Miscellaneous Items

Southland Times, Issue 19482, 9 December 1904, Page 1 (Supplement)

Miscellaneous Items

» .. .. Mr Allan Orr was discoursing to the Arbitration Court on the cost of living in Wellington, compared with southern cities. The President ,(Mr Justice ChapHian) : You have other advantages in Wellington. . . . You are near iheMinr ister. Mr Orr : Familiarity breeds contempt, and we don't want much of tho Ministers. The chairman of the Scottish and Aus--trallan Mining Company, commenting, in London, on the working of the Arbitration Court in N.S.W., said the endeavour j of Socialistic legislation to regulate the affairs of all colonial trade by Act of Parliament, and to say what wages should be paid, was attempting on impossibility, bringing about confusion and bad relations between masters and men, greatly to the detriment of every industry. Shareholders must be content without dividends until an unexpected change for the better came. Whezi he encounters the Jaw the publican goes under every time. There is no close season for publicans. They are fair game 365 days in the year, and the law regards them with a continual glare of suspicion, and a sustained l->ok of cold contempt. When it gets a »;mbliean down, it never lets him up again. A majority of the Supreme Court has decided that when a drunken man enters a publichouse in the absence of the landlord and refuses to go out, and the barman doesn't borrow somebody's assistance, and eject him violently, the publican is liable to conviction, fine, and endorsement of his license. The barman may ba a small, hollow-chested barman, with no muscular development to speak of, and the intending drunk may bo a 20st. athlete with a hasty expression and an ugly left, or the fillegal inebriate may be so very Jrlrunk indeed that he can't be moved, nnrt to leave him on the footpath for a hard, cold world to atunvble over wouUl be a disgraceful act of inhumanity. But if the publican gives him' sanctuary, and doesn't turn him out, and otherwise acts the good Samaritan, the law jumps on him with both feet. Also, if ho does turn him out, and leaves him to die 1 in the wet, the public jumps on Wim worse than the law.— Truth. During the course of the enquiry by Parliament some years ago into the affairs of the_ Bank of New Zealand, it transpired that a one-time director of the bank: owed the institution something like £20,000 or £30,000, and that a n agreement had been signed between the bank and himself that payment of the amount should not be demanded unuil the director in question was in a financial position to repay the amount. That was very many years ago, and nothing has been said of late -years as to whether, that debt has 1 been paid. "We (Petone Chronicle) notice that the gentleman in question recently died, and it is estimated that his estate will realise £173,538. Would it be impertinent to enquire whether the liability to the bank has been discharged ? Christchurch Truth has unearthed a passage in Mr Seddon's first speech in the House 25 years ago, which is 'interesting in vliew of his recent attitude on tho land question. " They had 1 aright," said Mr Seddon, "to be conservative as far as the public lands are concerned ; the more freeholders, the nvore prosperous we would be." As the Government newspapers are endeavouring to show that " the principles which (guide him to-day are the principles which inspired him a quarter of & century ago," this ia a very awkward statement, lindeed, to get round and explain away. There is something! rather disappointing in the accounts of /the new hotel which has just been opened in New York. It is intended for the; accommodation of millionaires, and is fitted Up in a Style based apparently on the principle of the greatest attainable costliness. Yet the highest charge for a suito of rooms there does not exceed £20,000 a year. This seems very short-sighted policy on tho part of the organisers. The sort of person who will stay at the hotel wants to spend as much money as he con, or rather to be able to say he has spent it. If another hotel were to be opened to-mor-row at which the charges were higher, tho. whole of the clientele would flock ,to it in a body. The new hotel, for instance, has merely silver fittings to the bathrooms. Wa. should advise them to lose no time in ordering baths of solid gold encrusted with jewels, and to complete the other appointments of the hotel on the same scale. Even then they wjll not be absolutely safe. Owing to a large area of potato seed having rotted in the ground from the effects of the heavy rain at the end of last month, and damage done to the growing crop by the severe frost on Monday night, there was a decided ris< in the price of potatoes at the Bangiora market on Tuesday- Potatoes that were a drug on the market last' week at 2s 6d per sack realised ss, and some reached 6s per bag.— Lyttelton Times. The Eltham Argus, owned by the Hon. W. F. Carncross, M.L.C., says :— " At Wanganui an employer was fined £1 for employing two men on Easter Monday, and the employes were each fined ss. From this it would seem that though a man may be willing to work on a holiday, and thereby earn a. few extra shillings, he is liable to a toe *° r his in ~ dustry. Our labour laws seem to be taking a* peculiar turn now, a turn that ujas never foreseen by the tanners and supporters of them. If it is the law that a man moist be fined for working on a holiday, even though he be paid for it, there will be a reaction against such legislation." Weinseimer, the trades' union " walking delegate," who was sentenced to twenty; months' imprisonment (according to a] New York) telegram published on Thursday), was a worthy successor of the late notorious Sam Parks. He was President and Organiser of the Building Trades'. Alliance of New York, and was so pow-j erful in union i building! trades' circles that fbe right to order or to call ooj strikes in New York was reposed in his, hands. This power he was accused orj having used to extort money from build-! ing contractors. While a strike was inj progress on an apartment house beings built in New York a plumber named George J. Essig is said to have paid Weinseimer £200 to have work resumed by £he plumbers. Weinseimer, aocordling. to an affidavit filed by Essijr. called a; strike as^soon as the contract was let,and two days later said that for £500j he would 'put the plumbers back at work,' Essig agreed to pay him £200 and givof the labour leader .bills for the balance.] The £200 was paid to Weinseimer, andj as promised, the plumbers resumed wcrkj These are exactly the method's pursued byj Sam Parks, who was sentenced to twoj years' imprisonment on a chargp of ex-i tortion, and who died in gaol. j Sitting in Christchurch last week, Mi Bishop, S.M.,- after fining a publican for selling liqjmor .tfuWtng. prohibited hours, said, in regard to the endorsement of li-j censes, that the Act which had come in-j to force gave .magistrates discretionary, power— a provision, which, during his lon^ experience, he bad felt to be necessary where the licensee had not been person! ally responsible for the breach of the Acti He said that advisedly. There had bead many cases where licensees had suffered, owing to the actions of girls— incompej tent in some cases, mischievous in otherj -rand to the absence of discretionary power on the part of magistrates. It was not intended, in cases whore the licensee 1 was personally responsible for 0, breach of the Act, that the magistrate should- exercise his discretionary power". Nor "was it to be exercieeti in cases where a licensee had, after committing an offence, disposed of his property. But 1 if it were intended to be exercised in such cases, -then' the logical result would bis that only licensees who were unfortunately also owners would have their license's endorsed. In the case before the court he ordered that the license should be endorsed* .-. '_- :•■ -.' •" . ; .i . ;.! 1 iilvi-j

The first year's workings of a State hotel at Gwalia, West Australia, show a net profit "of £588. There was a loss of £851 on the house account, but a profit of £1439 on billiards. Dr J. Cantlie, F.R.C.S., in a lecture <tt the strongly recorßjneDded the kilt as calculated to itfomote the health and strength of lads. Mothers "often desired their boys to look lilee men, and so put them into tight fitting costumes, which cramped their movements and almost retarded their development. The kilted skirt, on the coDtraO', gave a warmth to tho loins, which was most conductive to strength in future years. i " How do you plead, guilty or not guilty ? " said tho ■Wellington Ulerb of the Court to an offending inebriate. " Guilty, full up to the neck," was the reply. Dr A. M'Arthur, added, "5s or twenty-four hours." In dealing with a second offender, who asked for an opportunity to get work, his Worship said: Yes, I'll fjive you n, chance. This is , tho understanding : You cuarantee to get work, and I'll guarantee to send you to gaol for three months if you don't" The man started of! at once to look for that job. After a hearing occupying 63 days and extending over a period of nearly four months, tho W.B. corset case in the Supreme Court, Melbourne, has been postponed indefinitely. Tho hearing was comirienced on 15th July. Three days were occupied! in 1 opening the case on behalf oi plaintiffs, Weiugdrten Bros., of Now York, and then for 24 days evidence taken on conumiss'ioh was road and a large number of local witnesses wore examined in the interests of both parties. Mr Duffy, K.C., took up 13 days in his address to the court oh belialf of defendants, Treadwoy and Co., and over nine days were filled in by the other side in the final review of the whole matter. Unless the state <5f g&feral business permits, the hearing will not be resumed before the vacation* wnich coiriihences on 21st December. What is " white i latxiur ? " This' question is now engaging the attention of the Federal Customs authorities: The Sugar Bounty Act provides that "no bounty shall be paid in respect of the production of sugar on land which' has been cultivated by otaer than white labour." A Queensland farmer 1 has applied for a bounty for the sugar cane ho has grown this year, and the central officials are debating whether tie comes within the deisßitio'n " white latfour," because while his fatheVwaS'wnlte'lii& : mother was a half-Asiatic. The applicant 1 himself, it is said, had a skin as wliite as that of any Australian, but tho question of his cla^sVfic'afcion ; has b^en referred to the ccntiral-" bereau by tho Queensland^ Customs officers. The New York Tribune ,tells a. capital story of New York's most popular musical conductor. " When I was a boy in Washington," said Sousa, " there was an old Scottish musician with whom 1 played now and then. One afternoon I ran through for this old gentlemom a new waltz of my own composition. ' Well, sir,' 1 said, when I hod finished, ' what do you think of that 9' ' It carried mo back to the home land*, laddie,' said the old man, 'it carried me backi to a day when I played at an entertainment i» a lunatic asylum. My instrument was the fiddle, and after I had ended my fiddle solo the head of the institution said to an aged lunatic on the fi'-nt row : " Weel, Saunders, how do ye like that, man ? " Saunders answered, frowning at mo : " It's a guid thing we're a' daft here." ' " The farmers have (says Truth) l^een studying tho House of Representatives, and have coine to the conclusion that it is a disgusting nauseating farce, composed chiefly of wind-bags, with the exception of C. A. C. Hardy, M.H.R. Members of the Farmers' Union sat in criticism in the upper stratum, and listened with deep gloom to tho awful exhibition the people down below were making of themselves. It made the farmers' Union feel so annoyed that it hadn't a big enough stock of adjectives left to express its feelings. When it listened to Lyttelton, and Auckland, and TaranaM threshing the outraged atmosphere, and heard what a lot of words they could utter without saying anything that wasn't feeble and fulsome and foolish, the Farmers' Union became very mad indeed, and went outside and kicked itself, and thought what a fool it had been to elect persons of that sort to Parliament. Consequently it has passed a resolution with intense dignity, stating that the undue length of Parliament is a matter which calls for public reprobation, and it is a waste of money, and ought to be put a stop to, or words to that effect. To which sentiment the bulk of, the taxpayers of this overburdened colony will probably echo an emphatic "Hear, hear.". It only remains for the Farmers' Union to take good care that there are no wind-bags standing on its platform. There is (says the Argus) every indication of a good butter output being attained this year (presumably from Victoria). Tho favourable weather during October, which caused such a fine recovery in the wheat outlook, also greatly improved tho pastures. Froui Ist to 18th Novem'ber the butter export amounts to 2097 tons, which is roughly worth £200,000. The Macedonia took 760 tons for Great Britain from Victoria, and 322 tons from Sydney. This is probably tho record shipment of butter in one steamer from Australia. Not only are large consignments boing made to Great Britain, but tho trade with South Africa, the East, and interstate markets is being well maintained. The s.s. Elbing received 344 boxes of tinned butter for Batavia, Sourabaya, and Banda, and the * Japanese steamer Yawata Maru 190 boxes for Japan. In all, 23 tons of tinned butter are represented by these consignments. Discussing the " marriage liandicap " recently, Mr Meredith declared that tho present marriage custom to bo a hopeless failure, and audaciously suggested that mankind might come to favour n system of terminable or renewable marriages—unions for a stated period with tho right of renewal. Of course the orthodox people are up in arms. The Church Times declares that tLe great novelist has put himself outside the pale of civilisation, and the Spectator says that " a more mischievous suggestion was never flung" broadcast among a mixed audience" Mr Meredith did not actually advocate the idea, but angry protestants did not pause to consider the extent ot his culpability. A remarkable story of brutality to a wife was revealed in the Sydney Divorce Court last week. Alma Small sought a dissolution of her marriage with Andrew Thomas Small on the ground of cruelty. The petitioner, a slender, delicate ■woman, too weak to stand m the witness Ijox, stated that the respondent, to •whom she was married at Bathurst, was ■a constable. He was 6ft. in height, and ■weighed about 16 stone. !Ho was frequently under the influence of liquor, (agid the cruelty had been going on since 1 1402. In- July lost year, he threw her en o, bed, told her to say her prayers, and, producing a loaded revolver, said he was going to shoot her. On another occasion he dragged her by the hair round the room. He frequently threw her down and beat her with his lists. When at Warren ' the respondent for a number of consecutive nights hit her and their baby on the face and threatened to ghoot them. One day he dragged her under a shower bath, kept Ler there till sire was wet through, and then threw her down, witli the result that she had ever since been ! under doctor's treatment. She was prlJceedrng to detail further acts Of ' crUeijtyi ; WKen Justice Simpson said he had -heard sufficient from nira Small, yrhio im&eiy added tKat her hiißband resigned fromVtfie force^in February last arid : left hor. penniless.;

The Austral Wheel race meeting, which ris to be held on December 3, 7, 10, 14, and 17, is' tho most ambitious the club has yet promoted. It embraces 24 races, for which £914 is offered in prize money. The Austral Wheel Race, which holds world's record aa a two- ' mile handicap, is the principal item, as' usual, but thiis year the calibre of the competitors excels that of any field over before engaged. First in point ol prominence amongst the competitors are Ellegaurd and llutt, the European cham- ) pions. Kllegaard, the Dane, is the only man since Zimmerman who has been able to achieve the distinction of triple world's champion. Rutt's handicap riding is spoken of as dashing and brilliant. Tuesday was an unfortunate day for a ' family at Eaglchawk, Victoria. Charles James, aged 14 years, was cleaning a machine at the family's printing establishment when his right hand got caught in tho workings, land three bones at the back of tho hand were fractured. Later in the day Edward James, aged 17, got his left hand Caught, »» **«» same machine and his thumb and two fingers were broken. Tho boys' sister Bessie was hastening to Edward's assistance, when she tripped and sprained an ankle. A Cingalese named Harrie Sie was, at tho Central Criminal Court Sydney last week, charged with having near Cootamundra, wounded Eileen Feltham, with intent to murder. Sio, who was a cook on a station, asked Feltham to marry him. She refused, and he followed her into the kitchen, and demanded some money ho had given her to take care of. She placed the money on fho table, and thereupon Sie stabbed her in tho breast with a butcher's knife. The girl was an inmate of the hospitaler six weeks. Tho jury returned a verdict of guilty, with n recommendation to mercy. Mr Justice Pring characterised Sie's crime as a most atrocious, most cruel, nnd most bloodthirsty one, and passed sentence of death. Several letters have appeared in the Press (Christchurch) recently respecting the city bottle gatherers. It has been stated that the trade of a bottle gatherer is only a cloak to crime, and that these men reconnoitre the premises with a view to ulterior proceedings. With a view of ascertaining how for this is true a member of the staff of the Press had an interview with Sub-Inspector Dwyer on the subject. "Yes," said Mr Dwyer in answer to a question whether he had read tho letters on tho subject. " I have read the correspondence with regard to the bottle gatherers. So iar ns the police are concerned,, we have novcr had a single complaint as to the commission Of crime, such -a* ; -theCt from premises, flowing upon the visit r to any how. of bottle gatherers. If a crime of this kind were to be permitted, and at was reported to us that bottle gatherers were j S£e£d. nothing .would bo easier for , us than to arrest them. But as I have Baid, no complaint has teen officially made to .us;"