LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13846, 4 September 1908, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Judging , from what was said a*. \he ;Su'* preme Court yesterday, it appears/ that the I taking of evidence in the case of: the Auckj land City Council v. the Auckland Electric Tramwavs Company will last for .'several clays. It was pointed out that if thi? proved to be the case the task of taking the evidence could not be completed during the present sittings, as the special' jury case of the Northern Coal Company, Ltd., v. the Northern S.S. Company had been fixed for Monday, and would probably take the remainder of the week. Counsel seemed to be in a quandary, end were gravely considering the position, when Mr. H. D. Bell, K.C., the leading counsel for the defence, naively asked: •" Does Your Honor sit on Satuidav afternoons?" "Oh, yes," replied His Honor, "' I frequently do so in order to get through the work." The reply to Mr. Bell, who comes from Welington, was an unexpected one, for he remarked: " I look upon work on Saturday afternoon in the light that the Legislature looks upon work performed on Sundays." (Laughter.) His Honor then said that if counsel desired it, he would take another witness (it was then : five o'clock). "Personally,", replied Mr. Bell, "I have no objection, but I think five o'clock* is quite late enough." , Mr. Bell then suggested that the registrar should take the remainder of the evidence, and the Court adjourned, Mr. Cotter, counsel for the plaintiff, intimating that he would consider the matter in the meantime. An indignation meeting of Auckland importers of fruit from the South Sea islands was held yesterday to protest against regulations issued by the Government requiring what is now known as the " mile limit" certificate in the case of Island fruit-, as w?Ji as Australian fruit, and some strong remarks, reported elsewhere in this issue, were made by speakers, who characterised the regulations as being framed in utter ignorance of the true position of. affairs. The importers hold that if the regulations aire enforced they will practically stop all imports of fruit "to Auckland or anywhere else in New Zealand from the Cook or othei ;■ islands, . while the large trade Auckland does in general merchandise with the Islands will Tie lost, because ■ the Island people will only buy where they can sell. The seriousness of the position from the point of view of the Cook Islands was also , pointed out, and one speaker declared that the Fijian trade, an especially valuable one to Auckland ami- already dwindling away, would be entirely lost if the regulations are persisted in. A strong protest, stating that the importers have no confidence in t..j head of the division of the Agricultural Department dealing especially with fruit, was unanimously adopted, and a report of the proceedings is to be sent to every member of Parliament and to ; .every, fruit importer in New Zealand. ■■', The Auckland Horticultural Society's Spring Flower Show was opened yesterday by the Mayor, Mr. A. Myers, in the presence of an unusually large number of flowerlovers, the Choral Hall (where the show is held) being, packed. The takings at 'the doors established a record for the first day of the show, and this fact should be peculiarly gratifying to the society, in view of the suggestion made some time ago to abandon the spring fixture. The daffodils shown this year are excellent, and critical judges were unanimous in their approval of the collection as a whole. Some very fine seedlings ; are attracting much attention. The other classes are also of much merit, and , well worth inspection. ;■ The show will be open again to-day, and will; close this evening. On account of -the large amount of advertising matter, = and also to ensure correct classification, advertisers for ' Saturday's issue of the Herald are requested to send in. their advertisements as <&*rly .: as .posBible. tq*da# v ,/ . ■ . , , ' . " •-•/.;; .'.-..■ •■ ■_ .■■•-.■■ ■■■'", . ■■ , A

In view of the fact, that tie local; oyster 1 season closes next month, the question ' arises whether it would not be possible for the Government to arrange (or a c&nttna- , ous supply of - oysters the ■ whole \ year | through, by taking over the control of the Stewart Island fisheries. . The seaison tor the latter is usually about nine months out of tli i year, but the , Government Gazette | make's no mention of a close season, so 1 presumably none exists. If the supply of Stewart Island oysters were to commence I immediately after the closing ot the Auckland season/and continue til! it opens I again, a cheap and valuable article of food would he always obtainable. This system i, adopted in other lands,, and it seems era-all* possible in New Zealand, which ! has practically an unlimited quantity of oysters fur home consumption. "For some years past there has beet. an attempt made by influential men amongst the native* oS : this country, to have such i legislation passed as will provide tor the ; I Maoris merely leasing their lamia/* said Mr L. R. Phillipps ** his meeting:-at 1 Devonport last night.' "The Maoris would be the landlords and, the ';; Europeans^tllie tenants—a coloured aristocracy,.- L am ! much opposed to the State as a landlord, hut I am still more opposed to any thing in the shape of coloured landlordism, he said emphatically. The statement was i greeted wiui applause. The usual monotony of the Magistrate's Court was broken yesterday morning by a lady who was defending a civil action. Mr. Kettle, S.M., who was on the Bench, expressed reluctance to go oh with the case, unless defendant obtained the seri vice! of a solicitor to represent her. I Whereupon the lady raised an .-eye-glass, to her eye and surveyed. ■;: the opposing. | counsel and the magistrate. To the latter she protested 'that, she could : not af- ! ford to pay a lawyer. "So,-', she, con- | tinned, "I call upon you for justice— I that is, if you are capable of giving it | to. me without having some other Judge I up there beside you. We have got the ! franchise, and we want the, law fife." Mr. Kettle said he thought he could manage, single-handed, to give the lady the | justice she" claimed,- and the case:, proceeded. - . During the hearing ' of the charge of murder against the Chinaman, Louie Shue Hock, at the Police Court yesterday, Mr. Skelton, counsel for the accused, said he wished to record his objection to the | depositions of the deceased, on the : ground that they were not the words of the witness, now deceased. "In fact," said counsel, "they are in effect not the depositions hi deceased." 'The - objection was noted for the higher Court. ; When called subsequently, the interpreter (Will; Tong) said the depositions werea faithful "interpretation of the evidence given. Continuing, he said he was not able to write in j Chinese words or characters the evidence of Chinese witnesses, and he did not think there was a man in New Zealand who could do so. The Chinese language, added witness, could hot be written phonetically in English. The editor -f the magazine.■whhdi was published on : board the -Oswestry.' Gftihge on its journey from Liverpool to tVhcktani, invited the views of youthful emigrants as to what they intended to do in New Zealand. Contributors' hind; to be not more than 15 years of: age. " A girl of 12 wrote as follows :—" When I land at Wellington, where I hope to meet my father*- I shall go from there to Wanganui, where I intend to settle. Of 'course:everything will be new to me, and, I hope, very nice. • I am looking forward to having an enjoyable I week's holiday previous -to finishing my education at school. .When that is over, I intend to learn the boot trade, as I understand girls in that trade ' are ' very well paid in New Zealand. Then, when I have saved sufficient, I intend to start a business of my own." A little fellow of nil!« thus enumerated his ambitions :—" When I get out to New Zealand I hope to goto, school for a few years. I am f . fond of school, and hope to be a clever and useful man. When"! \ leave school I should \ like y [ to be an engineer, for I am interested ift machinery. t When i I have earned ■ enough., and served my time, I would like to travel all over New Zealand and see some of its beauties, for I have read it has many pretty places. I should like some day to go back to the Old Country." I • ■ :.;■ : -^->A : :':':' '/■: ;'./'.:''■■■':■: -M-: ; : ■ :: .■■■'..•.'■. : A' ;: 'si ■'':>' : , r; .';l i "I suppose you are aware that you can't make ears br cable?" asked Mr. K. D. Bell, ; K.C., "when cross-examining the Mayor (Mr. i Arthur M. Myers):in. the tramway case at I the Supreme Court yesterday. " I sum I quite aware of that," quickly retorted His ! Worship, "but you can cable for them." " No Chinese official," said Mr. Wm. S. I Strong, who has recently returned from China., in the course of a mission address last night, "can be a Christian and remain an official. : He may be a secre* believer, but he will never take office in a Christ-Mai' church.'-'-/--.His living depends upon cheating, thieving,, and corruption. These are all factors in civic administration in China." Something of a sensation was created at I the fruit importers' indignation meeting, held yesterday regarding Government reguI lations relating to Island fruit, by an address by Major Brouh, the well-known enj tomologist, who was until recently fruit I inspector at. Auckland. He stated, most I emphatically, that an entirely wrong im- | pression and needless alarm had been [ created amongst New Zealand fruitgrowers j by" the Department of Agriculture over the I fruit fly pest, ai the Department did not j distinguish properly between the different j varieties of the pest. The Mediterranean | fly, he said, was the pest to be dreaded, but.it did not exist in the South Sea Isj lands, the fly found there being the Queensi land fly, which, he added, exhaustive ex- | ( periments proved would \uot breed here. In the course of his remarks, reported in tins issue, lis alleged that the ueath of • ti •> late Mr. Seddon had prevented a Departmental inquiry of a highly'interesting character, as he (Major Broun) had been ordered'bv Mr.- Seddon to prepare two sets of documents dealing with fruit flies and covering copies: of all telegrams and cur- ! respondence between himself and the head of the Department. , - He further ,alleged i that one set? of these papers was received by Mr. Seddon and the other set had my teriously disappeared. The statements i made in this connection were, considered by : several present at the meeting as warrant- | ing a full inquiry by the Government. | Recently a member of the Wellington Board of Education circularised the various * boards o. education in the Dominion to j ascertain their opinion regarding the exI hibiting of the Decalogue on the walls of all public schoolrooms, and, as v. result, he has given notice of motion for next meeting of the Wellington Board as follows c*- " That this Board draws the attention of the Minister for Education to the fact that there is a general desire on the part of education boards of the Dominion that the Decalogue be exhibited of : the walls of school buildings, that there is no - ; Board fund available for such a purpose, and that the Minister be. respectfully requested tc provide a sufficient number of the Ter^ComS j mandments 'to serve ~thc. classrooms of f the 1 y..,01e of the schuols in the "Dominion." The Auckiana Board decided C recently-that it had no abjection, to offer = to the; proJP.osak - :.' '•■.'.':':..' '.-''-:-' : *:- :'■;■;! .-'.Vv-. ;: 6 -<^ :, .:;:'-';\:.;..:; :^ : :'C^i;:::'-:-y-;';:'A

!The Northern Company s. steamer«a * * did hot reach Onehunga yesterday dt\ after 11 a.m., having been delayed at ]je* Fly mouth overnight in order to br/n'gjaf.'.- .--;5 a pantomime/ company. The" steamer fefj again io': New Plymouth at 4.3& p.raM; ; | ing put out, of her time-table running ♦ah-.*- T> a little over an hour owing, to her own h;¥ ing's delay. ' " ' j ) .* Some -of the practical axioms of th < Chinese wore quoted hist night by the Rev '.;: Knowles Kemptoti at the China Inland Mis ~>.t meeting. They comprised the follow • ; ,- ns: —"Don't cheat." "Don't have the. ' ■ .same kind of dodges with scales as font. - ■' shopkeepers have/' "Don't have half yon door open tor business on Sunday." " Dun' stick up a Christian notice in your sht.j and then live in opposition to it." One of those vituperative individual:_.;.}; whose tongues are so liable to oven id. their judgment, met with an unexpected re huff . yesterday. While an old gentlemai ; was going up the steps ; hading ;to th.\ Magistrate's Court, he was accosted by th loquacious person in question, but ignorint the man he passed on to his business. Evi •'d'eiitlT this incensed the other, who there - upon*became violently, abusive, but his eii. '. quence was-.suddenly cut short. Turning : ;". round the gentleman addressed struck-th man a stinging blow on the side of th face with all the vigour of a younger man Wbt'x the aggressor recovered he modifi?. his tone considerably, and there being n policeman' handy the tncidact did not g any further. ■ '•*■ .'.;.' During August the following cases oi iu ," . factious disease were reported to the dh trict health officer:—Enteric fever: Cit; 2 cases; suburbs, nil 5 country, : districts,",»S cases (Waikato County 1. Whakatan - - County 1, Taupo County 3, \Yaitomlp| County 1, Taarahga County 1): total, '{(.£: cases. ■"-■■ Scarlet fever: City, 2 case:?; euK l ; - urbs. 8 case? (Birkenhead 1, Epsom I, tide Terrace 1, Grey Lynn 1. Mount Eden 3 Mount Albert 1. Parnell 2); country districts, 6 cases' (Manuka County 1, Pink ' . County 3. Waitemata County 2) : total, 1 • cases-* Diphtheria: City. 3 cases; *ul ■ urbs, 3 cases (Grey Lynn 2, Kemuera 1) ■ country districts, 4 cases (Hokianga Count ' 1, Waihi 2, Waipa County 1); hospital, '«' cases: total, 12 cases. Tuberculosis./ Twenty-two cases. Blood-poisoning : 't> cases. . * Speaking at the annual meeting of ti Christ-church Prison Gate Mission Bisk Julius said that in regard to the trea ment of prisoners we were more empiric ? than in any other social matter. No a. proach had ■ been made towards the rem dial treatment of criminals. We p ; away prisoners,' for the sake "of , societ l ■ but.certainly .failed to regenerate them ■■ ... to make them beitei men and wome '■: J Very few were satisfied with the prese criminal laws, and most believed that bt; ter solutions of the problem than those .- ready aimed at were available.. The fis j thing was to help the unfortunate immi the position in which they found ti-p----seiven placed. There should be s»e means of following up the discharged ji- - so&ers, and of handing them over ,o others who ,would take a kindly " their welfare. !•} [ '-'".. - - "■' " If"" -Vi : - V : -]',; Speaking in Wellington recently to'le :' members of the Law Students' Associatii, Mr. Justice Cooper gave some advice,; the benefit of his experience and ohsi-n.-tion in the matter of preparation ioj; ie I profession. His Honor took .as hisdnt'* . the words of Lord Bacon, "Re*lig n:. '--:-i'i afull man, writ jr.? an exact-inn, and conference a ready man." The \rier' - gave from his own experience '•; methidof r reading, which he said lie. had iou-sLjs£ the greatest benefit to "himself in hir&-. dent" days. It briefly in tv ■ more students, getting and «(-- ing, turn and turn about, paragraphsttjjDi their text-book; then shutting the|rj«k' and endeavouring to write' a statemalof 1 the principle set out. This mot hod; If is Honor strongly fcdvised, shouid be dried ':. into the readipjjj of c.iiJ.>. On this Qnt the lecturer-ws..; very emphatic in inslsiig . . 1 on the necessity for going straight to c'ts- .'-'■■ themselves, and not bein; content wrthhe ; summaries from tixt-bx<ks. Mr.- Juice V Cooper also dwelt on the value of nik courts in affording student* the opportaiy • to become " ready men." :•"'-.'• , : i,:. 'j-.-r'/'j The gentle hiswker and his waysife still the subject of stories, and the tstst " one has a touch of humour in it (\'s the Wellington i Post}. A' housewife the had been made wary by previous e.vriences with the- bad members of a am* ' which lias many honest men in its rks, \ , insisted upon her Ttiu\li..s«'-of potatoebe- ' ing weighed in her .presence, and she find they were fulL weight and a bit over. are ,■=' ■ : weeks afterwards in the bottom oihe - ' potato sack, the housewife discovei a : !:| heavy leaden weight which had forrrly t* been used as a means of making her ort --5 gate self-closing, but which had bein is;- ; in" for a month or so from its pper 5 ; place.. = A few months ago a mild seiisatiorfff.s ' \ ■ created in Auckland by the publicati, of. ; figures, emanating from the sub-insp'tor" of police, showing the number of vinea . v.ho were given 'to the drink habit. A striking commentary on the' subject if. a scene witnessed in a local street oneght last week Emm a certain publioiiso there issued two young girls, whose \ ages probably did not exceed 30, dresi in '' short stilts, and with their hair hapng down their hacks. Both girls, as hey stepped on to the footpath, raisedand : | proceeded to place to their mouths arim- t ' bibe therefrom, soda-water bottles co|un- - ing neat spirits—-whisky or brandy, tdging by the colour. " The Lord have jrtv ; on our souls," exclaimed' me ofnhej as she finished her fiery draught, discing a recklessness and abandon that ■ werpitiable. Her companion laughed, an the j- girls passed on down the hill. i v;.';-:,::^;: : o[/;;v"':'.':n. ; -?;:h' '■■'■ V '.-:;.': ..■■ ...■''* '' ; \ The ship, ventilator,- which spread its gaping funnel to the breeze to dilate fresh air m the passenger quarter ami cargo holds may easily become a" d'Jnct source of danger, as its capacious suth may catch a passing- spark and cony it i down to the cargo. The New ijand " Shipping Company has adopted a liver device to guard against this dangef .The '/ investor is Captain W. Lawson, ;ompa»y> marine superintendent :at Indon. ' "■' - ] The steamers . Bimutaka, , Ruapehj ; and ll Turakiha have already been fitted v h the -.- i new type of ventilator, and each £ the -" company's vessels will be dealt wit simi- '' j . larly in rotAtion at Home. The 3 atri- H V vance is rathei similar to a Venetia shut- . - ; ter, fitted across the mouth of the atilator. The air passes through a fir w:r« mesh. The ventilator remains as pre . sent, except that it is increased aider ably in size from the top end of thlhaft to the mouth. - { : ;'?:-:>:'. ; '; : ; ; ' : 'S J y: : i;--v: ;' [:y- ;.;::■• .::.;"; : ,7 : I;p|H=;SiS One of the first indications of sprifhas arrive-.! in Central Otago, in the his of ■ the dottrels which have, during th past ; few days, distributed themselves ai over V . the high lands. Tins little grav Id is of migratory habits," and leaves the, latitudes for Northern Asia everVautiui re- •'• turning regularly at the preach Ay mer. One gentlffitnar. who had clnstjob- ■ served them remarked that S,. , .-an .-V. '~ -: on the frozen "<-" as if puzzled : helon . derctt it they thought « v had £WJi ,.-, ,' Xsoi hack, tg gieerta agaubv" 1 '£' . ;-; P^l^ili^^^l^®llteliil■■■: ■■■ • '• ' ■ :■-■• .''-!