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Mataura Ensign, Issue 1412, 17 November 1904, Page 5

The Scarborough mother who told the coroner that her child had died through the witchcraft of a former neighbor is only ono of tho many people who still believe in the black '. art. * At Bottisham, near Cambridge, last year, a wood merchant, ajied only twenty-seven, was imprisoned for cruelty to Jus three horses. lie thought they had been bewitched l;y an enemy, and to remove the spell lie gave them a broth which he made 1-y boiling some nails, a peenyworth of pins, and pieces of a horse's hoof over a fire with incantations. In the same month a herbalist was fined fifty pounds at Exeter for defrauding pcople as a witch-doctor. He was employed to remove spells from haunted houses, and did so by scattering a powder round the rooms and repe-it-ing the Lord's Prayer backwards, at a charge of A striking illustration of Lord Charles Beresford's thoughtfulncss for tho men under his command was furnished a few weeks ago in connection with the arrival of his stfuudron in the Tync for # a three days' stay (says the 'Chronicle'). The squadron should have consisted of eight battleships and four cruisersi, but one of tho latter failed to put in an apircarince, and Lord Charles, in acknowledging an address of welcome from the local authorities: on the banks of the Tync, explained that while in Scottish waters one of the crew of the Thespus became ill. If he had brought the warship on to the Tyne the patient -voidd probably have died, and as he held that a man's life was more important than the moving of a cruiser he urder- - ed the latter to remain behind. Lord Charles also said that he wished the people who came on board the war- - ships to remember that they were inspecting taxpayers. They were invit-xl . to see everything and ask as many 't questions as they could, and they ■would ■ be'freely and readily answered.

I The competition among the Great i Public Schools for the distinction of the cricket premiership has yielded a record individual score for New South Wales, and, at the same time, a record for an Australian schoolboy. Playing against Newington College recently Dean, o the Church of England Grammar School, ran up a score of 412. The vigor of his batting may be judged from the fact that the runs were made in three hours and a-half, and that he hit one five and 70 fours. Theonly break in the innings was the three-Kj'Uarters of an hour luncheon interval, and this inakes(the featiall the more notable. Later in the afternoon too, he kept wickets with considerable success. The world's record for a schoolboy is the 028 of A. R. Collins, achieved in a "house match" in the West of England some three or four i years ago. In point of class, however, the match was not comparable with that in which Dean has made cricket history. The latter had hitherto been recognised at the school as a good, sound batsman, likely enough to get rims at any time, but this is his first big performance. The total of the side reached 670, and, against this Newington College made 31 runs in the first innings, and, in the second, lost seven wickets for 125. The result was accordingly a decisive win for the Church of England Grammar School.

A general meeting of the members of the Gore Harrier and Amateur Athletic Club is to be held to-morrow evening, when important business will be considered, including the question of sending a team,to take part in a relay race under the auspices of the Dunedin club. In addition to a new scries of illustrated songs, etc., to be given by Montgomery's Entertainers at Gore this evening, a most interesting selection of kinematograph films depicting the various stages of bcu culture will be shown A moot point in respect to the new Licensing Act is regarding the posi- '• (•on of that past cause of much'liti- ' gatiou, the bona fide traveller. Copies of the new Act have just come to ihand, the statute having come into operation on NovemberfSth. The section dealing with the thirsty traveller is No. as, and it reads :—"Subsection o of section 22 of the Amendment Act, 1895, is hereby repealed so far as the same relates to travellers." The subsection referred to repealed section 156. of the Licensing Act, 1881, which provided :—"Nothing in this Act shall i preclude an innkeeper who is .icensed to sell liquor to be consumed on the premises from selling such liquor at any time to bona fide travellers or to persons lodging in his house." The subsection by this year's Act substituted restrictions regarding supplying bona fide travellers, and did not make it obligatory to the hotelkeeper to supply ljquor. But neither section:lß of this year's Act nor subsection 5 of section 22 of the 1895 Act, repealed section 157. which also refers to the bona fide traveller, and provides for the procedure in anv proceedings taken against "any innkeeper for infringing the provisions of this Act relating to closing." Jt is held in some quarters, in view of the nonrepeal of this section ot the 1881 Act. that the bona fide traveller still exists in all his prinstinc glory. A test case on the point is probably not a remote contingency.—'Truth.' The Gore Tennis Club open its season on Saturday at the Caledonian Ground. Owing to the repairing of the courts being delayed by the weather, the opening is a little" later than usual. Everything now is in good order, and provided the clerk of the weather sees fit a large gathering is expected to assemble at the opening ceremony. All members are refpicstcd to attend and friends arc invited to be present' Probably there are few persons nho realise the enormous loss entailed to poultry producers through the breakage of eggs in transit. It is estimated that this loss throughout the world amounts to no less than ten millions sterling per annum. To prevent this loss appears to have been a problem as difficult of solution as the standing ot an egg upon end. Two New Zealanders—Messrs G. Finn and A. S. Pykc, manager and engineer respectively of the Fresh Food and lee Co.—claim to have solved the problem in n most effectual manner, and are patenting their invention in every country of the world tluough Messrs Baldwin and Hayward, patent agents | of Wellington. The device is saicf to : be oxtremely simple and cheap, and is so effective that a crate of eggs can bu thrown upon the ground from a dray without danger of breakage to the contents. Other advantages of the invention are that each egg is independently carried and is capable of inspection without handling, while a free current,of air is permitted around i it. IE the invention is really what the inventors claim for it, and this | appears to be the case, they will 1 <-'ie- | fit the worl to an almost incalculable extent. Members of the Farmers' Union and j others who have been agitating in 1 the direction of securing a legal weight for farm produce, will be interested in learning that an attempt is ki'wg made to establish what would I e practically a State weighing system in Victoria. A bill to provide for the appointment of sworn weighers and the legal acceptance of the weigh- ; 'bridge records has been introduced in the Legislative Assembly by Mr iiowI ser and Mr Graham. It provides that

the Railway Commissioners shall appoint sworn weighers for goodt! and -live stoek to be carried over the railways. The certificates issued by these weighers are to be accepted as correct for the purpose of determining the question of weight as between buyer and seller in all transactions with the Railway Department. If a buyer or seller of grain should object to the tare of any truck or vehicle used in transporting grain, he is to be entitled to have it reweighed on payment of a fee. The bill also provides that "every sworn weigher who is guilty oi any nonfeasance, misfeas-

ance or malfeasance in the discharge of the duties of his office shall, in addition to any liability for damages that ho may incur to any person prejudiced by his misconduct or default, be guilty of an offence, and shall on conviction before a Court of Petty Sessions be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year, and to a penalty not exceeding £uo." The Commissioners' will be empowered at any time to remove any sworn weigher from office. Ten years hence the club which lias members of both sexes will be no longer an experiment (writes Colonel Newnham-Davis in 'The Onlooker), and a similar taste in sport, or nrt, or agriculture will bring ladies and men together under the same roof. The rv-arraugement of club-houses will not be difficult. There is generally a drawing-room or a morning-room into which somnolent members retire to snore, which will mako an excellent ladies' realm, and the club diningroon, lightened by the presence of the fair sex, will once more, become a dangerous rival to the restaurants., It is quite a popular fallacy that the conversation of club men is sometimes unlit for ladies' ears, but I should dread the consequences if an old club fogey were to over-hear two very up-to-date club ladies discussing the morals of their friends. An ambulance room to deal with apoplectic cases may at first be required in the club of the future.