A PROBATION PROBLEM.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1907, Page 8

A PROBATION PROBLEM.

ARE PENDING CHAROKR A BAR? Georgo Frederick Sumlorlawl, who was convicted last' Monday nt the criminal sittings of the Supi'omu Court on » charge of obtaining money by fulso pretences, wi)s set forward tor sentence before Mr. Justice Cooper this morning. Ho applied to bo admitted to probation. In answer to tho bench, Mr. Myors^ Crown Prosecutor, said ho felt it wan ( his duty to mention,. ,(hnt thero wt-ro other charges (from Ohristclnnvh) ponding against aecusod. Whether theso should prejudice prisoner's application Mr. Myers could not "say. Maybo his Honour would think tho application., should bo dealt with independently of theso. Mr. Justice Cooper said that the enquiries mado by thtf 'probation officer had been satisfactory, and but for the pendency of theso' charges tho officer would have rcconunendecl^the granting of probation. Prisoner's character had beon good during -his .several years' stay in New Zealand, and excellent testimonials had Keen given him by, Auckland firms which employed him. His Honour did not think he should take into cons id oration, in dealing with the application for probation, tho pendency of tho, other charges (unles3, of course, they were charges of such a nature as to indicato that prisoner was a _ habitual criminal or of habitual criminal instincts). Having consideration of tho strong recommendatidn to mercy madeby the jury, and that they had acquitted accusod on tho major charges of forgery and littering, and that hitherto accused had apparently beon an honest and respectable man, his Honour thought he was justified in not taking into consideration the • other charges against prisoner. Of thoso charges, for all his Honour knew; Sundorland might be [ innocent. Ho would have to answer thoso charges. in tho -ordinary way, and his Honour hoped accused woidd be ablo to establish his innocence. If he was convicted of thoso charges he would be liable to ,be' brought up for sentence for tho offence of which he had been hero found guilty. He would be admitted to probation for twelve months, conditional upon his paying costs of tho prosecution and refunding the £2 which ho obtained from the complainant. • Sunderland then loft' the dock, and took a seat in the court. The police gathered around him, apparently with intention to arrest him. . Mr. Justice Cooper intimated that thero must be no arrest in the court. After a minute had passed Sunderland obligingly cut the gordian knot by leaving the court and thus facilitating tho process of arrest* I

I When shifting from the Taranaki-strcet Wharf to No. 4, Queen's Wharf, at 2.30 j this afternoon, the Union Company steamer Patcena ran into the -wharf , and did considerable damage to the 'at ructvrre. The steamer's stem ( drove übaut two or three feet into the woodwork of the main body of the wharf, splintering the top planking and crashing through r.everal solid stringers from the decking of the wharf down to the water. The vessel was not damaged. On 29th January the people of Auckland celebrated the anniversary of tlreix province, but the fact th&t. this date was also the anniversary of 1 the colony -was overlooked by New Zealand, people a« a whole, an apathy which led the Christchurch Press -to enter an editorial lament, "If only that we might, once in a while, Tecall' the adventurous pioneering days, and make acknowledgment of. tho debt [ wo owe to ,the men who laid the foundaj tionis of the colony," .tho article stated, "it would surely be well to mark, in some fashion, the anniversary of the day on which New Zealand came into the family of the Empire " . It is understood that *the. Board of Governors of Canterbury College, has accepted the offer,, of Mr. John Sfcudholme, of Coldstream ; to contribute for three years .'£2oo 'a year.' towards the salary of a professdr of Home Economics or Domestic Science, provided that Miss Gilchrist, of Tennessee University, be appointed. Miss Gilchrist has had a wide and varied experience of the work which she has taken up, and has achieved a reputation which extends far beyond the radius of- her own university. "The ablest woman I have met in America" is the way in which Mr. Studholmo described her, and ' hb adds that she appeared to bo a woman of most exceptional ability, and well able to introduce ' her subject, into a new country. As. to the course of home economics at Tennessee University, extracts from. tho .Register show that it includes the following: — "Natural laws to be conformed to in order to attain perfect maturity. . . Methods for securing clean air, safe water, and best preparation of, appetising foods ; house construction, decoration, and management, viewed from economic, sanitary, and aesthetic view points ; a study of food materials with relation to cost, selection and preparation, and balanced rations for all ages, including practicalmarketing, keeping accounts, preparation and serving of meals ; clothing, and so on. "It was pointed out to me," Temaxks the Blenheim correspondent of the Lyttelton Times, "that the wool-growers of New Zealand are losing between £15,000 and £20,000 a year through the inadequate quality of the wool packs with which they are supplied from Calcutta. Probably not one in a thousand knows that such is the ease, but the explanation is very simple* and .will be readily seen. Recently the price of jute, which is: the main material in wool packs, rose very high, and coincidently the- manufacturers at Calcutta begaji turning out an article of poorer quality. Careful tests made 'by come wool-growers lioto showed that for some time past the average of wool packs has been eight pounds, and it is confidently believed that such would'bc found to be the case all over the colony. Now as 1 the recognised standard is eight and three-quarter • pounds, it requires threequarters of a. pound additional wool in -eyery halo to , make . up. tho aggregate weight. On present prices, three-quarters of a -pound, of wool < is,- worth, ninopence, and if another, penny is added for, freight .the loco mounts up to tenpence. The •rest is a matter of arithmetic." In tho course of hie annual addre?a to .the Chamber of Commerce, the president i said he was sur6 members would agree iwith him when he eaid that the Thorndon Irailway station was not only utteily in- . /adequate to the requirements of tho (.traffic of the place, But that it roilected fabaohrto discredit upon those responsible Jfor its continuance in its present condition. He understood that it was comttpJcted at the ond of the year 1880, and, ffafi far as ho -wan aware, no addition or fftnprovemont had been made in it since Jtfcat date. When, he stated that the of Wellington city and Hub.uxbß had increased from 20,000 in 1881 t0»64,0G0 in 1905,, aiid that tho trade of the port hod grown from £1,800,00 in rIOBOr IOBO to £8,100,000 in 1906, no further • nn£ument would be necessary to show that however suitable the station may hrate been at the time of its erection, it ■wajstotally inadequate for present needs, and utterly unworthy of tho capital city^of tho colonyClneicg at tho Convent of tho Sacred Heari, Island Buy, will reopen on Satur-. day. ; Boarders are expected on Friday,