LOOAL & GENERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2578, 12 August 1903, Page 27

LOOAL & GENERAL.

The usual weekly meeting of the Benevolent Trustees was held on Wednesday, and wa3 attended by Messrs Treseder (chairman), Burnett, Tapper, Thomson, and Wilson. The Secretary reported that William Coley, aged 76 years, had died in the institution during the week. A parcel of Bulletins ■wa.? received from Mr J. M. Jamieson, with thanks. The outdoor relief book for July showed that assistance had been rendered in 329 casEG, comprising 13£ men, 239 women, and 5i6 children, the total cost being £108 0s 6d per week. For the corresponding period of last year . there were 320 cases, comprising 150 men, Zs\, women, and 553 children, the cost amounting to £105 4s per week. Accounts amounting to £525 15s Id were passed for payment, and 35 applications for relief were considered. The prica of meat in. Dunedin hps be-en advanced by butchers by Id per lb as from Thursday. This is said to be dus to the exceptionally high prices of stock. In his report to the City Council, Mr Allan, cngineer-in-chargo of the Lse Sirca"n hydraulic works, stated that the progress for the past fortnight was much tho same as for the previous fortnight. At the we=t end tho tunnel had now been driven 187 ft 6in, and the rock was getting a little harder. At t/he east end the driving was at 37ft 6in, and the rock continued hard. The tola! dLtane.? driven was 225 ft. Owing to tlv2 mow iio benching had then (July 25) been commenced. A woman who applied to the Benevolent Trustees on Wednesday for the. payment of the passage money for herself and her two little children to Melbourne unfolded a pitiable story of suffering. She stated that her husband left her about three months ago, since which time she had not heard from him at all. Her eldest eon was work-in-g, but his wages were just sufficient to pay the rent, and she had been reduced to such etraits that she had had to sell portion of the furniture to nrocuro food. She said that she would be strong enough to work Bhortly, and if the- money were advanced she vould repay every penny of it. The trustees decided to grant the request. Amongst the applications for relief that came before h© Benevolent Trustees on Wednesday was uhat of a man, aged 67 years, who made a request for admission to the institution. The circumstances wh ; ch resulted in the application being made are rather peculiar. It appears that the man (who has a wife and a grown up family of eight) had been ejected from his home as tho result of a quarrel with his wife, and hi 3 family would not allow him to return. Aa to the cause of strife, it was stated that the -wife, who had baen in the habit of putting her feet on her husband's knee in order to have her boots laced, had latterly transferred that favour to n. young man who bad set his affections on one of the daughters of (he household, iv consequence of which lior husband's ire was raked. At the half-yearly meeting at Sydney of the Stockton Coal Company tha Chairman (Mr Arnold), in Tsply to shareholders who commented strongly on the fact that fh& operations of the oompany had been of little benefit to the shareholders, said the proper thing to do waa to put the blamo on the shoulders of the antithetic electors who had dlowed the whole of tho country to be taken over by the minority party. The company iad. in all, spent over £1,000,000 in developing and working the mine during the last Sve years. The shareholders had had to find £261,£00 in order to employ " the king working man," including £202,176 paid purely in wages, while the shareholders' portion of the profits had been £9006. The miners had laid the mine idle in the mo^t wanton manner, and, plainly put, tho awnei's were at the mercy of the men. As matters slocd, the men could do exactly as they pleased, and if things were allowed to go on ag they were there would ere long b3 not only nothing for the owners, but for the men either. A case of considerable interest to patrons of sports grounds came- before the Sydney Police Court the- other day. Complainant and defendant were prominent business men. At a football match at the Agricultural Ground, the former, who occupied a front seat in the stand, stated that he found it necessary to open his umbrella to protect himself from the rain beating into the pavilion. To tho inevitable cry '' Umbrellas down in front " he was heedless. Shortly afterwards the umbrella received a tremendous blow, which broke it and knocked it down on his hat. Defendant, in his evidence', complained that the umbrella obscured his view of the game, and *hat he had unavailiugly appealed to the ea lplainant to cloie it. The solicitor for the defence contended that his client had acted in the exercise of a right. He had paid his money to see the game. In imposing a penalty cf 10s and costs, Mr Pay ten, S M., stated that although tho charge of ascault liad been, proved, a great deal of provocation had been given. • Ib _riay not be generally known that newspaper men keep secrets better than any other class. But so it seems to be. When entertained by the Press Club at San Francisco the other week, President Roosevelt acknowledged the fact. "' Quito an extended experience in politics," he said, "has taught me that :he one man whom it is perfectly safe to i-01l an important secret to is a newspaper man, because he not only shares with other honourable men the desire to 'reep the •ecrel, but \r 'mows how." Scarlet fever cases,- in the city at least, it is satisfactory to note, have -vt last decreased in a very marked manner, last mouth's return at the Health Office shotting

only 19 cases for the city and suburb?, while from country districts 36 cases were reported. During the month five cases of diphtheria were reported in city and suburbs, and 11 cases of tuberculosis altogether—six in the city and five in the country. I In the Supreme Court on Thursday the Chief Justice delivered judgment in the appeal of Alice Silk, of the iletropole Hote?, St. Clair, against the Caversham Licencing Committee, who refused he-r a renewal of her license. His Honor found that tho committee had exercised their statutory powers in refu=ing the license, and accordingly diemi&3cd the appeal, with costs. His Honor , also upheld the decision of Mr E. H. Carew, S.M., in the appeal of Hunter and Co. v. tho Nokomai Hydraulic Company, iv I which the question to be decided was tho construction of an agreement. Some direussion tunned on the question of a new cemetery at tho meeting of the Oceai* Eoach Domain Eoard on Thursday. The , matter came up in the form of an inquiry from Mr Crust as to whether a portion of the domain adjoining the Anderson's Bay ! Cemetery could be secured for the purposes . of a cemetery, to which Mr Hancock (chairman) replied that he thought there would bs no trouble about getting the land, but that the difficulties wouid commence aftfa--wards. Had the Anderson's Bay Cemetery i Trustees been willing to hand over the ' cemetery now controlled by them a new and larger cemetery might have been formed by extending its boundaries, but outside the present cemetery there was not a sufficiently large area of suitable ground. I The " difficulties " hinted at by Mr Hancock come about through tho ravages of the I south wind, whose fitful gu c ts, careering i through the Sandhills, rat away a tall face of sand in a surprisingly short time, and a corpse interred in the locality might , provo to have been laid in anything but a final and peaceful resting-place. On Tuesday, 4th, Bishop Nevill presided at four meetings in connection with various •matters of importance in tho diocese — viz., i tho Cathedrtl Chapter, the Board of Missions, the Deaconesses' Home, and the Standing Committee. At tho meeting of tho Board of Missions very interesting reports were read of the Church's work I among the Maoris at Moeraki, Otago Heads, I Puketiraki, Stewart Island, and Colae Bay, j and grants were made in aid of the work. The dioce-an treasurer reported that the j following remittances had been made: — ' Melanesian Mission, £315 9e 8d; Maori Mission (North Island), £78 14s 2d; Jerusalem Mission, £4 13s; New Guinea Mission, £16 0s 7d; North Queensland Cyclone Fund, £100. Rev. Canon Mayne was deputed to draw up the report for presentation to , synod. At tue Standing Committee mceti ing some grants were made, and a evihcommitteo was appointed to make inquiries .re the diocesan paper and to report The ! ! importance of having the titles of all church . property vested in the Trust Board was I affirmed, and the matter postponed for j fwthcr discussion till next meeting. Tho ' I committee was much gratified to find the Palmerston vestry had very considerably reduced it 3 old standing debt to the Trust Board, and was likely to extinguish the j bianco at an early date. In a pfivate letter recsived by Mr J. P. Armstrong from a friend at Bannockburn the writer expresses the opinion that a-> a resuft of the recent snowstorm and subsequent continued frost there will be a heavy mortality among the 3h©ep. The frost was co hard at Bannockburn that to obtain water the writer had to melt snow and ice on the stove. Several eases of frostbite had occurred, one boing serious, the sufferer having b&en out for 21 hours on the NevisGarstou road. Meat was getting scarce and dear. The young man Heppekhwaite, who has been an inmate of the Hospital since July 26 aa the result of a bullet wound, continues to make satisfactory progress, and his recovery is now regarded as certain. The bullet has not yet been .extracted, an operation not having been deemed necessary so far. Heppelthwaite will, however, La\e to remain in the institution for some little time yet. A Deep Stream correspondent states that a welcome change in tho weather took place on Saturday last, when the intense cold gave place to a thaw, which ha<3 continued ever since, though frost io s f ill experienced at night. Tho snow ha 5 :, to a \ery large extent, left tho flat and the foothills but the Lanunerlaws are still coiercd io a groat depth. Flock-owners have had a very anxious time, but so far tlio lo^es in the Deep Stream district have, fortunately, net been heavy. The river has not risen to any appreciable extent, as the thaw has been very gradual. The Oamaru Presbytery met at "NYeston on Thursday night, in huno effectum, for the purpose of inducting the Rev. J. G. M'Leod, late of Pukerau, to tho pastoral care of the Weston-Tbtara charge. There was a very large attendance, the Weston. Hall being filled to overflowing, and the whole of tho proceedings were marked by heartiness and pleasure at the settlement of the charge so soon after Mr Skinner's death. The Rev. D. M'lvor, of Herbert, was the preacher for the occasion, and ho took for his subject Luke ii, 49, from which he delivered an instructive address. Mr M'Leod was then formally inducted to his new position, being addressed by the R-ev. W. Nichol. Hampden, while the Rev. J. R. Shore, Maheno, addressed the congregation. Mr and Mrs M'Leod were subsequently tendered a hearty welcome by the members of the church, welcome speeches .being delivered

by several ministers who were present at the gathering. The presbytery adopted a motion of sympathy with the Rev. A. B. Todd in his present sicknesr Mr Todd, though resident in Dunedin, is still a member of this presbytery. In the Supremo Court on Friday morning judgment was given in the appeal Oldham v. Ramsay and another, and in which Mr Carew, S.M., was again upheld, the appeal being dismissed, with costs. The court also found for tho plaintiff in the action for the poesesion of the Caledonian Hotel, brought by Joel and Skitch v. Barlow. Some time was spent over a motion for a ' writ of habeas corpus, in which the applicant was James O'Dowd, recently convioted by Mr Cruickshank, S.M., of sly grog-selling at Tapanui. His Honor refused "a rule nisi, without cost 5 :. The suit for divorce between James Beadle and Harriet Beaclle, instituted ; by the former on the ground of desertion, ' was taken in Chamber. His Honor, iv assenting' to the request to have the case j heard in private, expressed a regret that 1 the parties, who were over 70 years of age, should have had recourse to the court. i Tli© weekly meeting of the Otago and | Southland Band Contest Committee was held on Thursday evening in the Mayor's room, Port Chalmers. A large amount of correspondence was dealt with. It was resolved to hold the contest on the datea originally fixed— namely, October 28 and 29. On an examination of the voting papers it was found that Mr C. Trussell, of Nelson, had a majority, and was therefore elected to the positiou of musical judge. A proposal to hold a moonlight excursion to augment the funds was considered, the Citizens' Band having very genei'ously offered to i insist. The matter was left over for next meeting. Some time ago Mrs Hhlop, of North- East Valley, collected funds from the people of Dunedin antl the country for the purchase of an organ to be sent to the Sisters' Mission, of Fiji, who are labouring among the children there. When the Waikare was down in Fiji la^t year the passengers were delighted with the singing of the mission children, and will be pleased to learn from the following letter, received by Mrs Hislop, that they will now have tho assistance of an organ: — "Dear Mrs Hislop, — Tomorrow (Monday) we are getting the lads to bring the organ up here. I cannot really tell you how very useful it will be to me in the work among the children. Please thank very much for me those. who so kiudly subscribed towards it. The children are looking forward with delight to ite arrival at the Mission House. We have had translated some of Mr Alexander's songs, and the children sing the ' Glory song' beautifully. — Yours, etc., Winnie Small." According to the Palmerston and Waikouaiti Times of Friday one of the most successful bazaars ever held in Palmeretou was that held on Wednesday and Thursday of this week in connection with the Church of St. Mary (Anglican) in Palmerston. Not only was the required amount raised to pay tho final instalment on the long-standing debt, referred to at tho last meeting of the Diocesan Standing Committee, reported in Friday's paper, but about £65 more was raised, which will be devoted to repairing and improving the chuich. At the laet meeting of tho Trotter's Cresk Domain Board- at Kartigi, the Secretary (Mr Trotter) stated that the new footbridge across the creek in the Domain had bean completed, an,d that the track had been, cleared and put m order up the gorge for about half a mile. Thceo improvements will add to the attraction of this picturesque

' locality and to the convenience of tftlf visitors during the ~su-»uner months. The board have decided to have a track formed up the main branch as soon as possible* to Tender this portion of the Domain accessible, and the Waitaki County Co\incil are to bo approached with a view to getting the Voa-d leading to the Domain put in order. The Hospital authorities supply the following returns for the past week:— Patients • remaining in the institution from the previous week, 97 ; admitted during the week, 21; discharged, 23; deaths, 3 (Patrick ■ Slattory, William Muir, and Annie Duns< ford) ; total remaining in the institution, S2. On Sunday night the trawler Express returned to Dunedin, having lost all her fishing ; gear through its coming into ocntaot with atf | anchor or pome other obstruction at tho bottom of the ocean. It is expected she will be ready to start trawling again to-morrow morning. Speaking at a banquet tendered to him at Egmont the other day, the Hon. C. H. Mills, referring to the Valuation Department (we quote from the Egmont Settlor), eaid: — • For many years it was the small settler who had paid the most taxation. The largo I proijerties in the colony were not paying what they should. The valuation of tha Flaxbom-he Estate, in his own district (Warrau), for taxation purposes was £112,000, but the price placed xipon the property by the owner when asked to sell it was £240,000. The department had instructed , its valuers not to accept fictitious values. In referring to the Department of Agriculture Mr Mills said tho expenditure on this department in 1891 was £25,818; 10 years later it had risen to £101,285. j The superimposed metallic system has ! been installed in connection with the Greymouth and Hokitika telephone bureaus. By this system the same wires can be used simultaneously for telephoning and telegraphing with Morse instruments, without either communication being interfered with. Mrs Margaret Hawthorne, inspector of factories, in her annual report, remarks that <tho question of^providing dining rooms foe factory workers is one which requires attention. She writes: — "Many factory-owners have not the space for these dining rooms on their own premises, but they have rented rooma in other buildings, and they arc beautifully kept. I have visited dining rooms, both north and south, where pianos are provided by employers for the entertainment of their workers, and I know of one instance where a substantial hot dinner is provided in the middle of the day. This meal is (provided on six days of tho week," and the cost to the worker runs from Is per week to 2s 6d per week, according to the rate of wages. In tho laundries usually the. employer provides a oup of tea and a piece of cake or bread and butter about 11 o'clock, in ithe morning for the workers, and again, about 3 in tho afternoon." [ A Telic of the stone ago was discovei'edl tho other day not far from the banks of the Orongo-Orongo River, about eight miles from, Pencarrow lighthouse. It consisted of a number of stone tools lying beside an almost; completed Maori canoa about 15ft long. Tho canoe is made from a log of totara, and the I burnt hollowing of tho log and the stono i implements used point to the belief that it was commenced before the advent of the European. The history of this canoe (eayn the Wairarapa Leader), a* far as can be gathered from the oldest Maoris thereabout, is of a sanguinary nature. A Wairarapa chief, known as " Bloody Jack," invaded ihe South Island and took many prisoners. Three of tho prisoners, however, managec

lo make their escape. They reached th© Orohga-Orongo Stream, where, nnder cover of thick scrub, they felled a- totara, and with fire and adze commenced to shape and hollow out a canoe, which they intended should take them across th-& strait home again to th© South Island. After some time, however, their whereabouts were discovered by their vigilant enemies by tho smoke from the burning-out of the cance, and in the night, whilst lying beside their almost completed craft, they were attacked, massacred, and were afterwards, presumably, served up at dinner. Since then the canoe has been fcapu, and after reposing in the undergrowth for many years had been forgotten. It is in a -splendid state of preservation.

In consequence of the delay in th© matter of the Order-in-Council, no fresh tramway work is being proceeded with at present, but immediately the position is all clear again Mr Goodman intends commencing the Princes street South section of the lines, and then, the Anderson's Bay road section. Work on the Princes street South section •will commence at the Caversham, boundary, and tho lines will be brought up to Manse street. The operation, however, will not interfere in any way with the present servica to South Dunedin, St. Kilda, and Caversham.

Our Gore correspondent telegraphs: — "A hut was cnteed in Gore on Satin-day during the occupiers' -absence, a box burst open, •nd £17 extracted therefrom. The owner of the hut (R. Reed) was in tho habit of secreting tho key outside for the convenier.e& of his companion, and it is presumed that the thief obtained the key, opened the hut door, broke cpen the box, locked the door, and rcplao&d the key in the original place, thereby preventing a discovery of the theft being made for a little while."

His Worship the Mayor (Mr T. Scott) has returned from his visit to Christchurch and iWelltngtoo. quit© convinced that neither of these two cities can boast better footpaths than Buuedin, while he considers the Wellington roads would be a disgrace to any back-blocks borough. The Petone road, he remarked, was a sea of slnsh during his visit, ssid & cab-driver actually refused to face it. Lambton quay footpaths could cot bo compared to those of Dunedin ; while the whole town soemed to be in a dirty, overcrowded condition, and houses were nlac,2<l in positions where wo would not graze goats hero. Mr Scott thought the only decent road Wellington po3se3sod -was that from Te Aro Railway Station round • Oriental Bay toward^ Kilbirnie and Island Bay, and back over Constable street to Newtown. His Worship, however, spoke highly of the general courtesy extended to him, both in -Chriistchureh and Wellington.

Beforo th& late South African war, cynics uaod to sneer at the expressed loyalty of the colonies, and characterised it as "all talk." This has all been changed, however, for in the hour of need proof was given that it was real and strong. So it is with Ruberoid Roofing. When first introduced it was looked on with interest, but some suspicion, but years of good solid service ha vo changed all that, and now it is universally recognised as the roofing* for all sorts of buildings. Deeds, not words, have proved its worth. It is economical, easy to lay, fire-Tenisting, and, with ordinary care, will ]ast indefinitely. In this connection we would ask our readers riot to confuse Rubcroid with ordinary roofing materials. Ruberoid stands alone. There are several cheap, worthless imitations of it in the market, which aro palmed off on honest people as "the same sort of thing." It is not th© same. It may lcok something like it; but a monkey is not as good as a man, although there aro unquestionably many points of outward resemblance. Tho genuine Rube-., roid is stamped on every yard of it, 'nud buyers are urged to see that the original Ruberoid roofing is what is supplied. Samples and pamphlets may I>3 had en application to tho importers, whose advertisement appears in another :olumn.