News and Notes

Southern Cross, Volume 24, Issue 2, 22 April 1916, Page 7

News and Notes

• THEKELLY GANG. A NABKOW ESCAPE. -■" In the course of a chat /the. other day Mth MrJV. Hogan, W.airip, he referred to the report reprinted in "The Southern Cross" from the jubilee number of the Nelson Mail regarding the doingsiof the. Kelly gang on the West ■ Coast, and mentioned that "he was one of a party .of three who were there in 1865-6. : They were goling from Hokitika to Ross, and: when passing through the bush the third member -of the parts 7 saw a

man standing behind a tree with a gun. "Are you shooting pigeons?" asked the young fellow. "If, you don't clear out," was the answer, " I'll soon let you know." This happened about half-a-mile from Ross, where the three minei-s started work. After .the gang were captured Sullivan ■mentioned /that on the day in question they were waiting for the escort, but this .failed to pass that way, and to this .fact the • three men owed their Hives, for the bushrangeirs did not wish to alarm the-country by committing outrages before robbing the escort, from which they expected a big haui. TAKING THE OATH. Effect has been given in the Lawcourts in N.S.W. ,to the recently passed Oaths Amendment Act, which abolishes the practice, of kissing the Bible. Under the new practice, the witness takes the Bible in, his right hand, and, when the oath lis administered, repeats the words "So help me, God." Members of the police force are foremost amongst those who rejoice at doing away with the kissing of the book tha't'rhas been in contact with unclean and lips. THE ELECTRIC ERA 1 - We seem to. be at the dawn oi the era of electricity, observes a Home writer. This is suggested by the experience of Glasgow Corporation. So enormous has been the development in the use of electricity for power purposes in the city and district in recent years, especially of, late, that the Corporation are confronted with the. necessity for a very heavy expenditure for additional plant. The subject was discussed recently at a meeting of the Electricity Committee, and it was decided that,, as an absolute necessity, orders should be~"pTaced for new regenerating plant at an estimated cost ofj about £154,000... This is, understood to be only an instalment of what may ultimately be required when the war is over and engineering establishments will once more be able to devote themselves. to the construction of industrial plant. GLASGOW'S BRINK BILL, It is pointed out that while _ the legal authorities are taking measures for the more stringent enforcement' of the'. penalties for breach of the Liquor Control Orders, and while the Central Board of Control are considering the possibility of further restrictions, the Churches and other bodies at Home' are urging the Government to enact prohibition as the only, real remedy 1 for the prevailing evils. It is a remarkable fact that in this' appeal all the Churches of any following in Scotland are united, the number including the Roman Catholic Church. The appeal is backed, up byi the British Women's Temperance Association, which makes the striking statement that .Glasgow alone is spending £60,000 per week on drink. THE HORSE BUTCHER. According to a special correspond-, ent in one of the newspapers, the horse butcher bids fair to become a permanent institution in Glasgow, The trade in»horse flesh as an arti £ cle of diet' was introduced by the' Belgian refugees last summer. In the interval horse meat has, it is said, grown so popular in the districts where the shops have been opened that the British" housewes who patronise them have become 'far more numerous than -the Belgians and other foreigners. Threatened with extinction by the motor, it would be the irony of fate if the horse as a genus were to receive a new lease of life by being bred for the purpose *of meat supply. Meanwhile, the trade furnishes an outlet for the worn-out horses which, before the outbreak of the war, were exported to the Continent as food.

UXDERTA KERS' BELLTOPPER S

Undertakers' assistants (reports the Melbourne Argus) demand that the , wages board be . called together to J decide whether they or their employers .'shall pay for their "belltoppers" and for the l broadcloth wherewith they are clothed. Surely, adds the i Argus, a more sensible - reform! suggests itself. Why should these dingy hats and clothes be,worn at : all by l undertakers ? They are alwaysshabby,, and the "belltopper" is an extremely uncomfortable type of hat, which will shortly ( only be found in museums- of antiquities. Very , few. are .made to-day), even for. the mosjt dressy men, and those worn reluctantly by undertakers, bought secondhand, are of old, and ugly shapes. Theftr use at—funerals by is a survival of the days when,hired mourners- and hired wailers were engaged for funerals. While probably not less sympathetic with grief than any other class of workers, the undertakers have no personal interest in the people for whdm they perform the last sad offices., There is no reason whatever why they should be in. mourning. It should be easy to arrange for them to be suitably clothed.- At some funerals the' undertakers are the only people garbed in trappings of woe.

ALLEGED UNION TYRANNY. At a meeting of the Greenock Chamber of Commerce the other jday it was complained that trade -was being strangled and paralysed by the ruthless action of trade unions., It was stated, as an example, that a firm who had acquired a motor lorry for the conveyance of cargo from the harbour to their warehouse was prohibited by the Carters' Society from making more runs per day than could be done by a horse vehicle. Such -tyrannv is almost incredible.