OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2677, 5 July 1905, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

The North Otago Times understands that an oil launch of 20 tons will shortly be engaged in the fishing- business at Oamaru. It is rumoured (says the Bruoo Herald) that the Milton Presbyterian Church Choir intends going in for the competition in Dunedin this year.

A -constable giving evidence in a case of vagrancy at the Christchurch Magistrate's Court on Friday declared that ail the work he had seen accused do was to carry a bottle of beer.

Formal notice is contained in last week's Gazette of the revocation of the regulations requiring all manufacturers of patent medicines to deposit their formulae with the Health Department.

Tho Englith mail via Marseilles, which left Melbourne on May 26, arrived in London on the 28th inst. The Ventura left San Fransico with the English mail on the 26th inst. at 2 p.m.

The electric fittings of the new Grand Hotel at Rotorua ore to be carried out on a system not heretofore existing in the colony, the whole of the wires being enclosed in steel tubing.

" When I took the coat I was intoxicated," 1 said a prisoner at the Magistrate's Court, Wellington, last Friday. " You won't be intoxicated again for six months," was the magistrate's reply.

The Leader of the Opposition informed a representative of the New Zealand Herald last week that he intends to deliver an address at Napier, in reply to Mr Seddon's speech, at an early date.

There are about 200 men engaged on the railway works near Scargill (North Canterbury), and 20 more will be added. The work is now about two miles and a quarter on the north side of the Hurunui.

It is understood that there are several cases pending in Christchuroh in which persons are to be charged with having witnessed signatures to claims for enrolment before the signatures were written on the claims. In an address delivered at Stratford last •week, Mr W. H. Hawkins, M.H.R., said he would not be surprised if 15 or 20 electorates carried no-license this year. They were, he said, going to carry it in Pahiatua. The Aotea, which arrived at Wellington from London, via Capetown and Hobart, on Monday, brought a contingent Df over 100 third class passengers. The callings of these immigrants rang© from pork butcher to lawyer.

It is said 1 thai at a wedding in a Milton church on Wednesday a blushing bride absolutely refused, wifoen the formula "to We, honour, and obey" was to, be repeated, to bind herself to tho possibilities attached to th© last mentioned duty. — Mirror. Tlie Polioe Provident Fund Act regulations have been amended so as fco provide that the Pub'io Trustee may invest the moneys in the fund in any of the securities authorised by section 31 of "The Public Trust Office Consolidation Act, 1894." For brutal cruelty to a horse Patrick Shields was fined at the Auckland Police Court £10 and costs (£2 10s). The magistrate said he was almost persuaded to send him to prison without the option of a fine far the maximum term of two months.

There are a considerable number of unemployed men in the Westport district «t the present time. Several new arrivals from Australia have been compelled to apply to tho borough authorities for sufficient employment to enable them to earn food and lodging, Mv Barber stated at IJrooklyrr'on Monday evening tha/, a, Kilbirme girl who was in thei Oa.mbridg'e Sanatorium, and had reoeived great bemefifc from the treatment!, had raised a subscription and collected £W0 with which to erect another shelter at the sanatorium.

Aa action of some considerable importance is pending 1 between the Government and one of the largest landholders m the vicinity or Wellington concerning depredations alleged to have been made in a Government forest reserve iiear Wellington by cutting down and utilising timber. A. j»yttelton Times reporter was informed OH Monday that eight years ago ' not a single American drill was imported into New Zealand, and the nymber of American drills imported for the use of New Zealand at the present time made ft difference to the colony's workers of £10,000 a year. The first doctor's degree conferred on i woman by tli« University of Marburg has fegsisi secured bj, £ Jiggoeso, Misa Tada

Urata, of Kumamoto. Miss TJrata for her d-egree wrote an exceedingly erudite thesis, which received the highest encomiums from the medical faculty of the university. Telephonic communication between Picton and Seddon is (the MarJborough Press says) carried on with considerable difficulty now. owing to the noise made by the running of the Christchurch electric trams. Their peculiar whirr can be heard quite clearly on the wire every few seoonds, even at this distance.

The engineering surveys of the Clarence and Ooihi Rivers, with a view to ascertaining tlipir capabilities in regard to waterpower schemes, are still in hand. The data collected , up lo th-e present is net sufficient to base estimates upon, but it is thought that an interim report on the subject will be submitted to Parliament this cession.

The amount of money collected by Drs Valintine and Newman for the purpose of providing treatment for indigent consumptives in Wellington and Otaki has now reached £2300 in the bank, and another £100 is expected to come to hand within a few days. The fund is also to be considerably augmented, it is expected, by means of a bazaar.

Mr Herdman considers it to b© the inalienable right of every man in a British community to work as long as he Jikes, and to keep his shop open all night* long if ho wants to. But he admitted to his audience at Christchurch on Monday night that he "would not oppose legislation allowing an employee to get away at 6 o'clock if he desires to do so."

During a pre-scssional speech by Mr Lawry, in Auckland, a father of 13 children wanted him to cecure for such preference over non-parents in the old-age pensions. Mr La-wxy retorted that he had no sympathy for the man who had 13 children, for they wore- a comfort. He did not believe in a " tax on bachelors " because the lonely state- of the bachelor was its own punishment.

Mr Allan M'lntosh, general manager ot the Allandale Coal Company has (says the Palniorston Times) forwarded a truck of coal to the Mayor of Palmerston for distribution amongst the poor of the town. Tho gift has been gratefully accepted, and as the Mayor has undertaken to deliver the coal at his own expense the recipients will have the fuel landed at their doors free of all cost.

An engine driver named Robert Dodd was battered to death at the Mount Lyell Chemical Works, Farrayille (Vie), on June 20. Tho sleeves of his jacket caught in a screw on the shafting, and he was whirled round and round till the machinery was stopped. One arm was torn off at the shoulder, ar>d the other .ami, neok, shoulder, and both legs broken. His skull was aJso fractured. Deoeaeed leaves a widow with 10 children.

The Blenheim newspapers are already discussing what name shall be given to the embryo settlement on the Flnxbourne Estate. It is suggested that the locality retain its name of Uaxbourne. but that the town to be erected be oalled Clifford, after the founder of the <?3tate, Sir Charles Clifford (first Speaker of the Now Zealand House of Representatives), who negotiated with Te Rauparaha to acquire from him the property.

When an arson ease was called on for hearing at the Christchurch Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, Mr Dougall, who appeared for one of the parties, stated that he noticed a lady shorthand-writer present ready to take notes, and he would like to know for whom she was taking notes. The Magistrate replied that he oould not object to a person taking notes if he wanted to. He had never heard the point raised before. H© did not see that there could be any objection.

On the question of roading Crown lands for settlements, Mr M'Cutchan, a member of the tands Commission, has expressed an opinion that th© practice of allowing local bodies " thirds " and " fourths," to be expended on roads running through Government settlements, was " all humbug." The Government had need to make the roads, and it would be hptter for it to do its duty and defray costs directly out of revenue, instead of pursuing the present "thirds" and "fourths" system.

A very great hardship ha? boon inflicted Oil a- poor widow, Lucy Minahan, of Collingwood (Victoria). She became surety for a man who absconded from his bail. In 6*efauii *>f ilia lament os $50, the amogafc

of a bond, the widow's furniture was -oizedl and sold at what could be described as "an awful sacrifice," but a,= only £2 9s 6d was realised by forced sale the unfortunate woman was sent to gaol for a month. She has three young children dependent upon her, and an effort is to be made to secure her release.

Tho extent to which a great section of the Maoris have come under the influence of the drink habit was illustrated at the Native Trust Commis-ion last week, when it was stated that meetings could not be held at a particular snot because numbers of the Natives seized the opportunity to get gloriously drunk. In other places it was only less bad by comparison. "Is it a difference in the quality of the drink?" suggested a commissioner. No one could say. " Perhaps it's the water,"' suggested another commissioner.

There is some feeling at Bluff aeain't the Awarua Licensing Committee. It appears (says the Southland Times.) that when the U.S.S. Company la?i applied for a renewal of its packet license it was only granted on the casting vote of the chairman. The company was in the habit of retaining licenses at the various ports, so as to distribute the fees, but in view of its narrow escape last year it decided not to trust itself to the tender mercies of the Awarua Committee, the Bluff Borough Council losing the £20 fee. The Brit"sh South Africa Company has received from Rhodesia a consignment ofTurkish tobacco which was grown near Bula\yaj-o this season. "It has a characteristic Turkish ' aroma, and the cigarette, vrhich were made in Bulawayo, have a delicate fragrance and are exceedingly pleasant to smoke, although the tobacco from which they were - made, so far from havingmatured, was actually growing only a few weeks ago. Fifty acres were planted ai; Bulawayo with this high-class tobacco, and Capetown firms are bidding for the whola crop. Since the samples have been on exhibition in the Museum, at 2 London Wai! Buildings, they have been examined, tested, and most favourably commented upon by tobacco experts."

The anti-gambling campaign by the Melbourne police recently resulted in the serving of 115 'ummonses. On June 14, at Carlton Court, three local shopkeepers were each fined £20 and £10 10s costs for allowing betting on their premises. The city gambling clubs, however, have completely nonplu&s-ed the police by registering as linated liability companies, and issuing to each member, not a member's ticket, but scrip for one share in the company. The police find that the existing laws for the suppression of gambling do not apply to the premises of limited liability companies, where business is carried on only by shareholders. The number of tote shops in tho city is rapidly increasing.

An account of the Sias;ara tribe, tha members of which livo in houses on rafts moored to the banks of an inland lake in New Guinea, is given in the Administrator's annual report just issued. From information gathered on the spot it appears that this tribe was driven to this style of living by reason of frequent and murde-rous attacks made upon them by other and st v onger tribes, and the cliipf informed the latp Actina;- Admin ietrator. Mr Christopher Robinson, that the tribe had taken to this ready refuge when he was a boy, not more than about 40 real's ago. Among other curious tribes there is one that dwells in the marshes, and ttaav are said to have webbed feet, but little information has beon pram-ed r-pspectine th-em sine© their discovery by Sir Francis Winter a few years ago.

By the steamer Arawatta, which reached Sydney from Brisbane on June 19, arrived one of the most daring criminals who have been consigned to the care of the French po'ice authorities at Noumea. Marty a'Batix by name, he enjoys the distinction of having successfully out-generalled his keepers, and escaped no fewer than 17 times. Marty a'Baux first got into trouble in 1871 on a charge of theft, for which he received a sentence of six months; but in 1883 he received a 10 years' sentence, and escaped! while awaiting transportation. The recapture brought with it an additional 12 months' imprisonment, but once_ more Tia slipped through the fingers of his captors. In 18E5 he received yet another five years for esoaping, and the following year six more. The climax in the way of sente-ncea was reached in 1888, when he was awarded 40 years for. .escaping under aggravated! circumstances. Fo/ four years afterwards he was onr> of the most obedient of convicts, xmtil one day his sudden disappearance was once more announced. His sentences in all amount to 72 years. A shocking state of affairs in the case o£ two poverty-stricken old people was revealed to the Buninyongf (Victoria) police recently. An old man, Timothy Cullinan, reported* that his sister. Bridget Cullinan, died onl ihe 9th inst. When asked why he did nofc l report the death before. Callinan said h«' had had no time. Constable Kelly T>ro-ceed-ed to Cullinan's place at Green Hills, two miles out, and found that it consisted! only of a -hut of one room. Cullinau andl his sister slept on the floor, one in a corner and the other in front of the fireplace". Bag 9 were their only covering, and the! floor was bare. The body of the woman wag covered with bags The place was in a 2 filthy condition, and the stench was almosff unbearable. Constable Kelly asked Cul--linan to remove the bags from the bodr.. He did so. and, catching hold of the hands of the corpse, sat it up. saying, "Trwd you are ; she's as freftb as the day she died. Cullinan appeared to be quite unconcerned) at the death of his sister, and when the constable arrived the old man was having his tea with the body lying at his feet. Cul* linan is 70 years of age, and his sister vral 85 years. _