NEAR AND FAR.

Evening Star, Issue 14036, 17 April 1909, Page 1

NEAR AND FAR.

At the Invercargill Police Court ycsfei'day a young woman, who did not appear, ? was charged on two informations with ■■ breaches of a prohibition order. In the absence of the accused, who was reported to be in such a state as to make her at* tendance an impossibility, the hearing wai adjourned. Later in the day steps wejs taken with a view to having the-young woman committed under the Inebriates’ In- < Act to some institution where she would receive treatment to counteract the influence which at the present time is a serious menace to her health. It appears, however, that, though legislation ii provided to deal with such cases, there- k no existing institution of the kind contemplated by the Act. There are homes ta which habitual drunkards may bo committed, but a legally habitual drunkard is a person who has been thrice convicted of drunkenness within nine mont hs. The young woman, though prohibited, has never been convicted three times. The'matte was finally arranged by the magistrate re cording a conviction on the first charge: ■; with a fine of £lO, in default two monthi in gaol, the fine not to be imposed if the woman agrees to stay for twelve months u in the Mount Magdala Home. The heariug of the second charge was adjourned sine die in the hope that what had beea done would have the effect sought. Wellington Employers’ Askiciation LW\, night passed a motion approving of the Ni; resolution recently passed by the New Zealand Federation’s Advisory Board iii reference to the question of preference to mnonists; also'recording their determination to resist any attempt to curtail the right of the free selection of workmen, and declining to accept the dictum of the Arbitration Court that employers should refuss to engage workers unless they become'"# members of unions. ’ The monthly meeting of the Maori Hill Fire Board was held yesterday afternoon, Mr S. N. Brown presiding. The secretary reported that the bell formerly at the Great King street station had been procured from the Dunedin Fite Board. He recommended fire alarm boxes be placed at the corner of Newington avenue and Hi ah street, Driver street (about ten drains f rom High street), Council Chambers corner, north end of High street, corner of Henry and Lothian streets, fire brigade station. ' The station is now completed, and tenders for lighting it by electricity were referred to a committee. Mile Claire de Serval recently fasted in ; a -public hospital in Berlin, partly in the : bops of curing a chronic migraine and 4 partly for scientific purposes (says the cor- - respondent of the ‘ Standard ’). Mile do Serval suffered many years in tins way, the largo number of doctors whom she can-, suited cn different occasions being unable' to afford her relief. She herself found that' . the persistent headache only ceased wlien --v she neither ate nor drank. Acting on: tins practical experience, she suggested to her medical attendants that she should undergo a “hunger and thirst cure”—that is, abstain entirely from eating and drinking during a long period in order to ascertain whether this treatment will relieve'her' from suffering. When the correspondent wrote, eleven days had passed since she had taken food or drink She was enclosed in a glass case in the hospital, where she was permanently observation. Her ease was supphcdywiLh fresh air by a small motor. Otie '’roUjmfife doctors were close to her voluntary prison day and night. Mile de Sercia communicates with the outside world by moans of. a small telephone. There has been ■ a defect in the teleplione for the last few hours, during which she has communicated by. writing. Her weight decreased ■ by one pound per day during the first few* days, but during the last few days the daily increase was only about seven ounces.- Medical men were closely watching ucr • and taking note of the effect of the-long abstention from eating on her health. .'Tlu'v expected useful scientific observations. Mile de Serval’s general condition was oxcellent, and she staled that Hie never felt' 1 better in her life. '

Mme de Perrot, who was recently delivering a series of lectures, entitled ‘Famous Love Stories, in Ixmdon, proposes (o form a Titian Society, the object of which will be to popularise Titian or rod hair, and to promote chivalry, amiability, and good-fellowship. The membership will be exclusively composed of redhaired girls, and politics will be eschewed. The German Emperor is said heartily to approve of the scheme. Mme de Perrot hopes' to lecture shortly, taking the redhaired girl as her subject. The Montreal correspondent of the ‘Evening Standard,’ on March 5, cabled that there are indications of a strong effort to revive Church influence in Quebec by Catholic authorities. A remarkable libel suit, he adds, was heard in the Superior Court of Montreal, where five men wero sued by Alderman Duquette for having publicly declared liim to be a Freemason. All the defendants apologised, and withdrew their charge. When a witness at the Southwark Comity Court gave his Cluirtian name as Lemuel. Judge Willis remarked: “That is an Old Testament name, hut perhaps you don’t know that?” ‘‘Thirty-first of Pioverbs,” Lemuel replied, promptly.

The London County Council have had an iron screen fence erected on the wall which divides the New Park Road School; from the vicarage garden of All Saints’,. Clapham Park (says the ‘ Chronicle ’). Thus, what has been described f is an oldstanding feud between the scfaohlboys and the vicarage comes to an end. The circumstances of this feud are peculiar. The late vicar, whose death was recently reported, was in the habit of confiscating the balls which the schoolboys inadvertently threw' over the trail into the vicarage garden, and selling them, devoting the pro-" needs to his Band of Hope. His contention -was that the County Council should take steps to prevent the balls from going over the wall, but that authority declined to erect a screen on the wall. The result was that vicar and schoolboys had a grievance. Now, however, the Council have erected a screen, and there will in future be no more balls sent into the vicarage garden.

A revolution (if the Glamorganshire correspondent of the ‘ Standard ’ is right) has taken place in Wales, for, instead of the leek, the daffodil has been adopted as the national emblem. In spite of Shakespeare and the heroic use which Fluellen made of the leek, there is historical warranty, it appears, for the belief that the delicate blossoms that “ come before the swallow dares and take the winds of March with beauty ” were really the old floral emblems of Wales. At all events, they are now in fashion, and on the feast of St. David they wore to be seen worn by thousands of pa- ’ triotic Welshmen in the Principality.