INTERPROVINCIAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 117, 19 May 1909, Page 4

INTERPROVINCIAL.

Some 35 cases have already been set down for trial at the criminal sessions of tho Supreme Court, Auckland, which will commence on 24th May. At Auckland, on Friday, a street hawker was fined £10 and costs for using a standing vehicle for the purpose of offering apples for sale. The option of three months in gaol was offered. The man has 22 previous convictions recorded against him. Mir. S. Mays, of the Crown Prosecutor's office, has remarked to a Thames Star reporter on the gre^t increase of crime in Auckland. He stated that a large number of criminals are now licensed as bookmakers' and their clerks, and they thus evade the police. Every boat-load brought "spielers" from Australia, crime was on the increase, and theft and petty larcenies were becoming more frequent. Farmers in town this week &till speak hopefully of the agricultural and pastoral outlook. Ploughing operations are being carried on with vigor, says the k Oamaru Mail, although it must be admitted that progress is somewhat retarded owing to the sodden nature of the gronnd-r-in fact, there is little doubt that good would result from a lengthened spell of dry weather. Everywhere there is an abundance of pasturage, and as a consequence all classes of stock are in first-class condition. Turnips have turned out very well, and there is little prospect of feed becoming short during the winter, even allowing for the cutting down of the grass owing to frost. The Oamaru freezing works have dealt with 120,000 carcases of sheep and lambs so far this season, which is expected to be a record one for Oamaru in the matter of the export of frozen meat. During last month there was only one new out-door recipient of relief fToin the Wanganui Charitable Aid Board. The man was a passing "out-of-work," and the aid given was bed and breakfast. The Herald considers this to be an indication that the distress' in the town is not so great as some people would have it supposed. Commercial men whose business takes them all over New Zealand state that trade in Southland is better than elsewhere. In proportion to population, Invercargill is at present the best business town in the colony, reports the Southland Daily News. A new venture, that of offering meat for sale by public . auction, has been started in Timaru. On Saturday the meat offered was quickly disposed of at prices which ranged from 2d to 3£d per pound. Some of the little owls which were lately imported by the Otago Acclimatisation Society have been seen lately in different parts of South Canterbury, says the Otago Times, and the farmers say that wherever the owls have made their appearance sparrows are conspicuous by their absence. A Timaru Herald reporter, a "timid and unsuspecting" man, got into con> versation with a motor-car owner who delivered to him an irate tirade on the persecution meted out by the public to car-owners. Every accident imi the road, he said, is immediately attributed to a motor-car. In London a car may go through the city at twelve miles an hour, bufc in Timaru only four miles an -hour is .a}ToH*ed at street crossings. He thinks the prejudice against the motor-car is caused by "a socialistic spirit which delights hi abusing that which is beyond its reach. As for the newspaper men who write those abominable lies about cars," he said with scorn, "they should be dragged in the front of a car, and run over by it ; that would be plenty good enough for them." At last week's meeting of the Westland Education Board, it was reported that "in eight duly-constituted school districts the house-holders had failed to elect committees."' The election, said the report, appears to furnish evidence of a lack of appreciation of the benefits of the system of local government in connection with the education system. According to the Otago Daily Times, the difficulty of keeping the award rate in the bricklaying contract is being got over by engaging the men at piece rates. The award is 12s per day, and the piece arrangement works out at about 10s. A Reefton man, who was fitting up his honse preparatory to his marriage, purchased a bath, and left it all night in an out-house. In the morning it had been spirited away, states the Inangahua Times. The journal mentions that there is much petty thieving about the district. The suitability of the land in the Thames Valley and adjoining districts for dairying and mixed farming (says the Auckland Herald's Te Aroha correspondent), is attracting selllers from Taranaki and other parts of this island, as well aa from the South I&land. And considering the condition of much of the land sold the price paid is extremely satisfactory to the vendors. Farms that would be classed as partially improved—some as unimproved— often fetch up to £10 an acre. A peculiar case came under the notice of Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M., at the Auckland Police Court, on Saturday morning A man who had been lined the previous day for drunkenness again appeared. He .stated (.reports the Herald) that he had felt sick on leaving the police cells,, and the police had immediately locked him up again and brought him before the Court on another charge of drunkenness. The evidence of the police was that accused, who was shaking all over at the time of his release, was not ma fit condition to be set at 11(3erty, and before he had left the station precincts he was re-arrested. The magistrate stated that iv the circumstance!* there was no charge to lay against the man. However, he had had a free night's accommodation, and should feel grateful to the police iov preventing him from getting into harm's way. The man stated that he was. At the Arbitration Court, in Gisborne, during the hearing of the painters' dispute, Mr. T. Williams, president of the Painters' Union, stated that the demands included an increase of the rate of wages from Is 3d to Is 4£<l, and in support he referred to the excessive cost of living in Gisborne. His Honour remarked that the same thing was said wherever ihe Court went, that the cost of living was the highest in New Zealand. The cost of living went up at various centres us the Arbitration Court went round. He pointed out that the painters had been declined an increase ;it Auckland leeeutly, and at Wellington they liarl agreed to accept Is 3d per hour, and Wellington, they all knew, was the most expensive centre in New Zealand to live in. His Honour added that it seemed to him that the painters at Gifrborne wanted a hiphoi- ivagt than at any other place in New Zealand. Mr Williams replied that tho conditiouu of living wore tUSerlent in Gusbome.