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Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 21 December 1927, Page 8

Innisfail, that Queensland town of queer happenings, has provided the latest illustration that the law can be an ass at times. Born to the commonsense custom of older lands of sunshine, where the extreme heat of early afternoon is utilised for rest and the earlier hours of morning for labour, certain Italian cane-cutters thought there would he no harm, in lieginning their day’s work in the broad daylight before G o’clock, with the intention of taking a siesta, in the middle of the day. For this breach of the award, which forbids work before 6 o’clock, the astonished Italians were each fined £3 by a magistrate who was sympathetic hut powerless to give practical effect to his sympathy. Once again man’s prejudice has led him to err against "nature’s honest l-nle.” The State that is an innovator in a continent that prides itself on its industrial innovations has proved itself unable to profit hv centuries of experience in lands the climatic conditions of which are analogous to its own. There is a special irony in Innisfail being the scene of the punishment. One can recall numerous recent instances of lawless conduct there l (says the "Argus” - ) which were allowed to go unpunished. A memorial to the 'late Mr, Mlalcolm Niccol, of Auckland, who was grand master of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand Freemasons in 1892-93, and grand secretary from 1900 to 1921. has just been erected over his grave in Hillsborough cemetery, in pursuance of the resolution passed by the Grand Lodge last year. Forty years ago (says the "New Zealand Herald”) Mr. Niccol was one of the leading ship owners in Auckland, largely concerned in the Islands trade. For many years he was Mayor of Devonport. and at another period chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board. He was one of the founders of the Masonic Grand Lodge, and its second grand master, and in his career as grand secretary did much for the advancement of the institution. The monument takes the form of an obelisk of Scotch granite, and hears a suitable inscription surmounted by a Masonic symbol.