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Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 11

Constables Harvey (Balclutha), Martin (Kaitclfrigata), and Fox (Milton) raided the premises in Balclutha known as the Railway Bearding House on Friday afternoon, in search of liquor. Several persons were found on the premises, and their names were taken. Fourteen bottles of whisky were also found; but these were claimed by two of the boarders.

At the last meeting of the Bruce County Council it was decided to ■ increase the surfacemen’s wages from 8s to 9s per day. A similar increase is being considered by the Milton Borough Council, which at present pays its two daymen 7s 6d and 8s respectively. Our Milton correspondent writes that it is understood that the centralisation of the permanent staff officers at Milton in connection with the Territorial training is shortly to bo altered in favour of decentralisation, and that Captain Banks (12th Mounted Regiment), Lieutenant Purdy (adjutant to 14th Regiment), and five sergeant-majors will be transferred to various parts in Area Group XVI, thus leaving Captain J. R. Henderson and one sergeant-major lo represent the permanent staff at Milton. A caso which is pictured as one of the objectionable features of commissioner control in the public service has occurred in Christchurch (says the Lyttelton Times), and is understood to be under consideration by the association concerned. It relates to the withholding of advancement from a civil servant who expected it, and the appointment of an outsider. The position in question has been held for four years by the same man, who claims to have given more than satisfaction in it. Recently the position was advanced a grade, with an increase in the maximum salary, and applications were invited for the new position. The holder of it applied, and, in fact, he was regarded locally as such a certainty that

some men senior in grade did not take the trouble to apply for it. A man from the North has got the position, and some feeling has been shown in the matter locally, as it is considered that a want-of-confidenee motion has been passed on a tnan «whb has filled the position extremely well.

A Press Association telegram from Wellington spates .that, in replying to a deputation representing co-operative workers on railway construction works throughout New Zealand, tile Hon. W. Fraser stated on Friday that he had always seen the mistake of. the so-called co-operative system as it existed at present. He agreed that men should be* free to make up their own gangs. As a matter of fact, the small contract system which he had introduced the real cooperative system. A price w ; as fixed for a certain "job, and the men could band together to take it up. At the same time the community would not stand employing men who did not give a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. He was making careful inquiries into' the whole system. Commissioner Cullen, of the police force, in his annual report, has a paragraph referring to the strike. Fie states that the lawless element among the strikers in Wellington tohk advantage of the position to‘cause riots in various parts of the city... During the Taranaki street riot a non-commissioned officer of the permanent defence force was struck on the head with an iron bolt thrown by a rioter, and was so seriously injured that he is. still unfit to resume duty. A mounted constable who was trying to prevent the Royal Tiger Hotel, in Taranaki street, from.being wrecked was also hit on the head with, a missile, and he had not yet been able to resume duty. Another constable was so seriously hurt in the riot which occurred in front of Messrs Whitcom.be and Tombs’® ehop, in Lambton quay, that he had to be taken to the hospital. He w r as pleased to say, however, that this constable was now able to carry out his duties as usual. Other members of the force and special'constables received minor injuries, but none sufficiently serious to keep them away from duty for more than a few days.

. Three young men formed the subjects of an interesting case at Invercargill last week. They were charged with vagrancy, and with being illegally bn licensed premises. Mr Tipping defended the accused. The Southland Times, in a lengthy report, states that,, the Magistrate (Mr Thomas Hutchison) imposed fines of £5, in default a month’s imprisonment, in two instances, and £2 or a fortnight’s imprisonment in one case. One witness, said there were hundreds of keg parties around Invercargill. He was a married man, and was to have ‘been brought up that morning for failing to maintain his wife. He had earned £3 or £4 during the last three or four Months. Ho load had liquor while scene-shifting at the theatre, but ’was not one of those concerned in the disturbance recently referred to in the papers. Mr Tipping said that it was common knowledge that a great amount of drinking went on in these places. Men who had rooms, or who belonged to a club, could go there and drink their liquor. Unfortunately, these men were not wealthy enough to belong to clubs, and had to take their beer in the open. If the licensing la<V introduced by Mr Seddon, which provided for no-license no-liquor, had been brought into offept these things would net be carried on. This law had been objected to, and, as a result, the men were made victims of an unreasonable law. The defendants admitted having had the beer. He asked that they be dealt with leniently, as all the accused had work to go to. The Magistrate said' that it was quite true that keg parties were, a common institution, and the name “Inverkegville,” as he had once heard it termed, seemed a very appropriate one. The practice of consummg liquor on private property was a reprehensible one, and must be put down, as there was in it great danger to the property. A return has been issued by the Agricultural Department (fields and experimental farms division) showing the quantities of hemp, tow, and stripper slips graded at the ports of the dominion during the month of June. The total number of bales of hemp graded was 5904, as compared with 14,584 for the corresponding month of last year, a decrease of 8680 bales. , For the 12 months ending June 3C, the number of bales graded was 134,876, as compared with 145,661 for the previous 12 months, the decrease being 10,785 bales. 'During the month 1975 bales of tow were dealt with, as compared with 5144 for the corresponding month of last year, a decrease of 3169 bales bales. For the 12 months ending Juno 30, the number of bales graded was 43,719, as compared with ‘50,553 for the previous 12 months, a decrease of 6834 bales. During the month the number of bales of tripper slips graded was 23, as compared with 576 for the corresponding month of last year, a decrease of 553 bales. For the 12 months ending June 30 the number of bales dealt with was 3614.

When it was learned in Waimate that a camp of 20 tents was being erected at Waihao Downs, and that Dunedin nmemployed were to bo put on the railway extension works straight away, some Waimate workers, headed by Mr Hawkins, waited on the Mayer (Mr Black) on Monday, 6th inst., and complained that their applications for work on the railway extension—a job they had been anxiously waiting for—had been declined. They represented (says the Advertiser) the unfairness of the department in refusing work to local men while bringing others a hundred miles away from their homes to take up the available jobs. The Mayor undertook to tele-

graph bo the member for Waitaki, Mr F. H. Snvth (which he did without loss of time) asking him to make representations to the Minister for Public Works in the direction of providing work for Waimate ' workers. His Worship- received from Mr Smith the following reply:—“Only unemployed .in distressed circumstances are at present engaged.” % ♦ As the result of an explosion, the cause of which is uncertain, followed by fire, a 25 horse-power motor vehicle was damaged at Thornbury (says the Southland Times). A picture show had been given at that 'centre*, and at its conclusion Mr MasSey took a motor lamp and went to the car to stop' the engine, which was driving a dynamo from which the current used for the projection of the pictures was supplied. Mr Massey placed the lamp on the floor of tha car. Taut before he could proceed with the object he had in view a loud explosion tool place, and the car took fire. The oxplosioi was of sufficient violence to throw Mr Mat; sey pome distance, and he sustained an ie» jury to his shoulder in falling. The cao. ■which was badly damaged, was valued f £9OO, and was insured for £6OO. No expert estimate of the-extent of the damage is so far available. Just prior to the commencement of Divine 'service at St. Clair Congregation - Church on Sunday, smoke was discovered issuing from the church building, and tha organ was found to be on fire. Prompt measures ’ were taken by Mr Fraer, who happened to be on the spot, and when tha minister arrived to lake the service, the flames had been subdued. The organ is not materially damaged. _The examiner (Mr 0. T. J. Alpcrs, M.A.) for English in the last Matriculation. Examinations, in the course of his report says: “The majority of the candidates selected ‘Captain Scott and His Comrades' aa "their essay subject. Some of the essays were admirable, and a very large "proportion of them wore well done. But I was sorry to find that the story of Scott’s- expedition is not so • well known as one would have hoped. I should have thought that tha teachers in our schools would have seen to, it that every boy old enough to appreciate it had read and rc-road, or oven ’committed to memory Scott’s' -‘Message to the Public.’ Yet', very few candidates exhibit more than a newspaper reader’s knowledge of it; still fewer quote any of its pregnant sentences. I found an exception in the case of the Otago’ candidates, and for this I bo’ievo we are indebted to the Otago branch of tha Navy League. I learn from one of the essays that the league has caused a reprint of the message to be sent to all ithe schools in its district.” As the Otago branch of the Navy League supplied the Canterbury and Wellington branches with-some 200 copies of its own reproduction of Scott’ii last message, the superiority of the _ Otago candidates’ essays is not wholly due to the fact that each Otago secondary school had a copy on its walls. Wc are disposed to think that the fact that -Otago teachers made frequent reference to the expedition, and that the story was a prominent feature of the Otago branch’s lantern lectures had something to do with the quality of the work from Otago candidates.

“If we were to attempt to satisfy all the claims which have been made for pensions in connection with the Maori war,” said the Hon. F. M. B. Fisher in the House of Representatives on Friday, “we would soon bo in the position of the United States, and the pensioners would exceed the number of people who took part, in the war.” He was referring to a question put by Mr Yeitch as to whether it was proposed to pay pensions to veterans who wero not “under fire.” The Government, Mr Fisher explained, had already acted very liberally in this matter, the amount of pensions having now been brought up to £40,000. Since the last apportionment of funds claims had come in wholesale from not only veterans, but their widows and children, and people who were employed on the river steamers far away from any field of action.” Extremely mild weather for the season of the year has prevailed in Naseby (writes our correspondent) and the surrounding district during the last few days. Indications point to the present winter being as good a winter for the farmer as that of last year, which was exceptionally fine. The big development of the dairying industry in Taihape is reflected in the output of the Egmont box factory, and statistics now available' are interesting, because they reveal the remarkable growth of cheese-mak-ing. During the past 12 months 190,930 butter boxes, and 251,190 chceso cases were made. As compared with last year’s output, there is an increase of 8775 butter boxes, and 32,185 cheese crates, or a total increase of 40,951 packages. Our Christchurch correspondent telegraphs aa follows: —Francis George Bradley, wearing a V.C., who appeared the other day in a London Court charged with drunkenness, is not a New Zealander, as the cable agent said. Ho has been in New Zealand, and appeared in the court at Christchurch last December, when he was charged • with drunkenness and obscene language. Ho was then in posossiml of the V.C., which he had earned in a South African Regiment.He gave his age as 42, and his birthplace as Ireland.

A report is current (says our Wanganui correspondent) that Mrs O’Keefe, of Mangaweika, has inherited a fortune from an uncle named O’Sullivan, an American, ■ yrhi died worth 200,000,000 dollars. There are live families to participate in the windfall. Two daughters of Mrs O’Keefe are at present living in Marton.