NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9490, 20 April 1894, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

We have been informed by cable that a quarter of a million miners in the United States are to strike to-morrow. Anyone who lias any idea of the lawlessness, the ruin to the mining industry and to trade generally, and the terrible Bufferings to innocent) women and children which this means, cannot bub shudder at such news. There seems to have been no attempt at arbitration or conciliation, and in this America and most other nations are far behind England. This fact has been freely recognised by the French Minister of Commerce, who, writing to Sir Thomas Wright,. President of the National Boot and Shoe Trades Conference, says :—" The question of arbitration is one which occupies our minds very much, and on Whioh we are trying to collect as much information as possible. Would you kindly send me the rules of your Board as well as the annual reports, if there are any published. Your country has the advantage of being much in advance of ours on this important question of pacific and regular relations between employers and employed. We desire to follow your example." In furnishing the required information Sir Thomas Wright mentioned that the practical result of the Conference had been the cessation of strikes and lock-outs in all factories belonging to members of the Federated Associations of Boot and Shoe Manufacturers.

The good effects of voluntary concilia* tion were shown in a very hopeful light at a conference of representatives of the coal and iron industries of the North of England recently convened and presided over by the Bishop of Durham. The Bishop said they all had a common desire to find some method of satisfactorily settling the grievances which arose in their industries with the least disturbance of work. The joint committee which had existed in Northumberland and Durham for the past; 20 years had done much in this direction, and he urged that it was desirable now to take the nexb step towards the establishment of a lasting industrial peace by constituting a representative Board, composed of members of each industry in the district, with power to deal with all county question?, either itself or by arbitrators. Mr. T. Burt, M.P., Mr. David Dale, arbitrator in the North of England manufactured iron trade, Mr. John Wilson, M.P., Mr. W. Whitwell, president of the North of England Ironmasters' Association, and several workmen, spoke—most of them strongly in favour of the practical adoption of the principles-of arbitration and conciliation. Ib was shown bhat in the coal trade the petty local strikes, nearly of daily occurrence 30 years ago, have almost ceased iiince the establishment of the joint committee; and the expenditure on strikes in the Iron Shipbuilders and Boilermakers' Society, with its 40,000 workmen, had only been 3$ per cent, of the income during the last 15 years, and only 1% per cent, during the last five years. The evidence of Mr. Trow, the workmen's secretary of the North of England Manufactured Iron Arbitration Board, on this head is even more remarkable. He has been connected with that Board for 25 years, and with the South Staffordshire Board for 23 years. In all that time, he alleges, they have had but three strikes; two in the North of England iron trade, and one in the Midland trade.

The mutual relations of Great Britain and the colonies haveseldombeen discussed to the same extent as during the lasb few months, and perhaps there has never been such a number of prominent colonial statesmen in England with special missions as at present. Next to Sir George Grey, who naturally stands aparb and occupies a unique position, Sir Thomas Mcllwraith, seems to assume the first place. He is a man of great force of character. He is 59 years of age, and an engineer by profession. As a youth he emigrated from Scotland to Port Phillip, and after' a time gob an appointment in the Government Engineers Department in Melbourne. He assisted at the laying of the leading lines of railway in Victoria, and having accumulated some wealth, went up to Queensland in the sixties and became a squatter. He soon found a place in the Brisbane Parliament, and ab once took up a loading position there. He first took office in 187-4, and five years later became Premier of the colony. ;He has been at the head of the Government on three different occasions. He is a Radical in politics and a man who speaks his mind plainly and fearlessly.

Ib is stated tbab the German police have discovered the existence of an Anarchist plot directed against the Emperor, which was to have been carried out during the wedding festivities atCoburg. Inconsequence the authorities at Coburg have taken elaborate precautions. A leading lady in Antwerp society has been arrested on the charge of poisoning her uncle, brother, and sister in order to obtain the amount of their life insurance policies. The whole amount was only £6000, and yet to secure it a presumably educated and refined woman was coldblooded and cruel enough to commit a triple murder, all the more atrocious and diabolical in that her unsuspecting victims died a lingering death. A singular action has been tried in the English courts. The plaintiff had purchased Cumnor Place, in Berkshire, where according to history Amy Robaart, the ill-fated Countess of Leicester, was murdered in 1560. She wait, as every schoolboy knows, found lying dead, with her neck broken at the footof astaircase, but there can be no doubt that she met a foal death and that her hhsband, if nob Elizabeth herself, was an accessory to the crime. The plaintiff appears to have been induced to purchase the building by the report that the ghost of the unfortunate Amy haunted the room which she had during her life occupied ; but finding either that there was no ghost, or that the historical room had ceased to exist he sought to rescind the purchase. A verdict, however, was given in favour of the defendant. The law does not recognise ghosts. Sir W. V. Harcourt's budget proposals are said to have been well received in the provinces. How increased taxation can bo well received anywhere is beyond the comprehension of ordinary tax - paying mortals. The Government, however, are by no means in a safe position, and a dissolution cannot be far off. A Bill repealing the Irish Crimes Act, which though introduced by a private member, was evidently supported by the whole strength of the Ministerialists, was only read a second time 1 by a majority of six. Ib is reported, however, thab when • the third reading comes on the Government will vote against the Bill. Fair PJay strongly urges the shareholders of the Loan and Mercantile Company to loyally carry out the re-construction scheme.

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS. Hra Excellency the Governor (Lord Glasgow) and party, expect to remain in Auckland till towards the and of * month. nwt The Countess of Glasgow has been plowed to offer two medals (one junior, one en i 0P division) to the chair of music, 1895, 1806 1897, to be competed for by the musical students attending the lectures a b th University College, Auckland. Since the passing of the resolution by the University Senate that music should be one of th« optional subjects for matriculation th! number of students has wonderfully i n creased, and the junior division now counts 30 students, 8 Yesterday, Mr. Seymour Thome George received a communication from Rewi ex pressing his pleasure with his inspection 0 the monument, which he had forwarded to/ him on behalf of Sir George Grey. Rewi/ states that the monument will be publiclj unveiled on Monday next, and he ha? forwarded an invitation to Mr. George J be present on the occasion. This woull be a fitting opportunity for the veterans d the Naval and Military Association of N O J Zealand to present their long-expected J dress of sympathy to Rewi. 7 Litigation is expensive. That is a L mark which is corroborated by every he who has had occasion to appeal to fiw courts, but perhaps the Whangaroa fell case, recently heard in the civil sittinjof the Supreme Court), may prove an oblctlesson to country settlers. It will be iicollectod thut a settler named Nalder suedlome neighbours named Rate tiffs for dartres sustained through being rushed by [bull the property of defendants. It transpled in theevidencethatthehighestpriceevenjiered for this bull was 15s, bub as the result If the case the plaintiff was awarded £200 dJaagea and costs. The plaintiffs costs, sulict of course to taxation, are £213, the defendants costs are £160, so that this bull \Jich in its lifetime was almost valueless, an) which has since been shot as a nuisanc, now costs its unfortunate owners £573ja price sufficient to import a high class hdfrrae bull from England. / ° An abnormal development of <ji kidney fat or" suet was on view yesterdJy at the shop of Mr. Fenton, butcher, Lowlr Queen street. Its weight was 511b. Tip bullock itself was not unusually large, feing only about 7001b, nor was the kidney itself abnormally large, being only abdib 2Jlb or 3lb in weight, but the huge nflss of suet surrounding it was such as /to attract general attention. The othei kidney is also largely surrounded with suit, but only to. about half the weight. J Another instance of the food steamproducing powers of the N'gulguru coal is given in the following telegrlm, received yesterday from Captain Fairtiild, of the Government steamer Hinemo/, from Wellington :—"The Ngunguru co/l is excellent, The Hinemoa, using Ngungu/u coal, made the fastest passage from Auckland to Wel-lington-she has ever maie." H.M.s. Tauranga is to take in abejit 150 tons of this coal, the report of the ingineer of the warship on a trial shipment taken on her last trip, being highly favourable. A pleasing ceremony book place on board the Union S.S. Company Taieri yesterday afternoon, the hands in the engine-room and stokehold presen ting Mr, James McLean, the secondpngineer, with a handsome silver-mounted ppe as a token of esteem on his severing his connection with the steamer. The present was accompanied with expressions of the kindly feeling entirt.ained by those on board to the departing officer, to which the recipient suitably replied. Enquiries have bean made as to t!.i existence of any fuid for keeping the military cemeteries in order, or the graves of officers and men ia the ordinary public cemeteries. It appears there is no such fund, the last subscriptions raised by the Auckland volunteer force having been expended three years ago in renovating the graves of the officers of all arms of the service who fell during the Waikato campaign, and who were buried in theSymondsstreet Cemetery, as also those of the late Commodore Burnett, Boatswain Pascof (H.M.s. Orpheus), ■ and Major Gordon, officer-commanding the Auckland volunteer district. These graves are now, is is said, requiring further renovation. A sum of £200 was voted last session to put the military cemeteries in order, but it is doubtful whether the vote covers such cases as thab of the Symonds-streeo Cemetery. Instead of intermittent efforts, it would be far better if a trifling sum were paid per annum for looking after each grave. It is said about 7s 6d per grave per annum to the sextons would bo sufficient to have the graves of the officers and men buried there kept in order all the year round. The settlers of Auckland, after the Waikato campaign, subscribed over £500 for a monument to Colonel Nixon, of the Defence Force, who fell at Rangiawahia. That monument, erected at Otahuhu, is now in a state of disrepair, and when a deputation of tiers the other day waited upon the Premier in regard to its renovation, his reply was not particularly satisfactory. Colonel Nixon, at the outset of the Taranaki war, by the magic of his name, being beloved by his fellow-settlers, raised at short notice for the defence of Auckland as fine a body of yeomanry cavalry as ever responded: to the trumpet call of " Boot and Saddle"—hardy cross - country riders in their neat serviceable uniforms, fit to do anything or go anywhere. The peed of a public timepiece for the central and southern portions of Queenstreet has long been felt, both by the business people in that pari; ot the city, as well as by visitors and the general public, particularly that large section residing in the different suburbs south of Auckland, who' heretofore have ha.d no opportunity of comparing time until reaching the nortt end of our main thoroughfare, when they come within seeing distance of the towet clock. At last there is some probability o this most necessary acquisition to our city being supplied through the instrumentality of a large clock company, whose representatives have approached the municipal authorities with an offer to erect in central Queen-street, one of _ their large size calendar timepieces, similar in structure and design to thoss supplied by the same company to the cities of Dunedin, Christchurch, and Wellington, and other towns in New Zealand, where they have been allotted prominent positions, with great satisfaction to the ratepayers I«ii the respective places. The new clo":k, which will be fixed under the supervision of the city engineer, will be so placed as to be specially accessible to view by pedestrians on both sides of Queen-street, best passengers in trams and other vehicles, an will be under the direct care of the o established jewellery and clock making nrm of Heinrich Kohn, which should be a gua rantee of ib always showing the correct lm of day, and the day of the month, bpecia efforts will be made to complete all necessary arrangements for unveiling this most C 9' lV ®, merit and ornamental addition to the ci y Auckland on some early date.

On Wednesday night, Mr. An re Heavey, an ex-pawnbroker, whilst 2°'"£ _ bed, at his residence, Chapel-street, fe the stairs and sustained a severe shaking. He was seen by Dr. Bayntun. who ordered his removal to the Hospital. On h » taken there the authorities of the mat tion refused him admission on the _ ' of lack of accommodation, and he wa. taken back to his residence, where he d»ea last evening. Deceased had been • weak and low-spirited condition fortlire« months past, and I>r. BayntunandDr. Kenderdinebad seen him. Dec eased concerning the accident, that KcTfell backfourth step of the stairs, when he fell back iSJTSiIjjJ-. - ss: aeo a native of Galway, Ireland, and said to have accumulated some P rO P , [fhL n ?»r.°wiii. HL* £ he has a daughter residing in Tasmania. A man named Win. John McGow*n w« arrested yesterday by Detective CfegU on a charge of having stolen.an o value £2, the property of Vm. „ Turner, of Hamilton. f ° s ; fc; „ DcHeaps was also arrested by Acting of tive Macmahon on a ch»rge Dro nerty of one pair of canvas boots, the property John Win. Dimock. .

. „ er ence of temperance workers was A , ?«rdav evening at the Pitt-street held lecture Hall to take steps for tfwleyan - jsect temperance work. The mor6 Mr l'utt was present. The apathy ReV " in Auckland was deplored, and a eb °!£ committee, was appointed to carry 'She objects nought. ° voaterday Constable McGilp, of Rawene, i.cd in town, .having brought up a jar » rr ' vC . , in c the contents of the stomach of dSLS child Joseph Holland, of the .Lhii upon whose remains an inquest Kohukoha, upo The jar (which wag sealed) L S b 2 placed in the custody of Mr. Pond, m-incial analyst, for analysis. The formal F t was held on the 10th instant, '"i qUe \he district coroner adjourned the w 11 t till the 14th for a -pout mortem lllU *mTnition of the body and medical e *"Hence Dr. Hall made the post mortem, ? v ' L t ed that he was unable to assign the »e of death. It was then decided to c3U the contents of the stomach to Auckf 6 ' "v foi analysis, tho inquest standing adjourned while. The Australasian Convention of the ■vn.m.n's Christian Temperance Union, iS was recently heffi in Sydney, to have had a good time, '■ .U'in'' from the press reports. First f {]| "the president (Miss Ackerman) was me'-eiited with £1000 by two personal J imirers. husband and wife, as a personal % Miss Ackerman, while expressing her gratitude for the magnificent offer, '•feed that tho donors should applv the money to providing an Australasian headquarters for the omen's Christian Temperance Union, so that the work of the L-uii-.ition might bo more efficiently „ a rried on. The meeting unanimously " ~e (} a resolution requesting that Miss Ackerman should re-consider her determination, and accept the gift. As Miss Ackerman is " a woman of mind," it is doubtful J whether she will alter her decision. The Australian politicians being aware that this Union first initiated the movement for ob- j tiimir,' the women's franchise in New Zealan,. 1, and anticipating that one day the ! delegates ill be among their constituents, whoso suffrages they would have to woo, paid thr in some attentions. The Minister for Education of South Australia sent a telegram, congratulating Mrs. iNicholls, the new Australasian president, on her election to office, while .Mr. Kidd, the Postmaster General of New South Wales, |?avo a harbour excursion and picnic to the delegates. The son of Mr. W. C. Walker, of Ellerslie. a boy of about ten years of age, was yesterday thrown from a pony which he was riding and fractured his arm. He was taken to his father's residence, where his injuries were attended to by Dr. W. R. Erson, of Onehunga. The boy is doing as well as can be expected. Further particulars have come to hand with regard to the death of Harry Laing, the well-known boxer, who was run over by the train returning to Wanganui from the Marton races on April 11. It appears that the train stopped at Fordoll principally for the purpose of watering the engine, the train was backed to the tank, about 50 jards away. Laing, who has a farm at Kauangaroa, near Fordell, had already alighted, but boarded the train again for the purpose of saying good-bye to some of his friends. He was accordingly carried on as far as the watertank, and the neccesary amount of water having been taken in the train started on its journey to anganui. As the carriage was nearing the platform, going at a slow pace, Laing was in readiness in a crouching position to jump off, he fearing that the train would not again stop at Fordell, Laing jumped with the train just near a decline where the station platform terminates, and as he himself says, he all at once felt giddy, was turned round, and in the twinkling of an eye was carried under the wheels, which passed over both his legs in a diagonal position. Some of the passengers standing on the platform of one of the carriages feeling a jolting sensation, called out "What'a that?'' The reply came Harry Laing's killed." By this time the train was in full motion bound for the next station at Matarawa, and with the very inadequate means of signalling at command it was some four minutes before the engine-driver was mf de conversant with the fact that an accident had happened. With reference to a paragraph which appeared in the Northern" Advocate on December 30, 1593, to the effect that; " news is to hand that the ore selected by Mr. derricks, at Puhipuhi, and sent Home to his principals proved so rich that they immediately cabled for him to go Home and further explain matters, Mr. Merricks is said to have not 'only found silver in a chloride form, but also gold," Mr. F. Merricks writes to us from London, under date March 7, disclaiming any responsibility for the publication of the paragraph, and describing the statements therein as " absolutely contrary to truth and facts." The committee of management of the Auckland Chrysanthemum Society have good reason to be proud of the result of their fifth annual show, which was opened it the Choral Hall yesterday afternoon. Although the number of blooms do not come up to former shows, the quality is j much superior, whilst a considerable number ot new varieties have been introduced. It is very pleasing to notice that the exhibition is not confined to the city and suburb?, as in some of the leading classes we have exhibitors from a distance of over one hundred miles successfully competing with the town growers. The display of bouquets , and cur flowers is one of the best that has yet exhibited in Auckland. Another special feature is the table decorations which are very artistically arranged. The show will be open to-day from three to five and from seven to ten, and closes to-morrow evening. All lovers of the beautiful should not miss seeing the exhibition. The half-yearly meeting of the members ( of the Auckland Caledonian Society was held at the Foresters' Hall last evening. There was a large attendance, the Hon. W. Jennings, iI.L.C., presiding. Tho report for the half - year was of a favourable character. It stated that the society had improved its position both numerically and financially. The annual sports held in the lJomain on January Ist had resulted in a nett train to the society of £16. This was very good under the circumstances. During the year the receipts were shown to be £330, and there was at the present time a balance of over £73 in favour of the society, as well as property worth £100. The treasurer (Mr. McKinnon) was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his able services. The election of officers resulted as follows : —Vice-president, Mr. John Ewan ; trustee, Mr. James Stewart, sen. ; pianist, Mrs. Kirkby ; committee, Messrs. A. J. Grover, Vk. .Morgan, R. T. Michaels, W. C. Fraser, J. Robertson, jun., and G. Wybar. A hearty vote of th&iks was passed to the outgoing officers. Last evening witnessed the final production, at the Opera House, of Offenbach's opera of " Madame Favart," by the Auckland Amateur Opera Company. There was a crowded house. The leading members *ere as usual encored, and there was a profusion of floral offerings given to the performers. The cachuca dance hud to be repeated. At the close of the performance »>e company sang "God Save the Queen." in season has been on the whole satisfactory to the company, though it is not anticipated, owing to the expense incurred lr staging the opera, that their credit alance will be greatly benefited. The manner in which the opera has been placed . ore the Auckland public and performed y the company, is creditable alike to the members of the company to the musical conductor, 1 1 err Carl Schmitt, and to Mr. rchaale Tayler, the stage manager. The gifted artiste, Bessie Doyle, has been .reating a veritable furore in the Waikato 'strict; her tour being a succession of wmphg. Wherever she has appeared, 16 utmost enthusiasm has prevailed at cap ' Performance, enliminating in some of In "es by the Presentation of Maori curios, audition to the ordinary floral tributes, /l onset l u enee of the phenomenal success was' eVC 'at Hamilton, sufficient inducement orr & lve " for 11 return concert, on which the s '° il 6 ' oca ' amateur orchestra, and Thfi ' Infanlr y band gave their services. th« " lai,ll K e| nent have decided to charge famuli iUe P rice of one shilling ab the Citv u ~e monst ration to be given in the ditinn i i m," Monday next, with an adhanr? at «, n 8 or seats reserved beforeplan 'i a at ' srß. Wild man's, where the ball is now open.