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New Zealand Mail, Issue 1403, 19 January 1899, Page 18

Thirty claims for old age pensions have been made at Gisborne.

There are 84 inmates in the Benevolent Home, Ohiro—6o males and 24 females.

Consideration of claims for pensions under the Old Age Pension Act will be resumed on Friday.

I would rather starve than go into Uie Home, said a lady applicant to tho B ni*»yolent Trustees on Tuesday. She wanted temporary assistance only, she »• !d»d. r j iie Trustees, after consideration, to give her rent and rations to the .-ml oi t}. a month. " That's not very much," gli« remarked when told of the decision, ami en being again advised to go into the lfoir.f she pertinently remarked that the Trustees * did not know everything. The , WelJ ington correspondent of the Christclmrch "Press" writes to that paper as follows: Press Association telegram that Madame Radatske is the wife of Carl von Ledebur, ■ it may be interesting to note that this gentleman recently passed through Wellington, where he was interviewed by a representative of the ' Post' as a returned Klondike miner, who gave a graphic account of his experiences, and tho manner in which he got into a rich claim there."

The examination of witnesses in the iron and brass moulding trade dispute was on Tuesday concluded by the Conciliation Board. By reason of its evolution and certain of tho points involved this case is exciting more general interest than others that have recently come before the Board. The union called seven witnesses, and the foundry-masters eight. The conclusions of the Board will in all probability be made known a week hence. A report of Tuesday's proceedings in tho matter appears elsewhere in this issue.

There was a very narrow escape from a serious accident in Courtenay place on Tuesday afternoon. A pair of horses attached to a cart belonging to Mr J. J. Geange, of the Upper Hutt, took fright in Upper Dixon street, and bolted along to Courtenay place. Here tho runaways made a rush on to the footpath, and dashed between a telegraph post and the windows of a small shop, narrowly escaping crashing into the latter. Fortunately, no one was on the footpath at the time. Immediately afterwards the horses were stopped, and taken charge of by Constable Poland. It is really amusing, writes " Fair and Square," to read the articles appearingwith religious regularity in the Opposition press of tho colony against that terrible man the Premier. One would think New Zealand had the unenviable reputation of possessing one of the worst tyrants of modern times—one of the greatest oppressors of our liberty-loving people—in the person of the Premier. But although the aforesaid articles amuse, yet in time they tire, and if these paid puppets of the " fat man " would give us less of misrepresentation, less of absurd and "faked" charges against the Government, or rather, its head, and fewer silly predictions, probably their columns would carry more weight than they do. The organised howl of wrath from north to south over the Austrian influx has been with the one end in view—another Bhot at that "terrible man." For the life of me I cannot see where the Premier has erred, or where un-British tactics have been employed. We don't want hundreds of aliens dumped down here for a year or two, only to return again to whence they came with the wealth the colony should benefit by. However, I think these Seddon-hunting journalists will get paid bacE in their own coin before 1900; when the great voice of the People has spoken they will be able to calculate the extent and weight of their precious articles, and will, I trust, benefit thereby. Referring to the lato Samuel Waters,

" Hr«tatis Mutandis" writes:—Nineteen years ago next August certain gentlemen and ladies of St. Peter's Church cast about them for the ways and means of erecting a chime of bells for this church. Foremost among them was Mr Samuel Waters, then in a good position in Levin and Co.'s. The inauguration took the shape of a gift auction; the large Arcade building was engaged and very soon a large supply of donations were sent in, Mr Waters being the secretary and moving spirit all through. The next thing was to obtain the services of a competent auctioneer, one, if possible, who had experience in such matters before. Mr Dwan, without the slightest hesitation, agreed to conduct the sale gratuitously, and for six nights from 8 o'clock to 12 he sold, attended by Mr Waters all the time. It is needless to say that through the untiring energy of Mr Waters, not only was the nucleus of a fund formed, but a substantial amount was obtained, whereby St. Peter's bells were erected. But, alas for " man's inhumanity to man," when on Sunday last, all that was mortal of him who had contributed so zealously to the glory of God and the welfare of religion in the erection of these bells was passing contiguous to St. Peter's, all was dumb; all was silent; not the semblance of a solemn dirge escaped their Hps —not a single hand to remind them of their duty to their dead inceptor. What a lesson to the living; and, as for the dead he has reaped his just reward long ere this, so it is to be hoped. What should ! most aggrieve the relatives of the deceased is that less deserving cases have received 4. the doleful sound of those harbingers of ffl grief, while their promoter and hon. secre- % tary s, Samuel Waters', remains were al* 3| lowed to pass unnoticed. Such is life ! | [Another correspondent also writes to the • «$ same effect.— Ed.] ■-£

The next examination of surveyors, under the Land Act, 1892, will be held on the 7th March.

The Hawera " Star " says that things were so lively at Taihape on New Year s Day that the Riot Act had to be read by a local Justice of the Peace.

A Napier confectioner has been fined 5s and costs for selling the drink known as kola bitters, which, on analysis, was found to contain alcohol.

Captain Alexander intimated to the Wes'cport Reception Committee in response to inquiries that the Governor did not hold levees except in large cities.

' A press telegram from Dunedin with reference to the moa's egg found in the well of a dredge on the Molyneaux (which it was previously reported had been sold to Baron Rothschild) states that the curiosity has been secured for the Dunedin Museum.

The Hebrew congregation at Auckland met recently to consider an application from Mr Ernest Davis to have his fiancee, Miss Marion Mitchell, of Pollard's Opera Company, made a proselyte. After a heated discussion it was decided to refer the matter to Wellington, to which city the young lady belongs. In forwarding to the Department of Justice a resolution passed at a recent meeting of creditors held in this city, Mr Jameb Ashcroit, Official Assignee, has made the following recommendation:— -*' Where a married woman enters into a similar business to that carried on by her husband within six months of his bankruptcy she shall give the Assignee, on demand, the fullest information as to the business nr«J her financial position, and failure to supply such information or produce booics when demanded shall be contempt of Court."

The November number of the "Street Railway Review," published in Chicago, has an interesting illustrated article by Frank X. Cicott, entitled "Possibilities for Electric Traction in New Zealand.' The article speaks very highly of the prospects of the colony, and states that the commercial interests of New Zealand art going to be of great importance, vastly more than the people realise, and the change for the better is coming more quickly than expected. British and Ameri can occupation of the South Seas and the Far East will hasten this anticipated prosperity."

The report of Sir E. Gerard, accountant in the Official Assignee's office, on the bankrupt estate of Andrew Moran, storekeeper, states that "the result of the investigation into the accounts is very unsatisfactory/' After various comments, the -*port concludes:—"lt will be seen that either the bankrupt had on <£4B ? l 2s 3d, ooods purchased (this amount is undisputed, and is in all probability larger), a gross profit of only .£560 6e, or about 11* ner cent., or that there is a deficiency to be explained equivalent to the difference between this and what would be estimated as the/average gross profit in a business of this kind/ The hearing of the charge of criminal assault preferred against Robert Douglas, a yeung man aged 19 years, occupied the Masterton Magistrate's Court from noon om Monday till 9 p.m., when accused was committed for trial. The evidence of the victim of the assault showed the outrage to have been of a revoltingly brutal nature. Drs W. H. Hosking and S. F. Beard, who both examined her on the morning after +h« outrage, gave evidence which tuny BupporteThe/story regarding the> violent treatment she had received. Douglas, who was undefended by counsel, reserved Ms defence. The Bench occupied by Messrs T. Duncan and E. G. liton, J. s.r. "Humanitas" writes:—"ls the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to. Animals defunct? If it is not, surely its mspectpi ought to prosecute those auctioneers whe expose poultry for sale-out in the oper air and in all kinds °* wea . the *- m so umall as to be. wholly inadequate foi their accommodation. Not on one day, but day after day ducks, geese and fowls' may be seen exposed in this way; and if is more than probable that the creatures are herded together in this way during the nights also. It would surely not cost the auctioneers very much to provide proper pens for the exhibition of poultry in their auction rooms. At any rate their inhumane practice, which grieves me to the heart to observe, should at once be put a gtop to, either by the Society referred to or by the police/' The " Wairarapa Daily Times " expects the contest at next election between Mi HostK and Mr Bourke (who has expressed his intention of opposing the sitting mem her) to be a particularly keen one. lhe iournal does f 'not profess to know what his chances are, but we class him as a strong man, who knows his own mind, possesses a srood fighting capacity, and as one X intends to win?'' It also observe -that he speaks fluently, has a pieaaan. voice, and that there is backbone in him. He is one of those men who in this world manages, sooner or later, by sheer persu* tencvf to get what they want. A Hawle's Bay paper, however thinks that there might as well be no election, so poo. does the editor think Mr Bourke's chances of success to be-for, as the writer puts it, " He would be worse than useless in Par liament." Professor Shelton, of Brisbane, who has recentlTrevisited the United States, savs: "The most wonderful thing in industrial life in America to-day is the univerSa of electric trams from citv toS and from village to hamlet £r «nd near. For instance, I happened £ be in a town of considerable size, and wished to visit another city sixteen miles XSSSfc I asked the hotel proprietor Sfout the trains, and he said, ' ton don't about P»w« ,-V tet car leaveß in SB of Shotel eveSy half hour for that more oi «£ boueht a return ticket for £SXiv is 3d, and was whisked across by the electric tram at a speed *nd that enables them to comwl Sessfully with the railways. At my homSceXal Michigan I found them ? l j. ~S««i«Hnir the link in the line of &s C wfi connects ."this small place Sth Detroit, eighty miles distant tfher2™r von go you cross electric tram lines. W$L development is having a very wide Essfts sarsbar^n^