LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14531, 19 November 1910, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

An inmate of the AvondaJe Mental Hospital escaped yesterday afternoon, and up till a late hour last evening had not been recaptured. At about 4.30 p.m. it was noticed that the patient in question, a man of about 60 year's of age, was missing, and on a search being made his hospital clothes were found in a gully close by. To these was attached a note in the escapee's 'handwriting stating that if he got to the Taupaki Bush or to Mange re he would defy ail the police to catch him. The man's description is as follows :— 3in in height, c«tont build, dark ruddy complexion, dark hair, and beard turning grey. As he left his hospital clothes behind him, it is assumed that he was assisted by friends in his escape, and that they provided him with a fresh suit of clothes. The escapee had been in the hospital since 1909, and is not- regarded as dangerous.

The Union Steam Ship Company's R.M.S. Maitai arrived from Wellington yesterday morning, berthing at the Queenstreet Wharf. The Maitai is the second steamer to leave under the new mail contract. She has just • undergone an extensive overhaul at Port Chalmers. The Maitai is timed to sail, at noon to-day for San Francisco, via Rarotonga and Papeete, and is due to arrive at the . Californian port on December 9.

A fine bull-dog accidentally separated from his owner, has been located at the Auckland railway station for about a week. The dog was apparently placed aboard the wrong train at Palmerston North, and was brought on to Auckland and cared for at the station. Yesterday a local fancier took charge of the dog until the owner is found.

A painful burning accident happened to the ten year-old daughter of Mr. Geo. Day, of Balmain Road, Birkenhead, on Thursday evening. The child was preparing tea, when somehow her clothes caught fire. Being unable to extinguish the flames herself, she -went for assistance' to Mrs. Blair (a neighbour), who put out the fire by rolling the child in the grass, burning her own hands in the effort. The child, who was badly burned about the body, was attended to by Dr. Player, and is not yet out of danger.

Three respectable-looking lads, ranging in age from 12 to 16 years, appeared at the Juvenile Court yesterday morning to answer a charge of breaking and entering a house at Murray's Bay, Takapuna, and stealing about 30 gun cartridges and about 25s worth of kauri gum. The boys admitted having taken the cartridges, but denied that they stole the gum. The magistrate, Mr. E. C. Cutten, lectured the boys for committing the theft, and discharged them.

The Shaw, Savill,< and Albion Company's steamer Matatua, which is due at Auckland about Monday next from London direct, is bringing 247 immigrants from the Old. Country. There are 83 booked to Auckland; Gisborne, 3; Napier, 6; New Plymouth, 15 j Wellington, 66; Wanganui, 5; Westport, 5; Greymouth, 9; Ly ttelton, 32; Timaru, 3; Oamaru, 1; . Dunedin, 16; Bluff, 3. Should the vessel reach port in time the immi- j grants " for "places south*' of Auckland will 1 tranship to the . Monowai, leaving on Tuesday afternoon, while those for New Plymouth and Wanganui will be carried by the Rarawa, leaving Onehunga on Wednesday next. The Matatua also has 3900 tons of cargo to land here.

A gorse fire on a. section in Mozley Avenue, Devonporfc, was responsible for a call received by the Devonport Fire Brigade "at 10.45 yesterday morning. The fire was quickly extinguished and no damage resulted.

The peculiar marriage customs of Chinese are responsible for a curious procedure, which, under the New , Zealand laws, must be adopted by a naturalised Chinese resident in the Dominion who may be desirous of sending , for nis wife. In China there is no leligious or civil marriage ceremony. The bride is disposed of by her parents, not infrequently for a monetary consideration. There is, consequently, no marriage certificate, and the wife of a Chinaman resident in New Zealand is unable, on her arrival to join her husband, to produce documentary evidence of her marriage, and must, therefore, pay the poll tax of £100 before she can land. In order to obviate this difficulty, the authorities at Wellington have permitted the marriage ceremony to take place on board ship in port in the case of Chinamen who were naturalised British subjects. This privilege, however, has apparently been abolished. At all events Lim Pee, of Auckland i has been refused permission- to resort to this device for evading the poll tax. He has been informed that in accordance with an opinion given by the Solictor-General, the marriage must be contracted outside the Dominion. The result is that before Mrs. Lim Pee can job her husband in New Zealand, it will be necessary for him to proceed to Sydney, and meet her there, and go through a regular form of marriage. In the case of children, the law is even more stringent. Under the Aliens Act the children of naturalised persons are not themselves naturalised, unless during minority they become resident in New Zealand with their naturalised parents. The children of a 'naturalised Chinaman, therefore, remain Chinese within the meaning of the Immigration Restriction Act - until they actually become resident with their parent in New Zealand. They cannot do this until they land, and, therefore, remain subject to the poll tax.

There is, states the annual report of the Public Health Department, a, satisfactory decrease in the infant mortality rate in Auckland district during the past 10 years. The present year is the owest in that period. In 1909 the deaths in the suburban boroughs were 35 only, and these are only 4.05 per 100 births—a very low percentage.

Yesterday the Conciliation Council, sitting in conference with the representatives of the employers and employees, entered upon its fourth day of consideration of the timber-workers' demands. The conference will be continued to-day, and -it is confidently, anticipated that, an amicaole settlement will yet be arrived at.

As a remedy for. the loss of members and adherents of the Church, the Wellington Presbytery submitted an overture to the General Assembly of the Pres-

byterian Church, recommending that presbyteries be instructed to assign boundaries to all charges and mission stations, and each minister be responsible for the oversight of all residents in his parish; also, that certificated of Church membership be prepared tp keep ministers and sessions informed of the movements of members of the Church. The Assembly resolved to send the matter down to presbyteries and sessions to report.

Ik the Supplement kseed fco^W. sfJ"® .-won be found articles artiflil Thrones That Are Stable/' by Histari cus; " Should Majorities a*, * Frank Morton; "A Day with the : W St. Clair; and "Impressions and ReolW W (No. VIII.), by Tohunga rata on »a Age of tIME^; neer,. and Mercutio's column of »£X Gossip appears as usual. j L ' pkl , J*? route taken by ft, Duke of OaMuglt'fe ing his tour of. South Africa b also £ eluded. ■ ■../-..; ■ ,-.

The Auckland Electric Tramways I nt W S trial Union of Workers, at a special meet- f ing held last Tuesday evening, : unanimously decided to cancel its reeiatr»ti"?», v*under the Industrial Conciliation and A? $ bitration Act, and to re-register under It the same name, amended by th« iS omission of the word " electric." Th M object of the amendment is to widen the iS scope of the union so as to take in the I 1 employees of any tramway service that : - may be started in the Auckland district P as for instance, the steam tramway, to 4 Takapuna. Tha Wellington, Christ. .*£ church, and Otago tramways unions do |- not cany the word " electric" in their names, and the unions in Wellington and • 1 Otago are therefore able to include eleo. *4 trie and cable service employees,'ad that' " ' m Chnstchurch comprehends both dec trie and steam- Before cancellation 0 M the registration of a union can be effected •" the registrar must be satisfied that k-*H majority of all the members of the union -'M desire i*. The Auckland Electric Tramways Union is therefore holding a ballot on the subject, the result of which should be known on Monday. ; Though seme 26,000 infants are bora every year in the Dominion, only about five per cent, are vaccinated. The majority of parents do not even trouble to apply for exemption. "I cannot advise a repeal of the present law," states the Chief < Health Officer (Dr. Valintine) in his annual report, "but I would most, strongly : urge that if it be decided that the law is not to be vigorously administered, it would be better to repeal the law, and in the event of an outbreak provide, by ;- Order-in-Council, that all persons within . j 1 a certain area be vaccinated unless they j can show satisfactory evidence, of/'recent \ '?.! vaccination. )| The police at Gisborne have j received information i ; rom Mr. G. Clark, of Opou, - ! that a hamaji skeleton had been found on > 'ij his property, not far from the homestead. , i Constable Dandy went out to investigate..'<:h and found nearly a complete skeleton in a : -|| gully that usually contained water, but -Mim which on becoming dry, left the human ' -•'«! remains exposed. The Nekton "was an i 1 old one, and probably belonged to #J|s| Maori, many of whom had been buried in U-1 that locality. It was reburied. • In addressing the Poultry Conference : •'] in Wellington on the. question of 'eskab. "i lishing an export trade the Hon. T. Mac- ;1 kenzie made reference to the satisfactory steps being taken to place . the trade is apples on a proper basis (pays the Nw $1 Zealand Times). The fruitgrowers of ■$! Nelson province, he said, combined u H the poultrymen were now doing, arid eat }' to the London . market last year : nsariy . * 5000 cases of apples, the Gomaasnfe / ; guaranteeing Id per lb The expetieott had been most valuable, and defecfc'a ■ the packing methods of shipment, etc.,, \ had been discovered, with the result thai | greater success was probable with fntaw' •'] shipments. The Government had paid Ilia producers £300 over the jihipiaOTt, J aid/ it was now considering the- propriety ci' - assisting them again. , ,v '£ During the hearing of a case in the Ap- V peal Court in . Wellington, on Thursday*/ in which the reversal of a judgment S Mr. Haselden's was sought, on the ground \ < y that no reasons had been - given by the magistrate, Mr. Justice Cooper said £aafc i if a magistrate was perfectly s&tisSei a person had' not established, his case, h»' i was not to be blamed for giving judgment -Jt", , without reasons. It was not right • toi ; censure a magistrate because* he 'did not give definite and detailed reasons. AL. •' • magistrate had a great deal of bnsiaea to attend to, and could not be expeetei'';' ■, to advance elaborate details. ; ; Demands from tramway workers h#«t;'• jgj been giving the Wellington City Council /)i some concern or at any rate the bam-/ ways committee of that body (remark#.///' the Evening Post). It has b^ found, that if the demands of the men are agreed ~,,, to, it will mean an extra expenditure oa /MJ the Wellington service of £8800 per«a*:|jpj nam in wages alone. What the C»fcy|||g£ Council intends to do in the matter is not |j,d; at present cllear. It has been recognised by some of the councillors that there are 1500 tramway men's votes to be conrid- ]^- s ered, and that this fart is one meriting | serious consideration on the part of these < » % who may or may not come before electors both municipal and Parliamentary. What - , will probably be done, however, is to re- i , fer the whole matter to a body oonsti- ,« $ tuted of representatives of .all tramway ./ controlling Isodies in New Zealand, .to'® | separating it from purely local consideration. ; Votaries of "two-up" know what > / double-header" is, but the Chief Jos- | tke, Sir Rot»ert Stout, professed ignorance : on the matter in Wellington on Tuesday, ' during the hearing of a. criminal case in / which three young men were charged wit g burglary. The arresting constable had g deposed that he found .a double-headed j: penny on one of the prisoners. .. What a double-headed penny?" queried m : -| Honor. Witness replied that it * ,as •' ■ j penny with a head on both sides. t Bnj , 4 are these pennies issued like that? '' asked . Sir Robert in tones of surprise. The constable answered that they were made for playing "two-up." , "Oh," said H« -. " Honor, " I did not know that. - " Speaking to a Dominion reporter in Wei* ■; j lington recently, Mr. D. G. Lillie, who W _ j in charge oi: the marine dredging ei *"ft; j tions which are to form part of Uj- ;J scientific inArestigations to be carried °f..-/,/'J by the members of Captain Scott expedi- J | tion to the South Pole, announced thrt upon the return to Lyttelton of the err *«/./] Nova from McMurdo Sound, after lea !" 7.. Ts the Polar expeditionary party, it was intention to fill .in the : time by making ».te»w«llg cruise of to coastal waters. The cro.»e w»W for one of its objects a stud. . j-rq conditions governing the dsvolW««M||| the fishing industry, of suitable t- ; and so on. : As the undertaking would volve considerable expense, m3t ter|S ment had been approached >"j h . - s of assistance. In order - bcne fii//| minion should derive the thei'^l from the investigations made ,dm cruise, the Government would b it3 /;/:f to send a party of scientific jd rtjl representatives, and every. assistance ; M be accorded these gentlemen in the ooser vation and collation of data. yKjji