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Mataura Ensign, Issue 1417, 29 November 1904, Page 5

I The Nagasaki 'Press' says that con- , siderable amusement is said to have been caused iu St. Petersburg by a slip of Emperor Nicholas in accepting the offers of several companies of Siberian militia who volunteered for service at the front. The petition read: "We humbly lay at your Majesty's feet our desire to be permitted to tight ami die for the fatherland." The Emperor, accepting, Avrote on the margin of the petition, in his own hand : "I thank you sincerely, and hope that your wishes may be fully realised." Judgment was given at Wellington yesterday by Dr llcArthur, S.AI., i:i a case brought by the Labor Department against a shopkeeper named Tanner, to test whether the combined districts under the Shops und Ofliccs Act exist." Tanner admitted keeping his shop open, but his counsel contended that the Act could not be enforced because the "combined dis- ; trict" was not specified. The Magistrate upheld his view. Subsection 3 of section 8, he said,, stated that - the 'Minister shall specify each "combined district." This cast a duty upon the Minister which was imperative. Tke condition that "combined district" Was created under subsection 2 of section 8 he disagreed with. He looked upon this subsection solely as a /'rlinition of "combined district," not its creation. To read in the words suggested by counsel for the prosecution would be usurping the functions of the Legislature. He thought it obligatory on the Minister to specify the area and boundaries of combined districts, and until that had been done the "combined district" of Welfingrt-jn does not exist. The case was dismissed. The Labor Department does not intend to appeal against the decision in the shops test case, but "combined districts" will be gazetted and further action taken.