SOCIAL AND GENERAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14699, 6 December 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

SOCIAL AND GENERAL.

PERSONAL. Mr Emery (managing partner of the linn of Messrs A. and T. Inglie). accomuanicu by Mrs Emery and the members of his family, will leave by tho Corinthio in January on a lengthy holiday trip. Mr Emery will return to New Zealand by the Tuinui. leaving London on the 13th October, 1910. Mis Bloomlield, of Ponsonby, who celebrated her ninety-fifth birthday last week, has the distinction of claiming 110 living descendants, tho majority of whom were present at a great family reunion on Monday {says tho Auckland Star). Arriving in'lß63 with a small family, she has livwl to see her descendants number 110—children 9, grandchildren 37, great-grand-children 61, and great-great-grandchildren 3. Telegrams of congratulation wore, received from Sir Joseph Ward, the Hon, George Eowlds, and others. CASUALTIES AND OFFENCES. On November 18 a slab whare of three rooms at Turangarere, which was occupied by a mtui named Jago and his wife, Charles Connell, Jolm Grogan, and Davis (a, half-caste), was destroyed by_

fire. Mrs Jago and Connell were burned to death, only a small portion of their remains being discovered. Jago was badly burned, and is in a serious condition.

A young girl, the daughter of W. ("totter, butcher, Te Kuiti, was burned to death on Novuniber 17. She lit some corse, and her clothes caught fire. The accident was not observed until her clothing was nearly all burned. Tl>c child died two bolus later.

Jack Roberts, a young jockey who was round on the Kaiwiirra Hills with a bullet wound in his forehead aim

a revolver by his side. died in the Wellington Hospital on Nov. 19. He came from Marlborough. At the inquest subsequently held a verdict was returned that deceased died from a- bullet would self-intlicted. Evidence was given that Roberts had attended the Grand National meeting, and since his arrival in "vVellington had spent £40 in three davs. No cause has been assigned for the act! Henry Matthews (31), a married man, with two children, engaged at Circen's lignite pit, near ("Sore, did n.it return home on November 18. His wife became a i armed, -slid communicated with li:u mine manager, who with his sou made haste to the mine, where an inspection revealed Matthew's body almost covered beneath a mats of lignite. The coal was broken up, and on getting the body clear life was found to be extinct. It 'is supposed that deceased fired a shot (which was heard about 4 o'aloek), and that this failing to bring down the coal he commenced to hew out tho wall, with (he result that he loosened the coal, which fell on him.

Allied Let ford, a hairdresser, about 37 years of age, committed suicide atWha-nga-vr.i on Nov. 20 in a small room behind his saloon by shooting himself with a -scrvico rille. Financial troubles are assigned as the cause of the deed. The deceased, who canio to Whangarei in February of last year from Fiji, leaves a wife and five children.

William John Douglas. 30 years of age, died in the Waihi Hospital' as a result of an operation to recover an iron staple, accidentally swallowed while deceased was mending a. fence. Ho leaves a, widow and family of five.

The body of Hobert Marshall, who had been missing from Roxburgh for some days, was found in an old coal mine at Coal Creek. Decomposition had set in. A hit of string connected his foot with the trigger of a pea-rifle, and a bullet had entered his forehead.

| A little girl, aged 19 months, named Constance Nielsen, managed to become possessed of a box of matches, and, being unobserved, bit the heads off several" ami swallowed them. No ill effects were perceptible till early on tho 16th lilt,, when acute pain set 'in. Dr M'Kellar was summoned, but, on examining the child, could hold out no hope. Death took place during the day. The child lived with hor parents at the District road, Rothesay, Raven.s'hourue.

. A man named Robert Hvland Smith, well-known as a bookmaker'at Waimate, committed suicide bv cutting his throat with a mor . j] e wilß fj n(x ] i ast week for assaulting an old man on the show grounds whilst drunk, ami this and other things preyed on his mind. ■Tamos Duthie, aged 19, was getting off a ballast train at Athol Station on Nov. 17 when he stumbled and the plough on the van dragged him under the trucks. The result was that he sustained severe injuries, from which he died on the way to the .hospital. A man, apparently between 55 and 60 years of age, met with an accident which terminated fatally during the train journey from Masterton to Wellington on Nov. 22. Just before the train steamed into the Upper Hutt Station he was seen swinging from the platform rail, and as the guard ran to his assistance he fell clear of the train. He was taken into the carriage, and the only complaint ho made was that one foot was sore. While unlacing his boot he had a fainting fit. He recovered a little later, but again collapsed and died. The only mark was a bruise on the knee. It is supposed that he was injured internally. His name*was T. M'Carthy, farmer, of Mastcrton. He had lately been residing in Wellington. The inquest was comm«need on Nov. 23. The medical evidence showed that no bones were broken, and suggested that the deceased may have taken poison. In a pocket-book found in the deceased's possession was the following statement, which was read:—"°l have had no money from loan companies for years, and I have paid 20 times over in 40 per cent, for three or four months, running for a number of years, I have done my best, and served my life in misery. I. have never had eh idle day or any pleasure this 35 -vears. The lawyers have robbed me. l" never did a poor man out of ii penny in my life." At tire inquest the Government 'Analyst said he had examined the contents 'of the stomach, and found there was sufficient strychnine to cause death. Deceased's widow said M'Carthy used to suffer from head trouble, for which ho took tabloids. She did not know what they contained. The Coroner (Dill' Arthur) said he was not prepared to say there was no doubt that deceased took his own life. From the ovidence as to deceased's state of health he thought a very sudden shock, such as falling from a train, would be likely to causo death. The verdict, was that death was probably from syncope, cansod by deceased's condition of body, and accelerated by the accident. He (the coroner) would leave suicide out of the question. Patrick O'Connell, employed by M'Clu»gage Bros., was killed on November 21 at roliokm-a Saddle, Taranaki, through tlte wheel of a dray passing over him. Tewkesbury 'Janyon was drowned at Me llotorua on the 24th November, as the result of a boating accident. The deceased was 29 years of a&>, and a resident of Auckland. His father was at o/io time- editor of the Kumura Times. John Maxwell, about 36 years of age, staying at St. Heliers Bay with Edward Shaw, was found by the latter lying on the ground with a razor in his liand°and his throat cut. Medical aid was secured, but Maxwell died an hour later. Robert MacPonald (35), married, died in the Inv'ercargill Hospital from an injury to his head, caused by a flying winch handle while he was working at the Hralgchope sawmill. Deceased leaves a widow and four young children. Patrick Dooley 'died on his way to the Stratford Hospital from injuries 'resulting from a fall of sandstone at Poboknra. Deceased wa6 employed by the Public Works Depigment. News from To Araraa states that throe Natives went out in a boat fiskimr. They attempted to return in the afternoon, anil "'lron half-way homo the boat capsized. Two of them, mimed Tira-pirai Iln-mi and Wirepu Tu.piiuma, were drowned, but tho third man, Puhaka Kohero, reached the shore in an exhausted condition.

A dro.vning facility occurred in the Onawa River, at Blenheim. Mrs Drown, wife of Mr James Brown., bootmaker, went out, accompanied by her adopted daughter, a child of about four, for the purpose of catching whitebait. She suddenly disappeared to the bottom of the river. The child ran to the house of a neh'hboui' who, wilii assistance, recovered the bodv. A doctor was summoned, but found life extinct. Mrs lirown had complained this morning of not feeling well. At the Kauri Timber Company's mill at Whitinnga a loose piece of timber was thrown over a saw with terrific force. It struck a man named Harry Eyre bolow the lower rib, and penetrated his abdomen. Eyre died from hemorrhage and shock. °

Mrs Thompson, wife of Mr F. W. Thompson, dentist, of Christdiurch! was recently drowned in the Opihi River at a place called Hanging Rock, about three miles from Pleasant Point. Mr and Mrs Thompson went from Christchurch for the purpose of spending a few days fishing in the Opihi They had been fishing for some little time when Mr Thompson, on looking towards the spot at which he. had left his wife, saw that she had fallen into the water, which at this place was very shallow, not more than a foot deep. He ran and lifted her out of the water and did everything possible to restore animation, but' without effect. Dr. Patterson stated that Mrs Thompson was subject to fainting fits, and he was of opinion that she fainted, and, falling into the

water, was drowned. An inquest was hold at Pleasant Point, when a verdict of accidental death by drowning was returned. Mrs Thompson was a. well-known angler. She was a little over 40 years of age.

Henry Woodcock, emploved on works at the Tehana Railway Station, who had been brooding over 'domestic troubles. ( unlimited suicide. The man look spirits of salts.

A dairy farmer named Herbert Burgh, single, aged 29. hanged himself in a cowshed, near Pahintua. He had lwen in indifferent nea.Uh for some weeks.

_ A young man-ie'd man named Thomas Frost was'killed on the Wakapuaka road, Nelson, on the 2nd. He wiir thrown from a dray and run over, his back being broken and internal injuries being sustained. ) MISCELLANEOUS. At. a meeting of the executive of the Olago Employers' Association, held on November 30, the following resolution was unanimously carried:—"That this meeting strongly protects against the action of the Government in continuully over-riding the decisions of the Arbitration Court, and looks upon its action in connection with the proposed Shops and Offices Bill as an unwarranted interference with the Arbitration Court. In this instance the court has sat. in every part of the Dominion and heard evidence in respect to the hours, wages, and conditions of work in connection with hotel employees, and in many instances it has increased wages and shortened the hours. The Government now, without evidence, proposes to reduce those hours still further, and at tho same rate of pay as listed by the Arbitration Court, thus upsetting the whole basis of the award. And this meeting further pledges itself to stand by the New Zealand Employers' Federation in any stand it may' see fit to take up in demanding that the decisions of the court, shall be respected by tho Legislature." A Press Association telegram reports that the following resolution was passed by tho Exccutivo Committee of the Canterbury Employers' Association, at a meeting held on Monday, November 29:—"This executive protests most strongly against tho proposals contained in the Shops and Offices Amendment Rill, wherein 'it, is intended to override the awards given by the Court of Arbitration, after hearing full evidence from well side. This executive considers that such pro|iosals are a reflection on tho court, as they imply that the court is not competent to do the work for which it was specially established. This executive further thinks that it Parliament considers tho court incompetent to do its work the court should bo abolished."

Tho total value of the assets of the friendly societies in New Zealand is £1,123,886, of which the, value of the eick and funeral benefit funds is £1.034,196. The Coal Mines Act Amendment Bill, introduced provides that it shall not he lawful for the owner or manager of any mine, or for any person in chaise of a mine, to require any person over the age of 18 years, who is employed in the nunc or applying to be employed, to be medically examined or to produce a medical certificate that bo is in a good or sound state of health. Every person who commits a breach of this section is liable for a first offence to a fine of £50, and for the second or any subsequent offence to a fine of £100.