NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 288, 29 August 1908, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

(EI XELEGRAia—PEESB ASSOCIATION.) ■ ■ —«——L.

BABY IN A COAL BOX. WANGAJin DESERTION CASE. Wanganui, August 28.' At the Magistrate's Court, Letitia Broad, of Dunedin, was charged, with abandoning, on August -7) a female child under the age of two Evidence was given to the effect thai the child was admitted to the Kara Lan! Home, Anderson's Bay, Dunedin on June 13 last, the mother of the child agreeing to pay 10s. 'a week. Later the mother |nd accused endeavoured to get the child, v'hich was then ill, accused stating that sb 3 had legally adopted it. On August 14 accused got the child and brought it to Wanginui, and on the arrival of the train betwen 3 and 4 o'clock left it in a coalKox at tlo rear of a vacated liouso, whero it was fouid about seven in the evening. It had beef mining in the afternoon, and the child's clofhes were wet through, and it was cold anJ ill, Dr. Anderson stating that it was Entering from acute' bronchitis and congeston of the lungs, the child's life bavin* teen endangered by the exposure. ° / Elizabeth Henderson said she saw accused cake the_ baby into tho section, and return without it. - The case was adjourned till this afternoon, when tho mother of the baby will be called. .

A PECULIAR SHIPPING CASE. Christchurch, August 28. A snipping case of a somewhat'peculiar nature was heard at Lyttelton this morning. A seaman named John Hughes, bolonging to the New Zealand Shipping Company s steamer Waimate, was charged with having absented'himself without leave from the. vessel. . • . . In the course of evidence it' was stated that while the Waimate Was at Dunedin Hughes had been sent to Seacliff Mental Hospital owing to mental derangement. Th 6 Collector of Customs at Dunedin declared the man a prohibited immigrant. Later on tho man was discharged from Seacliff as cured, and ho came up to Lyttelton yesterday, but did not wish, to go on board his vessel. The company thus became liable for a bond of £100, the man being a prohibited immigrant, and they had him, arrested and locked up on the charge of absenting himself from his ship. The company' proposed to sign him off tho ship's articles and send mm to England in the Rimutaka. which leaves Wellington to-morrow, but the shipping master at Lyttelton (Captain Marciol) wasi unable _to sign Hughes off, as ho is a prohibited immigrant. -Tbe case was remanded until to-morrow* The company in the; meantime are communicating with the Minister for ■ Internal Affairs with tho object of trying to arrange to get the man signed off and sent to England in' another vessel.

UNPROFITABLE MADNESS., ' Auckland, August 23. . There is no doubt now that Thomas Fitzgerald, who was yesterday sentenced to five years' imprisonment for arson, had been feigning madness for no less than' sis months, though he'nearly-escaped-on the plea: of lunacy. When Fitzgerald arrived - at': the gaol, he threw off tho mask, and talked quite coherently, saying to the chief gaoler that he only expected to get three years, and that being mad was foirfully hard ■ work. - This morning he was mostly interested in ascertaining to what extent good conduct, would count in tho reduction of his sentence. V

IS IT A HOAS? Auckland, August 28. A young man going home to Newmarket this evening found pinned to a tree in the Domain a piece of paper with the following written on it: —"The finder of this note will pleaso inform the police that I have shot myself, and my body will be found on the ridge." ..(Signed A., Dudley, 87 Victoria Street, Auckland.) On ,the reverse side of the paper , was written:-^!!'Will tho finder of this note kindly tell my friends that I am tired of life." A search of tho vicinity made after dark was resultloss, and the quest was ad-. ; journod until to-morrow morning. Inquiries for 87 Victoria Street revealed the fact that the place that had borno that number had. been pulled down. Tho' police are inclined' to belicvo tho affair to bo a boas.

OATS: A DISASTROUS TEAT?. Dunedin, August 28. There are signs of a complete .break in the oats market owing to' the absence of demand and a scries of forced sales. It is reported that the purchase was made to-day by a Southland . firm of. a considerable lino of B grade, sparrow- | bills at Is. 7d. at Goro, equivalent to Is. lOd. f.o.b.s.i. Bluff. Advices from Auckland also state that B grade sparrowbills are offering there from the South at Is. lid. f.o.b.s.i. This represents a drop of between Bd. and 9d. per bushel from the highest point touched this season, and as a majority of merchants laid in heavy stocks at higher prices losses. must > bo heavy. This promises to be the most disastrous year experienced in the oats trade for a good many years.. Advices from Australia indicate a demoralised market in Sydney and Melbourne owing to heavy shipments from Ivcw Zealand on consignment. Theretis.no presenl . indication of a l'enowal of. the North.'lnland demand, and merchants are turning their eyes , to London, : but tho absence of cheap freights blocks the way in that quarter.