LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13524, 23 August 1907, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

In' regard to the small brass gun now mounted in Albert Park, Mr. John Webster, of Hokianga, in a letter to the Mayor of Auckland, furnishes the following interesting particulars :-—" Our Long Tom gun of the yacht Wanderer, R.V.S., was sold in Sydney after the boat was. wrecked, and Mr. Browning (who was an old friend of the famous Ben Boyd) bought if and took it home with him. At that time there was a Russo-English war scare, and, as Mr. Browning was proceeding to England in a ship with a quantity of gold on board, he thought it might be of service. Mr. Browning had it in his possession for a considerable time, and, later, presented it to the citizens of Auckland. When Ben Boyd left Home for the first time, lie was presented with this gun by the Horse Guards at Waterloo. It thus has the Belgian lion on it. On the yacht we had eight deck guns, Old Tom traversing the deck. It decided (he result of the Islanders' attack after Boyd's murder. We had also four guns (one pounders) mounted on the rails. The old weapon has now got an old and rotten gun-carriage, quite unworthy of its history, and it is to be hoped that the Auckland City Council will see fit to supply a better-one."

Until such lime as the amended by-law made by the City Council shall have come into operation there are not likely to be many more "strap hangers" willing to take the risk unless they are prepared to pay the value of a good many tram fares. The hopes of those who imagined the tramway conductors were not acting legally in ordering would-be passengers off the crowded cars were severely crushed by the judgment of Mr. Kettle, S.M., yesterday. In effect, the judgment, the. full text of which is reported in this issue, justifies the action of the tramway employees, and holds that the by-laws definitely and distinctly provide that only the licensed number of passengers shall be carried on the cars. It further disposes of the idea that the by-laws are only operative in the city, the magistrate ruling, in accord with a decision given in 1904, that the by-laws apply within a radius of five miles of Auckland ,jost office, this including all the nearer suburban districts.

A Bill to amend the Gaming Suppression Act lias been circulated in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. Its effect is to legalise certain games of cards, namely, progressive euchre, progressive whist, or progressive bridge, whether played for prizes or not, and whether the public has access to the place or not, if the charges of admission, exclusive of reasonable expenses, are used for an object incidental to the purposes of some mechanics' institute, free library, or charitable or public institution, or in aid of the funds of some club, the objects of which are primarily devoted to some athletic purpose.

A youth named Clarke, employed in the Newmarket railway workshops, was admitted to the District Hospital yesterday, suffering from an injury to his head, received while at his work. The injury consists of a scalp wound, and is not of a serious nature.

A variety of wood largely used in carriage building, on account of its toughness and reliability, is the ash. That the tree which (supplies it can be profitably grown id New Zealand has been demonstrated very clearly by the experience of Mr. Joseph Aplin, a farmer, of the Carterton district. An ash ci'ee which was planted on his property about a quarter of a century ago was recently felled, and from it a log was obtained of about four feet in circumference and seven feet in length. This was brought in to the coachbuilding factory of the Wallace, Ma-sson Co., where it. will be cut up, and after about 18 months' seasoning, will figure prominently in the construction of a gig. Mr. Masson considers the specimen a splendid one, and harder, more durable, and much superior in every way to the American production.

The colonial mails, via Suez, which left Auckland on July 10, arrived in London on Monday afternoon last..

A resident of Indianapolis. U.S.A.. is collecting information concerning the characteristics of the inhabitants of other hinds. With that end in view he has addressed a letter to the Mayor of Auckland, with an enclosure, to be handed to -any intelligent young gentleman or lady in the city of Auckland." The communication reads thus:—"l am."desirous of coming into correspondence with some intelligent young gentleman or lady of your city, for the purpose of learning and exchanging ideas in regard to the manners and customs of our different countries. If you would be so kind as to put this into the hands of any such person, I would be very grateful." There need not- be a rush for the position of correspondent thus thrown open, because it has already been appropriated.

The Friendly Societies (Amending) Act recently passed in Victoria is likely to have an important effect on trades unions having sick and accident funds, of which the Amalgamated Miners' Association is the most important. (Such unions will, it is stated, be classed as benefit societies. In that ease the unions would not be able to 'carry on strikes or protect members industrially by voting, money. The opinion is expressed that it the law is enforced in the direction indicated, it will be a serious blow to unions, and will practically destroy the miners' association.

While some bullocks were, being shipped at Sydney the other morning in the French mail steamer Ville de la Ciotat, three of them broke away, and rushed round the decks, scattering the sailors in all directions. One was captured, but the other two fell into the harbour. One of these also was secured, and hauled on board, but the other one swam round to the boat barhour at Fort Macquarie, where it caused considerable excitement. All efforts to secure it failed, and eventually it had to be shot.

In a telegram published in Wednesday's Herald it was stated that 605 deaths had occurred in the Auckland Hospital during the year ending March last. The figures should have been 189, the lowest number for several years past.

The Labour Journal for August gives the number ot men employed on the railways in the Auckland province, as follows: — Kawakawa-Grahamtown, 60: Helensville northwards, 124; Gisborne-Rotorua, 38; North Island Main Trunk, 1881. This makes- a tola] of 2103.

That memory sometimes plays curious tricks was realised by those who were present at the Magistrate's Court to hear Mr. Kettle's decision in the tramway by-law cases yesterday. One of the counsel for the defendants, Mr. Blomfield, bad eontended, during the bearing of the cases, that the licenses for the tramcars were not operative beyond the city boundary. Mr. Blomfield, however, had resumed practice in bis profession after having, for some time, presided over Auckland Courts in a magisterial capacity, and during his magistracy be had given a decision that the city licenses for vehicles, etc., applied within a radius of five miles of the Auckland post oflice, so that lie had the curious experience of having his own decision, which he had forgotten, quoted against his own argument. A similar thing has happened in New Zealand before, a solicitor, who had acted on the Supreme Court Bench being confronted with one of his own judgments which was directly opposed to the point the learned counsel was trying to make, and he found himself bound on that point by his own Supreme Court judgment. *

Mr. William Simpson, of Dulwich Hill, wrote as follows to the Sydney Daily Telegraph the other day:—"l was much surprised on reading your paragraph regarding Professor Macmillian Brown's- explanation of the Maori carvings of individuals having only three fingers. His theory is that the hand is really intended to imitate a bird's claw, and to indicate that the image represents, not a living being, but a spirit. 'We put angel's wings on the figures on our tombstones to express the same thing,' said the professor, and, further, that his 'explanation is- pure theory, there being none other, and it will have to hold ground until replaced by a better one.' I urn pleased to be able to give a much better' one, as given me by Maggie Papakura, the well - Vnown guide, when on one of my visits to Rotorua. The Maoris hold that if you accurately carve the figure of an individual injury or death will then accrue to that individual, hence they usually leave out one linger. Their reverence for their dead and departed heroes leads them to carve their effigies in a similar manner. 1 have in my possession the photograph of a Maori carving of the Madonna and Child, a rude attempt to.give us their idea of the Virgin and Jesus; it also lacks certain fingers. 1 may further add that Maggie's theory was repeated to me by other Maoris."

Lecturing at the Y.M.C.A. Hall, in Sydney, to an audience of young men. Dr. Lyman B. Sperry laid stress on the responsibility ■;' 'he individual living the life which would qualify him for healthful and potential fatherhood. Freaks and deformities of birth were, he said, generally the result of bad living at some time in the life of one or both of the parents; and the sowing of wild oats by parents almost invariably brought a harvest of defective children.. How many of the young men of the present day, he asked, spent most of their leisure in having what they called a good time? A good time was getting around hotels, swilling liquor, the best of which was slow poison. A man after a. few years of this life generally looked around for a wife, and managed sometimes to be smitten with the charms of some no-hipped, narrowchested, wasp-waisted woman, a bundle of finger-rings, bracelets, and padding, a skimmed-milk sorb of creature, and—well, they were a good match! He had a fool for a wife, and she had nothing better for a husband. They would bring fools into the world, to be cared for by the public. While' on the subject of dissipation, Dr. Sperry indulged in a little straight talk. What was required to combat its seductive influence, he said, was more attractiveness in the home life, and it was upon the head of the family that this responsibility devolved.

The island of Fuluna was suffering from tin- effects of a plague of caterpillars when the island steamer South Australian left for Sydney recently. A little while ago the island was practically devastated by a hurricane, and the present visitation, following so closely upon the other, has caused a great amount, of distress. The caterpillar*, it is thought, will cat up all the young yam vines and banana sprouts, the result of which will he a .scarcity of loud, a .serious matter for the inhabitant.-. The missionaries on the island predict a famine.

"'Nearly every thief or vagrant,'' said a detective, giving evidence at the Supreme Court, Ohristchurch, "carries a coupon book for photographic enlargements or something else." The statement was evoked when an accused person pleaded his coupon book as evidence of an honest attempt at work. The. same man was described by another detective as a "confirmed vagrant," and he was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment with hard labour.

The occupants of the Auckland police cells last night consisted of two persons arreted on charges of common theft, and two arrested for drunkenness..