TRADES AND LABOUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2667, 26 April 1905, Page 46

TRADES AND LABOUR.

PARIS, April 18.

Serious strike disturbance? occuried at Limoges. The porcelain factory was wrecked, and the prison attacked to secure the release of the ringleaders. The barricades erected were surmounted, and red-and-black flag.s hoisted. The cavalry in charging stumbled over wire entanglements, and many were thrown. The troops, repeatedly charging, were mot with a hail of stones. The sound of revolver shots exasperated the soldiers, some of whom filed without orders. Two rioters were killed. Thiily have been ai rested. ROME, April 18.

The Jtulian railway strike is due to the

State Management of Railways Bill. The men complain that the right of striking is curtailed.

A point arising out of '"The Contractors and "Workmen's Lier> Act, 1£92,"' and of some importance xo contractors and others, was decided in Chambers by hid Honor Mr Justice Williams on Friday. The facts were that in July, 1904, tho Commercial Property and Finance Company (Limited) made an advance to Mr R. Waghorn (since bankrupt) on tho security of an agreement to mortgage certain leasehold r r °P<?rty, tne title to which was under the Land Transfer Act. Xo moi-tgage was ever given, but in February last the company lodged a caveat in ths Land Transfer Office forbidding the registration of any dealing with the land. In January last Mr Waghorn entered into a contract with Messrs A. and T. Burt for certain plumbing work on the buildings on the land, and on th 3 3rd of this month, after completion of the work, Messrs Burt lodged a contractors' claim for lien for registration ogainst the land. The District Land Registrar declined to register the lien on account of the existence cf the caveat, and issued the usual notice to the Commercial Company to support its claim. The company accordingly took out a summons to continue the caveat, which rame on for hearing on Friday, the question being whether, considering the provisions of the Contractors and Workmen's Lien Act, the agreement to mortgage or the lien had priority against the land. Mr Woodhouse appeared for the Commercial Company, Mr Fraser for the official assignee, and Mr W. C MacGregor (instructed by Messrs F. Z. and W. L. Moore) for Messrs A. and T. Burt, and after considerable argument his Honor gave judgment in favour of the agreement, upon the grounds that as the interest of the company under the agreement to mortgage arose before the date of the plumbing contract the company was not an employer of Messrs Burfc within the meaning of the act, and, further, that tne only interest of Mr Waghorn, the actual employer, which eouM be changed by the lien was the interest he had at the date of the plumbing contract, which was an interest subject to the agreement to mortgage. Tho caveat was therefore ordered to continue on the register.

Kahaihi, aboxit 13 miles beyond Taumarunxii, has sent a pathetic appeal to the Health Department. There are 15 expectant mothers in the district, and they are in distress because there is no doctor at hand and no qualified midwife, while the expense of coming to Auckland and entering a malernHy institution is entirely beyond their restricted means. 'An appeal has been made, therefore, to the Health Department for medical assistance m the circumstances, and also for the despatch of a skilled woman, who is not afraid to rough it as ihese hardy pioneers arc roughing it, and does not object to dwell in a tent. The appeal (says the New Zealand Herald) throws a ray of light upon the courage and enterprise of the people who face the isolation of the bush.

When the Waikare arrived at Bluff on Tuesday, 11th inst., the passengers would have been ir.uch more expeditiously landed but for the refusal of a lady and gentleman to dress and present the-rnsolves for the health officer's examination. The g-entleman was very blustering about the matter, and wanted to know " what the devil the doctor meant by getting- him out <_f bed in the middle of the night." However, the health officer was quite equal to all this bluster, and instmcted the polios to take his and the lady's name, possibly with a view of prosecuting them for obstructing him in his duties. It is high" time (says the Southland Times) that a step was taken, in this direction, as tho health officer is frequently hindered in this matter, and, as in this case, people anxious to reach their homes in the north by catching 'the special train put on to connect with the parly express from Invercargill are not infrequently prevented from doing so by the little fits of temper of one or two fellow passengers.

On Friday la<-i. at 5 p.m., L>udlou \s Farmers' Arms Hotel at Balclutha was raided by Constables Matthews, Hunt, and Mackenzie. The efficers made an exhaustive search, but failed to find anything other than temperance drinks. Leo Sun, recently convicted of selling a pak-a-poo ticket, and whos? conviction was confirmed by Mr Justice Williams on Friday last, was on Saturday committed to prison for three month', in default of having paid the penally of £100 . The Rev. 3. "W. Burton. Methodist missionary of Fiji, in addressing the missionary gathering at the GarrUon Hall on Sunday afternoon, announced that a \crj- hand-soin-o gift had just been given to missionary work. T.he gift is a three-masted cehoonerrigged yacht, 103 tons, Al at Lloyd's, 100 ft long, boom 22fi . fitted with L-ige saloon, | 31 berths, bathrooms, and splendid cock"s , galley. It is given anonymc-vsly by a ! Christian gentleman in Christchurch for the uso of the Methodist Missionary Society's work in the South Sea I^land^. The original co<-t of the yacht was £11.000.

Preliminaries for tho geological survey of New Zealand undertaken by the Mine« Department aro now complete. As previously announced, Westland is to be the first district dealt « ith, and the work will proceed forthwith. Mr C E. Adams, who for some years -past has filled the office of computer in the Lands and Survey Department, has be=\n transferred to the Mines Department's geological staff, with orders to join Dr Bell as a&siatant in the survey work in Westland. Mr Adams is> a brother of Mr Arthur Adams, the well-known iiteratfiux, a^A^^rx a] £.UZ tA eLu*«u , {