NEWS FROM NEAR AND FAR

Evening Star, Issue 13150, 5 January 1909, Page 3

NEWS FROM NEAR AND FAR

On Friday evening, as the 6.40 tram w.is leaving Bluff, a man ran to board the train, and, missing his footing, fell between the carriage and the platform, lie was promptly seized and held up, and the cries of the lookers-on reaching the ears of the driver the train was promptly pulled up after travelling a few vards". '1 ho mm received attention and took some lime io recover, but was fortunately <ound to have sustained only a severe shaking. He was taken charge of bv the police on "a charge of being drunk. Some of the dangerous doings of the small boy with the cracker, reported by the Limiakn correspondent of the 'Southland Times,' are:—A lady had driven in a spring cart from a neighboring township to do some shopping, and was getting along all right when a young urchin landed a cracker amongst the horse's feet. Of course, the horse wanted to bolt, but bein" a good driver the lady got him in hand after a lot of plunging.'and nothing serious happened. On Saturday, however, something more serious did happen. Twoyoun" men were driving into the township'when a bunch of crackers was fired just as they wore passing, and startled the horse, with the result that the trap turned turtle, and the young men were shot clean out. A sad incident is reported from Foxton. The wife of the postmaster there was conversing with her husband in the garden, when she remarked that it w;is suddenly getting dark. It twined out that she had been stricken with blindness. Whether the loss of- sight is merely temporally lias not yet been ascertained. Notwithstanding the extreme vigilance of the police—it cannot reasonably "be expected tliat they will catch every offender —a good deal of liquor is being from time to time smuggled into Oamaru. The ingenious methods of bringing in tho grog } v , orlll y of a bettor cause (says the ' Mail'). Ono adopted a few davs a"o will' take some beating. An evident "slygroggor" who was bringing his ean»o in bv train got word that he was suspected. This put him on liis guard, necessitating the aid of a friend to carry out an elabo" rate plan. On arrival at the station the individual in question alighted, and was immediately shadowed by "two officers of the law. 'I he offender immediately proceeded to the guaid's van, under the pretence of getting his luggage, and was followed by a policeman. In the meantime tho accomplice jumped off the train with the weighty portmanteau and wended his way unnoticed to a cab in waiting, which at once drove off'with the booty. The suspect, finding out the success" of hishoax, now moved on, leaving the policeman still waiting. The accomplice's share of the proceeds, it is.understocd, amounted to a new suit. ' Wild cattle on Mount Egmont are reported to be doing a good deal of damage. A settler who has a holding of 700 acres close to the park wrote to the Egmont Park Board at their last meeting stating that the wild rattle were continually coming down and destroying his fences, as well as enticing his own cattle away. He wished to know if he could destroy the wild cattle. The Board resolved that the matter was one which the settler himself could decide. He was also referred to the Impounding Act. An attempt to ' apply that Act as suggested should furnish an exciting experience in droving. At Wellington yesterday the inquest was concluded on the body of tho mac found murdered at Courtenay place on the morning of December 27. Evidence as to identi.fieation was given by five seamen, who all agreed that the body was that of a man named M'Carmack, formerly a member of ' the crew of the Dartford, and who was discharged from that vessel on October 15. He was subsequently on the schooner ; Annie Hill, being paid off from that boat at Lyttekon on December 2A. One- wit-

noss said that M'Cormack took liquor fiwly when ho had money, and when he ■was "Tinder the influence" was very "soft," and could be led anywhere. Ho was about thirty-two years of age. The jury returned a verdict that deceased eanie by his death by violence at the hands of some person or persons unknown. The fifth annual Convention of the New Zealand Dental Association was opened at Wellington yesterday, Mr A. Hoby, L.D.S., president of the Association, in the chair. The annual report contained the outline of a scheme drawn up by Messrs S. Keane. Dixon, and Carter, of Auckland, for elementary lectures to be handed over to the Education Department for introduction into the Re-hook of the Dominion. Publication of the details is withheld pending the result, of the full discussion by the Conference. The importance of the 'question was lecogn.ised by delegates present as affecting national development, and it was acknowledged that the dental profession was the pro pea- source of proposals for reforms in the direction of ensuring the proper treatment of children's teeth! The opinion was expressed that a similar scheme in u6e in the German schools, and forming an important item in the curriculum, justified steps being taken in New Zealand to combat the evil. New Zealand had a small exhibit of froit and preserves at the Colonial Fruit Exhibition under the auspices of the Royal Horticultural ■ .Society of England. The show was held at a season" of the year when nono of the colonics except Canada could hope to make a big show, and it was not surprising that the Canadian exhibits occupied about half the building. The New Zealand exhibit was made out of leavings (rather the worse for wear) from the display at the Franco-British Exhibition. The honey badlv required clarifving, tho apples had been polished up for the occasion but could not quite conceal the signs of advancing old age, and tho jam was none the better for having been " new too soon." It would have been bettor if the Dominion had not lioen an exhibitor'. Nevertheless. New Zealand was awaided silver medals for her apples and jams, and bronze medals for her honev and preserved fruits. In making allowance for the Kaiser's utterfd indiscretions, we must remember the German language (save the New York 'Evening Post'). Ordinary German prose suffers from a dreadful excess of metaphor. The "mailed fist'' and the "loosened sabre " axe not altogether rhetorical sparks struck out on the hot anvil of Imperial excitement, but examples of that poetic exaggeration so easy to a German. It is a fault most common among the most learned. Professor Jones, of Yale or HarV i vould probably begin his volume on The Geology of Yucatan ': "By Yucatan. in the present work. I mean the Central American peninsula known bv that name as well as the adjacent coasts," etc. But Professor Hammenschlag, of Leipsic, must begin by saying: "The convulsive conti-nent-splitting efforts of Terra to pour forth her imprisoned, vital forces, brought forth m the dim Triassic ages, the torrid land-' mass which lolls like a sleeping monster between the warm waters of the Caribbean and the tend waves of the Gulf of Mex. coin 87dcg to 92deg west longitude." AuEnelisli politician speaking in English says: "This country—er—welcomes the—er—friendly rivalry of a great Power- like Germany under its—er—honored Sovereicm as—or—conducive to the interests of both nations " etc. But when a German states-nan rises to speak the genius of his ]amma.--~e demands that he shall say : " Germania wants peace, but the will continue to stare defiantly into the bloodshot eyes of ravening naval Powers who, with eager claws," etc