LOCAL & GENERAL

Otago Witness, Issue 2006, 4 August 1892, Page 19

LOCAL & GENERAL

lii the Supremo Court last week a motion ■was heard for a writ of attachment against an aged couple n;invd Manning for disobedience of a writ of habeas corpus which was issued early in March l.xst. At that time, on the application of Charles James Sntton, a writ of Jutbeas corpus was issued against Mary Sutton, John Manning, and Helen Manning to produce to the court John Sutton, «n infant, and hand over the possession of* it to its father, the applicant, Chailes James Sutton. The defendant Mary Sutton was the mother of the infant, and the defendants John Manning and Helen Manning the' parents of the defendant Mary Sutton. During the course of the proceedings on the argument of the rule nisi it transpired that, while the rule was made returnable on the sth February, the child vanished two days before that date from the custody of the Mannings, with whom it had been living, being taken by its mother to Melbourne. His Honor directed that a separate writ bhoulil issue to each of the defendants, and that all the writs should be returnable five weeks after service. When the matter again came belore the couit yesterday, it was stated on beh:;lf of the Mannings that they had communicated with Mrs Sutton, but she had refused to come back or to accept money, which they offered to send her to enable her to retnrn ; and it was submitted that, the defendants being 78 and 58 years of age respectively, it would be inhuman to ask them to go to Melbourne themselves to procure the child. Mr Justice Williams, while ordering that the writ of attachment should go, said he had no wish, looking at the advanced age of Mr and Mrs Manning, that they should be sent to gaol, but he felt that as they had wronged Mr Sutton, it lay upon them to use their utmost efforts to right him, and if they did not take every reasonable step (short of going to Melbourne itself) to get the child back they should suffer for the wrong they had committed. His Honor directed that the writ should lie in the ofllce for a month, and that it should be discharged if within that time the Mannings satisfied him that they had made every reasonable effort to procure the child. It is stated on good authority (says the Lyttolton Times) that the late Mr Harry Allwright, of Ljttelton, provided in his will that a sum of L3OO should be invested by the executors, the interest on which is to be spent on May 24- of each year in assisting the deserving poor of the port of Lyttolton. Such a generous act is a fitting termination to the many good works in which the deceased gentleman has been concerned. The Tablet states that there is not a word of truth in the Press Association telegram from Wellington that the state of Bishop Morau's health prevented his travelling at this time ol year. It declares that the bishop is perfectly sound and vigorous, and fails in nothing of his accustomed energy. The new sovereign, designed by Mr Broclr, is to be issued (Miys Truth) in a few weeks' t.ine. Mr Brock has retained St. George and Ihe Dragon on the reverse, but he has introduced a little realism into his design by dismounting the suint, removing his horse, and arming him with a more businesslike weapon than he has hitherto been allowed. A fresh examination of the moon's surface made by Professor Pickering, the rtsul-s of which may be found in the " Observatory," go far to prove that some of the lunar craters juo still active. Many changes are noted since (he last survey made — black surfaces where tlu ro were formerly luminous point-;, craters where none were before, and so forth — that it is not believed that sunlight can have caused this ■changes noticed, or Uiat all of thorn can b<attributed to erroneous dehnoation-s by former •observers. Messrs Reid and Gray, who st cured first honours for agricultural implements at the late Tasmaniau Exhibition, received by this week's mail the gold medal aw aided them. A five-roomed wooden dwelling house, owned by and in the occupation of a carter named James Bain, was destroyed by lire on the evening of the 251h at Wyudhnm. Mrs Bain hadfput some clothes to diy before a fire in the parlour on the afternoon in question, and on visiting the room ovi r two hours afterwards found the place in flames, the clothes having c\id<*ntly got ignited through coal falling out of the grate. The house burned very rapidly and little was saved. The premises were insured for Ll5O, and the furniture for Lso— both iv the .Standard ofllce. The following lands have been taken up at the Lauds Office during the week :—: — : ectiuii 17, block VI II, Warepa, 55 acres, perpetual lease, Douald M •Caiman, 15.« per acre ; section 31, block 11, Gleuomaiu, 12 acres, perpetual lease, Annie Kennedy, 20» p.-r acr* : section 32, block 11, Glenomaru, 14- acres, perpetual lease, Annie Kennedy, 20s per acre. At the annual meeting of the Dunedin and Suburban Schools Conference the undes'r.ibleness of permitting school buildings to be used for political meetings, as contemplated by the Electoral Bill, was pointed out, and the secre- • tary was instructed to bring the subject under the notice of local members of Parliament, urging that even in the country districts the right to use schools, if granted, should be conditional on the cost of cleaning being paid. The circular of the executive was forwarded by Mr W. Hutchison to the Premier, who has charge of the Electoral Bill, and, in reply, the Hon. Mr Ballancc has stated that he has given instructions for the preparation of a clause •which will meet the objections which have been raised. The Rev. A. H. Wallace writes to tbur.k, through us, Mr Nicol for the sum of L 5 placed at his disposal for the relief of the desciving poor, and stating that he will be pleased to receive and acknowledge any further contributions sent for the same purpose. 9 There were large congregations at St. Joseph's Cathedral on Sunday— particularly at vespc-is when the building was crowded in every part, and many worshippers were unable to obtain seats. At 11 am. Pontifical High Mass was celebrated by Bishop Moran, who was assisted by Fathers 'Murphy. O'Doimell, and Ljneh. The musical patt of the .service, which was under the direction of the Very Rev. Dr Egan. OSB (of Auckland), included the " Kyrie," from Mozart's " T«< lith Mass"; the " Gloria," from the "First Mass"; and tin; " Ciedo," from Gounod's •' M.'^anidlo ; Miss Mills sai'g "Agnus Dei' : ; Mr Jago " Pro Peccati>," from the "Stabat Mater' ; and Dr Egan "O Salutaris " Mr Vallis presided at the organ. The preacher was Bishop Grimes, of Christchurch, who delivered an eloquent sermon upon the "Real Presence." At vespers Pishop Morau was the celebrant, Father Mu.pliy being the deacon, and Father O'Dounell the sub-deyson. and Bishop Grimes gave the benediction of the blessed sacrament, with which the service was concluded. The preacher was Archbishop R-±d wood, of Wellington, who delivered s powerftf address from the text in Psalms cxviii: "I have inclined my heart to

keep thy commandments for ever on account of the reward." He said there were two mainsprings of human action, the first being the fear of punishment and the second the hope of reward. The musical portion of the service iucluded two quartettes by Misses Rose and Kate Blaney and Messrs Jago and Jones, and among other solos "Salve Regina" was sung by Dr Egan. The following are the hospital returns for the past week : — Remaining from the previous week, 76 ; admitted during the past weelc, 10 ; discharged during the week, 13. James Pottiuger, Eva Mustard, Henry Hyder, and Thomas Strachan died in the institution during the week. The number remaining in the institution at present is 69. At the City Police Court on Saturday afternoon two offenders for drunkenness (ono of whom had not been before the court for two years) were each convicted and discharged. Messrs W. Elder and ;3. Elborn were the presiding justices. The Salvation Army Lassies' Baud, now on a tour through the colony to raise fuuds for the central headquarters now in course of erection at Chribtchurch, made their appearance on Sunday evening at the barracks in Dowliug street, the building beiug crowded to excess. The band is conducted by Ensign Wilson, an old Dunedin officer. Playing alternately on brass and string instruments their performance proved satisfactory to the large audience, the harmouy produced exciting favourable comment, and there is no doubt that such an exhibition of the perfection which females can attain on brass instruments has not been given before in Dunediu. The vital statistics for the past month are : — Births, 100 ; deaths, 55 ; marriages, 15. For the corresponding month last year the returns were : — Births, 120 ; deaths, 60 ; mariiagcs, 32. As an instance of the severe fro6ts prevailing lately it may be mentioned that some rowers taking exercise on the bay on Saturday utternoon came across several large sheets of ice. There died on Saturday, at the ripe old age of 86 years, Mrs Elizabeth Maclean, mother ol Mr Donald Maclean and Mr Lachlan Maclean, the well-known stock and station agent. The deceased lady was a native of Argyleshire, Scotland, and with her four daughters joined her sons in Otago about 15 years ago. The annual report under the Land Transfer and Deeds Registration Acts laid on the table of the House shows the following details ot transactions in connection with mortgages in the colony for the year ended 31st March 1892 : — Total amout remaining secured by mortgage at 31st March last, L 26,333,519 9s Bd, as against L 29,924,230 8s 6d at the same date in 1891. The large decrease is partly accounted lor by the fact that one large mortgage for L 1,250,000, which w:ts registered in three districts — ptngo, Canterbury, and Southland — was paid oil 1 during Iho year. Thft amount secured by mortgage, during the past year was L 3,500,979 Us 2.1, as against L 3,412,489, 412,4 89 2s 6<l during the preceding year. Mention is made in the Hawke's Bayschojl iiispi ctor's report presented to the House that at Makotuku practical surveying is done by the s-enior boys, and that this useful training has lately been extended to the measurement of timber. It Is also stated that the senior children at the Onnondville school receive special instruction in meteorology and elementary g(_ol.ij;,>, nnd a log is kept and entries made as to ihe temperature, winds, clouds, and lain. The inspector says it is to be legretted that a rain gauge cannot be provided "for a scluol of this sort, as the practical braining of children to interest themselves- in the. accumulation of physical facts is truly scieutilic as a method antl highly beneficial as a course of instruction. A Melbourne paper states that jubt as some agents of the Charitable Organisation Society were finishing thei r work on a recent o vening they c:une across a man sleeping in a nook near the l'\>h Market. In their zi'al they woke him up, hi id as a pivliminary question asked him '• What he was doing there P" " Minding my own business," wus the apt reply, mid until he v/is apprised of the object of the questioning he was very wrathful, ami refust d to becalmed by apologies. Once he had fairly grasped the si tuation he launched into a scholarly disquisition on charity, embellishing his remarks here and there with Lttm quotations, and pausing once or twice to ask whether anyone in the company cuitUl repeat off-hand the tilth proposition in Vucli 1. lie mercilessly condemned the mi thods of the Charity Organisation Society, and said they distributed L2bO worth of relief at an expenditure ot about L 1250, and were so dilatory that they postponed the giving of a loaf of bread to a tturving man until they had spent a week in making inquiues lie contrasted this with the ready action and retiring manner of Lady Hopetoun, and with an ungry sniff concluded, ''1 c.ire not a snap for Professor Morris. The system of the C O.S. is rotten. Mttyna at veritas." While he was delivering himself thus he struck matches on his teeth to light his pipe, to the great danger of his long, square, uncouth bi ard, which stamped him a bushman — ho declared hims-clf a drover — and after the intimation that he was ii Dublin Uaivcr.sity man, and had won a sizarship at pne of the English universities, he was permitted to resume his sleep. The d.ath is announced of Mr Frank J. Woods, personal secretary to the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, M.P. While attending Mr Balfour at HatQeld Park on the 4th June he was stung on the lip by a gadily, which had evidently been on a deceased animal. Erysipelas and blood poisoning set in, and he died on the morning of the 14-th. Theie was a good attendance at the Choral Hall on Monday ni^ht, when Mr A Wil»ou delivered an interesting lecture on " Dante." He lirst gave a brief sketch of the poet's jife and times ; he then referred to the characteristics of his style., to his place in literature, nnd to his extraordinary moral force ; anil linally gave some, account of the " Inferno." At 10 o'clock, however, as he had not by any means exhau ti d hi.s theme, he intimated that if his hearers wero willing ho would give the c including portion of his lecture upon some future occasion; and the audience sigiiilk-d their ■'willingness to his adopting th-it course. The pr.ie< eds of the lecture are to be devoted towatds the improvement of the Giili' High School studio. At Tuesday's meeting of the Bruce County Council some discussion took place up.>n th.s r< ading of the programme of the New Zealand Fanners and Country Settlers' League, when Or Smi.h expressed the opinion that it was thd dut\ i>t the whole of the country settlers to protect themselves against the Socialistic movement that appealed to be going on in the towns, and it was only by forming a league siu-h as hud been formed in Christchmch that they cou'd d.» that. Cr Mo -ley, in referring to the avitter, stated that the unions in Dunedin ■were organising thtir forces with the view of getting their representatives elected to Parliament at the next election, and they wanted to take all the lands owned by the country settlers and nationalise them. It was therefore absolutely necessary that country settlers should

endeavour to elect men who would oppose the Socialistic legislation that those in the towns were trying to bring about. If they did not take action soon to protect their own interests it would be too late, as Socialistic legislation was spreading greatly, and many newspapers were advocating it. He contended that the only way to settle the country was to retain the present land laws, and not take from settlers the land which they had acquired in the early days. A four-roomed house, owned and occupied by James Small, was destroyed by fire at Otautau at about 3 o'clock on Monday morning. The building was insured in the Norwich Union office for L 75, and the furniture aud effects in the New Zealand olfice for L4O. Only a sewing machine and a few other things were saved from the lire, the origin of which is unknown. In the House of Representatives last week Captain Russell and l)r Newman said that in their haste to do something to the North Island Trunk railway the Vogel Government had made a tunnel thre.e-tjuarters of a mile long, at a cost of L 53,000, in (he centre of the island, which will never be used, as a .saddle lias now been found 2001 1 km or down, along which the line will be taken. By the terms upon which the Treasuiy have agreed to advance British Columbia a loan of L 150.000 (says the Homo New.-.) the colonial Government will undertake to transfer from 1000 to 1250 families of orolter fislurmen and others from the western highlands and i.slands of Scotland, locating them mi Iree lands, on the sea coasts and isl.m.'s of British Columbia, and provide them with dwellings and mums ot livelihood. The colonists will bo tnuihtcrrod in parties, beginning with 50 iamilius, the whole number to be located within .si* years trom tiio first settlement. The writer of '• I'ulitioal Portraits " in the Christchurch Press, in concluding a sketch of Mr George Hutchison, h lys : " Nevertheless — and I seldom, or never, prophesy until I know — I venture to predict that Mr Hutchison, if he lives and pursues the game, will yet be Premier of New Zealand." The Tauranga paper reports that two more of the Pongakawa sheep runs, totalling about 16,000 acres have just been taken up, and a third is now being negotiated for. A number of the settlers from the South Island have fixed their eyes on the district with a view to settlement if a favourable opportunity of obtaining the desired quantity and quality of lnnd occurs. " Whaleback " steamers, having proved a decided success on the American lakes, have been utilised for ocean traffic. As already reported, the first "whaleback" got safely across the Atlantic and back again. From accounts published in the Japan Herald, it appears that the Charles W. Wetmore, which was sent round the Horn to ply on the Pacific coast, would never havo reached her destination had she not been lowed in by the Zambesi. "We were in good trim," said one of the officers of the ship, " when we left San Diego. There were 900 tons of water in the ballast tanks, and the whaleback made excellent progress for the first day out. The second day we caught heavy weather, and then the trouble b v gan. The wind and sea were astern, and we caught it hard. The flat bottom of the bow for 75ft from the stem pounded against the sea, springing the bow-plates, bending heavy stanchions as if they were wire, aud breaking the forward ballast-tank plates, which 'allowed tons of water to run into the" hold aft, and causing the prow of the Wetmore to rise high in the air. The pumps were set going, for after this every time a sea struck us more water came into the hold and more riveted plates . were sprung. The vessel pitched aud rolled fearfully in the high sea i running, and everyone had to hold on for dear life. As wo neared San Francisco the gale changed to the northwest and our progress was greatly retarded. After crossing the bar and when in smooth water, from the bow forward one could look through the bursted rivet-holes and see the docks. It is the greatest wonder the whaleback was not lost at sea." The conclusion arrived at is that, however fitted these vessels may be for the smooth water of the lakes, they are. not qualified to encounter the heavy weather met at sea. That strange ficak of nature known as "the Siamese twins " has, it appears, been repeated in Orissa. The '• Orissa twins " are described as two little Uriya girls of about five summers old. When l;ist heard of they were leaving by steamer for England, on their way to the World's Fair at Chicago, though they will firht be exhibited in England They are, it is stated, fiuniy joined toiret h'.-r, and if one is led both are satisfied. When they were in early infancy at Hoap-tra, iuthn interior of Oriss;i, the native villagers looked upon them as the incarnation of the devil, and their parents were boycotted by their caste people. The story is th>it the father's first impulse was to separate them by cutting the sac which joins them together, and the mark miide in the attempt is still visible. A wealthy teh.sildar of the district, however, intervened. Ketter Naick, the father of the twin", is reported to bu now steadily growing rich. The Siame-o twins (Chang and Eug) woie, it will be remembered, of the male sex. They were born in 1811, and di.-l in America, within two honis of each other, iv January 1874. Mr Henry George, writing from Washington on June 13 to Sir G. Grey, sends a most interesting statement of his work and hopes in the future. He expresses pleasure that n record has been made of such a li'"c as that of Sir George Grey, and aa^s that he had hoped to see him in the United Staces, but ho fears he must vow abandon that hope, although they "look e;ig.-ily to New Zealand aud the good work that is doing there." Mr George then proceeds: — '"You probably know us well as I do how great i^ the advance in our direction that is going on in England. Mr Sauuders, recently returned to the House of Common-, writes me that over 90 per cent, of the Liber.il numbers who will be. elected to 1 li. • now Parliament will be pledged inoro or le>.s definitely to taxation on Kind vi'ue.s. Of course with this there will be a good deal of admixture of ideas which you and I ciuiiot approve, bub my hope for Great Britain is th it when the discussion goes on it is truth that always shows the staying qu ilities, and tint in the conflict of i.ll sorts ot schemes the natural order must prove the line of least lesistance. In the United States we are making very great progres-, and though this m;'.y not be clearly perceptible to one at a distance, the pr >gresb is in tint which endures, aud which is ceitain to bear -fruit in action. I have sent you by this mail some documents that give some indication of this. The Congre-sional reprint of ray "Protection orFreetra.de" is very important. Seven hundred thousand copies are now being distributed, and in a few weeks it is certain to go to a million, while theie may be two millions before the coming campaign is over. You will see that it bears the semiDemocratic endorsement, which will have great effect in turning the campaign on Radical lines, as the Republican party will denounce them for distributing so Radical a document. It is I really, however, the work of the single tax

men, and was initiated by tho Hon. Tom L. Johnstono. I hopo soon to send you a copy of a book ou which I have been recently engagod. I have been writing hard, for there is much to do."

The output of coal from the Westport and Greymoubh mines for bhe month was as follows :— Westporb, 16,502 bons ; Greymoubh, 16,781 bons.

Fears are enberbained at Wellington for the safety of the cutter Venus, which left Napier timber laden, bound for Gisborne, on July 25, and shortly afterwards experienced a heavy gale. Had she taken shelter auywhoro on the coast ib is thought that she would have reached Wellington before now. We have received Stone's "ABC Guide " for August.