GENERAL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 202, 2 September 1901, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

[By Telegraph and Mail.] .n A man was before tbs Melbourne City v Court recently, who, out of a life of 75 it years, had spent 49 years and three >r months in gaol. He once escaped from 5. the Geelong Gaol in a sensational manner, s- It is calculated that at least twenty il thousand people are engaged in dairying e in New South Wales, n The Ven. Archdeacon Stock is lying 5 seriously ill at his residence in Wellingy ton. s The Wellington Museum has just bea come possessed of the skeleton of a fulls grown whale, only 9ft. long. Old age pensioners, of whom there are 1 17,056 registered in Victoria, are dying at : the rate of 32 per week. In the short timo since the system was brought into 1 operation it is computed that the original 1 number of recipients is reduced to 16,500. 1 There has just died at Otahuhu, an ■ old New Zealand Fencibla, in tho person of Mr Henry Mitchell, who had nearly reached four score and ten years. The deceased was tho last surviving Fencible of the company originally stationed at I Otahuhu away back in the fifties. Petitions are being circulated for signature in Masterton against tho Borough Council purchasing road-making nerySince March, 1896, this colony has paid not less than d£254,116 to Britain and America for rolling stock for railways. A portion of the Wanganui rivor is again silting up, and steamers get stuck on the flats. This eort of thing occurred thirty years ago, so it would not appear that river reclamation works have don* muoh good, although thousands of pounds have bec-n spent in improving the ohannol of tho river. Should tho Factories Bill (eight hours) go through Parliament this session, it is estimated by the meat companies of the colony that it will mean a double staff of hands to proporly deal with tho offal after killing. Tliis will moan in the South Island about Is per head less for sheep, and 6d to Is in Wellington. Tho Inspector for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals stated at a meeting in Wellington that some of the worst cases of cruelty occurrod when pooplo with only imperfect knowledge of votorinary science experiment on maimed horses at home with a view to curing them, though in nine casos out of ten they only cause the unfortunate animals needless pain. News from Cairo roports that a bad Nile is oxpeeted this season. Tho river is already falling rapidly at Khartoum and North Duer, Upper Egypt. In connection with tho German Antarctic expedition, arrangements have been made with tho North German Lloyds Company to take sixty- Esquimaux dogs, coming via Vladivostock, and supplies of coal from Sydney to Kevgulen Island to meet tho expedition. Persons who have lately been through tho King Country affirm that the North Island Main Trunk Bailway is being expeditiously pushed on. Tho working parties along tho route comprise about 750 men. The line is now completed as far as Ongaruhe, and an engine and trucks have already been over that portion of tho line. The formation is completed to a point two miles beyond the Ongaruhe bridge, which will facilitate bringing up material. The foundations of tho Ongaruhe bridgo aro completed, with the exception of a cylinder which has to bo put in position. The approaches are also in a forward stato. At Auckland the Conciliation Board in the cartors’ dispute, recommended that the hours of labor bo 48 a week, exclusive of the dinner hour, and 56 for nightsoil men ; wages, ono horse 425, two horses 46, bakers 40s, for delivery of less than 220 loaves, grocers, confectioners, bacon cuvers, and laundries 40s a week for men over 22 years of ago ; special rates for boys, ranging from 15s to 30s ; nightsoil men 60s a week, day men 54s ; overtime, time and a quarter. The holidays are to be Now Year’s Day, Anniversary Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the Sovereign’s Birthday, Prince of Wales’ Birthday, Christmas Day, and BoxingDay. Casual labor is to be paid Is an hour. Preference is to bo given to Unionists. Tho award extends from October next to September, 1904. A petition is in circulation in Masterton for signature, praying that tho borough should be reduced in size by cutting off a portion of the Upper Plain. Tho Council of the Auckland Chamber cf Commerco is apprehensive of the ultimate effect of tho Limitation of Profits and Prevention of Bings and Combines Bills. It is contended that milk suppliers would como under the operations of this Bill, and if they mado arrangements to fix tho price of milk for the season they would be liable under tho Bill. It was resolved to urge all members of Parliament to opposo the measure in its present form, as its effect would bo to prevent farmers combining, as thoy intend to do, in order to obtain a living wage. A speaker at a Wellington mooting of shopkeepers likened the Shops and Offices Bill to a drunken man going down a street. It was bumping into everybody. Tho small shopkeepers, ho said, would have to act the part of a polios officer and stop tho Bill’s further progress. As tho farmer is tho man who pays for all, wo sincerely hope (writes an exchange) the timo is not far distant when, by a real, living, activo union with his follows he will become such a power in the land that ho will be able to insist on fair play, and equal rights to all. /According to tho London Times Bnssia is giving Australia a problem in immigration which may be of a very interesting kind in view of the attention now being directed in tho Commonwealth to the subject. The correspondent says “An event of rare occurrence in Bussia took place last week in the town of Bostroma, when no fewer than forty Bussian village carpenters, with their wives and families,

left thoro for Odessa, eii route for Australia, where they have been offered 30s a week. This is a class of emigration practically unknown in Russia up to the present, and its explanation is probably to be found in the fact that even in the empire of forest and grain the time has come when the supply of skilled workmen in the wood trades ha 9 proved to bo in excess o! the demand.'’ The dairy inspector visited Lyttelton last week, and seized several head of cattle that are supposed to be diseased. At the annual meeting of members of the Wairarapa Racing Club, it was decided that the Secretary be instructed to write to the Premier, pointing out that accident insurance offices would not insure trainers and jockeys on race days against loss under the Workmen’s Com>ensation Act, and requesting him to have he Act altered, so as to exclude them :rom its provisions. It was also decided ;o forward copies of the resolution to othor dubs, and ask them to favorably consider the proposal. A Gore resident, recently fined in the local court for failing to send his children to school, writes to a local paper as follows : Crime. In Gore yesterday the police exacted costs and fine (.£2J7s), in default fivo weeks’ imprisonment, from a poor man, who has nine motherless little children, for the heinous crime of sending one —a little boy over twelve years old—to work a few days to earn a few shillings for the children's support. What has become of all your Christian charity after 1900 years of charitable teaching ? " Mr C. P. Skipper, solicitor, formerly of Masterton, who was removed to the Wanganui Hospital, has died at that institutian. The late Mr Skipper practised at Masterton for over twenty years. He was an orator, a gentleman, and a scholar, and but for one unfortunate failing would have made a name for hknsejf j- n profession. Messrs W. H. Worrall and Co. have presented the Napier Borough Council with a fountain, to be fixed preferably in Clive square,

: Island news by cable from Sydney f states that a tidal wave at Santa Cruz destroyed a group of villages at the Reef s Islands. The people suffered badly, and a number of natives were drowned. Much property was destroyed. The head-hunt-ing tribes of the Solomons are being punished. Severa l of their best war canoes have been captured, and likewise they have been taught severe lessons. Major Wolf, commandant of tho Nelson forces, has received a letter from a young lady, of Nelson, urging the formation of a girls’ volunteer corps. The Tiinaru Hospital Board held a special meeting re assistance for the resi- | dent surgeon for consolations on opera- I tions, the honorary visiting staff having resigned. The Board at the last meeting resolved to offer a fee of one guinea for each attendance. To assist, thst doctors j say they must have a regular fee of a , guinea for the first hour, and half a guinea each subsequent half-hour. Dr Logan, resident officer, offered to pay any excess over a guinea if allowed private practice. Tho Board accepted the offer, limiting the privilege by a radius of two miles from the hospital. Prince and Princess Ivalanianaole, of the Sandwich Islands, visited Napier last week on their way back from the Hot Lakes.

Mr Homes intends to ask the Colonial Treasurer whethor tho long cablegram appearing in tho London Times of the 30th July, with reference to the ordinance passed by the Government of Fiji, is to be paid for out of the vote on the Estimates of T3OO for Reuter’s telegrams. In the meat shops of towns in New Mexico and Arizona, the dressed carcases of sheep have a tuft of wool still attached to the head and the tail. This is left by the butcher to assure thoTcustonier that it is mutton and not goat flesh he is buying.

FLANNELETTES.—Just Landed, from s.s. Star of New Zealand. Special Value in Plain, Striped, and Fancy Flannelettes, from 4|d per yard. — C. Kosie Ji Co.