NEWS FROM NEAR AND FAR

Evening Star, Issue 13099, 4 November 1908, Page 3

NEWS FROM NEAR AND FAR

m re S to the recent ari 1!* 1 01 a f lcr6c ! n New Zealand suffering irom consumption, which appears to warrant inquiry, waA made at the. meeting 6ft l 4‘j -\° Hospital and Charitable Aid Board by Mr Bruce, who : said that a prominent resident of the City had informed him of the case—that of a sm> vyor, who. on arriving at Auckland, was required to find a bond of £250: thab he would not become a burden on the State. Ihe man became his own surety in the amount named, but it took all the money he had and left him nothing to live on. He had received some assistance from the surveyors, but after being in the hospital for a time lie had been in a state of star™'«n > n the Waikato district. He w»s reduced to-such straits that he stole to jet food, and for this he was now serving i sentence of imprisonment. The Govem- *]- was stated, were still holding the “ OI ™> the money was of no use, either :o the local bodies or to the man himself, f T“ decided to obtain full particulars of the matter, and to bring it under the notice of the Government.A young man named Ernest Pearson, . o stated that he had been canvassing m connection with the Local Option poll tor the Licensed Victuallers’ Association, pleaded guilty at the Auckland Police Gonrt to having, in last July, signed ns name as a witness to a signature without hearing the person signing it declare it to be his own &g3atuire, and signed as his own proper name. Mr S Mays, who appeared for the "Registrar of • ec b Jr s. eaid that it was q of a wife signing her husband’s name for enrolment. Mr Kettle, S.M., in his comment, ex- * pressed the opinion that this canvassing i tor enrolment was a wrong principle alto- i gather, and opened the wav to grave abuses. Tm© maximum penalty of £SO showed that the Legislature considered it £ b * » ««>“• offence. : Defendant would be fined £-10 and costs (£1 8s). Jn an interview the Prime Minister r6gard t0 Mhe suggestion that the Government should improve the Snez service, so that loss time should bo lost in forwarding the mails from Sydney, . h Ki th ® l . m ' Prov l eme nt was quite impracticable, unless the Government spent an amount of money that would provide a first-class mail seme© of this country’s ' vn ' he recognised that tV V™ Ship Company and the HudShipping Company must run their boats to a time-table date in the interests of their clients, and if the Government were to arrange for a steamer to ! leave for Wellington an hour or so after the arrival of the mails at Sydney, they Mould have to pay a subsidy specially for that steamer. It would be incomparably T*? l ,rect th * money to the purpose ot Me East service via Vancouver or San F rahbisco—Van eou ver if jKissible. Rcr“!n^,*'he suggestion that a connection Rhoold be made at Suva with th© service from Vancouver to Brisbane, the Prime fu- Kl he was tr -ving to arrange womp provide a good transhipping passenger service. Generally speaking, he was not very ftivorable to a transhipping service, but this one seemed to be the best alternative that presented itself at the moment. At Wellington on Monday an appeal came be ore Mr Justice Cooper. The care arose out of an incident that occurred in the Bril’,, 1 V ’ ) V L a,rara P a -md Bush Districts football match The appellant was Sergeant Miller, and the respondent J. J. Kennedy H?f- r ’ - . * en r.ecly brought an action in .he District Court for a.'sault through beir.omoved from a seat at the Masterton Show I ground, and claimed £2OO damages. The ! J l,r . v found a verdict for the respondent, and assessed the damages at £5. The district i Judge gave judgment for this sum‘of £5 ™ under *he District Courts Act * of 1890 that the care was a proper one to ’ bring m the District Court, and awarded i respondent costs on the District Court scale. No application was, however, made to him for a certificate under section 16 of the Police Force Act of 1886 (which relates to costs against policemen), and it was evidence that this section was not in tile mind of counsel for either party. No formal judgment had vet been entered in accordance with Die District Court rules. The appeal by the sergeant was against the district Judge’s decision as to costs, and was on the ground that no certificate of approbation under the Police Officers Act had been given. His Honor allowed the appeal, and set aside the order for costs, and said he did so with a direction to the district Judge that lie was entitled to hear and determine upon the merits an application for a certificate of approbation under section 16 of the Police Force Act. The whole of Monday afternoon's sitting of the Police Court was taken up in hearing the case in which Edward M’Kenzie was accused; of a serious breach of the Criminal Code;- After hearing the evidence of a number of witnesses, His Worship said that there was no evidence to show that accused was guilty of the crime imputed to him, and ho would therefore dismiss the case. Mr Hanlon appeared on behalf of the accused. A large and enthusiastic meeting of p*presentatives of Christian Endeavor Societies, Sunday • schools, Bible classes, and other temperance societies was held in tlie First Church Hall on Monday evening. The Rev. S. Bailey (president of the Endeavor Lmon) occupied the chair. It was resolved to * u a n mo ? s * er em P erance demonstration in the Garrison Hid) and procession through tne principal streets on November 14. strong committee was appointed, with the Rev. S. Bailey a© chairman and Messrs F. H. Newall and C. W. Jacobsen as cecretane&f TH ™ ont M- v meeting of the Kensington school Committee was held on Monday, .Mr J. Ruston presiding. Correspondence was read from the president of Otago Centre, N.Z.A.A.A., re the question of forming a schools’ athletic association. The head master reported the roll number as 224 • average for the past week 206.4. Messrs Butcher and Dalton were appointed a visiting committee for the month. 1 he Minister of Railways considers a loading-bank at the Cattle Yards railway station -«r discharging stock would not lueetihe requirements of certain petition:rs who do business at tr.e Burnside weekly markets. Considering the reasonable charges made by the Burnside Saleyards Company for accommodation, the Minister is of opinion that a proper yard at the new station for controlling stock when unloaded is unnece.^ary. The following are office-bearers of the Grocers Cricket Club for the current reason President, Mr R. G. Hudson; vicepresidents—Messrs WardeJl, Black Keast Robertson, Gordon, M’Gavin, Wright and Etheridge; captain, Mr G. Wycherley-deputy-captain, Mr T. Bennett; Commit’tee—Messis Payne, Hotz, Davenport. Bennett, and Kennedy; Aseociation delegate Mr W. J Kennedy; hon. secretary and treasurer, Mr W. J. Kennedy. A meeting of the Committee of the Dun«lm Fanciers’ Club was held last night. C. appointed: *Mr J. H. Shaw, all variety Leghorns (except white, single. and roee-comb) and all varieties Minorca* ; Mr T. Hides, canaries; ->ir J. kmith, fancy pigeons; Mr \ F homing pigeons; and Mr Hunt' Whit© Leghorns, single and rose-comb. ’ Last scsL-ion Parliament amended the Superannuation Act so that the broken time of a number of railway employees who participated in the maritime strike might be counted, provided a payment of £1,500 was made to the Government Rail way Superannuation Fund. The Amal-r-i mated Society of Railway Servants took'a ballot of members to decide whether th« £1.500 should be paid out of their fundi with the result that a substantial majority in favor of accepting the Government’s offer was indicated, the figures being ; For 3,832; against, 537; majority for, 3,296. ’ How the politicians in the United States love one another. Speaking at Springfield, “ Uncle Joe ” (as the Speaker of the House of Representatives is commonly called) said that his information was tluit the Democratic candidate for the Presidency was yosseseed of a voice that was like the. braying of an a«3, and that he had made a million dollars by selling “ wind and ink ” to the public, this being, of course, an un-

kind allusion to the candidate's journalistic work. Mr Bryan retorted by declaring that he -was worth less than a fifth of what HflA-boen stated, and added: “Bet Mr Cannon tell how much he is worth, and how he got it.” -St the, Police Court yesterday afternoon the application brought by James Scott and Thomas Butcher that the Court order the Waikuwa Saw-milling Company to return to them a boat which it had purchased, and which they alleged they had lost, or, in default, pay them £6, value of the boat, and £5 damages for retention of same, reached its final stage. His Worship said that in regard to the witnefses called it was very difficult to know how much was true and how much was false. .As for three witnesses colled by on© ■ side—Anderson, Mitchell, and M’Clclland —he was satisfied that a considerable part of their evidence was false, whichever way it was looked at. On careful consideration ho was sure that the boat was the- property of the plaintiffs. The boat was ordered to be returned (in default of that £5 to be paid plaintiffs), and the defendant company also adjudged to pay £2 damages for the detention of the boat and costs- amounting to £4. -At a meeting of the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children at New Plymouth yesterday, an offer was received from the hotelkeep'ers in the Taranaki electorate to supply free accommodation for twelve months to the Plunket nurse to be appointed by the society. The offer was accepted with gratitude, and efforts will be made to secure a nurse immediately. Five years more, and the German Empire will come to an end. So, at least, says a prophecy made in the thirteenth century by a monk named Hermann, who died in the monastery of Lehnin, in Brandenburg, where he wrote a work in Latin concerning the future destiny of Germany for many centuries. The work is styled the ‘Vaticinium Lehninense,’and it is in verses, after the manner of the Sybilline books. 'The monks seem to have foretold the defeat at Jena and the constitution of the Germanic Confederation in 1815. Unfortunately, the prophetic Hermann foretells in plain language the downfall of the Hohenzollern dynasty, and William 11. is destined to be the last of his race to sit on the Imperial throne. In 1840 William 1., King of Prussia, consulted a celebrated soothsayer, who, in answer to his queries, told him that he would ascend the throne in 1849, that the German Empire would be established in 1871, that he would die in 1888, and that the German Empire would come to an end in 1915. The first three prophecies have been fulfilled to the very letter. “ The whole East is awake,” writes Mr S. K. Ratcliffe, in the ‘ Nation,’ “ and we shall be worse than crazy if we try to persuade ourselves that a movement which we greet as inevitable and infinitely promising in Turkey or Persia must be condemned -as futile or factitious or wicked when it is manifested among a people habituated for a hundred years to our institutions, and for fifty' years encouraged to share our intellectual heritage. Selfgovernment in India has got to come, and the business of England during the next ten years is to prove to the world that this is what we have been meaning all along. The alternative is not to be contemplated without horror. Confronted by a hostile India, in the presence of an awakened China, a renascent Islam, a triumphant Japan—where should we be?” At the celebration of their golden wedding on September 16 the multi-millionaire steel magnate Mr Singer and his wife made a present of £BOO,OOO to each of their four children. Three of these children are married and have families of their own, while one lives at home with his father and mother. Various presents were also made to many of the near relatives of the old couple who had gathered at the reunion. ’ The intention of Mr Singer had been kept secret, as he wished to surprise his children. He said that he had discussed the matter with his wife, and that they had decided that it was better to distribute the money while they were alive than to dispose of it by will. Mr Singer is nearly eighty, and his wife about ten years younger.