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New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 911, 22 August 1907, Page 20

Matches to the extent of 20,032 tons were exported from Sweden in 190$. ♦ « * ♦

Of the 51,000 breweries estimated to be in the world, 26,000 are in Germany.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel, New Ycrk. which was recently sold, will be replaced 4 by great office buildings, 25 storeys h gh.

It is a custom in the Belgian Par lament, when a member is making a long speech, to be supplied with brandy as a beverage, at the expense of the Government.

One of the principal cigar manufactories of Havana has lately been making some enormous c : gars which measures iBin long and 6in in circumference. They are not very heavy, as they weigh only about 40Z, but they cost a sovereign apiece in Havana and a 'hundred in London.

We regret to learn that Mrs. Martin, wife of the proprietor of the Hot Springs Hotel, Okoroire, met with a panful accident last week. Whilst walking along the verandah she slipped and broke a small bone in the leg, also dislocating the ankle . joint.

At Wellington last Friday James White, forecabin steward of the Rotoiti, was c/harged in the Magis.rate’s Court with supplying liquor to a probationer constable while the vessel was alongside the wharf. The packet license only permits liquor to be sold on the vessel during the passage from port to port. Defendant stated that he refused to serve the man several times before finally serving him. A fine of 40s was imposed. * * * *

Frederick Weiss was convicted last Friday in Wellington for selling alcoholic wine without a license, and was fined £1 and costs. This charge was in connection with similar charges against Mrs. Weiss, which were reported last week.

At the Hamilton Mag’strates’ Court last Thursday judgment was given in the case against Albert Powell, charged with allowing poo! to be played in h s licensed billiardroom at Hamilton. The Magis.rate said that though the game in itself may be absolutely innocent, if played for money it became illegal. He fined the accused 40s and 35s costs.

In the local Police Court the other day an offender who pleaded hard not to be sent back to the gaol, said that he was not on speaking terms with the gaoler. However, he was sent back, so that he will have to inform the gaoler that in future he is “not at home” to him.

James Johnston, a prohibited person was last Friday fined £2 and costs, cr a month in gaol as an alternative, for being found on licensed premises.

The commercial travellers of Victoria made a request to the Attorney-General that they be excused from service asjurymen, as it interfered with their business arrangements. Mr. Davies replied that the duties of a juryman were for the public benefit, and could not be mod.fied to suit the convenience of individuals.

At the Paeroa Magistrate’s Court las: week five men were charged with having been on licensed premises on a Sunday. It was explained tihat they had not gone into the houses for -liquor but for the purpose of seeing some friend. The Magistrate accepted the explanation, and inflicted a fine in only one case against one of the defendants, who did not appear. The other four appeared at Court to answer the charges.

In, the Christchurdhi Supreme Court last Thursday, Elizabeth Annie Reid was committed for four months imprisonment for robb : ng a guest in a ho‘el in which she was a domestic servant.

Mr. David Robinson, who took over the Post Office Hotel at Neavesville after Mr. R. Gibb, left for Honolulu, has sold his interest in that house to Mr. M. J. Gill.

Some astonishing statements w-.re made before the Acting-Collector of Customs in Melbourne, when several importers were called on to answer charges under the Commerce Act. Imported rings which were stamped “9 carat” were found to be very thin cases of 2.5 carat go d, filled with wax, and leather for the manufacture of books was found to contain 22 per cent, of barum and 11 per cent, of added oil. It was sta.ed that the adulteration of leather sometimes exceeded 50 per cent, by weight.

The British-American Tobacco Co. has suspended production at ts Melbourne works. The cause is the uncertainty of the trade with the increase of duty and excise. Five hundred hands will be affected.

It is no: often that an application for a prohibition order is opposed, but an instance was furnished last week at Waihi, where the alleged user of alcohol to excess, successfully combated the application.

At the Ashburton Magistrate’s Court last week Isabella Burgess was fined for s y. grog-selling, and Edmund Morley was fined 20s and costs for sending liquor 'into a no-licenste district insuffD cientlv labelled.

The New South Wales Premier speak ing at Balmain (Sydney) a few days ago, pointed out tha: the public indebtedness of the State to-day was nearly a million less than three years ago.

Margaret Turner, keeper of a Wel--1 ngton boardinghouse, was last week lined £2 at the Magistrate’s Court for supplying liquor to a Maori woman.

At the annual meeting of the Council of the Churches at Dunedin recently, the subject of the bottle licenses at that p ace came up for discussion, the fact of the police not being able to enter premises was commented upon, and the opinion was expressed that there Should be legislation in the matter.

The magisterial district of Waikato is likely to be divided, and Mr. Cruickshank, formerly of Te Awamutu, may officiate at Hamilton and south of that town, Mr. Northcroft taking the remainder of the district as defined at present.

We hear that Mr. W. J. Brewin who for many years successfully conducted the Edinburgh Castle Hotel in Symondsstreet, has purchased Mr. R. T. Michael’s interest in the Manukau Hotel at Onehunga.

Some of the members of the finest club in the world, which is the House of Commons, are sadly deficient in the Imperial spirit. They drink Scotch and Irish whiskies, French an 1 German wines, foreign brewed Laager beer, and British ales, and have been known to sample Australian wines ,and fruit in season, without murmuring. But the other day Mr. Rees (of “Wales wass Wales pefore Englant wass porn look you”) asked th chairman of the Kitchen Committee to consider the propr'ety of substituting Welsh mutton for Canterbury lamb. Sir J. Jacoby, the chairman aforesaid, was not prepared to adopt the suggestion, though he was willing to supply the Welsh article to the House between the months of October and March, when, he understood, Welsh mutton was on sale in the London market. Mr. Dewar then pressed the claims of “Scotch blackfaced,” and Mr. Weir put in a claim for the mutton of the Western H'ghlands, and both received promises that their suggestions should be considered. Not one solitary English M.P. voices lhe claims of mutton grown south of the Cheviots or east of the Welsh border, but Mr. O’Shaughnessy, amid the cheers of his fellow Nationalists, demanded to know why the claims of Irish mutton should be overlooked. The Irish claim was, of course, not pu t forward seriously, but Messrs. Dewar and Weir were in earnest. New Zealand lamb, how-

ever, seems likely to hold its own in the House against all-comers, In spite of the efforts of “Taffy” and “Mac’ to oust it in favour of their own product.

Failing health, we understand, is the cause of Mr. R. T. Michaels’ retirement from the Manukau Hotel, at Onehunga. Mr. and Mrs. Michaels are so well and favourably known in the Trade, that it is hoped their retirement will be of the briefest, and that Mr. Michaels will very soon be restored to perfect health.

Painting, repapering and renovating is being carried on at some of the hotels at the Thames.

Mr. W. Woodward, who has recently taken over the Royal Hotel, Victoriastreet, is one of the bes -known and most popular hote keepers in the Auckland province. “Rocks” Wcodward, as he is familiarly known among h's friends, and they are legion, has had many years of successful hotelkeep ng at the Thames and Rotorua. Whilst at the Thames he made himself exceedingly popular with all classes, taking a promnient active interest in a 1 branches of sport and racing. After a successful period as propr'etor of the Mackylown Hotel, Mr. Wcodward proceeded to Rotorua, and assumed the management of the Grand Hotel, where he and Mrs. Woodward soon proved that they were adepts in the art of keeping a ho‘ el in first-class style. We predict for them successful business in the Royal, their undoubted abi ities in catering and hospitality making t‘ha* success assured.

It 's not generai’y known, but it appears that playing bi'liards in hotels for trophies at tournaments is illegal. Quite recerr.ly a Waikato licensee was fined by Mr. H. N. Northcroft, S.M., for permitting, a billiard tournament to be played in h’s hotel.

Rumour has it that Mr. T. J. Buxton, who has sold out of the Naval and Family Hotel, has purchased Mr. T. B. O’Connors interest in the Thames Hotel, Queen-street.

Mr. D. Nordern, well-known among the Auckland hotelkepers, goes back to his o d house the Nava’ and Family Hotel, he having purchased Mr. T. J. Buxon’s interest in that hotel. It is not long since Mr. Nordern sold out to Mr. Buxton.

The “Manchester City News,” of June 20 publishes the fo’lowing:—“From the Albion Hotel in Piccadilly, to New Zealand s a far cry, and between the e’evation of our antipodean colony to the dignity of a “Dominion. ’ and he hoste ry at the corner of Oldham-street, the connection is not at first sight very apparent. But a link does exist, and in this way. Early in the 'last century, on March 7, 1826, to be accurate, a young lady was abducted from a board ng school in Liverpool, and brought to the Albion Hotel by Edward Gibbon Wakefie'd and his brother, afterwards being aken to Gretna Green, where a form of marriage was gone through. The lady was then taken to France, but was rescued by her uncle, and her abductors were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment each. After 'his release from prison, Edward Wakefie’d assis ed in the colonisation of South 1 Australia, and then became manager of the New Zealand Association formed for the founding of settlements in those islands. Learning that a French expedition was at work annexing islands in the Pacific, Wakefield hurried on the preparations for colonisation, and landed and hoisted the British flag where the City of Auckland now stands some few hours before the French ships cast anchor in the bay. Although the country had been discovered by British seamen, no attempt had been made to assert our rights to it until Wakefield’s expedition, and -it is probable that had he not devoted his attention while in prison to the study of colonial questions, the new Dominion under the Southern Cross wou’ld, to-day, have been a colonial establishment under the French Republic.”