SPECIAL TELEGRAMS.

Evening Star, Issue 11891, 20 May 1903, Page 7

SPECIAL TELEGRAMS.

WELLINGTON, May 20 It is siiicl iimt tJ. e defalcations of a Civl servant recently suspended amount to £l6O He is thought to have skipped Rio by the Athenic last Fndav.

I*> was stated in the -star' a few months zgo laau experiments were being- made by the I c.sce Department with an electric torch with tho mtention that if the cost of maintenance came within reasonable limits it would replace the bull's-eye lantern now commonly used by members ot the fore*. Commissioner Aimbrioje informs me that the torch has been subjected to severe practical tests, and his department is now convinced that the expense necessitated by keeping dry cells of batteries in working order would be too great to warrant its adoption at the present time. In other respects it is an improvement on the old system. Commissioner Tunbridge, who will land over the charge of the police force to Ins successor, the late Chief Inspector Dinnie of Scotland Yard, when the latter arrives in the colony a few weeks hence, has hooked passages for himself and family by the new Orient hr.er Oreta, leaving Sydney on July 4. In that ci-.se Mr Tunbridge will shake the dust of New Zealand off his feet on June 27.

An outcry has been raised by some Opposition papers with regard to what they consider the remissness of the Government in opening up the Poverty Bay Crown lands. In their anxiety to prove a case against the Government the papers in question appear to have confused Crown and native lands, a,s the statements have gone forth that there are in the Poverty Bay district 500,000 acres of Crown lands still to be disposed of. On my calliu" the attention of the Minister of Lands and MiKensington (Under-Secretary) to this matter, they gave me to understand that there'is nothing like that area yet to be disposed of. The last report of the Commissioner stated that the total area of Crown lands remaining was about 260,000 acres. Of that area 76,000 acres are either already in tho ' Land Guide' as land open for selection or were opened last month. Over 8,000 acres are reserved, and the balance is under survey. Smvey work is nearly completed, and tho land will be put on the market very soon. have been given to the Commissioner to have every available acre opened for settlement, and that official hopes to have it open at the end of August; m fact, all Crown land that is tt either for close pettlement or pastcral purposes is now either open or in process of survey t;» be opened within the next few months.

As a general rule sittings of the Magistrate's Court here are not marked by stormy weather, but there was an exception yesterday forenoon, when an elderly woman, who was plaintiff in a civil action, played up sc fiercely as to earn her four days' imprisonment for contempt of • court. The woman, by name Flora M'Dougall, sued one Hugh Wright, who is tho keeper of a donkey, which forms one of the principal attractions at the marine resort across the bay, for a refund on some wcrk which she aliened had not been carried out as stipulated. The plaintiff was in a state of excitement during the early stages of the case, but grew violent when Wright called a witness who bore out his statement. Leaving her seat, she rushed upon the defendant, and overwhelmed him with her size and her fists, giving him a pummelling before the bailiff could pull her off. On being sternly reprimanded by Mr Haselden. the woman cried out: "It is not a court of justice; it is a court of injustice." She added that all the parties were in a conspiracy against her, and named the magistrate and the clerk of the court as taking sides against her, and vehemently denounced everybody. Finally she gave way to tears. The defendant, on recovering his breath, said that the woman had attacked him in exactly the same furious way the other day in one of the city streets. When asked whether she had anything to say why she should not be committed for contempt of court, the plaintiff said "No," whereupon the magistrate sentenced her to four days' imprisonment. Whilst judgment was being delivered the bailiff and court orderly were keeping guard over the woman. The orderly then said: " Come along with me." Rising from her seat in a seeming spirit of meekness, she proceeded to follow the orderly, but when passing Wright the woman again pounced upon him, and administered another pummelling before the bailiff and orderly could pull her off. Wright, who suffers from a weak heart. got a terrible fright while in the clutches of the infuriated woman, and he was so much upset by the incident that he had to be taken away to rest a while. Dealing with the civil action which led up to this exciting, incident, the magistrate gave judgment for the defendant.