PAWNE ROKING.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 199, 29 August 1901, Page 4

PAWNE ROKING.

At the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, before Mr \V. A. Barton, S.M., Charles Smith was charged with having, on the 24th duly, carried on pawnbroking without having secured a license, in premises in Gladstone Road, used as a hair-dressing room. Mr Nolan appeared for defendant and pleaded guilty. lie stated that the offence with which accused was charged was the first one of that nature which had been brought before the Court in this district in his time, a period of about 22 i years. Defendant took the watch from | the man Rynan on the date named, but | returned it to him later, charging an extra | shilling. Defendant only had the watch a I week. It was the first time that he had | been guilty of such an offence. i His Worship said a shilling a week was about three times as much as would be charged if he were a licensed pawnbroker. Mr Nolan said defendant was hiding nothing ; the fact that lie had volunteered information to the police showed that he was not aware he was committing any breach of the law. A small hue would meet the case. Detective Nixon conducted the ease on behalf of the police. The practice of pawnbroking, he said, had been going on for some time, and he was now prepared to say, from what had transpired since these proceedings were commenced, that it was not the first time that the defendant had committed the offence. As to the giving of voluntary information, when Constable McLeod took the watch to the defendant the latter would supply no in-

formation in regard to the watch. His Worship said that the maximum penalty was .1:20. but being a first offence the defendant would be fined .£lO, and costs 15s.

Under encouragement of the Russian Government it is said that Siberia is gaining 20,000 farmers per year. Among its exports arc cereals, butter, wool, leather, and dried and preserved meats. Already this remote country, which the popular imagination is apt to picture as a vast waste, the abode of frost and snow and misery, is becoming talked of as a possible competitor with the well known cerealproducing countries of the world.

The convention of Stock Boards of New South Wales was concluded on July 3rd. Resolutions were adopted that the stock boards be empowered to lay poison on half the width of travelling stock reserves on duo notice being given at the end of each section; in favor of a reduction of the railway freight on live stock; protesting against the arbitrary manner of assessing sheep, and expressing the opinion that a registration fee should be placed on all stations in the State. The Rotorua Chronicle says : There is quite a mania among the natives at the present time for wood carving. On every warm spot, and on the sunny side of Tama-te-kapua, may he seen groups of the younger generation of Maoris with chisel in baud, under the guidance of a tohunga or artist, busy at some piece of work in the shape of taiahas, tewhatewhas, and patus. It is good work for the native lads, as there is a great demand for articles of this sort in the tourist season. Fourteen steamers landed cattle, sheep, mutton carcases, and fresh beef at Liverpool during one week from the various North and South American and Canadian ports, The total importation amounted to 6001 cattle, 8470 sheep, 28,850 mutton carcases, and 39,851 quarters of beef. Compared with the arrivals of the preceding week these figures show an increase of 650 cattle, 3386 sheep, and 12,647 quarters of beef, and a decrease of 22,855 mutton carcases.

The value of salt for sheep is shown by an experiment in Franco, where of three lots of animals fed alike on hay, straw, potatoes and beans for 124 days, one lot had no salt, one had .loz. of salt each every day, and the other had three-fourths of an ounce. Those that had loz. gained 41 lb each more than those that had no salt, and 1J lb more than those which had more than a ioz. So it seems that too much salt can he given as well as too little. The salted sheep had 1-;J11» more of wool, ,and a better fleece than those that had no salt, showing better results in the wool, that is larger profits than in the flesh. This is the very latest ghost story One evening last week a party from the suburbs visited the Auckland Opera House. On the way home one of them, a young lady, on arriving at the top of the street in which she resided, bade the others good night. She had not proceeded far when she met a man who wished her good evening. She told him she was frightened of the “ ghost,” and he walked beside her until she reached her home. At the gate site turned to say good night, and then, to her horror, saw the “ ghost ” beside her. Her screams brought her mother upon the scene. The daughter was unconscious and “ the ghost ” had decamped. New South Wales is, perhaps (says the St, James’ Gazette), the only British colony where a Catholic priest is a salaried Civil Servant. On one of its staffs of Government Geologists is the Rev. J. Milne Curran. The duties of a Catholic priest and a Government Geologist are not necessarily conliicting, but there are possibilities of embarrassment in the combination. When Fr. Curran, in his capacity of Geologist, is sent from Sydney to report on a mineral discovery lie is naturally invited to officiate in the local Catholic Church. Once, when he was disrobing after mass in a distant township, an old Irishman entered and observed : “ I am told you are a geologist, Father.” “ Yes, I do a little that way.” “ Well, then, would you come round and see my daughter Mary '! She has a great big lump on the back of her neck.” The London Daily Express has commissioned Mr Rider Haggard to tour the country districts of England, and to write a series of articles upon the agricultural affairs of to-day. In his first article on the “ State and Outlook of the English Countryside,” ho deals with the Salisbury Plain district. He mentions a farm of 700 acres, which in 1812 was sold for 4)27,000. It was again sold in 1892 for 4)7000 —an enormous drop. When the present tenant hired it 27 years ago, he paid 4)600 a yoar rent, and 4)196 a year tithe, whereas at the present time he pays 4)250 a year rent, and the landlord pays the tithe. This is the case, says the Rural World, where the tenant, wo imagine, receives a greater income from the property than the owner of it, the former of whom, we should add, has also had built for him by the owner a new; house. The farmer, nevertheless, willingly stated that he himself made more money out of the farm when he paid about 4)800 a year than when he pays only 4)250. Russia is the greatest horse-producing country in the world. Then come the United States, Argentina, Austro-Hun-gary, and Britain, but, notwithstanding this fact, breeders are constantly changing blood, and mating for some features not posscsscd'by native horses. The Germans now find that the Oregon horses they imported for remounts are inferior to the Australians, and are more unruly and difficult to train. And Russia is not satisfied with her equine stock. Barron Paul Yietinhoff, of St. Petersburg, is nowin the States picking up 1000 horses for shipment, and ho is anxious to breed a horse which shall unite the speed of an American thoroughbred and the form of a Russian or Cossack steed. Ho would like to amalgamate the two breeds and overcome climatic conditions, but he has not yet discovered the neutral ground where speed, power and form can be built up. The latest great application of natura force to a useful purpose, in which it is announced that Nikola Tesla is especially interested, is an electrical process for purifying water. The Baltimore Herald says : —“ The system contemplates, it must bo understood, not the shaking of a few millions of unhealthy microbes out of a few gallons of water. Mr Tesla deals in no such small schemes as that. The plan, when made to work, will be expected to purify the inflow of the open rivers that contribute to tbe support of large cities. Instead of swallowing with every glassful of the murky beverage which flows from fhe faucet a large percentage of odorous protoplasmic germs, the electrified water of Mr Tesla may be expected to possess that sparkle and sweetness of the aqueous fluid that Hows from the mountain rocks,"