News and Notes

Southern Cross, Volume 7, Issue 10, 18 June 1898, Page 6

News and Notes

A new gaol, costing £16,000, and accommodating 72 prisoners, has been erected in Dunedin. It was open to public inspection on Saturday, and was visited by 1000 persons. Ou Saturday last Mr Seddon had held the Premiership for five years and 42 days. The record in that respect was previously held by Sir E. Stafford, with five years and 41 days to his credit. A young man named Douglas Bain was killed near Wyndbam last week through being caught between a tree and a dray while carting firewood. The deceased’s father was killed some years ago through a kick from a horse. The taking of the Federal vote coat N.S.W. £20,000. Victoria to date has spent £25,000 in connection with Federation. A coroner who had to deal with a case of suicide at Home recently addressed some of the witnesses in very severe terms. It appeared that a young man was found hanging from a staircase, and those who saw him went for the police instead of cutting down the body. A quarter of an hour was thus lost, and life was then extinct. ‘ You ought to be ashamed of yourselves ! ’ ‘ You must be a pack of savages !’ remarked the coroner. The jury added a rider to their verdict to the effect that they strongly condemned the cowardly and inhuman conduct of the male inhabitants of the house. The coroner stated that in drawing up the rider, ■he bad used the words ‘ male inhabitants ’ in preference to men. Sir Francis Dillon Bell, who is living at Shag Valley, is seriously ill. Mean wretches ! At Hamilton (Auckland) on Sunday last, the contents of the poor boxes were stolen from three of the churches. The Forth Infantry Brigades were recently engaged in a sham fight in Linlithgowshire. In the forenoon each man had served out twenty rounds of blank ammunition. The startling discovery was made that 250 rounds of ball ammunition were in the supply. The dangerous cartridges were at once placed in charge of the ambulance. With over 1000 men engaged, the result would undoubtedly have been serious had the ball cartridges been used. After the declaration of war be" tween Spain and America, the United States Legation in London was besieged with offers of enlistment and volunteer service by English timeexpired soldiers and sailors, as well as by officers on the retired list. The Ambassador posted a notice that no such applications will be entertained Referring to the burning down of Spurgeon’s Tabernacle, the correspondent of a Home paper finds in ‘ Old Moore’s ’ almanac a prediction of the fire at the Tabernacle. Says this correspondent : ‘By a strange coincidence, Old Moore, among his predictions for April in his almanac for 1898, about the middle of the month, says : ‘ The destruction of a famous building by fire may be expected about this time. Insurance will cover the actual cost, but historical associations, alas, have no money equivalent. Mr E. T. Hooley, the well-known speculator, has failed. Claims amounting to half-a-million sterling have been lodged against the estate, Mr Hooley attributes his failure to blackmailing syndicates and newspapers, who absorbed the profits of his ventures. He alleges that he paid one newspaper £40,000 for a single article, and £IO,OOO law court costs. Messrs Wright Stephenson and Go’s new horse bazaar was opened for the * despatch of business ’ at Core on Saturday last. There was a large attendance of buyers and good price'* railed.

The extraordinary demand for ammunition by reason of the war is evidenced by the great activity at Messrs Kynoch’s works at Witton. The present Lee-Metford cartridge plant is being supplemented, and presently the firm will be making 1,000,000 cartridges a week, besides a ton of cordite and thousands of heavy projectiles. The output will be a record for the world.