OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, 1 June 1910, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

It was mentioned in the Westport Court the other day that there are fully 60 prohibition orders in force in that district. According to statistics prepared by the Chinese Government, the population of the country is only 165,000,000, . and not 400,000,000, which was the previous estimate.

The Temperance party, which last month purchased the rights for the publican's booth at the Lower Clarence (N..5.W.) agricultural show for £4l, netted £SO profit for the two days' show. There is every prospect of a choir contest being held in connection with the forthcoming competitions in Invercargiill (says the News), six musical bodies having intimated that they will take part.

Sir Ernest Shackleton and Captain Scott have written to the National Canine Defence League stating that dogs used' on their expeditions will be treated very kindly and receive every care and attention.

One of the new Cla.ndeboye settlers has taken time by the forelock in the matter of building on his allotment. He has purchased a house, ready built, in Tirnaru, and intends to remove it to his holding by traction engine. A new industry, that of the manufacture of glass, is* to be established in Canada. The present imports of window glass alone exceed 25,000,000 square feet annually. There are immense deposits of limestone a.nd silica in Ontario.

The graves of the unclaimed victims of the Penguin wreck who were buried at Karon Cemetery have been concreted, and each furnished with a marble tablet and air ornamental stone, out of the funds collected for the purpose. As a means' of eradicating Californian thistle, Mt H. -W. Horton, of Blenheim, suggests that lucerne should be planted in thistle-infested land. The cutting of the luoerne at regular intervals would, Mr Horton says, destroy the thistle.

The German military authorit.ies iare carrying out trials in Silesia with a quickfiring gun capable of firing 480 shots a minute with an extreme range of 2000 yards. The precision of the new weapon is said to be extremely effective.

It is understood that, as the result of a visit by Ranger Friend to Rivertora Beach, informations against members of a. fishin.sr party for taking undersized flounders will be heard before the magistrate in the course of a day or two.

The restored Auld Brig of Ayr, made famous by Burns, is to be thrown open to the public this summer. Owing to the careful work of renovation, which will have cost. £II,OOO, tho old-fashioned appearance of the bridge lias not been marred. Nothing will shake the Maori belief that Halley's comet foreshadowed the death of King Edward VII, and many Maoris are in earnest when they say: "Look out for a great wa.r, a war that will drag in the whole world, for the very heavens tell us

Accounts for maintenance at the Wellington Hospital totalling £622 10s lOd were written off by the board on Wednesday. It was stated that some of the ac-, counts had been outstanding for four years' or more, and it was hopeless to expect payment now.

The Stock Department is now preparing rjhosphor.is.ed oats at the Masterton depot in preparation for the winter poisoning of rabbits. It is claimed for the phosphorised oats that they are not affected by the wet weather to nearly the extent that the pollard is. Out of 15.000 ratepayers in Hastings (England) 1500 were summoned for nonpayment of rates. The court and adiacent street were crowded for over four hours. Almost all the defendants pleaded poverty ia.nd unemployment, and a month was given for payment.

Four nurses at the Wellina-ton Hospital are at present ill with scarlet fever. In announcino' this fact at, the meetinnr of the Hospital Board on Wednesday, Mr R. C. Kirk said that their illness wv>.s due to rfoo barn-lik* 1 . structure that did duty as an diseases hospital. Midnight nrowV'S and burn-tars will be srliad to so-* the tail end of Halley's comet. sa**« th" Temuka Leader. A few davs nfo a Get-aldine resident rose early -to se« the comet, and to his siimrise saw a bour slinking o"f of his backvard with a suTir-bn.9- full of ™al on his back.

Owimr to a combination of oircuTnsta.n/>pR, the nxtremely ba'< setting: of the fruit first, and tb"n the caused V>v the March rains, it is certain there will he a serious ehortarre in the wine produced in South Australia as the- result of the operations of the season which has just ended. An English oommetrcm] man of wide experience s-ives Auckland the nalm as being the liveliest town commerciall-v in New Zealand. While there seemed to be a marked distrust of the future in Wellington and the southern towns, the tone in Auckland he found to be all the other way. "I believe that the Ohristchurch magistrates are unbiassed and without fear," said Mr Ir. M. Tkitt at Opawa on Monday, Mot 23; "but in some of the no-Hcense districts in New Zeala.nd there are stipendiaries that are a disgrace to the bench. They hamrjer the efforts of the police."

The Herald records the death of a I Wanganui boy (Alex. Stemp), who distin- ' guished himself by smartness and good conduct on the Amokura He afterwards joined the Rippingham Grange, and met his death at Gladstone, Queensland, by being knocked off the jetty into the water by a moving truck. "Conscience money" has at last come the way of the Christchurch Tramway Board. ' At last week's meeting a postal note for two shillings, pinned to a sheet of white paper, was received. The only explanation of this donation was the word "Restitution," written in faint lead pencil on the sheet of paper. The Mayor of Christchurch sadly remarked in reply to a question in the council as to whether the City Council received any rates from the Chrisbohureh Gas Company for the use of the streets for its pipes that the company had been in existence before the City Council, and had a statutory right te- open the streets and lay pipes. A theatre company which is touring in Dalmatia, fearing that the title " Hamlet " would not attract a large audience, altered it to "How the Stepfather was Paid Out." A number of offers of marriage have been received by a constable named Deniham, who rescued a woidd-be suicide from the Thames at Surbiton, at midnight, recently. A conference of New Zealand chemists will be held in Wellington, on June 8, when representatives from all parts of New Zealand will be present. The following; subjects will come under discussion: —(l) Sale of Poisons Act, (2) Pharmacy Bill, (3) Chemists' Defence Fund, (4) Australasian Formulary, (5) Ooium Act, (6) general matter. A North Island settler, in returning thanks at a farewell function the other night, stated that he was particularly sorry to leave the district, where he had made so- many real friends, who were equally willing to help him if he had a cow that required pulling out of a creek or a fat turkey for Sunday dinner that required eating. . It is probable that a few families who lost their breadwinner in the Penguin wreck will require relief (says the Pest) for some time to come. For this purpose the Penguin Wreck Committee has a sum of £ISOO at interest. There are still a few cases receiving assistance., and in this connection letters are being received from England. The latest self-denial week has brought £69,000 to the coffers of the Salvation Army—a rather less amount that that raised last year. But General Booth appears to be satisfied. In a message to the Army he says:—"Comrades and friends, I send you my blessing. Once more you have satisfied me that you are made of the fight stuff." " They talk a good deal about liquor in Asihbirrtorr." said Mr L. M. Isitt at a meeting at Opawa on Monday, May 23 (reports the Lytteltom Times). " but a man who had kept a hotel in Ashburton told me that less liquor was sold now in the whole of Ashbxirtom in a week than he used to sell across his bar in the course of an' afternoon." Fia.lley's comet threw the natives of New Guinea into panic. On arrival at Brisbane the officers of G.M.S. Coblenz stated that the appearance of Halley's comet had caused intense excitement amongst the natives of New Gninpa. They regarded the visitor as an aerial demor come to destroy the world, and were performing many weird dances to drive it away. The danger of the huae hatpin, which is now fashionable, is illustrated by the case of a woman admitted to the infirmary in Antrim. She was riding in a railwaycarriage when the woman sitting behind her turned her head' suddenly. The hatpin which she was wearing pierced the eyeball of the unfortunate woman, totally destroying the sight of the eye. Stoats and .weasels greatly hampered the operations of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society last yea-T, According to the annual report, it is beyond doubt that the presence of these pests _ in the district greatly handicaps the society in its efforts to establish ground game of any kind. The Calilornian oaaii appear to hold their own fairly well against them, but not so pheasants. Dt Henry, in a communication to Mr H. N. Holmes, his Wellington representative, speaks of the " wonderful success" of the Auckland mission. Hundreds were turned away nightly. The business men's meetings at noon were attended by £OO men daily, "and 600 people were at the afternoon Bible study. Dr Henry preached at Onehunga on Sunday week, and there were 40 confessions. While skinning a rabbit at Grove Bush last month a schoolboy named Thomas Cringle met with a painful accident. His penknife cut through with unusual quickness, with the result (reports the Southland News) that his arm shot upwards, and the knife entered his right eye, narrowly missing the pupil. Cringle was taken_ to the hospital, where hopes are entertained of saving his sight... .... The open launch in which several members of the Waikare salvage party made their hazardous iourney from Dusky Round

to Preservation Inlet is now lying on Bluff beach. That the craft is deemed too impound even tor work in Bluff Harbour is evidence of the chances the party took in making the Dusky-Preservation dash. The boat has had her engine taken out, and is a derelict. The custom of pelting a married couple with rice and confetti was very much im evidence at the Stud hoi me railway station on Wednesday afternoon (says the Timaru Herald), prior to the arrival of one of the express trains. Soon the platform, presented an appearance suggesting a hailstrewn roof, and when the friends had; grown tired of the game they commenced 1 on each other with great relish.

W. Jarrad, an employee at Mingbool Station, Mount Gambier, met with an unusual accident recently. He was riding a horse, w,hen the animal put its foot in a rabbit burrow, throwing the rider heavily. In addition, Jarrad's hand came in contact with a butcher's knife which he was carrying in bis top pocket. The knife caused severe wounds. Jarrad will be inj capacitated for a lengthy period. A somewhat amusing complication arose the other day between an importer of books, etc., and the' Lyttelton Customsauthorities. The former imported a large quantity of religious tracts, and was informed he must pay a duty of 3d per lb on them, as '-'advertising matter." In reply (says the Press), the importer asked to be informed whose and what goods he was advertising. He has not up to tho present received any answer to his inquiry. A competitor at the C'hristchurch Competitions on Thursday, May 19, added a distinctly original but unavailing touch to the competition for the story without words. He brought (says the Lyttelton Times) a very live and very vigorous baby on the stage, and though its primary elocutionary effort could not by any stretch of j the imagination have been included in the comprehensive term " words," it made itself heard, to the keen joy of the audience and the disconcerting of its patron. It is not more than three years since; the Otekaike estate was out up for closer occupation, and since the settlers entered! : into possession of their holdings (says the I Oamaru Mail) the settlement has advanced! ' rapidly. The farmers are now busy sow--1 ing their winter wheat, but as ri;-j ground : is very dry it is not anticipated that "it 'will germinate unless timely rain interj venes. The pupils at the Otekaike School now number 35 —a fact that is particularly) gratifying to the parents on the settlement. j A man who apparently had no desire to secure assistance from a member of tho legal profession appeared at the Christchurch Supreme Court on Monday. May 23, and appealed to Mr Justice Sim for advice as to what he should do in a case i that had gone against him in the court. I His Honor observed that he could riot ! advise the man, and asked whether he had | been represented by counsel at the hearing. ' The litigant said he had not been represented, and his Honor then advised him to consult a solicitor on the matter.

It is a regrettable fact (the Press observes) that in some districts in Canterbury, and in many in New Zealand, native birds are decreasing- perceptibly. At the meeting of the council of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society on Wednesday it was mentioned that at Piraki, on Banks Peninsula, bell-birds and tuis, which were fairly numerous five years bad almost disappeared from the bush there. The wholesale slaughter was attributed to stoats, which, though not plentiful, were very, much in evidence. ■

A member of the Waikare salvage party remarked to a Southland News reporter o« the enormous number of hawks in and around Dusky. One day whilst on a trip in a launch between Luncheon Cove and South Head those on board counted some 73 hawks. What they live on it is hard to say, but it appears probable that the numerous pigeons, kaka-s, and wekas which abound there must suffer. There are also a large number of grey ducks and piebald swans there also, in addition to a few paradise ducks, which are to be seen in Facile Harbour.

A deputation of ladies organised by the National Council of Women waited! on the Queensland Premier recently and asked for legislation to provide that all children of immature years should be at their homes before certain hours of the evening, or, in other words, the establishment of the curfew principle in its relation to boys and! girls. Mr Kidston, in the course of his reply, said that they might, by the restriction of personal liberty, bring about a reaction that would be much more hurtful to society in the end-. It was natural in a climate like that of Australia that young people should wish to be out of doors at night. He would endeavour to collect information on the subject, andl would lay the matter before the Cabinet before the opening of Parliament, to see whether they could take any action at all, or the particular action that the deputation had suggested.