LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4297, 5 March 1901, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Tim latest additions to the fund in aid of Mi's Russell and family are as follows: -Mrs M. Reid, £1; W.X.R., 2s; A.E.R., os; Sympathy, 10s.

Mr W. Mason, champion chess, player of New Zealand, and Mr 11. J. Barnes, ex'-diampion, will continue their series of game® in the social hall of the Working Men's Club this evening. The Inspector of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals mentioned, at the committee meeting yesterday, that the practice of racing omnibuses along Lambton quay was continued, in spite of warnings given to the drivers by himself and members of the police force.

Tho following additional subscriptions have been received towards the Queen’s Statue Fund:—Hew T. H. Sprott, LI Is; R. G. Knight (weekly subscription), is; Defence Department, £2 7s 6d; Heat; Office Government Railways, £2-1 6s 6d: J.E.P., 10s 6d; Frances Fery, £l. Tho total amount received to date is £1292 3s 4d.

The Samoan correspondent of tho “Sydney Daily Telegraph” states that steady' progress is being made at the United States naval station at Tutuila. The now Custom-house is almost comofetocr, and other buildings are in course of o'-ection. The output of copra from the Tutuila Islands for the last half year was about 1000 tons.

The? Virginian quail imported by the Wellington Acclimatisation Society some tim- - ' back hove flourished so well in the localities, in which they were liberated that the society has been encouraged to persevere with the importation of these splendid sporting birds. With this end in view it has decided to expend another £IOO in bringing a further consign ment of Virginian quail to the colony.

A meeting of the St. Patrick’s Day Celebration Committee was held in St. Patrick’s Hall last evening. The nominations were postponed till Wednesday evening, as a valuable cup was added to the St. Patrick’s handicap events, having been presented by Mr Payne, Willis Street. It was’ decided to engage the Garrison Band for tho day and evening. The Concert Committee reported having obtained all the best local talent for tho national concert t» be held in the Opera House in the evening. Everything points towards the promoters meeting with great success this year.

The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall arc to spend June the 13th, 14th and loth at Rotorua. Mr John P. Luke will be a candidate , 1,-.r ro-eiection at the forthcoming muni- : cipal elections. j The steamer Mokola, which arrived at The Bluff yesterday afternoon from Mel- | boiune. firings an English mail. I The ninth annual general meeting of * t!:U Palmerston North Gas Company j v.-.il be held at the Chamber of Comj on Thursday, 14th inst. The Postal Department has received (idvice that colonial mails, per Himalaya, which left Melbourne on January 3rd. ■ -ore delivered in London on the 2nd in Tant, ono day early. Tho City Council has applied to the o,.remanent to be allowed until the c;M of tho present month in which to prepare one roll for the whole of the city in conformity with its recent resolution to abolish the ward system. His Worship the Mayor, finding that the Banicing Act provides that any holiday falling on a Sunday must be obrevvod on the following and not on the preceding day, has decided to declare Monday, the 18th inst. (the day after Sr. Patrick’s Day), a public holiday. Ho Iras intimated the promoters of the Hibernian sports of this intention.

At a conference of poultry fanciers af New Plymouth, it was decided to form a North Island Poultry Breeders’ As-eolation, and on the motion of Mr Cam lino, the Wellington delegate, it , decided unanimously that the first

duly of the association be to make overtures to tho South Island Association with. view to having the Marlborough, Nelson, Westport and Hokitika societies included in the North Island Association. The secretary of the association is Mr A. Hardy, of Now Plymouth, where the headquarters of the association arc to be located for the ensuing year.

A sitting of the Licensing Bench was held at the Stipendiary Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Dr McArthur, S.M., presided. The Rev H. Van Staveren end Messrs Paul Coffey, J. B. Harcorrt, O. E. Willeston and John Young wore also present. The following transfers were granted;—Commerce a, Hotel, from Frank Smitli to A. I. Masters, Mr C. P. Skerreftappeared for tho applicant. New r Zealander Hotel, J. K. Hamilton to J. H. Price. Wholesale licenses were granted to Messrs E. A. hi'/mi toe and J. J. Dudgeon on tho applications of Messrs Wilford and Gray.

Ten. drunkards came before the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning. Henry Hargreaves was fined £2; in default of payment seven clays’ imprisonment. Charles Kelly was fined 10s, and ordered to pay' £1 Is medical expenses. Annie Bowers and William Shand (the latter an inmate of the Ohiro Home) were each fined 10s. Sis first offenders were mulccci in penalties ranging from 7s to a caution. Adolph Fisheo- was remanded to Christchurch to answer a charge of having deserted his wife. Defendant denied any desertion, and alleged that he had been living apart from his wife for over twclvo months.

The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company has determined _ to discontinue proceedings in connection with the claim made against it for damages by William McLeod, an engine-driver, •who was injured through falling rock iu a tunnel, and who was awarded £750 damages by a jury. It will be remembered that the company unsuccessfully contested the award in the Court of Appcil, and then gave notice of appeal to tho Privy Council. The company has now determined to abandon this course, arid has handed a cheque covering the amount and costs to Messrs Findlay and Dak-dell, the plaintiff’s solicitors. A Maori named Ngahina Matu was charged in the Stipendiary Magistrate’s Court yesterday with the theft, on June Til a, 1898, of a double-barrelled breechloading gun, valued at £7, the property of another Maori named Thomas Stewart, living at Otaihanga, near "Waikanae. Alexander Euick, jeweller, of Pic ton, said he recognised the giW produced. (which the prosecutor stated was 3ns property) as the one he had repaired lor accused. Constable O’Rourke, of Otaki, the arresting constable, deposed that accused stated he kept .Stewart’s gun because ho (Stewart) had kept £1 belonging to him (accused). Accused was committed for trial at the next sittings of the Supreme Court. A young man was brought before Dr McArthur, S.M., at tho Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning, charged with having stolen from Henry Roberts, pork "butcher, of Cuba street, 41b of German sausage, 21b of butter, one bottle of vinegar, two bottles, of sauce, nine sausage rolls, two black puddings ar.tl eighteen saveloys, of a total value of 8a 9d. Mr Gray appeared , for ■ the defendant, and informed the Bench that the trouble arose out of a drunken freak. Defendant and some friends had been celebrating an occasion, and became exhilarated. He saw one of his friends to his lodgings, at the house of the prosecutor. There he entered the shop, and abstracted from it the articles named in the charge. In the morning ho awoke to a consciousness of his misdoings, and at ! onoe sought cut Roberts, and made offers of reparation to him for the injury he had done. Roberts, however, had in the meantime placed the matter in the hands of the police, and they refused to allow it to be withdrawn. The prosecutor corroborated the whole of the foregoing statements. The Magistrate held that there had been no evidence of felonious intent adduced, and on that ground dismissed the information.

Edward Pierard was charged before Dr McArthur, S.M., yesterday afternoon, that he did indecently assault a girl under the ago of sixteen years, in tho month of December last. It was mentioned by Mr Gray, who opened the o for the prosecution, that the accused—a married man —made the acquaintance of the girl while she was ai tending school, and deliberately set himself out to seduce her. She subsequently went to work in town,and Pierar I there began his illegal intimacy. It was not suggested, said counsel, that the accused used force on the accused, but it was set up that sino9 the girl was under tho age of sixteen she could not legally consent to her own undoing. vo girl gave evidence that accused was wont to oome on several days a week to the office in town where she -worked. IJo used t-o talk of love. An intimacy ensued. Accused told her, after the affair had progressed for a while, “ that ho would turn over and be a Christian.'’ Pierard called after that, but less often, in January last she telephoned to Pierced at his office in the Public Works Department, and asked him to come and see her. He supplied her with an instrument. Witness did not use it. The matter of her age had been mentioned to Pierard by her mother when iPierard first came to their house.- WitIn oss herself had inferontially told accused her age. Mr Wilford, counsel for :accused, asked that tho case be adjourned in consequence of tho lateness of the (hour (5.80 p.m.). There was, he said, ; 1 no prospect of finishing it that night, jllis Worship granted the application, [and adjourned the case until to-morrow :: morning. By arrangement between 1 ' counsel, the medical evidence of Drs i' Alexander and Teare was taken before - the adjournment was made. Bail was ; allowed in two .sureties of £SO and accused’s own bond of £IOO.

The largest and most successful horse sale ever held in Feilding was conducted by Messrs Morshoad and Giesen on Saturday last, when 150 unbroken horses were yarded. Over 400 people attended the sale ,and every animal was sold at record prices. In -connection with the Wellington grocers’ picnic, at the Railway Grounds, Upper Hntt, to-morrow, a- train, will leave To Aro Hatton at 9.30' a.m., and Wellington at 0.40 a.m. The return train will leave the Hutt at 5.55 p.m. The grocers’ shops in the city will be closed all day

One important fact brought out in evidence before the Rivers Commission was that ground in the valley of the Tuapcka river formerly worked by paddocking was left in a very rough state, and utterly useless for cultivation; but tho reworking of it by dredges lias had the effect of leaving it in such an improved condition that there is a reasonable prospect of tho dredged land being utilised for settlement purposes. As the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall are to bo in the colony from the 11th to the 29th of June, it is quite possible that Parliament—which would in the ordinary course of events be opened on the 22nd or 23rd of June—will have to be opened at the end of May, and adjourned until the first week in July. The reason for this stop is obvious. Naturally, Parliament cannot sit during the presence in this colony of their Royal Highnesses, but a certain amount of business will require to be done before their arrival here. Our Gisborne correspondent telegraphs as follows:—A large number of lams are being imported into this district, but as an instance of the expense and risks sheep-breeders are often put to, Mr Aiex McKenzie, who has so long given stud sheep-breeding special attention, purchased a Romney ram from a well-known breeder in Palmerston North for twenty guineas f.o.b. at Napier, On arrival Mr McKenzie was so dissatisfied with the sheep, that, although he was bound to pay for it, he declined to use the sheep, and sold him at the Matawhero yards on Wednesday for £2.

Our Carterton correspondent writes as follows;—Major Willoughby and. Captain Corbett, who intend tramping the Mangarakis, for heads, have engaged Ross, tho well-known Martinborough deer-stalker, as a guide.—A movement is on foot to give material aid to the Gunderson family, who recently lost their belongings by fire. A committee of ladies has informed the unfortunate farmer’s wife that she may purchase, ou their recognisance, goods to the value of £2o.—ln the second match of a. series that aro to be played, the Masterton Rowling Club was successful against Carterton, the scores being 68 and 60. At a meeting o' the Taratahi-Carterton Road Board, the tender, £1250, of Mr O. E. Daniells, for the erection of a bridge over the Taueru, near Gladstone, was accepted. The Masterton Borough Council is in

a financial difficulty as regards the completion of its drainage works, says the “Daily Times.”' In. view of the Council going out of office on the Slat inst., it is desirable, our contemporary thinks, to know whether this difficulty will be solved during the current 1 month—or whether it will be left as a legacy to its successor. Considerable- interest is now .being expressed as to the election of a new Council; and. as a guide to both candidates and to ratepayers, it is expedient that there should be some explicit and official statement made as to the nature of the existing difficulty, and as to the probability of its being removed. The Masterton paper is of opinion that some of the best business men in the community should be prepared to come forward as candidates for ihe new Council. A stage appears to have been reached in the affairs ,of the borough at which their services have become necessary.

Dairy farmers are reminded that they are bound under the Dairy Industry Act of 1898 to conform to certain regular tions as to inspection, suitability of cowsheds, sanitary arrangements, care of stock, etc., which came into force on January Ist. The Act 'also specifies that “every owner cl a cowshed or other building, or place where cows are or kept for the purpose of milking, the milk or cream from which is disposed of by sale solely or partly for consumption in the colony, shall register such building as. a dairy with the Inspector of Stock for the district in which the building is situated.” Application forms for registration, as well as copies of the regulations, can be obtained: from any office of a stock inspector throughout the colony. According to the Act, applications are to bo lodged not later than March Ist in each year, so that as the stipulated date has already passed no time should be lost in complying with the regulations. The rules regarding the inspection, and the conditions as to sheds, sanitation, etc., necessary to be observed, are printed in a very handysized little pamphlet, and there is no excuse for milk producers professing ignorance of theira.

Stanley Smith appeared at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning on a charge that he did steal a ring and a watch and chain of the value of £lO from Harriett Richardson, a domestic servant. Accused elected to have! his case dealt with summarily. Sub-Inspec-tor Wilson prosecuted, and Mr Cooper appeared for the defence. Prosecutrix gave evidence that she was on. friendly terms with Smith, and that he, when out walking with her, took possession of her watch and ring. She asked him to give them back to her, and he replied, ‘ ‘Anyone would think I was going to steal them.” She then told him he could keep them until the following night, but he failed to keep an appointment’’ to meet her. He was to meet her on the following Tuesday. She sent a friend named Pudney to ask Smith for the articles, but Smith refused to hand them over to him. Charles Zachariah deposed that defendant came to him ana raised money on a ring (produced). He "ave the name of Harry Smith. George Pudney, dentist, deposed that accused told him he had pawned Miss Richardson’s ring, but that he had no recollection of the watch. Detective McGrath deposed that when he arrested defendant the latter said he had arranged by telephone with Miss Richardson that he would return the things to her that night. Mr Cooper submitted to the Bench that no proof had been adduced that a proper demand had been made for the return of the things. The prosecutrix and the defendant had been on very friendly terms, and the latter was of opinion teat he had been presented with the articles. The reason why he had not kept his appointment with Miss Richardson was because he was incarcerated for debt at the time. It was untrue that he had undertaken io return the watch and ring on the Tuesday following the Monday on which he got them. His Wor.ship said he could not believe the statements M accused as to the conditions upon which he received tha articles from Miss Richardson. In order to give defendant a chance to escape gaol, he would fine him £5 and costs (18s). Twenty-four hours’ grace was allowed defendant in which to find the money.