OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 26

OMNIU M GATHERUM.

Colonel Hume, Inspector of Prisons, left for Sydney on Sunday on a holiday trip. Mr W. A. Wliito, of tho Dunedin office, has been anointed poslnuister at Mos^iel. Australian importers of coffee will soon have to reckon with the Queensland-grown article. New Plymouth has under consideration a scheme for constructing sea batha for the townspeople The Masterton Salvationists raised £45 2s 3d in connection ■with their late harvest festival special servicee. The Pelorus Guardian states that it is probable that 3000 or 4000 acres of tho Rai Valley is to he set apa-rt ne a National Park. It is stated that the Wellington Benevolent Society is distributing 3000 rations weekly, the distress in the city being appalling. Within tho past 12 months there have been over 40 cases of robbery in Broken Hill. Tho police have been unable to make any arrests. Mr W. W. M'Ardlo announces himself a candidate for tho Pahiatua seat on the indepenuent ticket. Ho opposes the land policy of the Government. Miss Ida M'Kenzio, of the Oamaru Middle School, has been appointed sole teacher of the Portland Island School, in the Hawke's Bay Education District.

The ■Wellington College Governors estimate that, after making full -r>rovision for all contingencies, they will have a surplus of £512 at the end of the financial year.

Robert Tonkin, a^ed 18. and Henry Tonkin, aged 16, were elruck dead by liglilning whiH returning home on horseback •,* Ze.r.'.^.rri.s, S.A. Both horses vrere killed.

During the function at Kaiapohia. on, Monday Mrs Taiaroa appeared dressed in a handsome Maori mat and feathered hood, paid to be some hundred yoara old. The tender of Messrs Scott Bros., of Christchurch, has been accepted for the road and railway bridge over the Awatere River, in Marlborough. The cost will bo over £20,000.

Mr John Wilkie> of Wanganui, has been a{<pointed special commissioner for New Zealand at the Coolgardie Exhibition, and left for Western Australia on the 31st ult.

The Hastings Standard has boen gold by *j.v Job Vile to the Hon. Geo. Jones, and will in future be run in support of the policy of the present Government. — Post.

The total sum expended privately in the construction of dams and other water-conser-vation works in New South Wales'is estimated by the Stock department at £11,000,000-

A well-knqjjrn specialist on ear diseases has made tho announcement that half the deafness prevalent at the present time can be traced to the practice of boxing tha ears of children.

Last week there were 10 bankruptcies in the colony — namely, a boot 'manufacturer, a labourer, a medical student, a contractor, & baker, two farmers, a butcher, and two not described.

Sir Thomas Elder left £25,000 for tha ereotion "of cottages suitable for homej for working men in Adelaide. The trustees propose to erect the homes, each liaving from three to five rooms, on two acres of land just acquired.

Mr R. Bree, stock inspector for Bruce, while attending as a witness at the recent she«pstealiup: cose a,t the laat sitting of the Supreme Court was suddenly struck with partial paralysis of the brain, and his condition is now •causing the gravest anxiety to his friends. — Tuape&a Times. Tho Hon. Treasurer of tho Convalescent fund desires to sicknoirlodge with thanks the following subscriptions: — iirs H. E. Williams, Mis .lames AJills, ea«h £1 1b; Mr T. Brydone, £1 ; Mrs Perston, Mrs Sale, Mrs J. K. Sinclair, Mrs Johnston Brown, each 10s 6d; Mrs Fels, Mra Hosking, each 10s; Mrs (4eo. Mondy, Mrs Bowler, sen., Mrs R. Borrows, e.sch s*.

The South Australian Labour party appears to havo got into rather al> mixed " condition on the eve of tha general elections. After supporting free, compulsory, and secular education for many years, they were frighteueu by the demand of the lloman Catholics for a capitation grant, and resolved to make one of their mo.it prominent "planks" an "' open question."

Whon Mitoholl and Jackson received their Ecntenccs for conspiracy at Hokitikrv »nd were removed from tho court, they had to be prevented f:om fighting in the yard. It ia now said that in consequence of altercations between the two, thoy have to ba kept separate. While in. the box together, before being 1 sentenced, their altitude and gestures to each other fieotsie.l to be hc.iilo :tnd threataning. Tho Bmiah Treasury have agreed to make contribution!* towards tho support of persons detained under tho Inebrirvtea* Act of last session, and tho floma Secretary, in a circular to judges and others, sxyi he inppo»es, if it be found desira-blo in tho public interesc, to seok authority from the Treasury to provide a buildintr hpeeinlly designed for the detention of inebriates, to serve as a model for others.

j\ mass meeting of tho Koynl Army Clothing Department Employees' Union, at which Mr l^eir Hardie was the chief speaker, passed a motion expressin;? indignation at the low ralo of wages paid to the mon employed at the clothing fitctoiy, and callintr upon tho Government <o put into force tha "model employer " resolution of 1833. The wages afc tho factory wero said to urn from 19s to 24s a- week.

In the case, Davis v. Day, at Wandsworth County Court, in which an nrchitcct sued a builder for rl-mtter, Judga Lushircgtnn said U'j caso '.van a. ir.of-t fordid one. Perhaps bis view of matt Pis mii^ht bfc recorded as a hard o»:e, but hi> did not think builder* slvmild bo considered by ordinary standard?. He did uos think lie ever p.it af that court without having mai practices of builders brought bofore him.

Thr- fk>vernor-Genprai of the Soudan has ir-'sued tho following notification: "Whereas claims are being made to land in the Soudan which ;ue in m;vi>y e^so? conflicting, and wherc-a. ordinances will shortly be issned providing for adjudication on claims, it ia hereby notified to all whom it may concern that, pending such adjudication, no intending vendor of land in tho Soudan is in :v position to give a Kood «nd valid title to such laud."

A demand has be®n mute on tho Sydonham Council, by Mib Harper, throxigh her solicitors, for £500 damages on account of the death of her son, W. E. Harper, who was killed at ni;;ht through, it is alle-jfed, the neglect of tho council's night-soil contractor. Had tho council's legal liability been admitted, the solicitors wcro favourable to the question of damages beirjg submitted to arbitration. Tho council declined to admit any liability.

A curiosity has been shown iv Timaru. in tho shape of a piece of btotit guttering lead perforated by wood -.veevils. which had bored their way out of tho wood on which the lead rented, and then tried to get through the load. Fi om 100 to 150 perforations were commenced on a spaeo of a cpjarter of a square foot, and about a dozen of the -weevils got through tho lead. These insects have been very destructive in while- pino timber in the older houses in Timaru. ,

V The donth is artnotm«;d in his 81st year of Mr Jasper Clark, one of the oldest settlers in | th's Tokomairiro district. Born in Berwick- | »kire. Scotland, he came to the colony with ' h's wife in the shin Jur*, in 1858, and shortly afterwards fettled in the Tokomairiro district. Ho took great interest in church matters, and wa? a deacon of the Pre&byterian Church for over 30 ye:irs. He was for some years a member of the Mount Stuart Road Board. He leaves a widow, five sons, and one daughter. In the mountains of Moldavia the wolves lasst winter, emboldened by hunger, have committed great depredations, and in 'some districts so dangerous have they become that the peasants are afraid to move about from • village to village unless in large partios and well armed. In the midst of the mountains of Suceava is the monaatry of Lopovean. One night recently a wolf or wolves had the hardihood to ponotralo into the onclosure, and a friar, who was entering his cell, was set upon and killed. In supporting a motion at the Trades and Labour Conferonce in Christchurch on Friday that all mineral wealth should be nationalised and worked by the State, Mr Foster, a Westland delegate, referred to the Mokihinui coal mine at the end of the. Westport-Ngaka-wau railway, winch came into the hands of the State, six months ago, and which is afc present lying idle. He stated that tho Westland unions wore prepared to levy regular contributions on their members if the Government would work the mine directly, the money to be devoted to paying the miners a living wage and towards keeping the concern going until it became self-supporting. Ho intended to make definite inquiries in Wellington shortly in the matter. Mr Foster added that if the workers all over the colony "would take similar steps tho social problem would soon be a long way nearer solution. It may be mentioned (says tho Lyttelton Times) that the Knights of Labour worked Mokihinui mine for a period some y^ears ago, but wera not strong enough financially to be auccea** ful.