NEWTOWN LICENSING POLL

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11501, 6 February 1903, Page 8

NEWTOWN LICENSING POLL

APPLICATION TO. PREVENT THE SCRUTINY.

(FBBSS ASSOCIATION TEItGBAII.) WELLINGTON, February 5. The enquiry into the Newtown licensing poll was adjourned to-day until Monday, pending a motion being brought in the Supreme Court to prevent the Magistrate proceeding with the scrutiny. During the discussion Dr. McArthur, -S.M., eaid that in the scrutiny he would most certainly cast aside the votes of persons who were under age when enrolled, even though they had come of age prior to the issue of the writs.

BEMARKABLE CASE OF

AVARICE.

A remarkable and, so far as Canada is concerted, an unprecedented case of avarice was brought to light in Toronto (writes the .Canadian correspondent of the "Otago Daily Times"). Kli'Hyman, a Jew, who had lived in that city for 32 years, was admitted to the general hospital n<? a non-paying patient. A local doctor found him "suffering from a very h&avy cold, and gave an order for his admission at the city's expense. He begged a street car ticket to take him to the hospital, p.nd the regular -ward attendants found him in such a state of filth that they ehrank from him hi disguet. He was given a bath and put to bed, when the house surgeon found that lie was suffering from pneumonia. He seemed anxious to impress upon the hospital authorities the fact that he was destitute, and therefore could not pay anything for medical treatment. After Hjman had been put to bed in the public ward he handed a parcel done up in a red handkerchief to the nurse, and asked her to take care of it for him. She laid it in a drawer and thought nothing further about it. Hyman 'also aeked her to take good care of his vest, which she did. Four days later he died, and when the parcel in the handkerchief was opened it was found to contain £8000 in first-class securities and a considerable sum of money. Inside the lining of the vest other bonds were discovered which brought the total up to orer £20,000. This was not only a great surprise to the nurse, but to the people of Toronto, when the fact was published, for Hyman was a well-known character in the city. He was always regarded as an unfortunate beggar, barely able to keep body and eoul together. As a mendicant, however, be was an artist.

For years the old man had slept in a shed on York street. He spent his forenoon in gathering rags and junk, and in the afternoon he would sell newspapers on the street. He always had a last paper to sell, and his simulated distress frequently led to some generous pedestrian giving him. a small donation in silver. So successfully did he impose on everyone that even his Jewish friends were deceived, and for years he had been allowed a small pension out of the charity fund contributed by the Hebrew community of Toronto. In fact, while he was not sleeping he spent his time in either begging or making small sums by the selling of rags and newspapers. He denied himself every trace of bodily comfort, and one of the mysteries connected with'his case is the means by which ho managed to riurcbaee vuluable securities without the fact being known. , After Hyman'a death it transpired that he had a wife living some forty miles from Toronto, whom he occasionally visited. 6be had some little means of her own, and for thirty-five years he had not contributed a farthing for her support. Living entirely alone, he had given himself up to the task of accumulating money, and this he had done so successfully that at the time of his death his investments were sufficient to have yielded him an annual income of nearly'£2ooo. Nevertheless, for practically a lifetime he had not known what it was to enjoy a good meal, to be decently dressed, or to have a place in which he could sleep with comfort. One occasionally reads about incidents of this kind, but the genuine miser is usually regarded as a creature of fiction.