Items.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XIX, Issue 5905, 29 March 1894, Page 4

Items.

Banning alajtelisstornrpan the Australian "walking fo'tP' -piatt-'has been ad-£ judged in the Supreme Court at .Sydney* not to be a lawful-means of support."! Lately one of "the "practitioners of. the business in question, Fried "Roberts byname, was sentenced-at the -Police Court under the Vagrancy Act, and sought to" upset the conviction by appeal. Defendant's attorney took- the point' that the fact of his client earning a living by carrying on a totalisator business in. the street was not evidence that he had no lawful or insufficient ul means _of support, and that such means of, earning his living was not contrary to the law. He contended that there was nothing in the law to prevent a man carrying on a ,sweepstake so lone as he did it outside the limits of the "Betting Houses Suppression Act.'-If the Magistrate's decision was right the police could' go out to Rand wick and arrest people there for betting. Mr Justice Foster said the decision of the Magistrate must be upheld in this matter. Wherever the means of gaining a livelihood were against the law generally, that was, sufficient to justify a Magistrate in coming to the conclusion that there were not sufficient means of support beyond of keeping a totalisator. He'considered' that getting a living by a totalisator could not be a proper means of support, and he therefore dismissed the appeal--with costs.

An English Board School teacher (female) saw a doctor going into the house of a scholar, and sent the scholar away from school, telling him to fetch a certificate from the doctor to the effect that there was no contagious disease in the house. Here is the certificate the child brought back : " Baby boy—not catching." A little fellow looking rather squeamish went into a Scotch grocer's shop, and, with a very doleful look, asked for a pennyworth of salts. During the operation of weighing the article, he- said to the grocer, "Dinna gie's full wechfc, for it's me that has'to tak' 'em." '

Quicksilver in globules has been found in a slatey stone in the Jamie'son district, about 16 miles from Melbourne. The Government geologist is going to report.; The ground is «aid to be promising, and if the yield is good it means a considerable benefit to miners.

A strange story was told by a homeless girl—Nellie Brown, about 14 years of age —to Mr Paton, P.M., at the Melbourne City Court lately, when she was brought before him on a charge of being a neglected child. Recently the girl lost her parents, and as she had no friends to whom she could apply for shelter or assistance, she was compelled- to seek her livelihood as best as she could. Judging by her tidy and healthy appearance she" succeeded very well in her efforts. She said that she had experienced much difficulty in finding a. suitable and inexpensive sleeeping place; but finally alighted on a cosy corner in the gallery at the Theatre Royal. While that place of entertainment was open- she repaired every evening to her corner to sleep ]ust as the audience were leaving, and made her exit in the morning when the building was being cleaned. One evening she endeavored to repeat her ruse, but as the doors were closed she had to return to the street, where she was found by a constable crying over the disappointment. The girl was taken over by Mrs Hutchison, of the Salvation Army Rescue Home.