NEW ZEALAND : GENERAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 31, 2 August 1900, Page 19

NEW ZEALAND : GENERAL.

The Hon. John McKenzie, ex-Minißter of Lands, is not pro pressing as rapidly as his many friends would wish. The Wellington Law Society have received a cable stating that Mr. Jellicoe's appeal against the decision of the Appeal Court waa dismissed. Mb. 0. Mewhinney, who has acted for some years as private secretary to the Hon. John M'Kenzie, ex-Minister of Lands, takes up the same position with the new Minister, the Hon. T. Y. Duncan. The address which was presented to Captain Hayhurst by the tenants of the Green Hayes estate was illuminated on opal by the Sisters of St. Joseph, Temuka, The work was done with much taste and skill. A vkry large demand exists for Crown land in the Auckland province just now. The Star learns that in February next a big area is to be thrown open in the King Country on the other side of Kawhia. This land is said to be of splendid quality. The Xew Zealand Tnnei states that Mr. J Grattan Grey, the late chief of the Haunard reporting staff, intends leaving the Colony by the San Francisco ma* l steamer Moana on August 27th. en route for L ndon, where he will engage in journalistic work. The Nelson fohmmt states that recently Mr. Beck, who has a sta+ion pome distance inland from Tupar a, iound on his property a gj>lendid opal. The stone is highly colored and of good quality, and the d'scoverec intends making further exploration in the locality. Edwahd Colley, a cabinetmaker, was fined £2, with £,\ Oi costs, by the Arbitration Court, Wellington, at the instance of the Furniture Trade Union, for having employed an incompetent journeyman without a permit, this constituting a breach of the award. The Melbourne A<jr says : ' New Zealand's recent development of military enthusiasm is another evidence that the tendency to exaggeration is extreme, and is unlikely to be approved by New Zealand in her coder moments, nor be imitated by the Commonwealth.' The Royal Commission, appointed by the Government, is now engaged in hearing evidence with regard to certain charges against the management of St. Mary's Orphanage, Stoke. Nelson. Later on, when we have the whole of the evidence before us, we will deal with the matter. Miss Jane Anne Moixoy, who h»s been appointed to a position in the Nelson State school (says the lnangahu a Times'), was entertained at the convent prior to her departure. Many expressions of regret at Miss Molloy'a departure were indulged in by some of her friends present, and numerous good wishes expressed for her future success and happiness. The Austrians who arrived in Auckland last week from Sydney were permitted to land, a bond having been entered into

that they would not become dependent upon the State for their support. Forty have since arrived, and 100 are on their way from Dalmatia, while 200 are expeoted next September. In reply to local protests, the Premier points out that the emigration is against the wishes of the Austrian Government, and an evasion of the Kauri Gum Industry Act, If the Auetrians attempt to come here decided action will be taken. Advice has been received in Wellington of the death in England of Lieutenant-colonel Russell, father of Captain Russell, M.H.R. ; aged 89 years. The deceased gentleman was formerly lieutenant-colonel in the 58th Regiment. Having taken part in the Maori wars, he purchased land in the Hawke's Bay district of New Zealand, and for some years resided in the Colony, being for several years a member of the Legislative Council, and from October, 1865, to August, 1866, Minister of Native Affairs in the. Stafford Ministry. The London correspondent of the Dunedin Ecening Start writing under date June 8, says : Dr. and Mrs. Mackin, of Wellington, are in London again for a long stay. They had some idea of visiting Egypt and the Holy Land on their way over, but found that they would have been so fully and frequently quarantined that thej came straight on to Marseilles in the 'Australia.' After a trip to Monte Carlo, where they were fortunate enough to see the Princess's Palace, they ' did ' the Exhibition in Paris. ' Too much to see and too much to pay ' was the verdict Dr. Mackin pronounced upon its attractions. After a week in London Dr. Mackin purposes crossing to the Emerald Isle to spend a couple of months with his mother at Rostrevor. After a sufficient holiday he is going in for post; graduate course at the leading hospitals, and intends to devote some time to a study of the methods of the Pasteur Institute. Hansard of July 20 gives the following instance of a peculiarly harassing mode of persecution i that has been lately put into force in Napier under the aegis of the law : Mr. Field (for Mr. A. L. D. Fraser, Napier) asked the Minister of Education whether he had seen a report in the Napier Daily Telegraph of the 16th instant of a prosecution in the Stipendiary Magistrate's Court at Napier, of a number of persons for allowing their children to attend the Catholic schools without exemption by the Public School Committee, and whether he approves of the action ; and also whether such prosecutions were laid with his cognisance and approval ? He had been asked by the Member for Napier to put this question on his behalf/ It had been that honorable member's intention to introduce the question at some length— at much greater length than he (Mr. Field) was able to do ; but he had a note of two or three facts connected with the case which he desired to bring under the notice of the Minister. The facts, he understood, were, already fully before the Minister. It appeared that under ' The Education Act, 1877,' and ' The School Attendance Act, 1894,' parents may apply for aa exemption certificate from the local School Committee when their children are attending any school outside a public school. This meant that where children were attending colleges, private schools, or Catholic schools, they were open to prosecution unless they had that certificate. The chil- 1 dren referred to in tbis question, it was admitted, were attending a Catholic sohool or schools, in common with thousands of other children in the Colony who were attending schools outside the State schools, and in respect of whom no certificates were obtained. It was understood that this law had been much more honored in the breach than in the observance, and it was quite unusual to see a prosecution in such a case. In this case a prosecution had been instituted, and it was done under such circumstances that it had caused much indignation throughout the district. — Mr Hall-Jones (Minister for Public Works) stated that the Minister of Education was not aware of these proceedings, nor had he the power to interfere, the whole matter being entirely under the control of the Board of Education. It did, however, seem to be a most extraordinary thing that where children were attending school, and it was known that they were attending 1 school, their parents should have sum*' monses served upon them and brought into Court. This was not the case in one or two instances, he believed, but in from twenty to twenty-five. The position, he believed, had since changed. The Hawke's Bay Education Board had held a meeting during the week, and the truancy officer who had initiated these proceedings had had bis services dispensed with — he had been retired or dismissed. He (Mr. Hall-Jones) doubted very much if there was any other Board of E lucation in the Colony that would have taken such proceedings, and the chairman, he believed, had since resigned. The chairman, when the matter came before the Board of Education, judging from ' the newspaper report, was the only member of the Board who supported the officer in what he had done.