LOCAL & GENERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2179, 28 November 1895, Page 15

LOCAL & GENERAL.

The rain, wbich cleared off in Dunedin on Saturday morning, although showers fell in the afternoon again, mu3t also have cleared off n the interior even earlisr, for on Saturday night the Ta ; eri fell almosfc to its normal level. At Tiaiaru three icch»s of rftin fell in two days, aiid it was heavier inland. The rivers in South Canterbury were all flooded, but as the weather cleared up no damage from flood was anticipated. Captain C. W. Todd, formerly of the Union Steam Ship Company's service, U now in command of one of the Currie line of steamers, trading betwean Australia and India. The case in which the Southland Freezing Company sought to recover £30,000 damages from Messrs Nelson Bro3. (Limited) was concluded on Friday. The special jury, after a retirement of a little over an hour, gave a verdict of £3590 damages on each of the two issues submitted to them. By consent leave was given to move for a nonsuit and s. new trial, on the grounds of misdirection and non-direction, and to reduce damages, and, with the concurrence of both sides, the motion will ba removed to the Court of Appeal, One of the seamen on board the vessel Doris Brodersen, named Victor Nyman, was arrested shortly after 10 o'clock on Friday night by Constables O'Halloran and. Gleeson on a charge of stabbing the steward, Herman Odtman. It was stated that Nyman, who was partly under the influence of driDk, began complaining to tha steward of being insufficiency fed, and it is to be presumed that, getting heated, he eventually struck the steward with his fist and knocked him down, and immediately afterwards stabbed him in several places about the face with what was, judging by the wounds inflicted, probably a penknife. None of the injuries are of a. serious character. Our Wellington correspondent telegraphs :—: — "Mr B. J. Reid, manager of the Colonial. Bauk of New Zealand, has declined the position of assistant manager of the Wellington branch offered him by the Bank of New Zealand. Mr Reid proposes to retire after ,30 years' banking experience, many of which were spent as manager of branches of the Oriental Bank in India and China. Eleven years ago Mr Reid . joined the Colouial Bank as manager of the I Wellington branch — 3 position he bai held ever ' since. There is a movoment on too'j amongst the business men of the city to signalise his retirement by the presentation of an address." The Laud Board have recsived 125 applications for relief under the Pastoral Tenants' Relief Acb of las': session. In c ai equence of the rise in the price of wool (says tho Lyttelton Times) seve»l articles of woolen manufacture have increased in value. Flannel goods have gone up from Jd to l£d p°r yard, "blanktt3 2s 3d to 3s 6d per pair, knitting wool 3£d pec lb, and Bradford dress goods 6d per yard. The above are wholesale j quotations. i The Durjelan Times reports that at a meeting of tha ratepayers of Alexandra the Mayor (Mr J. Rivers) having explained the proposed achemo for a water-supply and the lighting of the town by electricity, and ' questions having been answered by the Mayor and Mr Postlethwaite, a shoiV of hands of those for and against raising the proposed loan was called for. There was no doubt as to the feeling of the meeting — not a single hand bsiug raised against the proposal. It is announced thab in consequence of the rise in flau>- the price of bread will be raised £d per 41b loaf, commencing on Monday. j Dr Brown has been appointed by tha Government to the High Schools Board in succession to Dean Fitchett, who has resigaed ou account j of his intended visit to the Home country. ! At the monthly meeting of the Hospital Board it was mentioned that a very handsome musical box was presented through Dr Hocken by Lieutenant Simms to" tha children's ward. It had afforded great delight to the young j people. I A society called the Women's Institute has been formed in Wellington, having for its object the education of women upon all social and political questions. In connection with the institute three branches have been formed — viz , women's social branch, club branch, and the mothers' branph. The members intend to commemorate the opening by a Mock Parliame nb. At the preliminary investigation afc the Thames into the charge of murder preferred against Da-cab, a settler near Ilikutaia, who set a loaded gun iv such a position that it wont off when tho floor of his house was opened, with the remit that a youug Maori named Wi Tiata wss killed, Darrah was committed for trial. Ib will be remembered from the particulars we recently published that various sums of money had been sfcalen from Darrah's house during his absence. When he saw the unfortunate result of his ingenuity in fizing the gun in the loft he at once gave himself up to the police. The S.M., in committing Darrah for trial, said that perhaps he ought to warn

the public about the setting of spring guns and man traps. The Criminal Code of 1893 was definite on the point. He then quoted from ' section 185 as follows :—(1): — (1) " Everyone is liable to three years' imprisonment with hard labour who — («) Sets or places any man trap, spring gun, or other engine likely to iufliot grievous bodily harm, with intenc that the same may inflict grievous bodily harm upon any person cjming in contact therewith ; or (b) When any such engine h*s been with or without such intent set or placed by any other person, who knowingly permits it to continue bo set or placed it with such inteft. (2) Provided that this enactment shall not extend to any engine set at night in a dwelling houso for the protection thereof." His Worship added that the Dotting of a man trap was a thing to be done only uuder exceptional circutnab&ncas. Ib ought not to be done at night, but if it was done in the day time and proved fatal it was, according to law, murder. MrTtf'BJillan, of Wylie'a CroEs'ng, has had the misfortuuo to lose a son, the lad, who was 18 years of age, having died in the Dunedin Hospital on Thursday. Some three years ago (says the Taieri Advocate) he was out shooting- with some companions, when one of them fired a gun, steadying it by resting it on young M'Millan's shoulder. The report of tbe qua so close to his head caused en injury to the drum of one of his ears, and eventually caused bis death, as it created an abscess on the brain, from which he died. The broach of promise suit O'Connor v. Lynch came before the Supreme Court on Monday, and by consent a verdict was entered for the plaintiff for £200 damages and cotts. At a meeting of tho creditors in the estate of Jane Willis, of Gore, held on Friday, the assignee said the approximate amount of liabilities was £259 19tf* sd, while the ass its were practically nil. On tha motion of Mr Lathem, who held proxies for several Duuedin creditors, it was resolved that the assignee take steps to put tho criminal sections of the Bankruptcy Act in force against the debtor, on ths evidence already disclosed. For the erection of a courthouse at St. Babhtm*, the tender of C. Sparrow, Dunedin (£373 17s 6d), has been accepted. The other tenderers were :—T. Wilkinson, £399 18s Id; G. France, £U1 ; M'Kechnie and Nees, £458 8j 2d. The Otago Rifle Association have issued their twenty-seventh annual prize- Gring programme for the Ist and 2nd January next at the Polichet B*y rauge. Four matches are included iv the programme— 2oo and 300 yards (seven shots), 500 and 600 yards (10 shots), 300 and 600 yards (seven shots), and 500 and 700 yards (10 shots), — and there will be 10 prizes of tha value of £15 for each match. The six highest aggregates will also.receive prizes. The drawing for the prizss in the Otagb Art Society's art union in connection with the annual exhibition took place on Monday night. Messrs J. F. Woodhouse and W. T. Monkuaan conducted the drawing, which resulted as follows:—Firet prize £10, No. 1045, J. C. Ponsjnby; second, £LO, 1410, R. R. Mos? ; third, £5, 1452, M Watson; fourth, £5, 821, Alex Inverwity ; fifth, £5, 881, J. Whitton ; sixth, £5, 1079, Dr Barnett; seventh, £5, 509, N. Grant ; eighth, £5, 205, Miss B. Joel ; ninth, £5, 353, Miss Frances Davidson ; tenth, £3, 1228, Dr Parker; eleventh, £3, 635, R. M. Hogg; twelfth. £3, 820, George Edgar ; thirteenth, £2, 1413, Mrs Gideon Scott ; fourteenth, £2, 1024, Miaa B. R. UJrich ; fifteenth, £2, 20, W. M. Hodgkins ; sixteenth, £2, 9, J. Buckley. The following is a list of the constables in Oiago who have during tho past three months received long service medals for 14 years' service and three years' good conduct : — William Watt, John Hansou, Patrick Jeremiah Herlihy, Alfred Edward Reiner, William Fouhy, Jamen Dale, John M'Donough, George M'Chesney, David Stewart, Michael O'Connor, Castries Banner, and Joseph Kearney. Although Mr Davifct refused to take at Wellington a present of 20 guineas for himself as a souvenir of his visit, he accepted it on behalf of the Irish National party, and will band it over to Mr Justin M'Carthv. Mr^ Davitt told the Wellington branch of the Irish National Federation League that they had acted more consistently than any other branch in the Southern Hemisphere in assisting the Home Rule cause during the last five or six years. | An indoor meeting of the Dunedin Field Club was held on Saturday evening, and those members who attended in spite of the threatening aspect of the weather enjoyed a double trtat. Mr Murray Aston gave an interesting address on "Maori Curios," and rather astonished his heirers in enlightening them as to the prices eageily paid by collectors for these relics. The speaker illustrated his remarks by the exhibition of some vary fine typical specimens. Mr J. S. TennantJShen showed by means of the lantern and sheet a series of Australian views, photographed msstly by himself, some of which were of great beauty, those of the late Brisbane floods being particularly interesting. On the motion of Mr Crosby Smith a hearty vote of thanks was accorded each of the above gentleman. >' At the- last meeting of the Wellington Benevolent Trustees, a case was brought forward of a h'ghly-educated widow, recently from England, who is in delicate health. She bad gradually parted with her belonging 1 ?, and is now penniless. For some time past, although in a weak condition, she has been living on dry bread in order that her son, aged 16, who is earning 6s a, week, might not go hungry. The trustees voted rations, and also 53 a week towards rent. Mr Lawry, M.H.R., in reply to a question at his meeting at Parnell, said it was not true that Bellamy's was run ab a loss to the House. Ib was not run at a loss last year, and not a member had stuck up an account which he did not pay. Tha bar paid a profit of £60, while the teetotallers' bread and butter caused a loss of £36 ; but all was paid and there was no loss to the colony. Mr O' Regan, M.H.R., delivered a postsessional address to his constituents at Cape Foulwiud on Saturday evening. He said that he had opposed the bunking legislation last session, which placed £7,000,000 responsibility on the taxpayers, aud the security received depended on the future prospects of the bank and the calls from shareholders. He had supported the absorption of tho Colonial Bank, as since tho colony was now identified with the Bank of New Zealand the widest possible field should be given it to save the colony, if possible, from a deficit. As a staunch Freetrader, ho had opposed the tariff. He had advocated an increase of direct taxation without exemptions, and the referendum. He received a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence. The Nelson Mail publishes the following paragraph s — " Among a few other things which Mark Twain knows a little about is our ' French Pass,' and having himself in 1855 served for a short time as a pilot on the Mississippi river,

he was desiroui of seeing the Pass. Accordingly about 4 o'clock thii morning he was called up ju-t as the Mahinapaa was about to go through. Unfortunately a very swift tida-wao running, and the steamer, not answering her helm as she ought to have done, was carried on to a sandbank, where she stuck for half an hour. The ex-Mississippi pilot said that tha Pass was tho most ' tarnashun ' place (or words to that effeot) which he had over been through — and he hid travelled a bit ia his time. No damage was done."

The Suva Times of 9th insfc. says :-— " The Indian is again to the foro in the matter of crime, two murders having been committed at Nausori on Monday last. From the meagre reports to hand* we learn that a number of men wera working at the rear of Nansori, at a pln.ee called Corocariairi, under the charge of Mr Maro. This gentleman recently had to bring some of the labourers before Mr drew, S.M., on s charge of disobedience, and called his sirdar, Mukdura Buz, a* a witness to support the charge. On this account the defendant? vowed vengeance on both Mark aud his assistant. On Monday morning last they carried their threat into execution. Four of the Indians attacked the sirdar with knives, cutting his legs off, and gashing him all over the body, and theso naturally caused death. The murderer* after the outrage at once gave themselves up to Sergeant Russell. Ab about 11 o'clock tho same evening soino more men carried tha crime further by attacking the deceased- sirdar's wife, and inflictiug such, severe wounds with their knives that hi,r death therefrom was expected hourly. The cases aro being heard before Mr Carow." Mr B. Shor^, well-known in New Zealand id convection with the A.M. P. Society, arrived in Dune dim on Saturday. As is known to most-policy-holders, Mr Short h/vs just completed a term of three jcira as a direc.oroftbe society, and during his stay here will give policyholders an account of his - stewardship. Mr Short did so' at Nelson last week, and was unanimously accorded a vote of thanks for his pasb service?, the meeting expressing the opinion that, considering " his splendid lifework in advanciag the iuteiests of the society, combined with the efficient; service rendered' while a direofcor," he ought to secure reelection, and pledging themselves to secure his return. Under the Articles of assccitvtion, Mr Short was retired this year, but ho intends -offering himself for re-election in May. .