GENERAL NEWS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14334, 27 October 1910, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS.

SHOW TRAINS. To those attending the show ttwlay the following train timetable will be ol interest. Trains leave Timaru to-day as under:—For Fairlie at 5.45 p.m. For Oamaru and Waimate at 5.30 p.m. For Ashburton at 5.15 p.m. (will Eeb down passengers at nil stations.) For the show grounds at 11.15, 11.50 a.m., 12.15, 12.40, 1.5, 1.50, and 2.15 n.m., returning at 2.28, 3.7, 3.42, 4.7, 4,39, 5.4, 5.37, and Q. 7 p.m. Heturn fares by these trains only, including admission to show grounds Is Od; single fare. abow . grounds te Tiuini'u, 6d,

TO-DAYS EVENTS. The following is the order of events for to-day:— 12 Noon —Pony trotting race. 12.15 p.m. —Best pony over hurdles to be ridden by boy or girl under 15 years of age. 12.20 p.m.—Judging horses driven in harness. 1.30 p.m.—Military events.—Best four mounted rifles. Lloyd Lindsay Competition. Mounted Rifles rescue race. 2.15 p m. —Grand parade of stock. 2.30 p.m.—Judging Hunters. SUNDAY-TRADINC TOBACCO. The executive of the Tobacconists Association waited upon Dr Findlay at Wellington yesterday and complained of Sunday trading in tobacco, cigars, and agarettes, by restaurantkeepera and other persons who made a business of selling summer drinks on Sundays. The Minister in reply said that official files contained a number of police reports from different parts of New Zealand. These showed that there was a considerable amount of illicit trading by restaurant-keepers. The provision in the Police Offenders Act under which eases of the kind could be brought was not a satisfactory one, and he promised to conler with his colleagues with a view to seeing what could be done. He agreed with the deputation that a penalty of 20s was quite inadequate to deal with the evil. AN ATTRACTIVE TOUR. Professor Macmillan Brown is interesting himself in a proposal for a tour of several of the less frequented islands of the Pacific, including Rapa. Pitcairn, Ducie, and Easter Islanas, and the Paumotu, the Marquesas, the Society (Tahiti), and Rarotonga gruops. He has been in communication with the Union Steam Ship Companv on the subject, and the present position is that the matter is held over for decision till the return of Mr McLennan, the superintendent of the company's Pacific traffic early in December. In the event of Mr McLeunan reporting favourably on the proposal the tour will be advertised in New Zealand, Australia, America, and England, and that if fifty persons express their desire to go on the tour it will be proceeded with. The tour will be made from September to December next year, and the cost to each passenger will be £IOO for a three months' cruise. It is probable that a steamer of the Botoiti or Takaptina class will be available. Professor Macmillan Brown thinks that no difficulty will be experienced in getting the necessary fifty persons to undertake the cruise. Easter Island, which is so interesting from a scientific point of view, would, in existing circumstances, require close ' Jlpon twelve months to reach and r»- I turn from.—"The Press." A QUESTION OF BAIL. Attention was drawn in the Dunedm Police Court, on Friday last, to a peculiar legal position arising trom a recent pronouncement by Mr Justice .Williams on the subject "of bail. Mr Jjarthuiomew, 0.M., stated that his Honour had directed that no bail was to bo allowed by magistrates unless there was a certainty that the accused person, having pleaded "Guilty," would b* admitted to probation by the higher fourt. In the case before his Worship, Ihe accused desired to plead 'Guilty," *» save the expense and trouble of « jury, but if he had done so the learned judge's pronouncement left the magistrate no option but to send him to gaol till the next local criminal sittings of the Supreme Court at the end of next month. Mr Hanlon accordingly, on accused's behalf, entered a plea of "Not Guilty" go that his Worship might be free to grant bail. He pointed out that this dictum was likely to defeat the provisions of the Act by inducing accused persons not to plead "Guilty" in the lower court. Mr Bartholomew said he.quite appreciated that point, but he had simply to carry out the terms of His Honour's statement, which were very emphatic. (It may be added that a plea of not "Not guilty" necessitates the appearance of the witnesses at the Supreme Court.)

■OWL TESTING. To a, Christchurch "Press" reporter Mr Scott, the official bowl-tester gave the following description of his testing machine, which, is his own invention: — "A piece of iron, 17 feet long, planed all over, having an incline or 4 feet, and bent at its lower part to allow the bowl running down the incline to take the green at its own plane. The swivel connecting the rail with the stand allows the operator to lift up the end of. the rail and shift it round in every direction without in any way disturbing the plane of the rail. The idea is that when a bowl has been delivered, the rail may be moved a certain distance, gauged by a quadrant at the point of the rail, so that no two bowls run in the same track." Each bowl is thua compelled to take its own draw in accordance with its own structure." The test is made by running the howls down the rail on to the green, and comparing their draw and the length, of the throw -with, those of the standard bowl. On a standard green, allowing the bowls j» start from the loft mark on the rail, all the bowls passing must come up to the standard. .When the conditions are different, various allowances have to be made to various howls, which might either exceed or be under the standard should the loft mark on the rail be either increased or shortened. Mr Scott keeps a "log," in which particulars are entered. These particulars include the player's name, the club to which he belongs, the marks which may he on the bowk, the maker's private mark, the size of the bowls, the height of the crown, and the mark on the rails whk> they take to throw 80ft. The records pf the log- may be readily referred to at any tune. It constitutes an effective check against interference with bowls which have been tested and stamped, as any alterations would involve entirely different results from those noted when the test was made.