OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 661, 23 August 1921, Page 6

OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

THE ARCH HILL MYSTERY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) AUCKLAND, Ann;. I<>. Nearly six weeks have now elapsed since, poor young Francis Jew wan found lying dead’ cn a Sunday morning at Arch Hill, and the mystery enveloping the affair remains as profound as ever. For nearly six weeks the police have been seeking for a ‘•'clue,” and although paragraphs appear every now and then in the dailies to the effect that the detectit ves are still hopeful of discovering the perpetrator of the crime he is still undiscovered, and may, for anything that is known to the contrary, be in .Australia, America or about to land in England by this time. If has been suggested that the reward of £250 offered by ttbe Government for “such information,” etc., etc., is inadequate and that the money ought to be doubled. Well, there would be no harm in that. Five hundred pounds would not be tco much tot pay for the conviciton of the murderer. And he has got a long start. Here’s a fine opportunity for the spiritualists to see what they can do. So far as I am aware the spirits have never yet proved of the. slightest assistance in such cases as this, although their aid has been often invoked. If they desire to make up for lost time they have a chance to do it now.

MORE ABOUT THE MIRACLE MAN From facts that have recently come to light regarding Ratana it would appear that the healer has met with some decidedly remarkable experiences. Before he became known to fame it seems he fell into a trance and later developed fits of violence during which he took to smashing the furniture at his home to the great alarm of his wife, who actually arranged for his admission to a mental hospital. Before he could be -got away, however, he quietened down, and later declared he had seen what he described as a ball of cloud. When it burst it assumed the shape of two forms, one of which seemed to be y a celestial being,” who commissioned Ratana to heal the bodies and minds of his people. After this it is not, perhaps, surprising to find that the healer is regarded in some quarters as a lunatic. But he is credited with continuing to perform remarkable “cures,” although no attempt seems to be made to invesitcate these cases or trace their subsequent history. THE HOUSING PROBLEM.

H Tha appalling stories from Christchurch regarding the frightfully in- * sanitary conditions in which numbers g? j of residents of the Cathedra! City | ! are living have brought home to the I authorities, apparently in a very con - | j vincing way, the evils of overerowdI j in;- and the urgent need of more I houses. There is a certain amount | : of overcrowding in Auckland, but 1 \i ' haven’t heard of 22 adults and chilI dren living in a four-roomed cottage, | ; as is stated to have been the case in | i Christchurch. There is, however, a | | good many filthy little houses or | i cottages in and about Auckland | j which ought, by rights, to be defj i mo!ished forthwith. The housing 1 . problem in this country is becoming 1 1 alarming. Although our popu ation 1 is continually increasing no serious 1 attempt appears to be madee to pro- § vide more dwellings; or, if anything is being done in that direction, it is in such an absurdly srnali scale that it might almost as well he left alone. If the cost of building mateiials is still so high that structures of brick or stone are out of the question how about frame-house,s from America (if they cannot be locally produced) at all vents as a temporary expedient? | THE TABERNACLE SOCIAL reformer. Having' denounced the theatre and condemned card playing - , the. Rev. Kemp has now attacked the ‘'movies." He is apparently bent on banishing every form of amusement. Soon, apparently. nothing will be left to us but revival services. Mr Kemp may bo so constituted that he can do without recreation of any sort. It may be no deprivation to him to abstain from tobacco, wine, the theatre, the "pictures,” cards or novels. If so he must assuredly clificr from most other people. And with ah due respect 1 say: A jolly good thing if lie does! Life is drab enough for most of us as it is. Deprive us of our harmless pleasures—and most of our pleasures are harmless if indulged in i in moderation -and wljat would hop-

pen? Existence wouldn’t be worth having. Mr Kemp’s counsels are chiefly counsels of perfection. He expects too much of human nature. We cannot all attain to the lofty preeminence reached by Miss Margarte Gwynne, of whom it is related: She was so very pure within, She cracked her outer shell of sin And hatched herself a Seraph in. A TERRIBLE CASE. A handsome' woman, well dressed and evidently a lady, was charged at the Police Court the other morning' with drunkenness. She had, it appeared, been frequently convicted of the same offence, and had spent 12 months at Rotoroa —and all to no purpose. She seemed to feel her position acutely and pleaded so hard for “just one more chance” that the magistrate, evidently moved by the .appeal, said that, against his better judgment, he would accede to her request, so the prisoner was convicted and ' told that if she left .Auckland, as she said she would, nothing more would be heard of the charge. If she did not leave Auckland she would be brought back to Court and sentenced. She was brought back a day or two later, and sentenced to 14 days’ imprisonment. A sad case? — yes, and the pity of it is that it is no isolated one. Such cases are of almost daily occurrence. When will the powers that be recognise that chronic drunkenness—the drunkenness that enslaves the will and makes for the destruction of its victims, body and soul, is not a crime, but a disease? To expect that gaol witt kill the* terrible craving for alcohol afflicting the chronic drunkard is as futile as to expect that imprisonment will cure het sufferer from consumption or cancer. What is wanted is a Staterur. inebriate home where dipsomaniacs should receive scientific treatment bv medical men specially qualified to administer it. Oui present method of treating inebriates—confirmed inebriates, that is—is as stupid as it is cruel.