OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2667, 26 April 1905, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

A Returned Troopers' Association has been formed on the West Coast.

The Roxburgh paper says:— "We believe there is a movement on foot to start an Edievale-Roxburgh Railway League in this town."

A report from TJngarie (N.S.W.) states that myriads of mice, are overrunning the country and doing an immense amount of damage. Two women, arrested on the Palmerston TS"orth Racecourse for betting with a bookmaker, were taken before the stewards and warned off the course.

It is understood that over 20 witnesses will be called in connection with the Ambsrley burglary case, which will be heard at Ambeiley on Thursday. The electric current from Mataura has been tried ovei the power line betwe-en Mataura and Gore. The trial was successful, and although a few minor defects w&re ascertained, which have been rectified.

The veteran actor, George Coppin, celebrated his eighty-sixth birthday at Melbourne on April 7. and received numerous messages of congratulation from all parts of the Commonwealth.

A private letter received in Palmerston North last week stated that the epidemic of dengue fever in Queensland was provingdisastrous to the various friendly societies. Many lodges were paying as much as £60 per fortnight in sick pay.

It is understood that Dr Roth has resigned the position of Protector of Aborigines in Western Australia. He has obtained two months" leave of •ab&ence. and it is stated that his duties will be taken over by the Police Department. Miss Margaret Dowling. the New Zealand young lady who married Prince Ghica. leader of the Independent Albania party, is the daughter of a former butcher of Hokotika. She has a sister in the' Wellington district who is married to a trainer and owner of racehorses.

At Father Hays's first lecture at Invercirgill the receipts amounted to £80, and at the second, when a collection was taken up among those who occupied the rear portion of the hull, and I.= was charged only for the reserved seats, £30. It is expected that the expenses will total £60. When dealing with- a- question under the Licensing Act at Christchurch on Tuesday, Mr Justice Denniston commented on the nature of the apt.- "As usual," he said, " and especially, in the case of a Licensing Act, there is not a clause which does not present some difficulty that the simplest rules of draughtsmanship might have avoided."

A largely-attended native marriage at, the Tahoraite pah, near Dannevirke, a few daya ago, was celebrated with no less than five elaborate wedding cakes. One, a handsome four-docker, was purchased by the bride, another (a three-decker) by the bridegroom, while the relatives on each side, presented one, the other being made to the order of the Tahoraite natives.

Mr R. H. Davenport told an audience of ratepayers at Wellington on Wednesday evening that he knew a. house in Welling Iton in which five families, including 36 children, were domiciled. That house- had no bath and only two taps. The people were quite respectable, but they had to live together in a, big house because they could not gee small ones. In enlarging on the importance of the bill passed last .session in regard to midu ives. Mr G. l.aurenson. M.H.R., stated that of 194-.000 persons born in the colony chmng the past 10 years 20,487 died within five years. That gave a death rate of a taut double the average of the colony, and showed how important it was that women who attended junthers should be properly qualified.

The Premier gave the Natives some sound advice in the course of his svieec-h at the opening of the Turakina Maori Girls' School. He warned them against the influence" of the tohungas, who, he said, were one of the greatest curses of the rac&, and frankly told the young men that they were too fond of horse racing and gambling taloons, urging them to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors and work.

The remains of one officer and nine men of the French war vessel Alliers ha^ been discovered on th& north shore of Queensland. The vessel came lo Cooktown m 1879; with smallpox on board. The sick

men were quarantined on shore, and on a number dying they were buried m unconfiecrated ground. Many efforts were made at the instance of the French Government to discover the graves, hut up to the present they had proved unsuccessful.

The Waihi Telegraph learns, on the authority of the secretary of the Waihi Miners" Union, that about 300 men are out of work at the present time in Waihi. This he attributes to the influx of ni&n from all parts who have come to Waihi in the hope of getting permanent employment. The unions both in Australia and New Zealand have been notified of the condition of the labour market at Waihi, but evidently without any good results.

A young girl, who had found parental control too exacting for her wayward tendency, was on Thursday brought before Mr Riddell. S.M., at Invercargill, charged with having stolen, near Orepuki, one greenstone chain, two pieces of greenstone, a pocket-book, a silver brooch, and a pair of boots. As accused was only arrested the previous day. Sergeant Bowden, who appeared for the prosecution, asked for a remand, which was granted, to April 26. Her parents reside in Dunedin.

A commercial traveller, whose business takes him all over tho Australasian colonies, informs the- Timaru Herald tfiat at present Now Zealand )s ahead of all the rest of the colonies for trade. Business is especially slack in Sydney, where the warehoxises are crammed up with stocks laid in jxist before the inaucrviration of the Commonwealth, when Sydney was a free port, in order to escape the Federal protective tariff. These stocks have not been unloaded yet, and in the meantime the warehousemen have boen paying interest on them.

An outcrop of coal has been discovered about thre«i miles north-east of Waimate North, in the Bay of Islands County. The coal was found by a. lad when fossicking up a deep, small gully, near the Waitangi River. The quality of the coal, so far as specimens can be obtained, appears to be very good, and of a strong bituminous character. The- option for prospecting has been acquired in Auckland. The sice of the outcrop i/s outside the limits of the large area now under offer to an English syndicate.

Preaching at the New Brighton Anglican Church on Sunday evening, the vicar, the R«v. F. R. Inwood, urged the adoption of the simpler life, now being so largely discussed in England and America. He pointed out that luxury, was confined to no particular class, and where people exercised self-denial, in however small a degree, they helped to strengthen their characters and their wills, and made themselves better able to withstand the influences of evil by which we are constantly assailed. No more appropriate period than that they were entering upon — viz., Holy Week — could be chosen for the commencement of that simpler life he advocated.

In the Bankruptcy Court. Sydney, on the 11th inst.. before the Registrar. Douglas Ronald AVaddel, grazier, of Singleton, was presented for examination under section 30. .-•.is liabilities had been filed ai £7818 and his assets at £4-78. At a previous examination he stated that big 1 financial losses had occasioned his bankruptcy, which was compulsory, but he had given his word of Honour not to reveal their nature. In reply to the official assignee, he sa-id his bankruptcy was partly due to a fall in stock and to big financial losses. Replying to the Registrar, he said he would give information if it were in his power to do so, but in honour bound he could not. As he refused to answer a question as to what caused his bankruptcy. Waddel was committed to Darlinghuvst Gaol, there to remain until he answered the question.

A Canadian contemporary maintains that the giving of present^ to assistants who leave or got married U often a cause of ( rouble, especially in large establishments. Ji amounts in *onie cases to blackmailing, the open stib'r-riplion list inducing 1 employees to give more than they uish or ought to give. What is claimed to be a more satisfactory method has been hit upon by the manager of a large Toronto concern. By examining a liet got up among hi-- hand^ he found lhat some of them had given more than, in his opinion, they could affoid to give. Ho therefore det-ermined to change tlve s-y-tem. a»id had a box made fui u~e when, any subscriptions were taken

vp among his employes Into this box tho omplujte chops his donation without any of the others knowing how much or how litilo lid lias gi\eu. The result in the case, oiled was that tho aggregate of the contributions il<-cr-eased, but the mana-gor is pnU^ficcJ that mlic:i occasion demands it the lanoue employees give ub much as they can afford.