AUCKLAND NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 513, 21 May 1909, Page 3

AUCKLAND NOTES.

Cdi lEtiGiurH—srEcur, cokbesbijdest.) ■■'.-, Auckland, May 19. The centenary of the birth of Bishop G. A. Selwyn will bo further celeb'ated by a public meeting in the' Choral Hal to-morrow evening.' The. Anglican Bishop of Auckland (Dr. Neligan) will preside, and the speakers will include his Excellency the dovcrrior, the Hon. Dr. Findlay (Attornoy-Gcioral), and a number of' others, - . Thq papers are full of Selwyn stories, of which tho following from a S'auku man's reminiscences is characteristic^—On the occasion of one of his visits to' tho district, riding from the Lower j Karaka at night, on a bad , road,!' not much, more than a track, Bishop Solwyn got. off the road. After a Jain -endeavour to find; the path again ho cano across a deserted homestead, but only alargo sod chininoy was left'standing. Aftyr tethering his horse,-he made himself as confortablo as ho could in the fireplace, with his saddle for a pillow, tho three sides of tie chimney shel'\ tering him from the wind. Oh daylight criming ho saddled up again andfound tho track. He soon arrived at hospitable quarters at Mauku, whore he told how he had spent tho night in such a novel bedi>om. A woman who appcarod at tho Police Court yesterday was state! to have put up somothing of a record in Jho way of breaking windows. She was charged with having . smashed no fewer than l'y panes of glass in the vicinity of the Sirnfsoti and Federal Streets cornor, and she tttributcd her violence to drinking' methyhtod spirits.. Tho paries brokcu wero in thi houses of persons .who had given ovideiiw against her in a Court case. The womaj was remanded , till Monday on this charge, Ind-ako-oua charge

of damaging four blankets, the property of the Now Zealand Government. On making inquiries on board the ■ s.s. Aparima from Calcutta with regard to tho recent outbreak, of smallpox, at that port, it was learned that tho scourge had practically died out when the Aparima took lier departure from Calcutta on April 16. An exciting chase after a thief occurred at Avondale yesterday afternoon. In tho morning soino' Chinese gardeners in that district found their huts had been broken i into and various articles stolen. In ono instance a man was seen going out. Shortly after noon another Chinaman found tho same intruder in his hut, and grappled with him, but after a struggle tho. man escaped. The .hue and cry was given, and, headed by Constable M'lnnes, a large.body of men were soon in pursuit. An .exciting chase, which lasted over four hours, ensued. Keeping well in front, tho man made across country towards Port Chevalier, where ho jumped into a boat and pulled up tho river. His pursuers followed tho trail. He then went along the beach through the bush and back ,on to the main road towards town, where shortly after five o'clock Constablo M'lnnes :sccurcd;tho man, and tho partios returned to Avondale. The person arrested is believed to bo an cx-Burnham boy. Ho was subsequently removed to tho city police cells. Ho is only about 20 years of age. May 20. Mr. H. N. G'arlarrd, secretary to the Auckland Charitable Aid Board; slates that the tightness of tho money market has not increased distress in the city so far as he could judge by the applications for relief coming before tho board. Vory few ablebodied'"men have asked for assistance. The operation of Iho Infant I/il'e Protection Aot. W7, is b'"'v; M 1 by "-p \| !C I.--land Hospital and 'Charitable- Aid Board. Tiie relieving officer (Mr. A. Herbert .Jones) states that under it numbers of children, who formerly would havo been maintained by tho State, are boing made a charge on the local bodies. Magistrates have "now tho. power to commit to schools for destitution' or for unruliness, and as often both these factors are present they have a discretionary power. Mr. Herbert Jones remarked that magistrates seem to have a partiality for committing for destitution when they can do so, and thus making tho children a charge on the local bodies instead of, on tho State, as they would be if committed for unruliness.