NEW ZEALAND.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 70, 26 March 1901, Page 1

NEW ZEALAND.

[By Telegraph—Press Association.]

Napier, last night. At the Magistrate’s Court John Charles Mason, licensee of the Occidental Hotel, was fined £ 1 for selling liquor after hours, the license to bo endorsed. Soven bakers were fined 41 each for selling short-weight and unstampedhread. One escaped a penalty on the plea that when tho police made their raid he had offered to make up the deficiency of the light-weight loaf, as provided in the Act. The police held that this section did not apply to purchases made by them, but transactions between a dealer and his customer. The Magistrate, however, held that the Act did not discriminate, and dismissed the ease. Waipawa, last night. The grandstand, secretary’s office, looseboxes, and sheds of the Waipawa Racing Club were totally destroyed by fire early on morning. The origin of the fire is a mystery. The insurances are 4650 in the Alliance. Wellington, last night. Mr Beattie, Secretary of the National Dairy Association, waited on the Minister of Lands to-day in reference to tho scarcity of white pine timber for butter boxes. He said some millers were sending the timber away to Australia at 3s 9d per 100 ft, as against- 6s 6d charged in New Zealand. He asked whether the Government could not interfere in the matter. Mr Duncan did not see how the Government could interfere with the millers, but promised, with a view to conserving the forests, to get the various Commissioners of Crown Lands to report on the areas still suitable. In selling white pine land at Dannevirke lately, he had intimated that purchasers Were not required to clear off the timber with the usual rapidity, but would be allowed time to utilise the bush for milling purposes, and the. same conditions would apply elsewhere. Under their street-widening proposals, the Wellington City Council proposed to take certain land at the northern end of Willis street, the owners of which claimed 425,000 compensation through the Supreme Court. The City authorities decided to oppose the claim, but through au oversight the necessary documents were not filed in time, and judgment went by default. The Council is now moving the Court of Appeal to sot aside the judgment, on the ground that tho omission was due to inadvertence. Dr Mason, Chief Health Officer, says the health authorities of the colony responded most loyally to the need for sanitary precautions. He does not think there is any reason to fear an outbreak in New Zealand, while if a case is brought from elsewhere it can bo promptly dealt with. Dunedin, last night. Mr Thomas Culling, the oldest printer in the South Island, and head of the Mataura jFalls Paper Mills Company, died on Saturday. He was a passenger by the Ajax, which arrived at Otago in tho first week in 1849. Nelson, last night. Tho Tckaka correspondent of tho Mail wires that on Sunday morning at daybreak Constable Maekay was informed of the mysterious disappearance of Mrs John Manson from her home at Motupipi. Search parties were at once formed, resulting in the discovery of the dead body of the woman in several feet of water in a creek about a mile from her house. Tho previous night was extromely dark, and a strong northerly wind was blowing, accompanied by torronts of rain, which caused the creek, which is generally dry, to be flooded. There was evidence that deceased had taken carbolic in some form.

Auckland, last night. ' Mr Holmes, Commissioner for the Royal Reception, left for W ellington by the Ngapuhi on Sunday. Mr Frank Bodle has written to tho Premier suggesting that the census collectors should receive shilling subscriptions for the Royal Reception Fund. Six stowaways from Sydney by the Ventura were not allowed to land, and had to be taken to Honolulu. The Trades and Labour Council passed a resolution asking the Labor Conference to appoint a deputation to the Minister of Railways to urge preference employment to Unionists, in view of the action by the Minister of Works in New South Wales. A child, aged three, son of Robert Badger, storekeeper, at Tauvanga, was following a horse which his father was leading. The horse suddenly pulled back, and fell on the child, who was seriously injured, and is in a critical condition.