TELEGRAMS. . HARDSHIPS OF THE PIONEER.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 62, 10 September 1910, Page 9

TELEGRAMS. . HARDSHIPS OF THE PIONEER.

A TYPICAL CASE. [BY TXUSQRAPH — SPECIAL TO IHB POST.] CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Writing to Mr. T. York, of Woolston, a former resident of that locality gives a vivid picture of the troubles of the settlers in the Roadless North. He says : "Two of my boys and myself left Inglexvood with two good halfdraught horses, a light spring dray, and 11 cwt of goods on our 74 miles journey to our present location. At the end of three days we arrived at Whangamomona — 43 miles of mud, in many places up to the girths, and we had to walk all the way ourselves. From hero we had fourteen miles to go to the land, and it took us eight clays to get there. There is a very bad river boundary to our place, and when we arrived there we found four settlers camped on the bank waiting for the river to go down. They had been there a month, aaid never thought of a raft until we built one and got our goods: and ourselves across. When we came here there was no track for horses nearer than one and a half miles, so we had to carry all our stuff on our backs. Now we can get pack horses to the door. There has been about four miles of six feet track made this year about here, so, compared with other settlers, we are well off for roads. I often think of the labour agitators and land nationalises in Christchurch, and would like to see them with an 801b or 901b swag on their backs, toiling through the buah, and then see if they would say that the bush settlers do not earn all they get." THE SCOTT EXPEDITION. ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE DOGS. ALL THE COAL PROMISED. [BI TELEGRAPH — SPECIAL TO THE POST.J CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Messrs. Meares and Bruce, who have arrived in Australia with the ponies and dogs for Captain Scott's expedition, will come on to Lyltelton by the first steamer, and the animalsiwill be placed on Quail Island, where they will be kept until the Terra Nova is ready to leave for the Antarctic regions. Arrangements had been made to send a veterinary inspector to Brisbane to meet the Prinz Waldemar there and pass the animals, so that they might be admitted on arrival in Sydney. At Vladivostock, however, they were all put through, the mallien test, and all the Australasian Governments have agreed that, in these circumstances, they may be admitted without further difficulty. The test is made by injecting mallien under the skin and observing the effects. Mr. J. J. Kinsey, the Australian representative of the expedition, states that all the coal required by the Terra Nova, 500 tons, has been, promised to be delivered in Lyttelton. The Union Steam Ship Company will give 100 tons, and 50 tons each will be given by the Huddart Parker Company, the West port Coal Company, the Blackball Coal Company, the Westport-Stockton Coal Company, the New Zealand Shipping Company, the Shaw, Savill, and Albion. Company, the Tyser Company, and tho Federal-Hoolder-Shire Company. EX-CAPTAIN KNYVETT. HIS LATE COMPANY INDEBTED TO HIM. [BX TELEGRAPH — SPECIAL l'O THE POST.] ADCKLAND, This Day. The judgment, obtained by the Par-* sons Trading Co. against ex-Captain Knyvett for £131 5s lid, -an application in connection with which was made on the 16th August in the Magistrate's Court, Wellington, has been settled, the amount having been paid in full. With regard to the finances of Mr. Knyvett's old company, concerning which 'certain' rumours have been afloat, it is now announced that these also have been satisfactorily adjusted. Mr. Knyvett, when in Auckland recently, m«v the officers and non-commissioned officers of tho corps and handed over all vouchers and receipts together with a statement of accounts. These have been accepted and approved by the company, and a certificate has been signed by the officers and non-commissioned officers of the covp? showing that the company is indebted to Captain Knyvett to the extent of some £199. It-AESS ASSOCIATION.] WIFE DESERTION. DARGAVILE, 9th September. A distressing case of wife desertion occupied the attention of Mr. T. Scott Smith, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court to-day. The case presented some exceptionally brutal features. The parties were married in Aratapu last November, the husband being an engineer on a river steamer. For about a month, it seems, they resided with the wife's father, during which 'time the husband paid the cost of board arid lodging. Then they went to reside in Heiensville, where the husband had obtained employment. In March last that employment ceased, and the wife came back to Aratapu to reside with her father. The husband remained in Helensville, and upon, the pretext of finding work went to town, where it appears he "carried on" with some other woman. Eventually he- obtained work in Whangarei, but since March has not returned to his wife, and has sent her little or no money. Her father is an old man out of work. She is practically destitute. At the time of her confinement the husband wrote a particularly brutal letter to his wife, informing here that he could not love two women, and was going away to Sydney. He was ai rested in Whangarei upon a warrant taken out by his wife. The magistrate commented upon the case, and ordered the man to pay -oi a week maintenance, in default, six months' imprisonment. WET TIMBER. AUCKLAND, This Da>. An architect's claim for fees for supervision of a building produced interesting evidence respecting the shrinkage of timber in a house erected in winter. Thomas Jones sued Arthur Cuthbert for supervising fee. Plaintiff is valuator for the Government Valuation Department. Defendant alleged that plaintiff was negligent in inspection, and overlooked bad workmanship, that one room had to- be re-lined, a-nd that the passage i and several rooms leaked. Plaintiff said the contractor had done good work, that the timber was damp, as it was erected in winter, consequently the timber shrunk and warped without the fault of workmanship. His Worship : Surely you as inspector should have condemned the timber. Plaintiff: It was apparently dry, and it is often impossible to tell whether nmu is dry inside. It might be wet outside and dry inside and vice versa. After much evidence the Magistrate gave judgment for plaintiff, as apparently tho defendant's delay in carting the timber had caused it to get too wet, and as the shrinkage was not due tg faulty workmanship or inspection.