OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Volume 14, Issue 2648, 14 December 1904, Page 12

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Mr John Heslin writes that in the Handi-

I oap Time Trot at the Gore A. and P. show the judge placed the competitors as follows : ,J Meslin, scratch, 1 ; Inder, 12sec, 2 ; Scott, 5. j Mr G. P. Donnelly, who recently returned i from Europe, has presented to the Hawke's j Bay Jockey Club a replica of a silver oup of unique design discovered during some excavations in Ireland and now in the Dublin Museum. At Wednesday's meeting of the Selwyn "Licensing Committee it was stated that it was the intention to allow the license to sell alcoholic liquors at the Castle Hill Hotel, on .the Christchurch-West Coast road,^ to lapse. During the past few months (th© "Western 'Star says) no less than 10 -sawmills have closed down in Southland owing to the cutting out of the bush. Of these two were at Forest Hill, one at Lady Barkly, and one 'at Colao Bay. The remainder were all in t ■ Seaward Bueh, which is now almost clone. The West Coast Times learns that the local medical faculty have had a few suspicious . cases of throat infection under treatment during the past few days, and the Public Health Offioer has taken all necessary precautions to prevent the spread of infection. The disease is understood to be diphtheria. The R.M.S. China, which sailed from Australia on the 27th ult., took eight boxes of sovereigns, shipped by the Bank of New South Wales, for Bombay, valued at £39,985, one box, valued at £3000, shipped by the P. and O. Company, for London, and 425 bars of New Zealand gold, valued at £14,650, for London. Th© new Licensing Act provides that anyone convicted three times for drunkenness within six months may be declared -a prohibited person without further evidence. Mr T. .W. .Leslie has been selected, out of 142 applicants, for the position of custodian of the Wellington Town Hall. He assisted to train the New Zealand football team which beat England a few months 1 ago. The clerks of courts at Ashburton, Port Chalmers, Balclutha, and Gore are now appointed as the persons to whom are to be sent the statements of liquor sent or taken into the prohibition districts of Ashburton, Chalmers, Clutha, and Mataura. Persons i concerned should now discontinue sending j these statements to the clerk at Dunedin. The Ashburton Hospital Board, in its half-yearly report, states that a by-law has been drafted,- and forwarded to the Government for sanction, imposing a penalty not exceeding £5. on any person' who communicates with an infectious diseases patient without permission. i The price of sugar in Christohurch has been increased by id per lb on and after to-day, the repeated rises in the sugar market having compelled the grocers to make the retail price 2|d per lb! The inability to obtain supplies from Queensland, Mauritius, or China is said to be the cause of the rise. — Press. The Waipawa correspondent of the Hawke's Bay Herald states that when Mr W. W. Hirst, of Wakarara, returned" home last week from a trip to the Old Country, he discovered that his house had been broken into during his absence, and a quantity of cartridges taken away. This is supposed to have been the work of Ellis, the alleged murderer, who is thought to be hiding in those parts. -- -On- -Monday -evening- an Invercargill medical practitioner met with a motor accident. He was riding along East road in a trailer behind a motor bicycle, and, when crossing a hole, the connecting-tube (or rod) snapped, with the result that the doctor was thrown on his head, and rendered unconscious for about half an hour. The Southland News says he has recovered from the effects, and is now able to get about as usual. At -the Ohristchurch Magistrate's Court on Wednesday J. Brown pleaded guilty to i a charge of creating a disturbance whilst drunk in the express train between Christohuroh and Rakaia. The accused had consumed a bottle of whisky whilst on the I journey, and became so noisy that several passengers had to use force to keep him quiet. He was fined £3, in default one ; - month's imprisonment. . j At a meeting of the Employers' Associa- , tion in Christohuroh on Tuesday, when the Workers' Compensation Act was under consideration, one of the employers, addressing the president, said: "Let me put a case: Suppose a man got bitEen by a mosquito while working for his master, and the bite induced a fever, would the employer be liable for the payment of compensation?" After some consideration, the president said that, in view of the judgment in a recent southern case, the employer would be . liable, i ' At Rangiora on Tuesday Thomas Powell,

i charged with assaulting C. Morgan Williams at Saltwater Creek last Sunday week, was fined 10s and £4 2s. The two were rival whitebait fishers, and a dispute arose over Powell putting his set within two chains of a net set by Williams. Powell used bad language, and threatened to duck his rival in the wafer, and also "pushed" Williams. Williams admitted that when Powell refused to move he kicked sand in front of his net, and Pow_ell asserted that Williams also cast his shadow upon the water, which frightened the fish. , 1 A resident of Hongkong, writing to a friend in Masterton, gives the following ; unenticing description of Britain's possession in the Far East. — " The area of Hongkong is 30 square males. It" is barren, riverless, streamless, unfertile, hilly; no manufactures ; full of disease, perfectly wicked, a veritable hell — God's last creation. We have to import everything, <from food to clothing. Sometimes we get water from 6 to 8 a.m. only. There isn't anv^iing ' grown on the island, while in Hongkong one can rub shoulders (with representatives , of every race and country, and the scum 1 of these at that." j j The Gore Borough Council, at its meet- , ing on Monday night, went into committee I to consider a letter from Mr R. Dewar, j town clerk, asking for 12 months' leave of absence. On resuming it was reported that the council could not see its way clear to 1 grant the leave of absence, and regretfully accepted Mr Dewar's resignation, which I was contained in an alternative communication. It was then decided that the council J meet on Thursday evening to consider what , I steps should be taken to fill the vacancy, j Mr Dewar purposes leaving. Gore on a trip j to the Home Country with two of his j daughters, one of whom purposes pursuing j her musical studies in London and Germany, j Mr J. A. Duthie, who has returned to , Miltori after a trip Home, informs the Bruce , Herald that while in San Francisco he ob- : served the employees at one of the tinning • factories busy at work threshing and can- < ning green pears, and working 16 hours per day, Sundays included. They also worked that number of hours during the fruit season. As a matter of fact, Mr Duthie said, 1 there is practically no Sunday observed in that part of the world, the same remark j being applicable to St. Louis, where the only ) place which was closed on Sunday was the • exhibition. The manager of one of the ' largest factories informed the visitor that . the most profitable article they canned was asparagus, as it improved by canning. j In his speech to Balciutha farmers on , Friday Mr A. J. M'Curdy, the organiser of the Farmers' Union, was particularly | severe on the co-operative system of con- | structing Government works as carried out i in some districts in -the North Island. At j Mataroa, he said, there was a chief inspector with two assistants, an engineer and two assistants, and a paymaster, and on j pay day eight men lined up l . It took seven men to see that eight labourers earned their wages! In Taihape Mr M'Curdy averred he had seen a dozen men, road inspectors, walking about drawing their 10s a day, and not a road in the district. The settlers ' were paying for road loading,' and there : was not a road available. — Free Press. 1 The Mayor of Waimate has forwarded to ! the Minister of Railways a complaint in regard to the running of the trains between Waimate and Morven. -He alleges that though a previous request was stated to have been complied with — viz., that the expresses would stop at Morven to put down and pick up passengers for all stations, — it now transpires that the expresses only stop to put down and pick up Timaru and Oamaru passengers. The absurdity of this arrangement, he says, became apparent the- other day when the express stopped at Morven to put down an Oamaru passenger and pick up one for Timaru, while another applied for a ticket to Waimate but was told by the stationmaster that he was forbidden to issue tickets for that station. The Wyndham Farmer states that the Rev. James Aitken, late Presbyterian minister of the parish, hae undergone an operation, and that word has been received from Wellington that the operation has been so far s-ucqessful that the rev. gentleman can now sit up. There is absolutely no hope, however, of his regaining permanent -health. Mr Aitken's work is over; indeed, it is almost too much to hope that his life can be prolonged beyond a comparatively limited period. His medical advisers having stated that Mr Aitken will never be able to preach again, it is Mrs Aitken's desire to take her husband back to Scotland, and it is proposed that they should leave for the Old Country in February next. To facilitate this end a fund is being raised, which has already been

» liberally subscribed to in the Wyndham district. The Ashburton Mail says: "Although an invitation was- not extended to the press reporters, we have good authority for stating that a meeting of the Ashburton unlicensed victuallers was recently held, presumably bo discuss ways and means relative to th-s trade. After considerable discussion, in which the whole question vraa "warmly debated, it was decided to establish a general fund, into which periodical pay- , monts will be made for the purpose of covering the cost of court proceedings and ; fines. Tha meeting was unanimously of the opinion that a mutual benefit society of the character agreed upon should have been established long ago, and it- is understood from the spontaneous manner in which the first instalments were paid that the fund will be established on- a firm financial basis. The promoter of the' scheme was elected president on the voices, and, after discussing the vagaries of the police and the method on which it is proposed to fight the n-ext general election and other matters, the meeting adjourned. At Lyttelfeon, at about half-past 11 o'clock on Monday night, Francois Prat, boatswain of the -French barque Boieldieu, and Yvon Arivaol, mechanician of the same ship, went on board their vessel, which is lying at the Gladstone pier. Just 3,5 Prat was going to his cab iv in the deckhouse, which is situated just abaft the mainmast, he noticed a stranger standing on the deck. Prat spoke to the man, anfl told him to get ashore, and then turned to go to the door of the deckhouse. It is alleged that the man made a rush at Prat, who was stooping to get through the door, and stabbed the latter on the head. Arivaol came round the. ocrne-r of the deckhouse immediately after, and it is stated that the stranger made a rush at the mechanician, and struck him. with the knife, inflicting a cut over the left eye. The watchman of the vessel and another sailor rushed up at the moment and put the man ashore. The police were communicated with, and the stranger, whose name is Thomas Olsen, was arrested on a charge of having wounded Prat and Arivacl. Olsen was brought before the Lyttelton Pcljce Court on the following morning, and remanded. The Christohurch Press says a narrow escape ' from drowning occurred near the outlet of Lake Ellesmere on Sunday afternoon. Mr E. Martin and Mr R. M. Taiaroa, son of the Hen. H. K. Taiaroa, put out to sea in an open boat, through the outlet, for the purpose of fishing and shooting. On their return journey the boafc got into the breakers, and, with the strong: rush of water from the outlet, utsset, and the occupants were thrown into the water. They managed to cling to the boat, though, they were washed off half a dozen times, and fortunately the '"tide was about half an hour from being full, and was still running into the lake, or they would both have been carried out to sea. Instead, the boat was carried into the middle of the lake, whence Mr Martin swam ashore, and Mr Taiaroa was rescued by Mr W. Barrett, who put out to him in a boat with one oar. The tide turned to go out immediately afterwards, and the capsized boafc was swept out to sea. and has not been found since. It is supposed to have broken up. The men's clothing, new guns, and tackle were all lost. A gold watch and chain of Mr Taiaroa's, which went to the bottom, were valued at £33, and his gun was valued at 30 guineas.