LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11852, 2 January 1902, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Hon. James McGowan, Minister fot ' Mines and Justice, attended the race meet-;' | ing at Ellerslio yesterday, and in the even* M ing left on the Waiotahi for the Thames*. , <„' accompanied by Mr. Jackson Palmer*/ '■ M.H.R. for Ohinerauri. .- Mr.; McGowanf;;f may remain in the Thames district for; ; about a fortnight. >- The Auckland Racing Club's Midsummer, ■■ Meeting was continued yesterday, when,) : the weather proved delightfully fine, audi i " a, large number of the public took advan-. i — tage of the opportunity to witness the J ;. sport, which, on the whole, was decidedly/ .: interesting. The only starters in. the Great Northern Deroy were Mr. G. G. Stead's, pair, Mensehikoff and Royal Artillery, the*' ;'• first-named winning hard-held by a lengthy while in the Auckland Racing Club Hindi- ', cap Mr. J. T. Ryan's colt Nonette was then • winner, the favourite, St. Michael, finish-! 1 ing third. The meeting will be concluded', '/' to-day, the principal attractions on the pro-' gramme being the Royal Stakes, the Audi;*:', land Plate, and the 'Steeplechase. ' 'i-rV-'j' There were in the lockup last evening,-; several persons charged, with drunkenness;,,',- . -'. also two youths named Alexander Lodge! " ; and Arthur Watson, charged with fighting' ■■ j; in Queen-street, and Peter Huff, on a charger; ~ of assaulting John Carson. , The Victorian Select C'ommibtee or. Rail-. way. Carriage Lighting has, tei hiuch de? •i- -' liberation, presented its report to tho State Parliament. The report recommends a! ; continuance of the Pintsch gas system,, which, it is stated, cost £55,000 to install, and which has greatly improved since it . was first tried. ' The committee at the same •;. time recommends that the expenditure should be brought down to, something more reasonable than what it now is, being 15s 9Ad per 1000 cubic feet, { and should ba made of oil locally. ,' An exciting incident ; happened 'at the Union. Company's Margaret-street Wharf,; ,--;;;•'• Sydney, on the occasion of the departure of the steamer Monowai for, New . Zealand.; . -_-" The steamer was (says the Sydney Tele-! graph) just on the point of starting, the. ■. wharf being crowded ' with passengers"' friends, when a woman with a child in her - arms, : who : was standing on one of thestringers, accidentally. fell overboard. The -.alarm ; was raised, and ■ one of the wharf, -; hands, named Niblock, rushed to the spot, and without waiting to divest homseli of.- . his clothes, plunged overboard to the" rescue.--' Meanwhile great consternation ■ prevailed amongst the crowd on the wharf, and "the steamer was kept back. 'All fears for the safety of those.; in the water were .■■■ . < however, quickly allayed. '' Niblock, wHo as"::? a powerful swimmer, had seized, the child with: one arm, and he • kept the mother- r afloat with:.. the other,'- and ?; all three <" were - ,"" hauled on to the wharf by means of life- * - lines, which had => been promptly thrown by the crew of the Manapouri, moored -' alongside. The plucky conduct of Niblock, who belongs to the whan staff of the Union Company, is highly spoken of. ' A coach - driver named Dorringtoit- _ sustained ; serious". burns " in"" peculiar; ■""' circumstances ■ while driving Aisbeti'scoach between , Scarsdale . and Pitfield (Victoria). He had placed a; burning pipe in his pocket, and the lining! '.'"■"" of his coat became ignited. The occurrence -\ was unnoticed till -the flames began, to leap ' up his back. Dorrington jumped from the U coach and threw off; bis burning coat, bub :£"'" his shirt being also on lire he rolledan the.;'-"; ■' dust on the roadway. The unfortunate man's back was badly burned, the injuries being 'of a very painful character. '-IJorring- - ton is now under medical treatment. The Melbourne Age .of December 21«., states: Mr. Jolin Sanderson, of Coonooer,. was the victim of an extraordinary accident ,; w;hile 'returning'. home from Charlton on ;"" Wednesday afternoon. He left town about one o'clock with a buggy and pair of horses.. A very strong westerly wind was blowing at the time, and while lighting his pipe about "'■ two miles out a spark must have fallen into a parcel of light clothing, which lay under; the seat of the buggy, and ignited the flimsy dress materials which it contained without* Mr. Sanderson noticing what had happened. Shortly afterwards he found the; buggy in flames : and his own clothing on fire. Ha tried unsuccessfully to put the flames out,, '" - but the high wind blew them all round ; him, and it was with difficulty;" that, being a. cripple with only one leg,: he \ managed to ', get out of the buggy. " Every i portion of tho"" J vehicle was burnt with the exception of the '-,;-: work, even, some of the spokes of tho wheels and the wood work itside the rims v ;; being damaged. ;;'.- Mr. Sanderson 5 himself " '' was shockingly burnt,*;every stitch of his ; -"" clothing .'; being : consumed. His- watch,, which was subsequently found , on. the ground, had stopped at twenty minutes ' to two, the ; case being blackened 1 with the^'"! fire and the glass broken. Even his boot -ji was burnt and charred, the fire igniting also his wooden, leg. •■ For nearly two hours the old man—Mr. Sanderson is 62 years of'age —hung on to the fence •by the roadside,, there being no traffic at that time of the day, anxiously looking for help. Then Mr. Donald Sheriff - came in from : Springbanli and brought the unhappy, man into town, ■ .>: " having to remove some of his own clothing in order to cover Mr. Sanderson's nakedness. His body presented a frightful . sight. He is now under.the care of Dr. McEnery, but no hopes are held out of his recovery, his injuries being of so fearful & • : character. " " -:■':■; ' : : ■'•... v-; .. :

.. >> ,■ Lord Kitchener's weekly report gives the Boer losses as 327. This total, however, does not include those killed in De Wet's recent attacks, which: are stated to nave numbered 30. Lord Kitchener' has asked for more cavalry, and reinforcements are being sent. to South Africa. The Standard's Pretoria- correspondent stales that :snore infantry 1 are; imperatively required. Some graphic details are given in our cable messages this morning of the recent fighting nt Tweefontein and Tafelkop. 'Russia has delivered to China what; is. ■ ■■ ■' practically an ultimatum in. reference to the Maiichiirian treaty. She refuses to amend it, and staters that unless the negotiations i are concluded 'within a fortnight they; will be discontinued, and the. Russian occupation of Mancimrian : territory maintained. The notorious General Tungfuhsiang, at the instigation of the equally notorious' Prince Tuan, has, it is reported, murdered a missionary and a number of converts. It is stated that Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman has had an interview with Lord Rosebery, who insisted on.the acceptance of the policy outlined in his Chesterfield speech without any variation. <• ■ ■ - .: r

Yesterday's sitting of the Police Court occupied but a few minutes, the coses, set down on the charge-sheet for hearing being very brief. Messrs. W. Beehan and H. S. •Brabant presided. A sailor named Edward Gaggs, belonging to a barque" in port, was 'charged-., with using indecent 'language in Grey-street at midnight on Tuesday. After . hearing , the evidence ' of the .police the Bench. .. recorded a ; conviction .against the accused and 'ordered v" him to come •up -" for sentence --when called 'on' ' George Billingham; a bluejacket from one of His Majesty's ships, .pleaded; guilty when "charged with assaulting Constable Robertson, and with damaging that officer's tunic to the extent of 20s. The evidence rai Constable Robertson showed that when Biilingham was being arrested on a charge of inebriety he behaved somewhat violently. Accused was fined 20s on the first charge, a like amount on the second charge, and was also ordered to pay the cost of the damage to the tunic. A first offender for drunkenness, after being convicted and receiving the usual admonition, was let oil.

t. A sensational attempt was made on December 21 by two prisoners to break away -fiorafentridge gaol, Melbourne. The two men concerned 1 were Richard Buckley and Alex Ward, better known as Raybouid. Raybould had practically.no time to do, as his discharge was due in ..three or four weeks, and Tse took part in the enterprise evidently only to get Buckley out of prison along with himself. s ' Buckley, who is doing a 22 years' sentence for burglary, is a desperate character. Raybouid was working in the woollen factory, and having such a short time to serve, had the privilege of moving about more freely than most of the other prisoners ; while Buckley was working in the boot factory, and should have been under the close- supervision of a .warder. , The two men actually got away into hiding between the ceiling and roof of the woollen factory. They had made every preparation for facilitating their escape, when a -fortuitous circumstance led to their discovery. It happened that "Billy" Buck, a well-known character, was engaged in some work under the place - where the., prisoners were hiding. Some movement 'on their part disturbed the dust and debris in the ceiling, and some of it fell on' the prisoner Buck below, who, suspecting that some animals had found their way into ; tho roof, informed one of the warders. # A search was then made, and to the surprise of Buck and tho warders the two men were, discovered and secured. The men had planted a swag containing two suits of plain clothes, of light sergerette materia], which would roll up into small compass, provisions sufficient to last them for a week, a water bag and blankets. In ■ addition ,to this . they had provided chisels, ropes, and hooks. ' The evident intention of the prisoners was to lie in concealment / until; a : favourable opportunity presented : itself for. escaping beyond the walls. ■ Their disappearance would be discovered at once. In the hue and cry which would J ensue their place of ; concealment might be the last plate to be investigated, and when ■■ the first excitement had died down, the scaling ropes and hoohsAvould be put' into requisition, and the final stage in the escape/ arrangements attempted.

..When the Minister for .Railways was .in Dunedin recently, a deputation, introduced by Mr. Arnold, M.H.R., waited on him asking .that Sunday-school excursions at excursion fares might be permitted to take place on holidays. The request was placed before the" General Manager of Railways, who has furnished a report, in which he states that the rolling. stock is taxed to its fullest extent to meet the demands of the ordinary holiday excursion traffic, and large numbers of waggons have at such times to be seated and used for the conveyance of passengers. To make the best possible use of the passenger stock it is necessary during the busy season to distribute it over a very wide area, so as to meet tho exigencies of the traffic and to relieve the overcrowding oh the through trains. The Department has hitherto steadily resisted all demands to carry picnic parties on public holidays, and during the last three years has declined to convey parties that had previously been carried for vears on Boxing Day and New Year's Day. at Auckland, it being found absolutely impossible to overtake the ordinary holiday business offering at full rates and the school business besides. It would therefore be inadvisable to accede to the request of the Dunedin people, as such a step would undoubtedly deprive the longdistance passengers of proper accommodation, and lead to great dissatisfaction. The Department, moreover, cannot satisfactorily undertake both classes of traffic during the holiday season; and school parties are well catered for at other times, and can then be properly accommodated and looked after, which is a very necessary thing where large 'lumbers of juveniles are concerned.

The Lyttelton Times of December 28 states:--The fact that nearly one-third of the candidates for the Eighth Contingent who presented themselves at the local Defend: office yesterday failed to pass the very simple riding test prescribed by the authorities mows that the decadence of horsemanship in the colony, which we have so frequently had occasion to deplore, has not ' been arrested by " the demand for mounted men for South Africa. The factis, of course, that the bicycle has so far supplanted the horse in this community that few young men now have either the opportunity or the inclination to learn to ride. -"Twenty, years ago the case was entirely different.* parent looked upon riding as a necessary part of his boys' education, and the boys themselves took to i", at least as kindly as they did to spelling and arithmetic, and as a result attained .a'..considerable degree of proficiency. If such, a riding test as the one held yesterday had been made at that 1 time, probably 95 per cent, of the boys in Canterbury over 12 years of age would have passed it without the slightest difficulty. Even clerks and shop assistants cut a presentable figure in the saddle before they abandoned tho useful horse for the seductive bicycle. Now the sort of figure they cut is sufficiently suggested by Captain Brown's kindly advice to some of the*military aspirants yesterday, to " get off' while you are safe."

On the eve of departure for the Antarctic, Captain Scott, R.N., of the exploring ship Discovery, telegraphed as follows to the Governor: —" We, thank- Your; Excellency and the people of New Zealand for wjshes for our success. We- treasure the • remembrance vof universal kindness and 'sympathy, and shall hope to merit the welcome you promised on our';;return.'* In % •letter to the people of Canterbury, Captain Scott states: —"New Zealand is the base of our future work, and we go South feel- . ing we have the warm wishes of the 1 people of New Zealand for our success. Howerer doubtful that , success may le, we know that a warn welcome awaits us at our base if we have done our best to succeed. Therefore all , our : little banc! wish their last word to be ,'Au revoir.'' Bishop Julius concluded , his address .to the officers and crew-.at the farewell service on board the Discovery : as: follows: —''Brothers, God be with ■■ you and keep * you. I shall see to it that every week during your absence prayers are offered for your safety in our Cathedral Church, May God be j your strength and your stay, making you mindful of;a presence ; 4 that "will . never fail you."- "