NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11047, 2 November 1921, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

There is a considerable quantity of dairy butter being disposed of in Master ton just now, which is. having the effect of somewhat curtailing the sale of factory supplies. A Press Association; message from Christchurch states that a southwesterly storm raged there on Monday night, and there was snow on the hills near the city yesterday morning. . Two absentee owners of property at Bombay, in the Auckland district, have been fined £3O and £2O respectively for failing to -destroy rabbits on their properties. 1 . “The newspapers have been more than kind to us; they have been generous,” said Mr F. W. Vosseler at yesterday’s meeting of industrial exhibitors. “They have every sympathy with the' movement for New Zealandmade goods.” A human, skeleton has been discovered on Mr C. L. Ensor’s farm, Halswell, Canterbury. The police state that the remains are very old, and probably those of an aboriginal. The bones are blacketied and perforated, and the forehead is a receding one. It is thought that the find may be of scientific interest. A correspondent of the “Taranaki News” states that a Rerekapa settler was rather surprised the other day when going on hie usual rounds among his stock to find a three-year-old bullock hanging by the head from a white-wood tree on a rather steep bluff. It seems that the beast had been stretching its head oyer the bluff, eating the leaves of the tree; and its horns became caught between two branches. In endeavouring to free its head the animal lost its foothold, and, swinging clear of the ground, was left hanging. , Giving evidence at a Newport (Mon.) inquest on his wife, Mrs Sarah Ellen Whitton, who committed suioidej the husband, a butcher, stated that the deceased was upset by untrue allegations against his character made to her by neighbours. “It is a most dreadful thing,” said the coroner, “to think that people should have gone to this poor woman and told her some trifling thing or exaggerated something which so affected her mind that it became unhinged. The people who did" this are morally responsible for her death,’’ he added. A verdict of suicide while of unsound mind was returned. “We have the same prejudice against the home-manufactured article in Australia,” said Mr M. Manson, the New Zealand Government representative at Melbourne, at yesterday’s meeting of industrial exhibitors. “And it sometimes worked out in queer ways. An instance of proof that the home-made article is just as 1 good occurs to me. When the Duke 1 and Duchess of York visited these southern shores some years ago, it was determined to entertain them fairly lavishly. Samples of champagne from all parts of the world were tested, the labels being removed. And when the selectors had chosen what they considered' to he a very high-class wine it was found to be Australian-made!” The death of ex-Constable Oollerton, of Timaru, recalls a somewhat sensational incident that occurred in Masterton some years ago (say® an exchange). During the luncheon adjournment at the District Court one of the litigants, a man named Samirterville, purchased a revolver, and deliberately, shot dead a settler named Herbert, who was the defendant in the case- Constable Collerton and Constable Nestor, who were visitors to Masterton for the sitting of, the court, hearing the report of a firearm, rushed down the street; and saw Sommermlle following. Herbert, who had struggled to the footpath after being shot, with a smoking revolver in his hand. Summerville, who was a big, heavy man, was about to raise the revolver for use upon the constables, but Constable Collerton was too quick for him, and seized his arm. He was thrown to the ground after a violent struggle, and was eventually handcuffed. Summerville was charged with rounder, but a verdict of insanity was returned. He subsequently hanged himself in a mental hospital. The murdered man, Herbert, belonged to a well-known East Cqaat family of the*. »*~wue,

(Best southern chaff is selling at £9 10s per ton at Auckland. Over 700 entries have already been received for the Wanganui musical and elocutionary competitions. The Masterton dairy factory is at present receiving three timee as much milk as it did this time last year. An American paper remarks cynically, of things in general, that the men who were shouting, “No beer, no work!” in 1919, didn’t know that they would get both in 1921. In spite of a most diligent nearcli of the district, no trace has been found of Mr W. J. Harper, of Hastings, who has been missing from his home since October 12th. t> . The Hon. W. Noswortliy (Minister for Agriculture) gave notice in the House yesterday of his intention to introduce the Orchard-tax Amendment Bill. “Football honours are not chea-p,” wrote a “rep.” player to the Wellington Rugby Union, who lost £4O in salary last season for the time he waa absent from hie job. The wholesale price of first-grade butter has been reduced by twopence (say, 3 -a (Press Association telegram). The price is now Is lOd for “pats, and the retail price has been fixed at 2s Id per lb. Mr J. Horn (Wakatipu) gave notice in Parliament yesterday afternoon to move that there be laid before the House & copy of t-he wpol-purchasc-agreement with the Imperial Government. * Sir G. Hunter (Waipawa) desires to ask. the Prime Minister whether he, will fatvourably consider the question .of continuing the amount of the pension now payable to the Maori War veterans or their widows? It is the intention of Mr G. Mitchell, M.P. for Wellington South, to organise a Parliamentary party to visit the Mangahao hydro-electrio works during the session. The visit may take place within the next few weeks. The Postal authorities have been advised that the R.M.S. Tahiti, which •sailed from San Francisco on the 29th ult. for Wellington, has on board for New Zealand 1953 bags (including 667 parcel receptacles and 920 hags from the "United Kingdom). In the interests of school children, Mr E. Kellett (Dunedin North) has given notice to ask the Minister for Railways whether he will favourably consider the question of raising the age of those entitled to travel for halffare • from twelve to fourteen years. As an indication that the property market locally is not quite dead (says the Wanganui “Herald”),'" it is interesting to know that since March 380 notices of transfer of property in the borough have been received by the municipal- authorities. A man, who was charged at Foxton with being illegally on licensed premises, produced, to prove his innocence, a character from the Prime Minister of New South Wales. The police evidence, however, resulted in. the man being fined. “I have a farm of 1300 acres, and have been farming for thirteen yearn,” stated a witness at the Arbitration Court last evening. “That’s unlucky, ’ said Mr Justice Frazer. “Yes, very/’ was the laconic response of the witness, who then plunged into an account of his losses. “Do you consider that the interests of sheepowners and freezing companies are identical?” a witness at the Arbitration Court was asked yesterday. “Yes, I do, absolutely identical,” was the reply. “One cannot exist without the other, and the regulations can’t exist without either.” On Thursday and . Friday next, between the hours of 2 to 4, and 7 to 9, and on Friday morning from 10 to 12, there will be an exhibition of work done by. students in the School of Art, including in addition to drawing, painting and modelling, art metalwork and jewellery, leatherwork, stencilling anddesign. “I will not say that we have been lavish, but we certainly have been generous,” remarked the Hon. C. J. Parr, referring to the new school at Te Ore Ore. “You were very fortunate in getting in before the lean days struck us. I know that if you went o*h bended knee now to Mr Massey you would not get-it.”,. “Organised effort does good, in two ways. It brings the delinquent to pnnisbment, and teaches that cruelty will , impair the working partnership between man and horse.' The average city-dweller has no time to see a man punished as he would like.”—Mr F Meadowcroft, at the annual meeting of the. S.P.C.A. yesterday. Replying in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon to a question by Mr W. A. Vedtch (Wanganui), the Hon. D H. Guthrie (Minister for Railways) said that there would be no delay in bringing down. D 3, the Railway Service Classification I/ist, which was in han<J at the present time. The report of tlie Railway Superannuation Board would also be brought down as soon as possible. “What price did you get last year for fat wethers for export?” a sheepfarmer was asked in the Arbitration Court yesterday. “Twenty-three hob—-twenty-three shillings,” was the reply. “And what do you expect to get this season?’’ "pursued the oroßs-examina-tion. “Well, I expect to get as much as I can; but on the present indications I’m afraid I’ll got about ten,” answered the witness. Mr W. H. Field (Otaki) asked, in Parliament yesterday, whether it was the case, as had been reported, that persons were coming to New Zealand as . bona fide immigrants who were nothing of the kind, but were coming out merely to take advantage of a cheap trip, and went elsewhere after touring the Dominion. The Hon. W. Nosworthy said that there was not the slightest truth' in the story which had been circulated. Formal observance of Magna Charta Day, June 15th, in the United States, Canada, • Newfoundland, Australia, South Africa, Great Britain, Ireland, and New Zealand ie being agitated by the Magna Charta Association, and a campaign with this object in view has been initiated in St. Paul, in Minnesota. It is not intended by its promoters that a holiday should be declared on the anniversary pf that famous day in the annals of freedom, but the organisers of the association seek general acknowledgment of the day through magazine articles, newspaper editonuls, and sermons from pulpits. “\Ve wish only to educate the Englishspeaking nations to the origin or all modem civil and religious liberties, and our movement is purely educational,” it was explained by Dr. W. J. Johnson, of St.. Paul, who ie on the executive committee.