tho window was thick •plate' 1 , -and on the outsido the hole was sharply defined, while on the insid/3 the glass was " starred" about an inch. in ; diameter. Another fact which would seem to indicate that, the bullet .had not travelled far is .that small fragments of glass' were found ' in the holo pierced in the wall opposite. 1 .Apparently the ..weapon discharged was :a 22-bore revolver.' What motive would prompt anyono to discharge a firearm; at such a' time'and * n sweh; a place is beyond comprehension, but the police investigation, will probably throw some further light 011 the matter;

, Mr. Pritchard indulged last, night (says the •Lyttelton Times".) ' in what : he described as a little free criticism of, the Press, but his criticism.' got no further than disconnected and apparently in voluntary outbursts of abuse, which hov frankly admitted at one stage y> ore a little, mud-throwmg' in replv to some, which had stuck on himself. ■ His most picturesque description of : the local' newspapers was ."the gutter-rags of boodledom," while at another time ho referred scornfully' to. 'the rag-tag and bobtail Press which is published in this freo and enlightened twentieth century." Towards 1 the' close of his address he paused dispassionately' to ■ offer a modicum of advice-.to' editors,'but, stigmatising one of them as an "audacious liar,''' ho was soon: off r the track of moderation into another picturesquely abusive by-path. ..

Tho construction works at the hew dock at Port Chalmers have now reached-a stage wlncli .foretells their early completion. The whole of tho concrete flooring is now finished, .and only, a small area remains at the head of tho dock to finish off with • dressed masonry. The sides, or altars, are rapidly approaching completion, ' their construction and the filling in at tho sides' being : carried on simultaneously. With ;& few weeks more of fine weather, it is anticipated that-.the whole of the concrete work.-will be finished by the middle of.next month. The discharge pumping culvert is now tunnelled ,for a distance of 40ft., and tho concrete foundations are laid for. that distance, there being only about 30ft. further to go in order to connect the new dock with tho engine site. - A start will be made this' Week to lay the foundations of tho enginehouse, and tiles' are expected to bo completed within two months and a half. - The caisson' is assuming definite shape. The-whole of the framework, is. iii ■'position,' and.about one-third of the.lower .platinghas been rivot-cxl on. Now that operations, aro concentrated on the last section of the dock the work is progressing rapidlyi The "Otaco Daily Times" says that the, forecast mado some time. ago ( that tho' work would bo completed in Juno next shows ample promise of fulfilment. .

I. .. To havo .had throe .wires, each'with a family, • living at. the same time, ,is ! (says tho "Southland News") a unique record, at least so''far as ;Now .Zealand is concerned, but a caso that camo beforo -the; Supreme Court ill a Southern , town not long ago'was the means of disclosing the fact tha't.a mnn, then deadhad'luuL.a wife 'in -England;., another in Chrotchurch, and a, third .in : Invercargill' Tho onei last referred to went Home wit-li her. husband, who was well oannccted, and sho discovoKxl; the oxist'OiicQ of a wifo in England; - Since his death she has also become , aware of the fact. that there is still another in Aew Zealand.' As a substantial sum of. money has been left' bv a relative of the deceased, anxious onquirv is being mado by the ti\ ° Neiv Zealand wivoj as to thoir right to assistanoe, . - y