NEW ZEALAND NEWS ITEMS

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 27

NEW ZEALAND NEWS ITEMS

AUCKLAND. | " r A. counterfeit coin was discovered \ amongst some change a city firm was send- ! ing to the bank. It was a spurious half- I sovereign, and • the resemblance to the genuine article was so perfect that it leads to the suspicion that some systematic passing is going on.- The counterfeit has fceen electroplated, and the die stamp has been' so good that an expert banker , *b whom " t»he v coin • was submitted, together with "half a dozen other genuine half-sovereigns, failed to detect the false coin. The- imitation is of an English Half-sovereign, and that- it was a counterfeit was only discovered when it was accidentally dropped. ' The City Sinking Fund Commissioners i are notifying -mortgagors -that the rate of interest is going to be raised owing to the higher price of money. Consequently^ notices have been- received by all bodies fcoldingjnortgages from the commissioners that they _ will henceforth . have to pay 5^ perT.-cent.. instead of 4£ per cent. , John' Marks, an Auckland resident, .claims to have solved the problem of the reversible- turbine,' and press "representatives "who were shown, a working model state -that -it appeared to demonstrate the %uth of the assertion-o'f steam being shut dff ' and he .engine * 6et ' in the opposite direction in a few seconds. I Efforts are to be made with a view to strengthening the membership of the various suburban branches of the National Defence League, and bringing the objects of the league before the electors prior to the general election. Suggestions have been made towards arranging a public ■demonstration in Auckland before election time and during the actual campaign. All candidates will he requested to answer the following question : — " Do you consider that the time has arrived for the adoption in New. Zealand of a system of ■universal training for defence of all boys and young men up to the age of 21 ? " The price of ,all standard brands ot butter has been reduced to Is 2|d per lb wholesa-e as from the 24th inst. On Friday night the Dominion Auction Mart, in Queen street, was visited by burglars, who escaped with a considerable sum in cash, besides cheques and. other papers^ HAWKE'S BAT. * A sitting of the Conciliation Board was held on Saturday to' consider the demands of the Hawke's Bay^JPisTiermen's Union. The members of the looard in. attendance ipere "Messrs F. Bedford -{who presided), H. Inniss, and A. -H. Cooper. Conferences were- held, but the- parties were unable to agree on the question of wages. Evidence as to wages was tendered by the union, but not by. the employers. The board" adjourned ■to sit in Wellington on tfednesday. WELLINGTON. The Osweetry , Grange, due from Liverpool about the beginning of next month, is bringing 57 nominated passengers, including eight domestic servants, seven farmers, and several farm- labourers. A mother and her two dai^ghters, who are domestics, have a declared capital of £1100. They are booked for Auckland. In order to assure that the ammunition to he used at the next Trentham rifle meeting shall be of a uniform character, Colonel Collins (executive officer New Zealand Rifle Association) has arranged with the Colonial Ammunition Company to manufacture a special order of 120,000 cartridges, made up in 'jackets of seven, eight, 10, and. 11 rounds. There was a drop of seven in the total of scarlet fever cases for last week compared with the previous week's lengthy list of 20. During last week (says the Post) the infectious diseases reported to the District Health Officer comprised scarlet fever (13 cases), diphtheria (4), tuberculosis (3), and blood-poisoning (3). The Lower Hutt had only two cases of scarlet fever, and otherwise the suburban districts had no fresh cases of infectious ailments. WEST COAST. The actual dimensions of the whale stranded at Okarito show it to have been of great size. Mr Stead and his assist 4nts have disembodied the skeleton, a task that- has occupied thrc-e weeks. The carcase is said to be 87ft long and 16ft high, measuring 21ft 6in across the fluke 6. The task of removal has been no light one, Mr Stead having liad the skeleton rafted down the lagoon, a distance of six miles. : At the Reefton Court, Haakon Haakonson (informant in the perjury charge against Connelly) was charged, on the information of the Collector of Customs, with unlawfully dealing with 451b of uncustomed tobacco on May 1. Counsel for the defendant asked for an adjournment until after the hearing of the perjury charge at the Hokitika Supreme Court on the 17th September Counsel for the prosecution asked that bail be fixed. Mr Rawson, S.M., adjourned the case till the Bth October, and ordered the defendant to enter into his own recognisance to appear. CANTERBURY. Early on the 20th instant a young man named Denis Bock was taken to the hospital suffering from several severe wounds on the head. It is stated that Bock had been boarding with some friends near the Addington . saleyards, and at about 0.30 a.m. crawled to the house and said that he had been assaulted an<l beaten on the head with a stick. He was in a dazed and faint condition, and was removed to the hospital. Bock eaid that he had been followed, from Tuam street by his assail- . ant, but had no clear recollection of what had happened. His head was considerably injured. Thomas William Bates, a joiner from the steamer Mamari, was ordered to pay £3, the value of four shawls smuggled ashore by him from the steamer, and also 12s duty. He isaid that

He paid only lOe for the shawls at Teneriffe. The Collector of Customs assessed their value ait £1 12s. When asked if he had any unaccustomed goods in his possession, Bates told the Customs officer | that he ihad only half a crown's worth of tobacco. ' The results of the year's work of th« Farmers' Co-operative Association show that the loss \>y the big fire was £2822. The profit for the year was £20,651, which added to the £3615 of assets brought forward, gives £24,267 for distribution this