LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12708, 10 November 1904, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

.The : "Auckland- Racing Club's Spring Meeting was continued at Ellerslie yesterday afternoon, the weather being fine- and the attendance large. The principal race of the day, the Birthday Handicap, attracted 'a, field 'of 11 starters, the one most '-■ fancied by investors being Loch Erne. The ; favourite ran a good race,'but had to give : place to : Ztileika, who made;, the■. pace tor well over half the distance, and -won confortabty by upwards of threelengths., Fall] details of the' racing, which concludes''on Saturday next, will be found in to-daye sporting columns. It. has, been decided to complete lit. Matthew's tower in accordance with the plans, and the' additional cost will be about £950. There will then remain in the ami? of the trustees a considerable sum to be used for the furniture of the church.

At the annual conference of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, held at Melbourne, the : president, Mrs. '.-McLean,, suggested " that;. instead, of > a Bill .to,: increase license fees the Premier should ; introduce ■ a measure to allow 'i people, triennially to vote either * for continuance, reduction, or nolicense. The Victorian Alliance was actively pushing forward ■ th©-,mo'rement,:,and a- monster petition was "being ciirculated ashing the Legislative Assembly to i amend • the licensing laws it. the direction suggested. ■ • A 10-year old boy named Burnet Tomlinson had a marvellous experience at Menixidio (N.S.W.). He was bird-nesting after school, and while up a tree he put bis firm into a' hollow, lost his, footing, and fell. He hang by the arm for three and a-half hours, until rescued. The hid had his arm in the hollow''nearly, up to the shoulder, and so hung from five o'clock until a quarter to nine. His feet were about five feet from the ground. A Miss Edwards had to climb the tree and pull his "'arm out, is it w«a much swollen, while the boy's father held him up. to ease the-; weight of the body.

Soma weeks ago attention was drawn, to the discovery iii London of gold-plated teeth in sheep's heads; which had been .imported from abroad.: At first it was believed that the sheep's heads in which the gold was discovered cam© from Australia, bur it was subsequently proved that they had been exported from, Siberia. Mr. ,"'-"■' . J Anderson, of TrenthanV (Vie.), however, claims that some of the sheep of Victoria are gol-den-toothed. Ha recently; purchased 1 some sheep from a local firm of-stock and station 'agents; to whom he has written as follows: —" Dear. Sirs, —Some time back you may have .read a report in the press from -a cor-;■ respondent in London, stating that some of the sheep imported into England from Australia had gold-plated teeth. When I read it, 'I• laughed at the ', idea. ■ I enclose you a I tooth taken out of the head of on© of the last lot of ewes you sent to me, which- is gold-plated. All the teeth in this ewe's head are like this one, only - soma, have more on them than others. ■ £ thought that you, like myself, may never have-seen one like this, ' so r have sent v yon 'pa©, «s a curiosity." Although experts to whom the teeth have been submitted express the opinion that the substance on the teeth is similar to gold, they are doubtful whether it is the real metal, : and, in order to re-1 move all doubt, the tooth is to be .subjected to an analytical test at the School of Mines. The Grey River paper states that a lady recently went into a local post office s :'for' the purpose 01 sending .a telegram, and laid her purse down on the desk. She then went outside to the letter-box and on, returning found that her purse, containing five ' sovereigns, had disappeared. A day or two afterwards some lads, fishing off . the ■ wharf,. drew--, out the ..-.missing purse,; minus the sovereigns.

In an address delivered 'at Avoca (Vic), under the auspices of the local labour. League, Mr."Tom ■Mann spoke at considerable length in regard to labour conditions, and drew a harrowing picture of the misery, starvation, : ' and death all over the world, owing, as he said, to the inabilityof the woiikers fto obtain enough emp'oyrc.ent to earn sufficient or then ■ sustenance or ' the clothing of their > families. At the conclusion of his address, 1 Mr,. Mann was at once challenged by one of the audience, who had recently worked : in Philadelphia, and who contradicted Mr. Mann's ■', statement } that America was in a worse state than England. . How could such be the case, said the challenger, when wages were three dollars a day and food cheaper than 1c England, where wages were ;J os a day? '. ];; He branded Mr. Mann's statements as'incorrect. A short argument followed, which the- labour organiser closed by telling his questioner not to try and teach his grandmother to suck eggs.

Canon Bishop, incumbent of St. Paul's Anglican Church, Kyneton (Vic), in a recent sermon against' gambling, took for his text the commandment against covetousness. He took up the objection which some made that raffling at church bazaars ; was another species of gambling, which he denied. '■ They were fairly s conducted no one; was impoverished for another's gain, and there was no coveting :of another man's goods. Still,; for the sake of example, ; and to avoid all appearance of evil, the Church Assembly and all the synods of the different church organisations of ; Victorir ' Had ; entered a solemn protest-against - gaining money by: means which;might.be questionable, and k begged the f people 'i to ? contribute to the funds of the church by real straight out giving^

A voting woman named Emily Brewer, » resident of Newtown, Sydney, bad a sin- . : jjuk,- experience recently. She was in. th'o " ,"' vicinity of the St. Peters railway etation, '' when a loud report .was heard.. Almost simultaneously the young woman felt a stinging sensation in her right thumb, • which commenced to Weed profusely, It was at first, thought that she had been. ehot,_ but on being conveved to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, fir. Brown failed to find the bullet. The X-rays were afterwards used, and it was discovered that a piece of copper wire was embedded in tha flesh. /: This was extracted, and she was allowed' to proceed home. The police believe that the wire formed portion of a detonator. 1 These are 'used at-.'the neighbouring brickworks. It is surmised that soma larrikins secured one of them and planed it on ■ the tramline, for the explosion occurred just as a tram passed that particular ' point.■:■:. . . ■'-.-"'■ " A trial consignment of high-grade copper ore has arrived in Brisbane from one of the islands of the Dutch East Indies for treatment. After it is' tested by the Mines Department, the bulk will be sent to Aldershot fo- 'treatment, and if results are satisfactor, another lot of 500 tons will bo sent to Brisbane. : Mr. Frederick Jones, Trade Commissioner for Queensland, arranged the business during his last trip,, and the advices which the Government, have received from the mine-owners state that they can forward from 1000 to 5000 tons per month, according to the State's capacity for dealing with "■■-• ...."The Australasian Conference of the Congregational Union, which met recently, Melbourne, received reports from representatives of the various States on the question of inter-denominational union. With the exception of Victoria and New South Wales/the feeling was : entirely against; ' .organic union, although federation for the control of certain' lines of policy/ was gener- ; ally approved." The reports from.South Australia and West Australia were to the ■" effect that the question ■ had received, butlittle, prominence in .the Churches there. The Rev. Dr. Bevan contended that the "hateful competition" which existed was a disgrace to Christian Churches. The following resolution 1 -"was agreed to, viz.,:? " That this council of the \ Congregational Union .of Australasia" rejoices in- the move- t towards the embodiment in soma . ' tangible and practicable form of the Chris- ' :: -v] tian sentiment 01 union on the- part of the Evangelical Churches of Australia; that it - expresses.its satisfaction at the progress that has been made in some of the States in the direction, of a clearer and fuller understanding of each other's life, methods, and asms; and that the convenors ot com- ' mifctees in the State anions, in negotiation, with. Presbyterian and Methodist Churches regarding ; union, be requested: to correspond with each other in ■; order to keep the unions informed of what their respective) committees are doing, and to secure the co-opera-tion of the entire : Congregationalists of Australasia in any union of Cnu>chefj which may he proposed."

The steamer Coolgardie, which arrived; at Adelaide ou November 1 from West Australia, ran. into a heavy bank of fog when is the Bight. The experience was very weird, and lasted two boars. About the same time, without.-'the slightest previous intimation ox her presence, the outline of a barque under full sail was observed high in the heavens, apparently bowling along through '•-'■. thin air. The Coolgardie steamed along iii company with the appartitian for 40 miles, - alien,' with th* same suddenness with Vji - it made itself manifest, it disappeared;,; The .'.'.;. mirage is described as a .beautiful sight. On the following morning a 'severe storm 1 swooped down, m the ship' with startlumi sudden )cj;». For sseven hours the wind blew ' furiously, and then subsided as speedily as , it. had sprang up. Afterwards there was a -"' dead calm. J The Sydney Daiu''" " """ '" *' '>" r "- '

.. . / Telegraph of Nownier 2 states that a shooting accident occarre* ' it Lnrras Lake station, the victim being »' laughter of Mr. Thomas Neville, aged' .even. A brother, two "pars your,,* wa.' Moving with .- loaded pea-ride, when Mi% vean-r,: exploded, and the bullet entered tht girl s . breast, penetrating one lung and' :.* merging at the back. Hopes *ere enter " ained of her recovery. A young man named Sidney Cousins, « resident o{ Boomey, was , ( , i ibout to discharge a pea-rifle, when tha /'J breach flew open, dad the cartrichje struck .: Jtm. on the right eye, causing a daugeroua r ', svound. While some lads were out shooting at South Hay. 5.1: en-rifle exploded, j.a.l , ! * r,; -; the bullet lodged in the knee of a bor- V.f'.jff named Alfred Ifntknwy about 14 years of «- ( J age. , ; ■' '. ,>■ '.'; The steamer Gracchus,, which arrived recently at Adelaide from Calcutta, presented Jr ' the appearance'of a floating menagerie.. She .{. had on board a miscellaneous collection of < 1 ' 'i 1 animals and birds,' including an elephant,.,' two Cashmere and two Patna goats, for ' Melbourne; an elephant, a zebra, two - ■ . hyenas, and three Patna goats, for Svdncyj- t" «[, | and a number of sun bears,, Indian squirrels/ ' ■■£ ' an Indian wolf, monkeys, cassowaries, cocka- ■ .;.I toos, and other exhibits, besides exchanges i from the Perth Gardens. Iwo pythons rived .or Adelaide,' one being a magnificent .'■ v! specimen 21 leh in length. ( . ;« -\ ,A In the year 1888. Dr. Fischer, of Sydney, ' 'fi. conducted some experiments in\onirti£ ' ' ,:- with Professor F:aenkel.of the 'Berlin In-- . stitute, wit); .- view to the propagation of a •'/ /'I virus for the extermination of rabbits. The * '■ Berlin Institute is under the control of the, ' - German [mperVol Government. I>r. Fischer : ;•• *'f. died, but Mr. K. du Fwir, of Sydney, who , • was associated with him, being familiar witbi -' 1 I vvha. toofi place, recently obtained creden- ' . .. tials from the State Government/ authorking him to make official inquiries . as '-. to whether the bacillus said to have been discovered was still in existence, -\, a resulfe of inquiries made, the Actm.g-CousxL\-6e,v<i- % " "- 1 ■ ral for the German Empire has received , the following cable message, copy of. which he has handed to the Stale Premier ■ ' Professor Fraenkel, of Halle, believes tha* : -::"' Fischer bacillus docs not satisfy the reauiwments >cf the' Australian Government, and recommends extensive trials -with rabbin influenza bacillus, discovered in the mean- ,< time. Letter follows."

ii 10 £ f lllsed dog-fish, or shark,.measuring .•' '.'; ! 12ft,in length, has beta found.by two miners >: •- ** White Cliffs <-S-W.r,-. 17ft from the surface. The discovery;-was raado-'SOfO ' - v; .from.where. Ross Brothers made a big find of opal last year, which realised £2000. Before coming on the fossil th* men encountered a nest .of largo boulders, gome of which weighed about a ton. Th* fossil was thickly coated with a glassy. substance. Aft** ■-' • "■' • removing the" part)' it remained one solii mass, resembling a log, am} bole the tps ■ ' pearance of having been in the net- of swimming when overtaken and smothered'by a»" | eruption. Tito curve of the tail is as perfect as when alive ages ago. The mouth, cv* sockets, ami fins are all well preserved.' . The curk was purchased by Mr, E. F. Murphy, opal buyer, and is to be added to his bydiujy collection. !' ' r ■At the concluding session of the Women a Christian Temperance Union in Melbourne, resolutions were carried relating to the abolition of the employment of women m bars, ; 'he-better enforcement of the Sunday trading law, the control of tha tonic traffic by the people, an equal standard of purity for both sesKS, the aacredacss of the marriage tie, the appointment of matrons for lockups, -the education of , the people as to the injurious effects of smoking and the indiscriminate use of narcotics, a more rigid enforcement of lbs law in regard to intemperance, immorality. and gambling, the discouragement of war, . ' and the creating of sentiment in:-'favour o* international' arbitration, the continuance !M ' of the campaign for Scriptural education,; and -a hospital for female inebriates. .. .■.,:'■ .:;■'..;•; Homeward bound on a recent evening, a .-73 Wellington bookmaker paid:£Bo to a man ■■■::'.[ whom he met en ■ route.' On reaching his - V house, he changed his clothes, and left hi* trousers, still containing £20. in an upstairs room, while he had supper downstairs. During the time he was 'refreshing "? ■■s himself, someone entered the upstairs room, -: took the. £30, and left the trousers. Two valuable diamond rm^ f in another pocket of the garment, were overlooked. , ■■■K± The Auckland police .colic were last I night occupied or five perscws charged with - ",' i| drunkenness, and one perst'S. ch&rgttd with, •' i indsney, ■ . - l t! -7^ ■ ' < < •') 'la