CORRESPONDENCE

Waikato Argus, Volume XVI, Issue 2629, 3 May 1904, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE

CONSTABLE MATTHEW'S CASE. TO THE EDITOR. SIK, —In your issue of tha 28th inst. you publish a report of the case against Constable Matthew for stealing apples from the orchard of Taonui Kikaka of this place. In the report in question ib has been omitted to give the evidence of myself and the other two witnesses for the prosecution, but has given pretty fully the Magistrate's un-called-for remarks |and denunciations of me and bis complete exoneration of the constable. If our evi« dence had been reported ib would have enabled the public to judge how far the Magistrate was guided by the evidence before the Court to again heap calumny on King Country witnesses. I have nothing to fear from a thorough examination and further ventilation of the case and anything in connection therewith, bub Constable Matthew might. Withoub doubt the case for the prosocution was badly handled ; but how was it the constable was nob allowed to deny or explain why it was he went four or five chains off the road through a paddock, then cross a stream, crawl up to a private orchard, and go through the motions of a man taking fruit from a tree, and then when shouted to by the children eye-witnesses going off with his buckeb in his hand. Ib would have been hotter for the constable's reputation if he had explained this sway than getting a certificate of dismissal from the Magistrate. "Witnesses from this district appearing ab the Te Awamutn S.M. Court never expect anything but abuso if against the police or police cases. It is every true citizen's duty to sustain the officers of law in the faithful and legitimate execution of their dutieß, but when a Magistrate digresses from the true functions of his office to unnecessarily slander and besmirch a witness and the residents of his district generally, he would be a despicable cur indeed that would submib tamely —I am, etc., H. W. Hetet. Te Kuiti, April 30, 1904. BUILDING BY-LAWS. TO THE EDITOB. Sir, —That portion of your report of the last meeting of the Cambridge Borough Council having reference to my proposal advocating the framing of building regulations is calculated to convey a wrong impression of what 1 said and meant. It is wrongly stated * That several councillors thought the working man had a right to build a threeroomed cottage if he liked, etc' Cr. Boyce was the only member to take exception to my remarks, and accepted my explanation that I had no wish to curtail the rights of the working man. In| bringing the matter under the notice of the Council I did so because in common with the numerous boroughs throughout the colony I considered such regulations necessary. With no building by-laws, as is the case at Cambridge, a man can build whatever he chooses and wherever he likes, and what I wish to see framed are bylaws that will injure no one bub benefit all. Therefore I have no desire to prevent the working man from building his three-roomed cottage, bub rather wish to encourage him to get a home of his own, if only to escape paying the exorbitant rents ruling nowadays. Further, if it can be satisfactorily proved that rating on the unimproved value tends in this direotion, I shall vote for its adoption in the Cambridge Borough.—l am, etc., E. J. Wilkinson. April 30th, 1904. THE VEGETABLE CATERPILLAR TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In last Thursday's issue of The Waikato Akgus a correspondent signing himself ' Inquirer' asks for information about the ' vegetable' caterpillar. He wishes to know whether it is true that the rata grows originally from an in» sect. Although this question has been answered over and over again, the extraordinary belief that the fungus which attacks the body of the caterpillar in question grows ultimately into a rata, is still very prevalent among our bushmen. It is almost needless to say that the rata has nothing whatever to do with either the caterpillar or its parasite. The belief probably aioso from a remarkable habit of this tree. When the seed germinates in the mould of the fork of an old forest tree ; the seedling after a time sends out one or more aerial roots, which descend the trunk until they reach the ground, whence they thenceforth take their sustenance. The slender aerial roots thus become true stems, which in the course of time grow into the massive trunks which are among tbe most striking objects of our bush scenery. Ib is curious to note that v/hen the seed of the rata germinates in the soil like that of the other forest tree?, the result is a shrub which never attains the gigantic dimensions of its erstwhile epiphytic relative.—l am, etc., Rudolf Haeusleu, Ph.D.