THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2413, 31 May 1900, Page 33

THE WEEK.

" Supqnun uliud natura. aiiud snp'.enfla dix-.l."— Jotshal. *'Good natUre and soou seusc muse ever join.** — Popk.

Our Waitahuna co-respondent writes: — , During the present month evangelistic services ihave been conducted at Waitahuna by the Rev. Messrs Jamieson (Middlemarch) , Miller (Milton), Fairmajd (Kaitangata), and J. S. Reid (Waitahuna). The concluding- service .was held on Friday, 18th inst., and the outcome has been the "enrolment of 60 of the young people as church members. In some •instances whole families have joined. There are signs of the movement extending to the district. A Christian Endeavour Union has been formed at Waitahuna. The members of the Anglican Church at Port Chalmers have sustained a severe loss by the death of their vicar, the Rev. F. C. Plaits, M.A., which took place at the vicarage on Monday afternoon after a long and painful illness, borne with manly and Christian fortitude. The utmost sympathy of the members of the Holy Trinity Church, and other friends, is felt for Mrs Platts and her young family. At the Mornington- Presbyterian Church on Sunday evening the Rev. Mr Scorgie announced with regret the very sudden death of Mrs J. Scoular, sen., which took place but a short time before. It is only pome four weeks since Mr J. Scoular' s death occurred, and quite a gloom was caused by the unexpected intimation. ' The deceased lady was one of the oldest members of the Mornington Presbyterian Church, and took an active part in the various societies connected with it. A petition is to be presented to Parliament with a request that the Land Purchase Board should acquire for settlement purposes Mr John Tennant's Heddon Bush estate, at the head of the Limestone Plains. At a well-attended and enthusiastic meeting of old sailors and soldiers, held at the Garrison Hall on Saturday evening, with Colonel Morris in the chair, a new society was formed under the name of "Imperial "Veterans' Al-lian-ce of New Zealand," membership. in which is confined to veterans from tlie Royal navy, the regiilar army % and other forces which have served against the enemy in conjunction with either of these. Rules were adopted, and a Board of Cdntrol, consisting of Colonel Morris, Commander Easther, Captain Davies, "Veterans Yates, Harold, Wishart, and Harris, was elected. After several members had given their views as to the working of the slliance, the meeting adjourned to enable the board to hold it 3 first sitting. On the motion of Captain Davies, Colonel Morris was then elected president, with Commander Easther arid Mr Wiehart as vice-presidents ; Captain Davies being selected to fill the important post of secretary. Sergeant-major M'Callum, Otago Battalion, was elected an honorary '; member. The board adjourned at 10 p.m., i with the understanding thit the secretary would shortly arrange a meeting, to be duly j advertised, for the enrolment of new members. The utmost harmony and good fellowship prevailed at both meetings. An inquest was held on Friday before Sir E. H. Carew, S.M., touching the death of a man named George Wilkins, 61 years of age, living in Hanover street, who died .suddenly j about 5.30 on Friday morning. From the evidence, it appears that deceased complained two or three times during the night of a pain in the cheat. His wife gave him a cup j of tea about 4 o'clock in the morning. Sub- j sequently he took a decided turn for the ; worse, and Mrs Wilkins called in the aid of ' another lady, wlio was staying at the plsce. j Restorative measures were adopted, and Dr J Oloss was feent for, but before the latter coiild arrive death intervened. The probable cause of daath, in Dr Gloss's opinion, was, fatty degeneration of the heart. A verdict of death from natural causes was veturnad. The Hon. Mr Ward, Minister of Railways, I has received a large number of telegrams front ! members of Parliament and many others from all parts of the colony congratulating him on the~hew railway policy he announced in his address at River ion on Monday evening. _The guessing competitions in connection with the winter show were decided on Tuesday. The miglity " Kruger " was duly slain at the City Abattoirs on Monday, and on Tuesday morning his huge carcase, dre;ped oiul ready for elisseciion, wa^ weighed in Mr Rennie's shop in George street. Mr W. D. Snowball and Mr E. F. Dv.lhie were present, and took the weight, which proved to bo 18061b. Mr John M'Pherson, of Five Rivera, was the nearest guesser, his estimate being l£oslb. The second prize is divided between Mrs W. H. Young, Heriot row, Dunedin, and Mr W. B. Greaney, Dunedin, who tipped lfOT^lb each. Other close estimates were given by Mr A. Ryder, Dunedin, l£o9lb, and T. E. Jefeoate, Puerua, l£o2lb. The five fat sheep, which formed tho subject of the other competition, weighed 5621b, and Miss Ngaio Fulton, Outram, wins first prize for her guess of 568J1b. Mr J. Calder, of Maheno, guessed 5571b, and consequently is a quarter of a pound further out than Miss Fulton. In each competition a number of absurd guesses were made, and the weight of Klruger was estimated at figures ranging from 8201b to 56001b! The gue&ses in the other competition ranged from 2461b to 6501b. BeEore closing the subject of the show a word of praise is due the committee of the A. and P. Society for the way they met the Orchestral and Choral Societies at an inconvenient time, permitting them to have the use of the Agricultural Hall for their concerts and rehearsal. The orchestral concert, held on the Monday before the show, rendered it impossible for 'the committee to get on with their preparations till a late hour on the same night, and after the show was over the hall Was cleared out bo expeditiously that the Choral Society had the use, of it for^a rehearsal on Monday evening. Mr A. R. Falconer, of the Dunedin and Port Dhalmsr3 Seamen's Rests, has an announcement in our advertising; columns to which wa

wish to draw special attention. The good work done by Mr Falconer is deserving of the most hearty support from town and country rasidents alike. Many a friendless seamen in a strange land experiences the benefit of his helping hand and friendly assistance^ and the least the general uublic can do is to assist him in his good work in any way practicable. A solid oak chair with carved fern leaves, upholstered in scarlet morocco, and bearing a silver plate with the words " Presented to Tamahau Mahupuku by his pakeha friends," is to be given to the Greytown chief by residents of the district. The Hon. W. Rolleston's residence at Claudeboye -had a narrow escape from destruction by fire on Mafeking Night (says the Timaru Herald). Everything appeared safe when the family retired, but a strong smell of smoke awoke one of the inmates, when it was found that the side of the dining room was one mass of flames. About £100 worth of damage was done before the fire was got under.

who impart an educative value to the

The Capetown correspondent of the Lon- . "don Time's has- from time to • Tlie Birtli time written some admirable . of ami most instructive letters i o)he*Boi!d. on" subjects connected with I -, the general position in South Africa. Among' the most 'instructive is a recent one- entitled 'the "Birth of the Bond" \ (Afrikander), which is, or ought to be, what j is vulgarly called an eye-opsner for the ! enemies of Great Britain, or for those few i among ourselves who Have lingering doubts of the justice -of the British cause. The Bond was started in 4882, just after ' the Transvaal had, owing to the deplorable •weakness of Mr Gladstone, recovered it;s independence. The formation of the Bond was then being advocated in a Dutch paper called De Patriot, the articles of which have just been translated and published in pamphlet form, from which copious extracts are given by The Times correspondent. The pamphlet ought to be circulated broadcast throughout the English-speaking world. The first article of De. Patriot glories in the ri&e of the Transvaal, which" it thinks has opened the way for the supremacy of the Afrikander in South Africa, and the downfall of Great Britain, against which an unceasing crusade is to be begun. " Deliverance," the paper says, is at hand. " more glorious than we our&elves could have expected. England's power has been repeatedly beaten" and humbled. England has learned so much respect for us Afrikanders tha,t she will take care not to be so ready to' make war with us again." (This is the way our " magnanimity " in handing back the Transvaal was\ taken.) The next article deals Avith the constitution and aim of the Bond, which latter was simple enough — to federate South Africa under the Afrikander flag. De Patriot was perfectly candid over it, as our readers may judge: "The English Government keeps talking of a confederation under the British flag. That will never happen (" daar kom niks van nic"). We can assure them of that. We have often said it ; there is just one hindrance to confederation, and that is the English flag. Let them take that away, and within a year the confederation under the free Afrikander flag would be established." The first thing the Afrikander is urged to do, particularly in the two Kepublics, is to start the manufacture of munitions of war. ' This is only urged as a matter of precaution, for the English have had a fright (skrik), and "will not care to fight the Afrikander any more " : " Let every Afrikander in this colony, for' the sake of security, take care that he h;as a good rifle and a box of cartridges, • and that he knows how to use them. But the two RejDublics must study the matter further. As independent States, they must think of self-preservation, and two things are wanted — (1) artillery for the Transvaal. For this two things are required — (1) to make their own ammunition, and (2) to be well supplied with cannon, and provide a regiment of artillery to work with them." ; This advice of 18 years ago, it must bs admitted, has been carried out to the very letter. The English people are divided into four classes — namely, the " soakers" (drunkards), the "robbers" (florekecjiers), the "reds" (soldiers), and the "bluffers" (schoolmasters and mistresses). Against all thes-e War has to be unremittinj/ly waged. The

Dutch must haA r e their own stores anrl must buy from no others. Agaiatt the schoolmasters and the English language in Parliament, church, and everyday life the crusade is to be furious indeed (Aye know lioav rigidly President Kruger has stuck to this policy) : "We musb work so as to break up the -English schools as far as A'/e can, particularly the girls' schools, which poison the country. This is in fact the r-*ost aitful plan cf the bluffers.. By anglifying the girls, they infect the whole family life with the - English speech. Therefore Aye must work with all ouv might against the girls" schools, and the mad, unscriptural, house-corrupting notion that women are to haA r e education in their hands mu&t be for ever banished out of our land. "In our conversation Aye must, still more oppose ,aud expel the English. Let English words be dropped out of our speech. It must _be considered a disgrace to speak English." Finally, the Afrikander is shrewdly urged to stick to the land, and not alloAV( the English even <.to buy any (this, remember, in the great, Avaste South African Continent). Here again the language is as candid as language can bd : * " The' Boers; are the landowners, and the prowl little Englishmen are dependent on the Boers. They themselves are noAV beginning to 'see -it ; and, therefore, Avill they try to get our- ground into their pos&es&ion. Watch against that. Free Staters, Trans-A-aalers, sell no laaid to the jingoes, eA"en though they offer ,to pay high prices. Think if onCe they get a firm footing (or landed 'property), then you Avill nsver get rid of them again: We Afrikander^ still possess the land of South Africa. This is our strength ; do not surrender it. The English 'aasvogels' in the toAvns will be &ure to depart ii' Aye giA'e them nuthing more to devour. But the English to whom you have once sold land, you will neA^er, never get rid of. We repeat, we menn by English the jingoes Avho Avill sacrifice us and our interests to England. Englishmen thab Avill become Afrikanders, by accepting our land and nation and language, Aye are very willlins; to accept, and that in eA'ery way." The word " aasvogels "' Aye may here explain means vultures. No English were to be left- in South Africa but such as accepted the Dutch 'nation and language instead of their OAvn ! But Simon's Bay Avas to be generously left to \is as a coaling station and calling place on the road to India! All this, let it be borne in mind. Avas published, not in a Transvaal ,or Free State, but in a Cape neAvspaper, the special organ of the Dutch. The Bond Avas formed immediately afterAvards ; and everyone can now judge how faithfully the policy sketched for the Afrikanders has been attempted to be carried out. It Avas really the discovery of the Rand mines and tlie ; large influx of our countrymen that made its success impossible. But Avhat a. commentary all this is s upoh the efforts of those misguided feAV among ourselves who denounce the Avar as a i crime againsb a simple, pious, pabtoral and peace-kndng people ! J, . | In a recent number of the London Times there is an admirably concise Life During and graphic account of life a Siege. in Kimberley during the siege, by the Hon. Mrs j Roohefort Maguire, Avife of >the millionaire, j Mrs Maguire arrived in Kimberley on the ] day of the declaration of Avar, and Avas shut up there 'until the relief column, under General French, arrived. There is some shoAV of reason in the claim recently made by Mr Cecil Rhodes that the defence of the 1 toAvn was mainly a citizens' defence. From | a month before the commencement of the i siege there were 500 regulars of the North Lancashire Regiment, with some Engineers and a battery of 7-pounder guns. All the ' others — some 4000 men — were citizen soldiers, largely the employees of the celebrated De Beers Diamond Company, of Avhich Mr Rhodes is the moA-ing spirit. The population of the toAvn vras about 50,000, of which the Europeans and half-casts numbered 33,000, the rest natiA*es of various tribes. De Beers employed 2000 Avhite men, Avith 4000 women and children depending on them ; and they had also' 10,000 Kaffiirs in their " compounds." The property , of De Beers around Kimberley consists of 271,000 acres. There were some 6000 horses and cattle to be provided for at tlis commencement of the siege. The food supply would seem an enormous problem, bub OAring to the proA'ilion of De Beers and some fortunate accidents it was happily got OA r er. For some months before the declaration of Avar De Beers people were very uneasy, and they laid in enormous stocks of i food sLuffs, coal, and other requisites. Pri- ,' A-ate individuals did the same. But Kirn! berley is a huge distributing centre for the ! Free State, Bechuanaland, etc., and immense stocks of proAdsions got blocked in the railway station, and remaining there after the investment came in very handy to feed the population. Mr Schreiner, the Caps Premier, it may be here remarked, had previoiisly been urged to arm and provision the town, but had refused on the plea that there Avas really no danger of investment. Possibly he may have really thought so, but probably he Avas afraid of %is Dutch supporters in CapetoAvn. Among the provisions blocked in Kimberley in transitu Avere 1000 bags of meal for the Transvaal Government ! This Avas a proper haul. Martial law Avas proclaimed soon after the commencement of the siege, and Colonel Kekewich toofc oA'-er the food supplies of the toAvn and fixed the price of the various articles, which had previously been going up to famine rates. On 3rd January (the siege commenced on October 13) the meat supply was reduced from £lb to per adult. Horseflesh Avas served out on Bth January, and thereafter remained the staple food to the end, Avith a feAV mules and donkeys thrown in. Mrs Maguire mentions Avith pride_that there Avas no recourse to cats or dogs. The donkeys Avere considered a "treat" — Avhich shows hoAv much j of human happiness depends on variation. I The natives had to be restricted to a meal j diet, and scurvy became a terrible curse. t To reduce the number of mouths to feed Mi- Bh.od.es managed very cleverly to run by

nkht some thousands of natives in detachments out of the town. Some few Avere caught and sent back "to their father, Mr lUiodcs," but the bulk escaped. On January 19, provisions running short, AllRhodes established a soup kitchen in his mints, which proved of inestimable value. A1!A 1 ! Avers invited to come up Avith their ro-tiuns of horse and get ,ioup instead. The Dd Beers had established, in the outskirts of the toAvn, a beautiful A'illage of shady avenues and fruit and A'egetable gardens as a, pleasure ground for their host of employees. The ground was most'proliiic, and the A-egetables were thrown in Avith the soup. The liquid Avas sold at 3d a pint. At first Colonel Kekewich did not like the soup kitchen, but ultimately the troops also came Avith their horse to be exchanged for soup, as many as 20,000 people being thus served daily. The heat" Avas terrible, 'standing betAveen 80 and 95 degrees, and typhoid s Avas raging. Owing to lack of milk the infant mortality Avas sadly great, latterly aA-eraging 200 a week. The 4000 men Avere in detachments constantly on the Avatch (the defences extended to 11 miles) so that, there Avas little time for sleep, but constant life in the open air seems to haA-e

agreed Avith them, their health remaining good throughout. Some details of the siege Aye must, leaA"e for another note.

The investing Boers never made an attack on Kimberley other than by Two Weary their artillery. They had a i Dajs. hsppy notion that the town ' Avas surrounded by mines \ ready to bIoAV them to pieces. The bombard- j ment for a long time did no damage. Colonel ' Kekewich and his staff occupied a conning tcAver built over the 'hauling gear of the Do Beers mine, end from that commanding position Avatched the surrounding country , clay and night. "Brilliant searchlights were > flashed around all night, which the Boers colled " Rhodes' s eyes." Several desperate [ sorties Avere made, during one of which 33 • Boers were captured, but in another the j gallant Colonel Scott-Turner was killed, -to the great s'oitoav of the inhabitants. Early in December the garrison got into signalling touch Avith Loid Methuen, Avho scut them an encouraging message. The toAvn thought the siege Avas jiist about over, and Lord Methuen thought the same, but Magersfontein intervened, and the weary Aveeks went by. No Avork throughout the siege Ava-j done in the mines, but Mr Rhodes kept his remaining 13.000 employees engaged at full Avage? on relief Avorks, mostly road-making and planting, much to the permanent bene- t fit oi the town hoav. He spent £2000 a j AA - eek in this way. De Beers headed a ' subscription list for Avidows and "orphans | with £30,000. The chief engineer of De Beers, j Mr Labram (he Avas afterwards killed in ! his bedroom by a shell) built a magnificent ' 4.1 gun with carriage and shells complete, i which fired with great accuracy and enor- i ntously increased the range of firing, much J to the consternation and astonishment of -, the Boers, Avho could not conceive where ' it came from. This Avas " Long Cecil," j Avhich was begun and finished within three ' Aveeks. In February the Boers brought up a lorge Creusot gun, .firing 1001b shells l at long range. This was -a terror to the , inhabitants, and did much damage. By it Mr Labram was killed. The nerves of j the women and children completely gave ' way, and many, afraid to go to their houses, took to crouching all night under bridges • and culverts. Then the happy idea occurred to Mr Rhodes to house them in the depth of the mine. They Arere there , for four days and nights, Avhen the joyful i neAvs of the entry of the relief column ; brought them in tearful thankfulness to the \ surface again. "Riding out beyond the j toAvn," says Mrs Maguire (when the dust j column Avas seen in the distance), " Aye soon ' found ourselves among the vanguard of our deliverers, and gleaned the first details , of the great feat of arms that had ju&t been i performed on our behalf. Passing from j squadron to squadron, British, Irish, Australian, NeAV Zealander, in turn joined in congratulations to us in their having arrived in time ; to themselves in having takeiy part in General French's famous ride.'/ Happy ~Ne\v Zealanders, to have had the privilege of taking part in such an enterprise ! Mrs Maguire pays a Avarm tribute to Colonel liekeAvich, his officers and men, arii to the genius and resourcefulness of Mr Rhodes. It is Avell to' know that there j is at least one millionaire oh the globe about j whom one may be enthusiastic. j On the whole the Agricultural and Pastoral Society may be corTho "Winter dially congratulated on their Show. seventh annual Winter Show, which Avas brought to a successful close on Saturday last. Whatever deficiencies may haA T e been noticed J in the ,«ho\v, the fault certainly does not lie Avith the society, Avho have been most energetic and judicious in the performance of their share of the -work. There were j defects on this occasion. The grain exhibits on the part of the farming community Avere poor. A more notable deficiency Avas the almost entire absence of agricultural machinery, other than of the dairy department. Possibly the lack of space may ha\"e i had something to do Avith this, in Avhich case the blot may not occur again, noAv that the society has secured more space ad- , joining the Hall. The improvement of j agricultural machinery is so steady and is ! so A r itally important to the progre&s of national agriculture, that it Avould be a j real misfortune if such an opportunity for education as is supplied, by the winter shoAy should be utterly neglected. It may fee t^fc in the general prosperity the manu- j facturers and importers of agricultural ma- ! chinery are satisfied Avith their commercial I progress, but this is a poor and unenterprising Avay of looking at the matter, for it is in prosperous periods that a solid foundation is laid lor a business that remains steady when the prosperity has given Avay to depression- 1 — as it certainly" Avill in due time. On the other hand, the display of local produce of all kinds Avas quite up to the mark ; Avliilc the fat sheep section Avas excellent, and' bids fair to be a notable feature of the slioav in winter. Miich credit ftncl gratitude is due to those

show by succinctly lecturing on various ( subje-cis, and this department, «.eems to us j one that the .society would do well to givj , increasing attention to. 11 is not, of ; course, easy to get men who can attrac- , lively impart the knowledge, they possess, but they are to be got in the community, 1 and a little trouble Avill find them. Thu financial results were excellent, and that after all is the main, thing, since on them | the very existence of the show depends. I There was a trifling decline as compared to ! last year, but as the receipts were still ' ahead of the year 1898, the ' falling-off this j year was obviously rather of the nature of ' accidental" fluctuation than of a downward j>rocessi | With the farming community generally ' the show is evidently as popular as ever. . To the farnier Show Week is a holiday week, from which he gets rest, enjoyment, 1 and instruction, and that opportunity for ' intercourse with his fellow men which is i mentally stimulating in all departments of j life. It is well to bear in mind that the j winter show is of special importance to \ Otago because its success evidently depends 1 upon local conditions not easy to specify, but -which do not necessarily exist elseThey do not exist, for instance", in Canterbury, which has, however, a most successful summer show. We confess to having very little sympathyI with "the' calls which have ! The Ethics lately been made upon Mr j of Barclay, junior member for j Eepresentatloii. the City, to resign his seat. ' Mr Barclay is not the sort j of man to throw up a representative position, the attainment of which must have" been quite as much a matter of surprise to _ him as it was to the electors of the city , pretty well on both "sides." The calls were, therefore, idle enough ; but whether or no ' Mr Barclay would betray great weakness !of character were he to accede to them. [ When a representative is foolish enough to { give a. pledge to a constituency — foolish, that is to say, on any subject on which he has yet to hear the argumentc — raid after- ' wards breaks that pledge, he is bound in honour to resign his seat, and take the verdict of the constituency upon his conduct. But he is not in the least degree bound to resign because he finds himself at variance on some question which has cropped up since the election with a section of his constituents. That section may possibly be a large majority, but the fact makes no difference. There is no means of knowing i lioav the numbers stand, and 50 men mighfc i I make as much clamour as 5000. There is a growing disposition on Mr Barclay's side . of politics to regard members as mere dele' ; gates to register the opinions of sections of ! their constituents. That, however, is not ! the constitutional view of the position. A I representative is chosen because the constii tuency in. the main agrees with his opinions _' as far as it knows them, ar.d trusts him to .' creditaibly represent them on other sub- ; jeebs as they may rise to the surface of ! politics. If tliey do not like his views as they develop, the cure is to withdraw j their confidence at the next election. As a matter of fact one of the gieat evils of present-day politics h that members are ( only too ready to fall in with any opinions i of their constituents -that appear likely to carry votes with them. li is true that Sir . Edward dlarke, the eminent English lawyer, recently resigned his seat on this veiy > pro-Boer question ; bub he did so, not as a duty he owed to his constituency, but i rather to relieve himself of an irksome dis- . play of antagonism by people whose conj fidence he had previously possessed, j As for Mr Barclay's pro-Boerism. it is \ unworthy of serious discussion, in which ! respect it is like his socialism. The worst feature of his conduct is his attempt to back out of a position he has all these ,' months been perfectly well known to hold, i jor to pretend to hold. The qualification is necessary, because in all probability a number of our few so-called pro-Boers are simply posers, — men who committed themselves to Boer sympathies because they think it marked tin advanced radicalism to side with a Republic (heaven save, the mark) against a mighty monarchy. We repeat now what we said a few weeks ago, that we may be thankful for thai svire instinct which impels the people of England, as of th& colonies, to prevent the posing of I the wrong-headed few from encouraging our I enemies, with whom we are at war, to hold out against us by presenting the spectacle (for winch they are keenly Avatching) of a divided people.

In portion of the issue of our illustrated supplement this week a couple of eirata occur to which it is advisable to draw attention. Mr Brydone is described as "chairman" instead of "honorary life governor" of the A. and P. Association, and " Taieri " and Waihemo is printed instead of Palmerston and Waihemo bay. Fortunately, the errors were noticed in time for correction for the greater part of the issue. Speaking at a social at Wellington, the Hon. W. Hall- Jones, Minister of Public Works, said that while tne Government were fully alive to the necessity of a policy for the development of colonial railways, there was no truth in the rumours in circulation that it was proposed to go in for large borrowing in connection, therewith. The Otago Organising Committee handed over their remounts — 180 in number — to the Department of Agriculture on Friday afternoon for despatch to the ' showgrounds at Addington, near Chri&tchurch, where they will be kept for a few days prior to being shipped on board the Ormasan at Lyttelton. The InvercargiH horses to the number of 150, were sent north on Saturday night, i along with a further lot purchased by the department. In all, about 400 horses will be 1 shipped at Lyttelton, and another hundred at Wellington. The Ormazan takes her final departure from Wellington about the end of next . week. I Latest written advices fropi India to hand on Friday show aa improvement in the figures

of plague statistics on t\o fortnight ended 2156 * April, the deaths reported .numbering 996, be<ing an average cf 71 per diem against 10Q for the previous fortnight. The famine figured on tho oilier hand show an increase/ the number of persons now in receipt of relief being 4,975,648. New Zenlanders have every reason to b<s more than satisfied (the Australian Mining Standard says) with the appreciation their mining talent is receiving on the Australian vcontinent. Already three Australian vacancies which have occurred during the currents year have been filled by New Zealanders. Me F. B. Stephens, F.G.S., who succeeded Mr W. E. Matthews as the director of the Stawett School of Mines, is an Otago School of Mines man, and resigned an appointment in «,conneotion with that institution to ■ accept his present position. Mr Ormsby Gore Adams, who succeeds Mr 'Boydell as assistant lecturer, at the Stawell school, is also a New Zealander, ' and Jin Otago School of Mines man ; while" Mr J. M. M'Laren, who was recently appointed Queensland^ Government geologist, vice Mr Rands, promoted, is another New Zealander, late director of the Coramandel School of Mines, and formerly a Thames School of Mines man. That these gentlemen should have been selected from outside "the continent is not to be regretted, since the continent is the richer for the acquisitions; but the fast-following appointments, > apart from those which during the same period New Zealanders have received of a non-official character, justifies the remark: "More credit to New Zealand and the Otago school, and le3& credit to the Victorian system, which cannot serve itself." It is the intention of the Agricultural department to establish a poultry farm at" Milton on the same lines as those already established at Momohaki and the Burnham Industrial School, near Chris tchureh. Arrangements have been completed for the erection of the necessary buildings close to the township. , The Otago A. and P. Society's Winter show •vat. brought to a successful close on ' Saturday, when there was again a large attendance. Tho cash takings for thej our days amount to £616, which is below the takings last year, but above those for 1893. i Lieutenant-colonel Hume, inspector of prisons, has just completed his half-yearly tour of inspection in this part of the colony. On Saturday he returned from InvercargiH, and proceeded to Christchurch by the express. He will return to "Wellington in three or foui* days' time. Three men were brought before the City, Police Court on Saturday charged with having assaulted and ro.bbed a man who 'had previously been treating them rather liberally to alcoholic liquor. The pecused, who were not represented by counsel, were committed for trial, having reserved their defence. There is one fact connected with the case which is of an unusual character, and extracted a compliment from the officer who conducted the prosecution. The evidence showed that one of the witnesses, finding that a man had been sdfc-upon by three others, tackled them and held one until the police arrived, the other two making off.- The witness referred to i 3 a young man named Oliver, and at the time mentioned he was engaged in leading remounts from the railway station. A pitiable case of neglect was brought under the notice on Sunday of Mr Donaldson, inspector of nuisances for the city. A Chinaman, who is apparently an outcast from his countrymen in Dunedin, has taken refuge in a henhouse in Lower Walker street, and, troubled with asthma and rheumatism as he is, he there spends his days and nights miserably, lying on an almost worn-out straw mattress and covered with an old overcqat and some thin blankets. Fortunately, the henhouse is^a substantial one, and he is thus afforded some measure of shelter. His surroundings, however, are most unhealthy, and Air Donaldson intends to lay the case before the inspector of police, with a view to having the man removed to the hospital for treatment. The following are the hospital returns for the week : —Patients admitted during tho week/23; discharged, 24 ■ deaths (Mary Liddel and Thomas Burt) , 2 ; number remaining in the institution, 107. >C Another of the very early settlers in Otogo has passed away in the person of the lats Mr Octavius Harwood, who died at Otago Heads on the 24-th inst., aged 84- years. The deceased was considered the oldest settler in tho district, and arrived at Taiaroa Heads in the rhip City of Edinburgh in the year 1837. from Sydney, in the capo city of clerk to Messrs Webb and Co., of Sydney, who then had a whaling station oi Otago Heads. Since his arrival Mr Harwood has resided at Otago Heads and Portebello, and was universally respected. TEe criminal fittings of the Supreme Court commenced on Monday morning, and a Iprge number of the cases were disposed pi. Two " no bills " were returned by the Grand Jury ; the rejected indictments being one against Esther Davies for theft and the other against Timothy Hanrahan for manslaughter at Nascby. In the Oamaru murder, case two bills were presented, and a true bill was found for the lesser offence of manslaughter. Ten cases were disposed of, all the accused charged being convicted and" sentenced. Thers are still on the calendar five cases for trial, all of which are defended. At Riverton last night a deputation, con-v sisting of Messrs Stewart, Kennedy, "Buckingham, and Chilton, waited on the Hon. Mr Ward, Minister of Railways, and asked for the construction of a light line on the LimeI done Plains from Wright's Bush to Heddon Bush. The Minister promised to lay the request, before his colleagues. The Minister of I Public Works, who controlled the matter o£

the construction of railways, he said, recognised that a railway through the district would be of great value.