OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2654, 25 January 1905, Page 12

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

i An eocentrio millionaire who has just died at Dcs Moincs, lowa, has left £10,000 to found a home for drunkards- wives. | The Hon. T. Y. Duncan, Minister of Lands, intends to go over Flaxbourne Estate, Marlborough, some time this month. Tho Mayor of Timaru has received a refund of £48 from the Customs Department, the amount of duty on the Troopers' Memorial. The rush of tourists to Wanaka this year has been the greatest on record, both hotels being pressed to provide accommodation for > the visitors. j A lady visiting Wellington a few days ago on business lest a handkerchief contain- j ing £59, including a Bank of Austialasia note for £50. j Artesian water has been tapped in the ' basin of the Adelaide plains, within three ! miles of the city. The supply is at the rate of over 15,000 gal per hour. In response to a request the- Premier has given the New Plymouth Troopers' Me- ! morial Committee permission to retain The Boer gun now at the exhibition for use as part of a memorial. The Milton Borough Council established a reoord for brevity on Friday evening, holding the ordinary and a special meeting I within the record time of 12 minutes. j Informations have been laid against four i Napier hotelkeepers charging them with having supplied liquor, to be consumed on j the premises, to youths under the age of 18 years. i Mahia boasts of the champion fat man of New Zealand. A young fellow of 18 years, who was employed the other week at shearing on Mr Ormond's station, weighs 27sfc 121b. Steps are being taken to arrange a meeting of the shop assistants in Christchurch in connection with the Shops and Offices Act. The meeting will probably be held at an early date. The Tuapeka Times states- that the claims against the Lawrence Borough Council for i damages caused by floods in March last ! have been settled on a basis satisfactory to ' all concerned. Information has reached Kalgoorlie that .O'Brien and party have unearthed a nug-' get weighing 112oz at a new rush near Bulong, together with other slugs ranging from 12oz to 16oz in weight. While at the Hermitage, the Hon. W. Hall-Jones and his party explored an ice cave on the Mueller Glacier. Rocks and other debris which fell as the ice. melted made the experience quite exciting. j All the machinery is ready at the works , at Matanra for the production of electrical f power for Gore. There should, therefore, bo no delay in bringing the scheme into operation as soon as the Gore end of the" service is prepared. j A Wellington resident, at present making . holiday in Riverton, spent a short time at the Waiau, and considered the Te Tua land equal to anything in the province of Taranaki, which is looked upon as the dairying centre of xhe colony. The police paid their usual visit to the Invercargill hotels after closing hours on Saturday evening, and it is believed found one or two persons who were not altogether boarders. It is probable they will have to give some explanation for their presence. On Saturday fire broke out in a shed adjoining a flaxmill at Titipua, belonging to Mr W. Baird, and six bales of fibre, valued at £80, were destroyed. A spark from tho engine is the supposed cause of the fire. The mill itself was not damaged. Mr P. S. Hay, superintending engineer of the Public Works Department, is at present at Fairlie, for the puipose of making an inspection of the Opihi Gorge in connection with the investigation into the possible sources of electric power in the colony. Mr T. E. Taylor, M.H.R.. stated at Christchurch on Monday evening that he had never placed any particular value on the reduction vote himself, but when ho saw how anxious the brewers were to get rid of it he know that it was his duty to "keep it there." Amongst -the speculations being made at present "anent- tho candidates at the next general election is one to the effect that Mr F. M. B. Fisher is likely to contest the oentral seat of the three into which the existing electorate of the City of Christchurch is to be divided. A man named Thomas Johnson, with several aliases, was before the Palmerston Nprth Police Court for vagrancy. It was alleged he was in the habit of simulating fits in front of boarding-houees and other premises in order to obtain meals. The X nequseck who Jiad Si jsumeiitm^ USSI^d

against him, was sentenced to three months' hard labour. j A rider in one of the trots at the Wairio ! meeting on Wednesday was a lad who has not yet seen a dozen summers. He rode splendidly, and brought his hors& home the winner, for which feat he vyas accorded an ovation. When being carried shoulder . high in the saddling paddock he burst into I tears, the excitement being too much for his young nerves. A strange occurrence is reported from New York. An Italian, in an altercation with his sweetheart outside an. infant scho?l, suddenly became furious and shot her just, as 500 children were released from school. The children swarmed over the assassin, who. although he struggled desperately, was .. finally submerged and held down by the living pyramid until tVie police arrived and arrested him. The Rev. G. D. Evans, of Devonshire, England, writing to his son, Mr F. It. Evans, of Masterton, makes pathetic refer- j e-n co to the extreme dulness of trade, and the poverty exiting there. He states that < trade is very dull in all branches, and he [ never remembers a time when money was ' po scarce. The unemployed question is becoming a very serious one. A writer in the Hawke's Bay Herald, who has jus!; returned from the West Coast, says: — "Forty years ago Hokitika 'was a town of 30.000 inhabitants. There were 100 hotels in the main street, all thriving on the imprudence of the miner. It now has a population of 2000, and the hotels are diminished in number, though they still seemed somewhat out of proportion to what ! j we should have considered the legitimate j | needs of^tho population." [ } A case of supposed ptomaine poisoning is reported from Katikati. On Saturdny week Mr and Mrs Wigley, of the Talisman Hotel, a visitor named Miss Hicks, and two servants at the hotel were suddenly seized with violent illness and internal pains. Dr 'Claridge, of Waihi, was summoned, and gave the opinion, that the illness was caused I by ptomaine poisoning. Mr Wigley suffered I most, but under medical care all five arc 1 making good progress towards recovery. Thp cause of the poisoning is unknown. While at Nelson last week Mr Cockayne, the Government assistant biologist, received an urgent message requiring him to proceed to the west ooast of^the North Island to investigate a fruit disease that has become apparent. Mr Cockayne is, in- conjunction with Mr Blacktnore, investigating the life history of certain blights and fungi j that^are causing damage in the Nelson and j other frtiit -growing districts. Among these , are the " silver disease " that affects tl-e j plum, and the disease that is causing damage to the apricot trees. At the mooting of the Southland Kduca- , tion Beard on Friday the head master of j the Lurnsden School reported a oa>se of I exceptional regularity of attendance. George Staite. 14- years of age, in Class "VII, had, the Friday previously, received his ninth first-class attendance certificate. This diligent boy, who resides over one and a-half miles from Ihe school, had practically not been absent one day since he entered the Lurmden School at the commencement of 1896. The board decided to direct the head master to compliment the boy on his creditable performance. The milder effects of the Australian bush and grass fires were visible in the Oamaru district on Sunday (says the Mail) in the shape of a peculiar haze. The sun was more or less obscured throughout most of the day; but tbe srlare was not so prominent a fearuro of the phenomenon as on the last occasion of a similar visitation. A boy named Henderson, residing at Karaka Creplc (Tham<v*). was amusing himself by blowing a whistle last week when it accidentally down his throat, lodging itself in the gullet. He was promptly taken to the hospital, and all ordinary methods failing to remove the article, the little sufferer was placed under the X-rays and successfully operated upon by Dt Aubi'i. Tho rapidly diminishing; ranks of the veterans who saw sorviro in the Maori war have suffered' another loss in the death cf Mr Patrick Carey, who passed away at Napier on Friday. The deceased was an old Imperial soldier, and had served with the troops for 14 rears when hp retired. As on© of the 70th Regiment he wen'fc through the. Mutiny, and took part in many of the stirring evpnts cf that period. Subsequently he came to New Zealand with the regiment, and saw service in the Maori war. On retiring from the army Mr Carer joined the Armed Constabulary, and 18 1 veare ago he went +o roside in Napier as drill instructor to the local Volunteer?, a _jaoskiQn_hg _hold for sonoe jws^Hjs^gQa^

is serving on H.M.S. Euryalus, flagship on the Australian station. Schoolboy familiarity with great names may have bred the contempt that is revealed in the declaration that " the Roman General who invaded Britain was Jimmy Caesar." Complaining one day of the apathy at a- singing lesson, a teacher said : "Let us now sing 'Little drops of water,' and please put some spirit into it." To the. question, '" What great artist has just passed away? " asked at the time that Val Prinsep died, the unanimous response was "Dan. Leno." Last Trafalgar Commemoration Day the question was put, " What did Nelson do?" "Drove the French out of Trafalgar square," was the answer of one patriotic youth. There was an unconscious appoaiteness and humour about a reply to the following question: "Who was Henry "VIH?" "A great widower." At the Greytown S.II. Court a few days ago Mr W. P*. James, S.M., gave judgment in a case affecting a requisition gazetted on December 8 in reference to the closing 1 hours to he observed by the shopkeepers at Greytown (not being one of the districts mentioned in seotion 3 of " The Shops and Offices Act. 190*.") Tho town clerk— in. contravention of clause 21 of the act referred to — upon frs own responsibility issued the certificate that is required to be issued by the. local body. All the 'facts were admitted, and no evidence was called. Mr James held that under the circumstances the Gazettenotice was not in accordance wirh_ thS statute, and gave his decision accordingly. Mr R. W. Tate appeared for the Government in the case, and Mr H. S. Tzard for the defendant shopkeepji-3. It is probable that a fresh requisition will now be made in proper form. ■ A case of theft committed on the 30th i June of last year was detected by the i Wellington police in rather a peculiar way. r Chief Detective M'Grath and Detective \ Cassels were concealed in an hotel at Kaiwarra on the morning of that date waiting I for a man who was recently convicted of a serious offence, when another man, wear- . ing a new overcoat, came into the building: and tampered with a bottle of whisky. The j licensee hit him on the nose and" put him, into the roadway.. Shortly afterwards Hal'lenstein Brcs. reported the loss of an overcoat valued at £2 17s from their shop. The- | detectives, remembering the incident in thr* ■ hotel, went to Kaiwarra and soon discovered that a person had sold an overcoat there to a man for a few shillings. Several months afterwards Detective Cameron arrested a man named John M'Lean, who had been away from the city for some time, in connection with the affair. M'Lean wasv brought before Messrs J. R. Blair and F. Bradey, justices, identified as the man who hod sold the coat, and 1 sentenced to three months' imprisonment. It was shown, that he had a police record both in Wellington and in Australia.William Spencer, aged 23, whose parc-nts lived at Rutherglen, has been charged afc the Yarrawonga (Vie.) Police Com-t with feloniously attempting to cash a drafi fo? £100 belonging to John Gemmell. Mi' Gemmell had drawn a draft on the National Bank, Yarrawonga, and took it with him on a trip to New Zealand, where he losi his pocket-book containing it. Spencer, an engine-driver in New Zealand, said tha draft was obtained by a showman named Leroy in a gambling transaction, and aa ho (Spencer) had decided to come to Victoria to spend the Christmas with his parents at Rutherglen, they came aerosa together by steamer. Landing in Melbourne, Leroy attempted to cash the draff) there, according to Spencer, but failing to do so handod it jver to Spencer, telling him if he cached it in Yarrawonga he would! give him £30 and his fave. After spending Christmas with his parents in Rutherglen, Spencer rode across to Yarrawonga, and presented the draft at the National Bank. The manager, detecting an attempt at fraud, gave information to the police, and Spencer was arrested. He made a number of contradictory statements, but held to the story, of Leroy's connection with the transaction. Mr Gemmell, the owner of ihe draft, cabled to the manager of the bank here, stating that he had lost his pocket-book containing the draft. The bench fined accused £15, with £1 13s 4d costs.