NEWS ITEMS.

Colonist, Volume LIII, Issue 13052, 11 March 1911, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

. Mr Short, judge of the band contest at Palmorston North, speaking at a , performance of liis "L'Africa.nus" given by "tho Wellington Garrison Band for him on Saturday, said the Wellington Garrison Band could go to Ballarat and sweep all before them. Thf»y had combination, tone, intonation, and grand tune, due, no doubt, to the conductor. Ho would be able to assure the bands at Home that they were not the only ones that he knew of in New Zealand. There had been another, but it was probable that tiiei1 had lost their heads. What they had done did not please him. fie advised the Wellington men to keep thrsr heads. According to the evidence given nt the inquest on the death of thr. old man Albert Norris, the victim of the Hobso.ii street, Auckland, there had been a previous blaze in a spare room on the preceding "Sunday, and a mysterious visitor, who refused to give a reason for his presence, had been found in tho diningrooni, says a Press Association telegram; A stranger coincidence is the fact that in an adjoining building known as Dominion House there were two outbreaks of fire within 24 hours of the Scotia Hour.? fafelity. These;, (however, the. occupier.Mrs Don,informed .a reporter had clearly been the result of accidents. In one case a boarder had left a candle too closr, to the bedclothes, and in the other instance the curtains had accidentally been set alight. The police are making inquiries in regard to the Scotia House fire. Writing last week, the Stratford correspondent of "The Dominion" stated that the body of Hugh Phillips, who was found dead on Tuesday morning n«ar AVhangamomona, still awaited interment owing to no inquest having been held. Phillips lived a lonely camp life, three miles from Whangamomona. He was taken ill with internal pains. There was no doctor within forty miles of the place, and he was treated with simple remedies, which at first were effectual. The next thing, however, he was fnund dead. The only police station in the district b at te Wera, but at the time th" official was miles away on other I usinres, and the dead body had sine? been lyinr: in its rough bush coffin awaiting Burial. On Thursday morning Whangomomona townspeople were considering the advisableness or interring the body, when they heard that a coroner from Stratford was on his way. Phillips was employed as a railway surfaceman, and he is understood to leave a widow in Wellington.

The next conference of the New Zealand Socialist Party will be held at Dunedih, commencing on Easter Monday, April 17. One of the ehi(\f questions to be discussed will bo the supcsrested employment of four special district organisers. A proposal is also o.n foot to invite Mr Victor Gravson, ex-M.P. for Colne Valloy, Yorkshire; Mr H. M. Hyndman, the wail-known English journalist and socio-economic student and writer; and Mr Eugene Dobs, the American . Socialist leader ■>.ud candidate for the Presidency, to visit New Zealand for a. lecturing tour. Another matter that will be discussed is whether the party shall enter tho political arena. It is understood there is a strong feeling that the thro is not yet ripe for Socialist activity in this field.

After a spell of hot weather extending over a fortnight in Victoria, a change has taken plape, gays the "Australasian." Thjs took the form of a tropical downpour of rain, which flooded "4ho greater portion of Melbourne and tho suburbs, and caused a large amount of damage to low-lying parts. Considerably over two inches of rain fell'in some places in about an hour, and the fall was accompanied by heavy thunder. The weather since has been very muggy and disagreeable, and doubtless, many people would prefer the hot sunshine of a week ago. Most of the country districts participated in tho rainfall, which, although violent, will help the summer fodder crops greatly. In t:hp other States somewhat similar weather prevailed, the rainfa.ll in Queensland being exceptionally- heavy. The prospects generall- for the whole of Australia are excellent.

"If," said President Roospvelt to his 'itnvboy, wbg was putting liis brand on a 'cow that did not belong to him, "you steal for me, then it will not be long before you steal from mo " .Thr. Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) told tliiis anecdote to the TVUm's Brotherhood, in Wellington, to illustrate that if they elected a member of Parliament only for the things re £ot them,. they were, going ip vews..v<l him fnr p ( teaHrijs for them. ''And," added Sir llobert Stout, "the tune will com<! when he will steal from you ;n politics. You are doing a dishone?jt thing if you ask y@uy member to help vflur distrief. If you train jour men to gcit everything for your district, caring little how it is got, you are training dishonest politicians, and the time may corne^ when they will think it necessary for them to do something for themselves.';'-

"Do you'-go to races P" is a question often asked by Mr C. C. Kcvttle, S.M., says the "Auckland Star," when hearing men stating their inability to contribute towards the maintenance of wife or child. Judging by the replies received, very few of the people visit the racecourse. Another frequent question is, "Do you go to hotels?" This query was asked of a Waihi resident, who replied promptly, "There are no hotels there now." "Oh, well," replied the Magistrate, "I suppose it might be possible to get drink there," but this" elicited no response. Later on the Magistrate asked, "How much do you spend in drink?" "Oh, about a shilling a month." "You live in a. dry district," added Mr Kettle. "Well, it's supposed to be," was the reply.

An interesting little homily on discipline was delivered by Mr Kettle, S.M., at tho Auckland Magistrate's Court last week to a young lady who had summoned her mistress for wages. The defendant said she kept a boardinghouse, and one morning the girl was very untidily dressed whan about ta serve a boarder with breakfast. She told her to leave the dining-room, and in a temper the girl went to her loom and refused to continue her work. His Worship dismissed the case, and, addressing the plaintiff, reminded her that discipline was absolutely essential in a business of any sort, and it appxired to him that it was a lesson .she had not yet learned.. In seme establishments servants wanted to run the. place- just as they wished, but without authority and discipline any business would soon fall to pieces, iii even-.' class.of life the lesson of discipline had to be learned.

Vt'hon the jurymen engaged in trying the Hele-nsville murder case at Auckland took their saats in Court on Saturday morning, after being locked up all night, Mr Justice Cooper, with a kindly wnp.ider.ition for their welliK'ing, inquired if they had boon comfortably provided for during their compulsory detention. The foreman replied that they had nothing to complain of, except that they had not been pei mitted to scva the daily papers, and as they were naturally anxious to kept abreast of current events.they beggrtd that this deficiency might bo supplied. His Honour said the request was a very unusual one, as were the circumstances under which it was made. But .ho added that ho saw no reason why it should not be complied with, as the reports of the case on which the jury was engaged were fair, and there was nothing i.n them that could not be read by anyone. He gave orders that newspapers should be obtained.

Some remarks of considerable interest on the subject of fish acclimatisation were made by Mr G. M. Thomson, M.P., chairman of the Portobello Marine Fish Hatcliory Board, to a Dunedin reporter last week, "During the past two or three years," he said, "experiments have, been conducted by the Scottish Fishery Board on behalf of the Poi'to-brtllo Fish Hatcliory Board, first to find out whether the ova of the herring can be retained alive and prove.ntod from hatching for a period of at least 50 days. Some of the cxporiments point to the possibility of this being achieved, but further information is required before the board would be justified in asking the Government to expend money on their attempted introduction to' New Zealand. If, however, the eggs were brought to Portobello, the board would easily hatch them and deal with the fry. The second sot of experiments is to ascertain whether cod, turbot, plaice and haddock could be kept alive in sea water cooled to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. It would appear that turbot could bci so kept, but the experiments have not been carried out fully with regard to the other fishes named. These experiments are nocee-pa-ry before the' board could undertake the risk of importing any of these kinds of fish to New Zealand, for in thciir ease it is the fish themselves which would have to be brought out, and the experiment would be a costly one."

The consumption of beer in Gormany according to official statistics just published, is rapidly decreasing. During 1909 the consumption, diminished approximately by 65,000,000 gallons, or 1 gallon per head of the population. During the preceding year there had bcvni a diminution of nearly 70,000,000 gallons, whilst during tlie'last decade there had been a decrease of three gallons per head of the population per annum. The decline, in the brewing trade is also revealed by the diminishing nunibcM' of breweries in Germany. In 1906 there wore 0035; in 1907, 5792; in 1908, 5590: and last year, '1768. During 1909 alone \hcfs was thus a decrease of 822 breweries. The decrease in tho consumption of malt has beon considerably greater than is indicator! by the diminution in the cdiiMimption of boor, thus showing that the beer drunk in Germany becomes lighter and lighter every day.

An interesting ruling has been given by Judge Edwards on a point of general interest, says an Auckland telegram to "The Dominion." It is a common practice for constables to quote or refer to notes written in a note-book in either the Supreme Court or Police Court proceedings. This v;r.s done by Constable Malier in giving cvidance in a theft case at tho Auckland Supreme Court, and while under cronsexamination, Mr Lundon, who was defending, requested to have the notebook produced for personal perusal. The constable demurred, but Mr Justice Edwards pointed out that defending counsel had an undoubted right to soo the notes from which a constable had been reading, or to which he had referred. Mr Lundon mentioned that Mr Cutten, S.M., in the course of a totalisator ticket case at the Police Court a few days ago refused to allow him, as defending counsel, to peruse the notes usoid by a constable, and tlm magistrate intimated that he would

An interesting collection of portraits and busts'of men-promint.itlv „„„,, „+„ ■, -~ XT „, 'i J com cc^ d lrtll N°w Zealand h"*°ry « gradually being brought together at the Parliamentary Library (says tho "New-Zealand Times"). 'The library already contains marble busts of tho late Sir Harry Atkinson, Sir John Mackenzie- and Mr Seddon, and bronzr<\ plaster busts of Sir John Hall and ! Sir George Grey, in addition to several oil portraits, including those of Sir Julius Vogel, Sir George Grey, Mr Ballance and Mr Soddon, and portrait shields representing past Parliaments dating back to the commencement of responsible government. A valuable* and interesting addition to the eolloetio.n has quite recently iwn made in the shape* of three be'antil'ully executed miniature portraits which were purchased on behalf of the Goveminent by the High Commissioner and presented to tha Library through the Minister of Internal Affairs.

continue to rule that counsel had no such right until he was overruled by a judge of tho Supreme Court. Flis Honour repeated that defending counsel had a right to see the constable's notes when referred to in the case, and added that he had never heard of a Supreme Court judge expressing any opinion to the contrary.

These are a portrait, in his military uniform, of Lieut.-Colonel Grey (Sir George Grey's father), of Sir Georga Gray's mother, and of Sir George him?.?lf when a young man of twenty-two. Tho miniatures are to he refrained in a uniform style and hung in a con-s-pinions place on the walls, of tho main reading room.