The Star. SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1898. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6126, 12 March 1898, Page 4

The Star. SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1898. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

The Melbourne Argus tells tho story i that -when the Melbourno landlord of a Gippsland property heard that his place was in danger, he hurried to the scene to ! look after his interests. When he arrived his fences were all gone, and the homestead was threatened. The farm was leased by a partnership,- so, calling his tenants before him, he told them they would have, in accordance with the terms of their lease, to renew tho fences at their own cost. The tenants pleaded they were severe losers as it was, as all their crops and grass were gone, and some of their stock. They had done their best to save the property, as was evidenced by the fact that they had bought several tanks of water at 2s 6d the thousand gallons, for fire extinguishing purposes. In the course of the afternoon, when the homestead was again threatened, the landlord was discovered carrying the dearly-bough*t water of the tenants to an old tumbledown shed adjoining, exhausting all his strength in trying to save it, while he regarded the threatened destruction of the home with the utmost composure. "Let us save the house, don't mind about the shed," called one of the tenants. "That be hanged," said tho landlord composedly, " the house is insured, but the shed isn't. Come on with the water." A lawsuit is now threatening over the renewal of the fences. Take ber up daringly, Lift her like that ; Fashioned unsparingly, Yonw;, and so fat. Look at her garment, Though she no harm meant, 'Twas reprehensible Thus to divide her, Like inexpressible Garments, but wider. Forth on her bicycle, Stiff as an icicle. Through the street racing, Constables chasing, Old ladies springing Aside at her ringing; Thrust, terror laden, Aside by the maiden, Till she, disturbiug Her centre of gravity, Fell on the kerbing (Curb of depravity). Down in an instantPoor helpings blunderer— With a small infnnt Pulverised under her. Ah, singularity Of cyclist charity, Thrown by a skid, She in the gutter tbere Harshly doth mutter there-r " Blame of tbe kid." James Edward Geake, tha fraudulent Daylesford solicitor, hag been too smart for the authorities. It will be remGm bered that he was convicted of larceny as a bailee, and was sentenced to two years' imprison™JS' i P , en ? !n ?' however, a law point w eh ho had raised- being decided by the on bail" and absconded to South America. As it was -

doubtful whether he eotlld be extradited from Monte Video on this charge, a second oneof fraud as a trustee was made against him, and a, warrant issued for his arrest. He was apprehended in South America, extradited and convicted, arid sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment on this second charge. He is now undergoing that sentence, which will expire in April. Geake recently raised the point that, as he was extradited on the second charge only, he cannot be made to servo the term of two years' imprisonment in connection with the first offence, and that in April, when the sentence he is undergoing expires, he will be, technically speaking, in South America. The first part of this contention has been upheld by the Imperial authorities, but if 3 «. ar6 Silent on the c l uestion as to whether any future charges can be preferred against Gealre on his liberation. Having gained this point, Geake has very astutely now put in a plea that, being a first offender, he is, on account of his , good behaviour in gaol, entitled to aremisI sion of one-sixth of the sentence he is serving. The rule governing suoh matters . j refers to one undergoing his " first term of imprisonment." Geake is, without doubt, a second offender, but claims that, as he has not been in gaol before, having evaded the first sentence, he is entitled to this remission. The rules, however, are subject to the sole interpretation of Captain Evans, Inspector-General of Penal Establismeats, and he has yet to decide whether Geake is entitled to the remission claimed. "Old Settler", writes as follows: — " Kindly allow me to say that the statement in your leader of March 10, that the land held by tho Church Property Trustees in the borough of St Albans was given to the Church by the State, is incorrect. All, the land held by them in that borough was bought by the Canterbury Association with funds contributed by the original land purchasers in the settlement, and set apart as an endowment for Church purposes (except the church and vicarage sites at Merivale, which were the gifts of private individuals). The argument in your leader thus falls to the ground." Our contention remains \7ith precisely the same force as before. It does not really matter from what source a given property was obtained. The principle upon which Church properties are managed is in j question, and a variety of objectionable features might easily be stated. The j system of rating on unimproved values would probably bring about some sweeping reforms, and in this there is a hint for the St Aibans Borough Council. A Toronto correspondent of the Times says that the Dominion Government has signed a contract with a large firm of railway contractors for the construction of a railway 150 miles long from Glenora, on the Stickeen Eiver, to Te3.in Lake, from which there is continuous navigation for river steamboats to Klondyke and all points in the Yukon district. The contractors have undertaken to complete the line by next September. This will secure a practically all-Canadian route direct to the goldfields, and it has heen obtained without j any cost in money to the country, the f company receiving a large grant of mineral I lands by way of assistance to the enterj prise. Major Romler, of the Volunteer Battalion D.L.1., writes to the Newcastle Daily Chronicle, telling of a dream that came true : — I am an officer of the Tyne and Tees Brigade, lately commanded by the lamented Sir Henry Havelock-Allan. A day or so previous to the news of his death arriving in this country a strange thing, which I will now relate, happened. When I joined our luncheon circle at the Colflingwood at, the usual^time, one of the friends at the table remarked that I looked t pale and seedy. To this I replied that } I had. had a fearful dream about j Sir Henry Havelock-Allan. Further acI costed, I said that I dreamt I was I in India — where, by the way, I had never ; been — in a wild, lonely, mountainous disi trict, reminding one of the Naerodal in ] Norway. I suddenly heard a groan of j agony, and saw our Brigade's beloved i General writhing in pain and ghastly pale. Still he spoke — in the distinct tone which we of the Tyne and Tecs Brigade know so well — oh, so very well ; "Is that you, Eomler ?" said he, who stood to attention, as always when he addressed me; "lam dying, old boy. Good-bye." I was overcome, and said no more. Some few hours after we got the news of his death. My relating the dream was heard by two fellow-officers of the Brigade at the table, and also by a well-known J.P. of ' the county. The interview that was published in our columns the other day, wherein Mr Edward Smith, the superintendent of the Christchurch Fire Brigade, gave a mass of information concerning the leading Brigades of the colony, is a valuable contribution to the literature of the subject. Superintendent Smith is not merely a practical fireman of long experience, but ho has always kept himself thoroughly well informed with regard to everything pertaining to fire prevention, and is entitled to speak "as one having authority." While we may congratulate ourselves in this city on being fairly well forearmed against disaster by fire, it is certain' that other communities are seriously defective in this i regard, and that there is " something rotten in the State of Denmark." Auckland, for instance, has within a few short months experienced fire losses aggregating .£85,000, the Brigade being practically helpless for lack of modern appliances. What would not an expenditure of .£2OOO effect in this regard ? Now, there are some seven-and-twenty fire insurance companies doing business in Auckland, and probably not contributing a single jienny to the jcost of I prevention. It would be an uncommonly ! good thing for Auckland if the proposed i thirds principle obtained— the Government, j the insurance companies and the miinici- : pality jointly maintaining a well-manned, j well-officered and well-equipped brigade.