NEW ZEALAND NEWS ITEMS

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 27

NEW ZEALAND NEWS ITEMS

AUCKLAND. For - having procured liquor during the Currency of a pxoSiibition order, Alfred Milieu was fined £5, in default 30 days' imprigonment. The secretary submitted a statement at Jbhe meeting of the Auckland Harbour JJoard this afternoon showing that the jrevemie for fiie year 19d7 was £92,986 13s JteL as compared with £82,557 Is 6d for jjjpj, showing en- increase for 1907~ of - SeS^S29 12s lOd, or over I 2£ per cent, inor«ese for the year, and more than double *vh*fc it was 10 years ago. . Speaking at a. meirs social given to turn at ;6Perslie'©n the" Bth Jthe Hon. J. A. JftHtiar, Minister of Labour, deprecated any* thiug in 'Che nature of a split in the" Liberal jparty, and tbjere appeared, he said, to be a yn«vement on foot in this direction. All the - gieat reforms "of the past had 1 been (effected by the amalgamation of the Liberal jand Labour 'parties, and he v-urgedv -urged that that should be continued. If they wanted- to preserve the solidarity of ihe party they •must ' not" quarrel .among themselves. Detectives on the. 7th paid a visit to the lodgings of "J." Pearce Baker (lately "carryfing on business as an auctioneer at Newanarket) for the purpose of arresting him on (three charges of obtaining money by means - (of valueless checjues.- " Baker's landlady de* pied that her, lodger "was at home, and re-. 'fused to admit the > detectives to her house. !l4ie latter, however, insisted on entering, 'and 'on a~6earch being made Baker was {found secreted, under a mattress in a bedroom- He was arrested. * The New Zealand and Australian Conference of "Seventh Day Adventists has opened at Cambridge. A large number of are present. 1 The Adventists recently" purchased a /large farm' property _ at IDambridge.and have, erected a training school and a health food factory. "The police. raided a. two-up school which . Jwas being conducted on the sanatorium grxyunds-at ETamo, and, took the names, of a irumber of men present ' Prosecutions will "follow. -'„-'■, , Owing to the -weather being unfavourable at- the Three Kings for prosecuting jthe further , search lor the Elingamite's sold, the steamer, Claymore is J sheltering »n 9*om Bowliiig's'Bay, awaiting a change. The reqord. tourist seaSbn -at Rotorua is stall responsible for heavy traffic to and • from Auckland. On t^e 13th the express carried 700 passengers for Rotorua and wayBide stations. The express- from Rotorua brought 350 / passengers. * *' POVERTY BAY. A. Master Butchers' Association baa been formed at Gisborne. " It "has been decided ' to* allow orilyrweekiy credit. iffaere Mateng.a,\- the Maori who evaded ."the police for some^yjearSj ' was , committed tqt .friial dnjtheVlOth on a charge of stealing a lady's watch at Mbtu. £ Bail was allowed. f TABANAKi. v Irfite to-night a man 1 named who -fcas^just' served «.. tenn"-iof imprisonment for false pretences, walked into Detective 3Boddam's office at the Police Station,, and, j)j?,actically without warning, threatened to "jmife" him. Boddam started up, and, Sifter a hard set-to, in which Stewart waa knocked out-" four times, "the detective succeeded in handcuffing him. There was no one about at tho time to assist. The man has an imaginary grievance against the - police. J -. HAWKE'S BAY. ( The Rev. J. Hobbs, Anglican vicar .of Hastings, who for 'some timp hae interested feimeelf in the social' welfare of youths cOn"neoted witir the racing-stables, has been given" £300 by stewards and others ■ in- " terested in^ racing., ' The * gift is to form the basis of a building fund fqr a olubroom ttor the youth of Hastings. .Mr Hobbs was that he, was doing more than the Gaming Act to purify sport. • . WELLINGTON". The Wellington City Corporation is calling for tenders for a crematorium. The •wovenr.eni; for a public crematorium was " initiated by Miss Stiroholme, - daughter of the late Mr John, Studholme. There has ! peen a good deal of delay owing to certain {difficulties encountered in securing working plans of the most approved .furnace. has now been overcome. . .Mr W. H. Hawkins', ex^M.P. for Pahiatua, has ' definitely decided to contest the Pahiatua seat at the next, general election. . sitting member is Mr "Ross. A novel contest, with Eeilding; as the finishing point, took place on the Bth. Tay%px, of "tvanganui, left that place on a bicycle. ;and , Lawrence, an old-time - runner.- of „ jMarton," left that place, each at 2 o'clock, jthe' latter being on foot. The match was for £10 aside and a £5 donation. --- Great interest was taken in the match, and 1 a :^arge number -of people awaited the arrival <jf the'spontestants. Taylor, who had come <U miles, arrived first, just on 5 o'clock, passed Lawrence one mile and a-hali Jfrom the winning post. - Lawrenoe's dis|arice -was 18 miles. Taylor lost 40 minutes In ,mending punctures. - John Malachy SBeridari ' was charged at jthe Police Court on the Bth with the murder of John M'Nally on the 3rd inst. Accused was remanded to Wednesday" next. Bai] jwas fixed at"£2so^ and two sureties of £15C |ea<ch. x Patrick- Brady 7 was committed for .trial -"on the Bth on' a' charge of robbery witJi .. .violence- The alleged , victim of the rob fcery {George Talbot) stated in evidence ihat be arrived from - Dunedin, and wa« drinking at different hotejsin;the city. The focused, be alleged, forcibly robbed him oJ &&. • " : - • JA. jreplica in bronze of the marble bust - of> the late Sir John Hall, executed bj jljlr , Nelson Illingwortij. for" die late statesinaiL's ,family, Jwis" b»en .purchased by the fGkJverninent. The bust will be placed in jbb© Parliamentary Library. -At the present *ime"*Mr Ulingwortji is engaged ' on busfe lot bis ,Grace .- Afohbishop., Redwood arijd "Ward, both. of wh^h.'will be executed jin 1 marble. , Sir Joseph WftTd will also giv« 'JB^r -HKngwprth sittings • when he returns ' debentures -lnentioned in the cable: Sis beingr put on the London market by the Corporation are :in poseessioE ' pi u» Electrical which accepted 't&ero, in. payment -for' its Wellington busi.Eifiss a£ the time" of the sale' to "the City, oi Wellington some months ago. There was -&p passing of money. The counoil si'aplj Sanded over £150,000 in debentures, upon .■which it will pay interest as agreed, and II" is the greater part of .these debenturei

that is now being floated by tho Electrical Syndicate. The Rev. J. A. Jacob and "the Rev. J. E. Holloway were on. the 13th inducted as vicar and assistant curate respectively of the p parish of Wanganui. The Bishop of Wellington officiated. Buildijig operations in Greater Wellinßto'n Tckirigjg the past year were very brisk. Of building permits 943 were issued, and ' the value pi the work authorised totalled £666,496 including 49 business pr«m«. 14 combined shops and dwellings and 65* ' "dwellings. ' -*• . westTcoast. , " The harbourmaster presented his annual report to the Grey Harbour Board for , the year ended December 31, 1907. During that period 743 steamers (oi 334,613 tons), 38 . sailing vessels (8428 tons), visitde the port. Tiiia shows an increase of 43,029 tons over 1906, and is easily a record.' The bar had \ been kept straight, and 1 in the channel the average depth of water was 21ft 10m. The Blackball Coal Company has order 3 on hand for 13,000 tons of its coal for Wel- , lington, while the demand from other parts is heavy, so that the mine and steamers will be kept busy, for some weeks. $ CANTERBURY. "Mr W . Lawson, auctioneer -at "Timaru for the ISTew Zealand Loan and ".Mercantile Agency Co. for the last eight orrlO years, ' died- on the -7th inst. of acute pneumonia i. after ,a' very short illness", aged' 38-. years. He conducted 'a wool sale on the 3rd," and acted as president of the, Caledonian sports on Tuesday -and Wednesday of the previous week, "and was taken ill on Saturday. He was a native of Oamaru. and joining the"- Loan and Mercantile Company there as junior, ; worked his way up. He wqs extremely popular among the farming community, and a popular and active member of the ; S.O.J.C. and the Caledonian Society. He leaves a widow and four young, children.' At the Ashburton Court on the 10th,, be- : fore, Mr V. G. Day, S.M., Andrew Young I was "charged, on the information of the [ police, with keeping liquor for sale^o wit, five cases of whisky. He was convicted and fined £20 and costs. '" The case against Albert Sims, remanded from last week on a charge of -assault on a young girl' on the Eairfield-Auhburton-road; was heard with closed doors. Accused was committed for trial at the | Supreme Court- at Timaru on February 4. On the 10th inst. a daring burglary took place at the of Mr T. Wallace, ' Aikman's road, St. Albans. The mmates II had been in the garden,. for a few minutes, and on returning found that the house had been ransacked and some money and a lot of valuable jewellery stolen. . , The Timaru Magistrate's Court returns 1 -show- that during -190.7 ;608. persons were ■ ■ charged 1 with various offences, "compared -with 52?\persbne' in 1906. The increase was ; -chiefly -in by-law cases., ? ** .. - ' NORTH \OTAGO. The ' charge ' against James Howard, licensee of the Georgetown Hotel, for/ eel- ) ling liquor to be taken into a no-ucense : area witnout giving statutory notice,- was s dismissed- ' ---,-• ' . , , - All the timber for fridges and viaducts ) onJhe We^tgort-Nine-niile Railway are now , to hand,, -besides a goo.d deal of the peri manent way> material. - The agijtation is being revived Tit Hokitika > for- the 6peedy comoletion of the Ross raall way, which has proceeded in a ?ery tardy s manner for the, last 12 months. •OTJTHLAOT). A fire at East Gore on the Bth partially r destroyed the premises owned and occupied by Mr F. Campbell, butcher. Insurances— £150 in the Victoria 6n/-the building, and [ £75 each in the Victoria and NortliJßritisb. on the contents. 1 The police returns show a considerable decrease jn crime in Southland during the - 18 months since the inauguration of prohibition, as compared with the previous 18 months. Cases of drunkenness decreased from "209 to 149, and in only- four of the cases was the liquor procured in the nolicense area. . - ' Commenting on the local police returns » for the year ISO 7, Inspector Mitehell says: '' "Tie public generally have, taken kindly f to the No-license movement, wilh the re1 suit that there is little or no evidence of 1 drunkenness in the streets of Invercargill. > This is a splendid testimonial for No1 license, which I think is here a crowning success."

that is now being floated by tho Electri-