CANTERBURY NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 595, 25 August 1909, Page 5

CANTERBURY NOTES.

■ 4 ; j . | ■ ! THE THREE-CARD TRICK. (By Telesrapn-Rpccial Correspondent.) Christchurch, August 24. A prisoner at the Supreme Court yesterday, wlio had been .convicted of practising the three-card trick, pleaded, in extenua-! tion of his crime,-that the game was almost as.common in railway, carriages as poker or whist. In fact, he said, the committee of the Auckland Butchers' Picnic had licensed men, at a. fee of 55., to play it on'the grounds. '.( '•" ••' ' ■.• '• ' "Oh," said Mr. Justice Denniston, "did they know that the- three-card; trick' was a deliberate' Swindle, by which three men deliberately conspired ■• to swindle others? Would they-really' for a moment license you to swindle the:'public? ■ I do hot for a moment think they realised.that,three men conspire to got hold ; ;of all the mugs ,tbey can, to use a.technical phrase..; One of them pretends to be an innocent stranger playing with you,.and winning regularly. The other, while you have arranged to look away, pretends to i rnake a certainty of a card one way, and'makes a' certainty of-it,the other. Really, I think you are wasting your time. At any rate, I take an entirely different view from .the butchers;". His Honour sentenced 'the-prisoner to twelve, months' imprisonment. .'..'-. ■-..'" A.Strango Animal. A correspondent asks a local paper if there are authentic cases on record of catrabbit hybrids.." "A few 'days ago," he writes, "when: cycling, in' the neighbourhood of Tai Tapu, a strange-looking creature hopped —that is the only term! can apply to its strange method qf locomotion—from behind a fence, and squatted'down in the middle rff the road. As I,'approached the animal hod into a paddock on the other side of the road, so I unfortunately had no opportunity of closely examining it.': The creature, however, appeared -to be-about, the size, and shape of a large rabbit, and, at a first glance, might have been' taken for one,'but the markings on, the body were quite unlike those of any rabbit I have ever-seen, and, stranger still, the creature possessed a fairsized tail. Its colour was greyish brown, with markings of a - dark tint., not unlike those of-a : tabby-cat, and its bead seemed to'very closely resemble that of: a cat. The whole, appearance of-the animal was astonishing, hut still more so : was the cjy it emitted as;.l approached. l which was ; a distinct and unmistakable mew." Sunday Band Concerts, The question of Sunday -Band concerts cropped up again at the City, Council'last night, when: the Woolston Brass Band applied for permission to give a series of. concerts' in Lancaster Park. ; on' Sunday afternoon, to raise funds to cnablo-it to attend the Inyercargill contest. The Mayor pointed out that last 'year the council; had refused a request by the South Island Sands' Aeso: ciation-for permission to v give Sunday evening concerts. Protests bad been received fi?om the Ministers'- Association-and many othov. bodies against the granting of petmission. Councillor D'ougall moved that the permission should'be granted subject: to its being revoked at any time. : The council, he said, was too censorious, and should- en>courage some form of entertaining the present crowd of.' Sunday idlers. ' "In my opinion," he said, "it; would be an admirable thing if the. council so regulated, "matters thatthe'roshould be-'a band concert every Sunday afternoon; "By refusing permission to' bands which desired to give such concerts, with a _ view to suppressing what Has considered to be au evil, the council was creating an. evil that was ,tcn times greater. There was - more evil rampant in Christchurch than in ;any other city of a similar size on,'the face of the/earth. Ask the police, and from their report judge of the condition of the. city;" A great, deal of the evil that existed, y he said, arose solely from the fact that it was : attempted to' suppress" and kill .every: form, of; liberty and amusement among the people,-.with the result that there now existed in -the ,city one of, the worst .'forms s -of.■ evil that, could be found in any community. The motion was •lOSV'';' . ■ '