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Otago Witness, Issue 3514, 19 July 1921, Page 36

Our London correspondent mentions that the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, has lately made a grant of £3O each to the Rev. S. E. Teall and ihe Rev. W. F. Browning, towards their passages (o Melanesia, to take up work v,ith ihe mission staff. The grant is made firm the Criming Fund. The Melanesian Mission also acknowledges with gratitude the- grant of £SO made by the Society for ihe Propagation of Christian Knowledge toward the new printing press and type required for the mission; idle estimated total cost is £4OO. Air Teall is now on his way to the Pacific, and Air Browning will leave for Alontreal on his way to Melanesia on July 8, sailing from Liverpool. Our London correspondent mentions that a well known New Zealand visitor to England, who during the war was very much interested in ihe welfare of the “Boys” of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, lately went down to the New Forest, and, of course, made a point of reviving his memories of Brockenhurst, which was the headquarters of the No. 1 New Zealand General Hospital. He went to the local military cemetery and was much pleased to find how carefully tended am (he graves of New Zealanders who are buried there, flesh flowers being continually placed on them all. He fools it would be a comfort for relatives in Now Zealand to know that their sons and brothers have not been forgotten and that kind English folk are tending their graves. An interesting point, of law regarding the powers of a bailiff in executing a distress warrant was emphasised in a reserved judgment delivered by Mr id. Page, k.AT., ui Wellington in the case of Holden v Cdovich {says the Post). The plaintiff, Arthur Holden, contractor, sough,t to rcenv- r Loin J. 1 dovich, commonly known as J Alann, grocer, Kilbivuir, the sum of £7 ]os for work done and £SO damages for alleged wrongful distress. r i tie plaintiff o< copied as tenant a- shed belonging to the defendant , an I undertook, as carpenter, certain small repairs to the front of defend-

ant s shop, alleging that the amount of the contract money should be set off against rent duo. The defendant executed a distress for the rent due (£7 10s), and the property seized by the bail iff consisted of a motor launch. The Magistrate held that file plaintiff had not yet completed his contract, and that the defendant was entitled to distrain. In entering- the premises the bailiff forced the outer door by pulling the bottom of the sliding doors outwards. This, .n the opinion of the Magistrate, was an illegal act. It was well established that in executing a distress for rent a bailiff might not break or force the outer door of. the premises to be entered. It had been held that a bailiff might not put his hand through a hole in the door and n-nio 70 a bur f rom belli tut Inc door, and thus gain an entrance. The bailiff was advised by the defendant to cuter in this way, so the defendant was liable for the action of tiro bailiff. Zvl* -.'cover, the amount demanded from the plaintiff for the expenses of -distress exceeded tie amount provided by law—£2 8s as against £1 Is. The plaintiff was entitled to recover £1 7s, the amount .overpaid, and also entitled to damages for il cgal distress. His Worship a,warded plaintiff £3 by way of damages, plus £1 7s on account of the excess charges by the bailiff. Xo order was made as to costs. The secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department advises that the Eastern cable route has now been restored, and United Kingdom traffic has been resumed on that route. At. the meeting of the Otago Hospital Board, the Finance Committee will recommend that the establishment of a maternity hospital at Palmerston be not proceed, -d with. It will, however, recommend that, in order to enable the full requirements of the district to be ascertained, a district nurse be appointed, subject to the approval of the Health Department. Frederick Hoa.re, aged 50 years, was found dead in his bed at his residence, Edgar street, Wakari, on Sunday manning. It is understood that he -vas an out-patient of the Dunedin Hospital, and that he was being attended by Dr Carmait Jones. The plans for the proposed cottage hospital at Roxburgh have been forwarded to the Department of Health for consideration. The money required for the erection of the hospital is to be raised by loan. John Johnson, a porter at the Green Island Hotel, died after a very brief illness on Sunday morning. He rose at 8 o'clock, and then complained of feeling ill. He went back to bed, and died at mid-day. In the new season’s lines (says a Press Association message from Wellington) the tea importations for the past eight or ten months have fallen well below normal requirements of Xew Zealand, which are about 800.0001 b per month Advices from Ceylon indicate a reduction in the output of 30,000,0001 b. India and Java also show large reductions of output. The total shipments from Ceylon to New Zealand from January to May of this year are barely 2,000,0001 b, as against- 8,000,0001 b last year, which is more than double the normal requirements. Meanwhile there is no falling off in consumption. Stocks of Ceylon teas in England are very small, but heavy stocks of Indian and Java teas are held. At the opening of the State Labour Conference in Tasmania a few days ago, the president (Mr R. Cosgrove, M.P.), in the course of Ins address, said:—"Permit mo to remind delegates that Labour is pledged to and believes in constitutional methods for obtaining desired reforms. Wo believe in the settlement of industrial disputes by legislative machinery, and oppose the barbarous methods of strikes whenever they can be possibly avoided. The worker pays for all war, and industrial war is no exception. The Labour movement is based on a foundation which is economically sound, and by no rule of economics can strikes be defended, Labour has no sympathy with those who advocate direct action, as opposed to political action. The Labour Party t 3 bound and pledged to its political platform only, and there is no room in the movement for those who advocate revolution. The ballot box is our only revolutionary medium. Those who differ from these methods would serve our movement better, and could fnore forcibly advocate their own ideals by starting an organisation of their own, apart altogether from the Labour movement. This is a free country, and we believe every member of the community has a right to express his views on any subject ho chooses, but if those views are so diametrically opposed to ours, as they are if he advocates direct action, he sho-uld seek an opportunity to air them elsewhere.” A Transvaal newspaper publishes an extraordinary story showing the tenacity of life of the hawk. As the bird was swooping on the poultry yard of a farmer on the Vaal River, the farmer shot and killed it. Then he found embedded in its body what appeared to be an arrow 2ft. 6in in length, that apparently had been arried by the bird for a considerable period. As the arrow was of a peculiar kind unknown in the Transvaal, inquiries were made and a description given, and presently it was found that she arrow was made by a native tribe, the Akambas, of Kennyland, 2000 miles away from the place where the hawk was killed Fmther inquiries showed that, the transfixing of the hawk by a small spear, bv an Akninba native, was well remembered. The hawk had earned much loss in a chicken run, and was speared by a concealed native, but was rescued and -an-ied off by its mate, and evidently res',vored front the wound, though if could not iid it self ( f the spear. A Pros.? Association telegram from Gisborne says that Albert John Henderson, a clerk in the employ of the Poverty Bay Ms it. Company, pleaded guilty, and was --.minified for sentence on a charge of stealing £6O, the funds of the company. A Dargavillo message states that Kingroses large general store at Xaurnai was destroyed by lire at 1 o’clock on Thursday morning.

A Press Association message from Auckland says that the Paravoa arrived on Friday morning with 300 immigrants. There is understood to bo some possibility that the Railway Department will shortly discontinue the running of the through express from Invercargill to Christchurch on three days a week. This is believed to be due to the fact that tin's train is not very largely patronised at the present lime. A Press Association message says that at Masterton on Friday Win, Moore, a dairy farmer, v. as fined £2O for selling milk adulterated with water. A Palmerston North Press Association tdog-.im reports that a meeting of delej gates of N- rill Island Caledonian Societies | -"'sinved to form a North Island Association °‘ < aledonian Societies. Mr Mackenzie v n bcs (\\ nilgai;;'.!) was elected the first pre-id' nt.. A Dannovirko Press Association telegram report that Ed vard Bloor, a farmer at aiatatera, aged 60, was found hanging to a rafter in a spied on his farm. He had ! '' en suffering from fits of depn Men. He recently came out of a mental hospital. fact not generally known i> that soldier soetiers where desirous of planting frees on faring <?ro supplied with trees, free or enlarge, by the Forestry Department. -J he maximum number granted under this scheme is limited to 1000 trees to each applicant. Further particulars regarding Hie offer may be obtained from the local Returned Soldiers’ Association. Dr Peakes (Director-General of Agriculture) has returned from a well-earned holiday in Australia (wires our Wellington correspondent). Ho has been working at high pro.-sure ev-r since the outbreak of w ar. V. herever ne went in Australia he found a very friendly feeling towards New Zealand. 'I he people were impressed with the self-reliant character of the New Zealand farming community. In Victoria, says Dr Roukes, the Government has got rid of several State farms, and is concentrating its work on the three now remaining, thus enabling them to be of the best use to the farmers. Local farming problems in other districts are dealt with by small experimental areas, and the policy appears to be working out well, though more experience of the real value of the experimental areas seems necessary. There is no doubt that, the principle is a good one. It, all depends upon the quality of the work done on each, area, and the extent to which the necessary expert supervision can be applied.

The Bruce Woollen Company has undertaken the solving- of the housing question for its employees. Close to tlie town of Milton, where the mills are situated, the company has secured a farm which it is cutting- up into sections. At present, 10 are provided, each consisting of half an acre. The milling rights over an area of native hush on the hills towards Akatore have been secured, and a plant is- now being set up for the cutting of the timber, rimu, miro. and black pine. The timber is of good quality, especially the rimu, and there is enough to keep the mill going for three vears. The company proposes to erect houses on the sections as required, a house to he built whenever a family offers. Tt is anticipated that the cost of each dwelling will ho some hundreds of pounds less than would he the case were they erected in the ordinary wav. The directors of the company have just approved of plans for a new set of offices in brick. All the timber required in connection with these will lie taken from the company’s own plant. A Masterton Press Association wire reports that Roy Wilmhurst (17), lias been committed for trial for alleged cattle stealing. A country sheepfarmer and agriculturist, who is understood to be a large employer of labour, describes the new union schedule of farm and station wages as the most reckless and disastrous attack upon the interests and comfort of the working man that lias been made since the days when the capitalist was supreme master of the situation. Our informant states that up to now he has not dismissed a single employee from his numerous staff, nor made a shilling difference in their wages; but if this schedule, or even half of it, were to come into actual operation, at least three out of four of his present employees would have to go, and even then his business could only be conducted at a loss, as. in fact, it is already being conducted to day. There should, in their own interests, bo meetings held of agricultural and pastoral labourers to denounce in the strongest terms this unscrupulous assault upon their interests by lor'xlc-s ami irresponsible loaders. Country employers are already only holding on by the skin of their teeth to the existing wages lists, and those who are trying to do so are only able to keep these things going (except dairying) by submitting to an evitable annual loss; but even a complete recovery in the wool and stock markets to far beyond pre-war prices would never permit of the new proposals being worked with any possibility of making both ends moot. If anything like the new demands were actually to come into operation, our informant declares that: the amount of instant multiplication of unemployment from one end of the dominion to the other would be quite appalling, as would abo the immediate and enormous drop in the production of wheat, cats, and turnips, and the paralysis of present efforts towards the destruction of rabbits. TTe graphically compares the present exceedingly delicate position of country employment generaUv to a house of cards, and wonders wl-u any honest T.about- leader can lv think! :g about the trembling fabric which, shaky as it is. is vet the only abiding place of thousands of contented cßnlrv workers. A hare drive in the Middlemareb district hist week resulted in fO hares being bagged (wires our own correspondent!. The largest, number fell to the gun of Mr Alex. Millar, with 14 kills. Nearly 20 sports took part in the drive. Resides providing an afternoon's sport and dealing the country of some, of the ravenous pest, the Dunedin institutions benefited bv receiving the hares.