IN THE DOMINION.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 16, 21 April 1909, Page 5

IN THE DOMINION.

Suicide at Napier. G7T SENSATION was caused In Naj j pier last week by the news 4 J j that Claude Cato, a well-known accountant and auditor, had allot himself in a passage leading to his office in Browning-street. Cato fired a revolver shot through his head, and died when being taken to the hospital. Deceased, who was 46 years of age, leaves a widow and one child. Property Owners and Bnilders. !A judgment of considerable importance to contractors, timber merchants, and others, was given in the Supreme Court at Gisborne last week in the case of Peacock© and Co. v. Williams. The .plaintiffs, who are timber merchants, carrying on business in Gisborne, supplied timber to the contractor who was building the defendant’s house, and who gave them an order for £l5O, addressed Ito the defendant. The order .was in mutch the usual form and was accepted and signed by the defendant. The contractor became insolvent and the plaintiffs then sued the defendant in the Magistrate's Court for the amount of the order, but were non-suited. They appealed, and Mr. Burnand, who argued their case in the Supreme Court, endeavoured to show that the order was a [bill of exchange, and that the defendant was therefore liable, whether he had any funds of the contractors in hand or not. This argument has now been upheld in the judgment of Mr. Justice Edw-ards. Costly Railways, Sir Joseph Ward, in a communication to the Dunedin “Star,” says’: “The decision to stop the Roxburgh-Lawrence line pending Parliament reviewing the position is unalterable. The Otago Central last year resulted in an abnormally low result, viz., six shillings per cent—a deficiency on a three per cent basis of £34,558, and it is estimated that the ■Roxburgh line will prove nearly as disastrous. The suggestion that Southland influences have been responsible for the Government’s action is baseless and (without warrant, while the wretched suggestion that it had been done to injure the district because it returns a staunch Oppositionist is almost too contemptible to be considered as a matter of vital importance.” A Strange Fatality. William Reid, aged 18, met his death at Thames in a strange manner last week With friends he was out on the Hauraki Gulf on a fishing excursion. On the return voyage he went to bed in the cabin, apparently in the best of health. When the launch arrived at the Thames, Reid was found dead. Medical assistance (was secured, but life was extinct, the doctor expressing the opinion that death .was caused by the inhalation of benzine fumes. Another passenger said he felt ill, it 5s believed from the same cause. Reid met with a slight bicycle accident on the same day. but it is not believed that thia had anything to do with his death. Nganruhoe Still Active. The splendours and terrors of Ngauruhoe in eruption have attracted numerous parties to its assault during the past ten days, and most of them, whether successful or not in attaining the summit, have come away thoroughly impressed with the grandeur of the burning mountain, and with the thorough worth while of having essayed to scale at. Another Auckland party, which returned last week, reached the lip of the crater, but found it well nigh impossible to see anything save a whirl of dust and smoke and steam, which lushed upward with a whistling, roaring noise, 011 the mountain they found a heavy deposit of dust, but no signs of etone or boulders having been thrown out, and no lava. All the country around was coated with a grej- dust, while the streams were also greatly discoloured with it. So far as the mountain's in-

tenor was concerned, the convulsions and roaring that marked the week before were practically absent. After Nganruhoe the party ascended Ruapehu, the grand view from which was considered by one of the members as being superior to the celebrated view to be had on the route from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound. The Governor. The Tutanekai left Auckland last week for Kawau, her first place of morning for Kawau, her first place of call on the Northern cruise, the partyion board including Lord and Lady Plunket and their three youngest children, Captain the Hon. N. GathorneHardy and Captain J. W. Shannon, A.D.C.'s, Mr H. C. Waterfield (private secretary) and Mrs Waterfield, Miss Hill, Dr. and Mrs Wilson, of Palmerston North, Miss M. Johnson, of Takapau (Hawke’s Bay), Miss Anson, and Mr Logan, of Napier. New Plymouth will bo reached on May 5, and his Excellency will then attend the annual communication of the New Zealand Grand Masonic Lodge. On the 19th prox. he will open the new building for the Jubilee Institute for the Blind, and attends the Selwyn Centenary celebration • at the Choral Hall in the evening. Next day- Lord Plunket will present the prizes and certificates of the Auckland centre of the St. John Ambulance Association, and will stay over in Auckland for Empire Day (May 24). It is probable that the Governor will visit the Cook Islands in H.M.S. Challenger in the early part of June, returning to Wellington in time for the opening of Parliament. Whaling. It appears that the first industry ever pursued by white man in New Zealand is to be launched into on a greater scale than ever has been done yet. Whaling has been carried on at Whangamumu, near Cape Brett, for mafay years, but an attempt is to be made now to extend operations to the southern, bounds of the Dominion, where the more valuable “right" whale has haunts./ The whale found in off northern New Zealand is a hump-backed kind. From 50 to 80 miles off the south of New Zealand is said to be a good whaling place, and a convenient depot could be established at the Campbell Islands. A “right” whale yields about sewt of whalebone ( £9OO worth) and about £75 worth of oil. Roman Catholicism in Wellington. Interesting figures as to the growth of the Wellington arch-diocese since Archbishop Redwood took charge in 1874 were given by his Grace at a dinner tendered him by the Roman Catholic clergy in celebration of his having attained the seventieth year of his age. In 1874 the Wellington arch-diocese was, he said, bracketed with the diocese of Christchurch. There were then in the combined diocese only 20,000 Catholics; now there are 50,000 in the arch diocese alone. There were only 27 priests in the combined diocese; now there are 78 in the arch-diocese. Then there was no place in which ecclesiastical students could be trained; now there is a college at Wellington and one at Auckland, and colleges for the training of priests at Meanee and Mosgiel. Then there were very few nuns; now in the arch-diocese alone there are 345 nuns. Napier Trawling Dispute. The hopes that the trawling dispute would be settled have not been fulfilled, the Hawke's Bay- Fishermen's Union last week, deciding to adhere to their demand for regular wages as against the share system. There is a difference of opinion wnether employees working on shares would enjoy the benefits of the Workers’ Compensation Act. The men state that they have a legal opinion that if working under the share system they- would not be so protected, while the employers hold a contrary view. Complaint Against Trawling. The steam trawler Nora Niven has been operating in Tasman Bay for some time with successful results. Local fishermen, however, complain that their busi-

ness is being injured through damage to recognised fishing beds, and representations are to be made to the Government to fix limits in which each branch of the industry may operate. Dissatisfied Volunteers. In connection with complaints concerning alleged defective arrangements for the transport of troops to the Cantor bury Easter manoeuvres, the General Manager of Railways says: “There is always trouble with regard to volunteers. They consider in many- cases that they should receive much greater consideration than is extended to the ordinary public, and yet they are supposed to be acting under war conditions. We do the best we can for them, but our experience has not been satisfactory. There is considerable lack c.f discipline, and. as a general rule, we don't get much assistance from the officers. At the Orange encampment things went off very successfu'ty. the officers worked admirably, and gave every assistance. We only have a certain amount of rolling stock, and I tak? it that women and children have the first claim on the ordered carriages. Most of the volunteers arc young men. and most of them would put up with far greater inconvenience to attend an athletic contest or play in a football match.” Our Dreadnought Gift. A meeting was held in the King Edward Barracks last Wednesday in Christchurch, under the auspices of the local branch of the Navy League, to consider a motion endorsing the action of Cabinet in respect to the Dreadnought gift, and expressing approval of the offer. There were quite 400 b people present, and from the start the meeting was most disorderly, and broke up in confusion. None of the speakers was given a hearing, and even Bishops Julius and Grimes, on rising to speak, were received with grooms and cheers, which were continued, and so prevented them from being heard. Nobody in the crowd had the least idea what was going on owing to the awful uproar made 'by a noisy section standing just in front of the platform, and tfie call, for a show of hands in favour of the motion had to be done by means of a notification on a blackboard. The motion was declared carried amid a scene ef indescribable confusion, and then followed a perfect pandemonium. ; Mr. T. E. Taylor, M.P., endeavoured to speak, but could not be heard owing to the din, and his violent gestures were not understood. A great fight took place over the possession of the blackboard. It was first of all snatched away from the platform, and an attempt made to carry it to where Mr. Taylor was standing, presumably with the object of putting a hostile amendment in the same way as before, but the other section of the crowd got to work, and the blackboard was tossed about like a raft on the sea. Even when it was announced that the proceedings w-ere closed hundreds remained cheering and Looting, and it was not -until the lights were extinguished that the barracks could be cleared. A noisy open-air meeting was held in Cathedral Square afterwards. Concentrating the Prisons. Fourteen prisoners were transferred from the Hokitika Gaol, now to be closed, to the Lyttelton Gaol, on Friday afternoon. The men, under an escort of police, were taken in a special carriage from Hokitika to Otira, a special coach from Otira to Broken River, and a special train to Lyttelton. Urewera District Opened for Mining, Notice is gazetted extending the boundaries of the Hauraki mining district to the Urewera County, covering about 656,000 acres, known as the Urewera District Native Reserve, which is nowopen for mining purposes. Miners’ rights will be issued on payment of a fee of 10s annually, and no person will be allowed to prospect for minerals without a license. No native or imported game is to he shot or snared within the reserve, and timber can be only cut for domestic and mining purposes. The land set apart for cultivation, residence sites, or burial grounds must not. be interfered with. Any person discovering gold is to report to the warden full particulars of the discovery. A royalty of 6d for every

ounce of gold won within th.' reserve is to be paid to the Native owners. Miners' rights will Is- issued at post offices at Wairoa, Opotiki, Gisborne, an I Rotorua. Constable Wilcox, elerk of the court at Whakatane, has been appointed receiver of gold revenue and mining registrar for the district. Disconcerting. The travelling evangelist who writes his messages on finger-posts has managed to make a strong impression on a Minister of the Crown. During his recent motor tour to Mount t ook, the Hon. T. McKenzie and his party lost their way in the wilds. It was pitch dark, and the only thing they were positive about was that there was a sheer drop of some 1100 feet in the vicinity. The. Minister, seeing a finger post looming on the roadside. got down and began to strike matches ami peer for the inscription. The match flared and threw a feeble glowon what looked like a gibbet. Then, in the midst of all that dark loneliness, with the precipice yawning somewhere near, he read. “Heaven or h ; which is it to bet”