AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 54

AUCKLAND.

j The Hon. T. Y. Duncan, Minister of i Lands, will visit the Selwyn Estate, I lately acquired for closer settlement. ■ It consists of 160,000 acres. It will be ready ! for selection in August. The Divorce Court granted decrees nisi in the following cases: — Sarah Jane Cole v. Walter H. S. Cole, desertion; Amy Sophia Smith "v. William Smith, desertion ; William Frederick Woohner v. Mary Margaret Woolmer, adultery ; Edward Sa-muel i Dent v. Margaret Dent and Jesse Showe (co-respondent), adultery ; Henry Webb v. Ann Webb and L. Freeman (co-respondent), adultery. Mr J. G. Woolley, prohibition orator, arrived on the sth. on the invitation of Mr Frank Isitt, his aim being expressed as no ' interference with general politics, but to help to bring about a square issue between , the Christian Church and the liquor traffic. • He says he has nothing to do with the man ] who takes his liquoT into his house, his I quarrel being with saloons on street corners, j which set temptation in men's way. Mr Willis, M.H.R., Wangauui, returned by the mail boat. In an' interview, he rei ferred' to the new process of making bric- > quettes of Taranaki ironsand by means or | special patented liquid, which completely solidifies them. A small company was being ! formed to take a couple of miles of the , beach. It is asking no subsidy from the Government. The recent heavy rains liberated thousands of Icaiu-i logs. Reports from the back : country state that most successful drives took 1 place, some of the largest for y&ars, wibh the- result that many thousand pounds' , worth of logs are now available. The niills ■ will be busy for a long time to come. Lately there has been a great revival in , the flax milling industry. The mills have .- beefli working night and day to cope with large American orders received. It is stated that several important contracts have • been entered into. ) The slips' on the Taihape line have been , sufficiently removed to allow trains to get . through. A number of men engaged on I tho big slip had a narrow escape They had been working in a narrow defile, and had left to have a meal. On returning they found that hundreds of tons of earth had come down, burying their belongings. , Had the men not left when they did, there ' would have been a serious accident to • chronicle, a-s a great portion of the hillside came down without warning. It is stated that the top of one of the largest tunnels is in danger 'through the^ possibility of i further slips, which may block the line for weeks. At the Divorce Court decrees nisi were ordered in the cases of John Bregman v. Lena Bregman (desertion), Sarah O'Connor v. Dennis O'Connor (desertion), "Bertha Wright ,y. John Wright (drunkenness and . failure to support), Lilian Fleming v. Alexander FJeming (desertion). j Mr Kettle, S.M., in the Police Court called attention to the large number of arrests of drunken persons after 10 p.m., • which indicated, he said, that inebriates had been turned out of publiohouses. He thought ( the police should visit the hotels and pre- ' vent publicans serving drunken men, be- ■ cause the number of arrests after '■closing time went to show excessive drinking was going on somewhere. Sub-inspector Black 1 stated that constables on their beats did not regularly visit hotels. < AUCKLAND, June 12. : A Poneonby constable who saw Ah Kin diligently, hoeing among the rhubarb in his garden near Curran street on a recent Sunday morning charged the Celestial in the Police Court before Mr Kettle, S.M., on Monday with a. breach of tb-e law, Ah Xiii having] worked at his calling on Slunday within publio view. Mr Kettle, having heard defendant's plea, of " Guilty," inflicted i a fine of 5s with costs, and gave j an explanation of the law. He said that tramcars, ferry boats, and hired vehicles could run on Sunday, but Chinese gardeners could not hoe their cabbage in view of people going to church. However, they could do so if it was not their calling. " But," added the magistrate for the benefit j of the sorely-puzzled Chinese, "it is very : wrong if they do it for money." "Keep a j good high hedge between you and the j road," . was the final piece of magisterial ! I advice.