Page 1 Advertisements Column 4

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1997, 5 February 1907, Page 1

A DESPERATE MAN. Tho Auckland Herald of tlio and gives tho following report of tlio Kingslaml sensation : —What appears to Unvo been a most determined attempt at suicide was committed at Kingslund at an early hour yosterduy morning by a young married man named Matthew Alexander Jelcio, a stonemason by trade. He first took a dose of carbolic acid, and followed it up by firing two bill lots from a revolver into his head. It is supposed that domestic troubles caused hiiv. to attempt self-destruction. Mrs. Jelcio, in the course of her statement to the police, said that she arrived from Kngland about 15 months ago, and had boon employed as a barmaid at two hotels in the city. While acting in this capacity she became acquainted with Jolcie, and tho acquaintance ripening into an attachment, they decided to get married. Tho wedding took place about two months ago, after which they went to live at the residence of ill's. Henderson, New North Road, about 100. yards from Page’s store, 'they lived happily together for tho first few weeks, hut having alway been aeeustotiied to ail active l'fo, :ive He, she tired of living as she was and returned to her profession as a barmaid at a Queen-street hotel. Her husband, it is said, was ol a jealous disposition, and on several occasions threatened t'o shoot her and himself too. He used to visit the hotel nightly, waiting to take her home, and on these occasions when a man spoke to her lie always became violently jealous. On Thursday evening they had a quarrel, tlio unpleasantness continuing after they went to bed. Shortly after eleven o’clock Jelcio took what appeared to he a _ bottle oi poison from a box, and laid it on the dress-ing-table: Nothing further of moment occurred until about half-past one yesterday morning, when she was aroused from a dozing condition, and saw Jelcio swallowing the contents of the bottle. On realising what he was doing, she jumped out of lied and screamed. Her husband then produced a revolver from the pocket of his trousers, which were hanging in tho room, and putting it under his chill fired twice, then fell to tlio floor.

Tho firing aroused Mrs. Henderson, who rushed towards the room, encountering Mrs. Jclcie in the passage. Dr. Peter Molt- was summoned, and after attending to the injured man, ordered his removal to the hospital. On his admission to that institution. a search was made for the bullets, but they could not be discovered, and it is presumed that they went right' through the chin and cheek respectively, where wounds were found. Hopes are entertained for Jelcie’s recoverv.

CIVIL SERVANTS’ GRIEVANCES. “Red Tape” writes to flic Wellington Rost: —Sir, —Were a moml)or of the House of Representatives to ask for a statement of payments for overtime made to employees of those Government Departments which come under the provisions of the Civil Service Act, a return would, no doubt, be laid on the table ol the House containing the word “nil.” The inference would ho t]iat none of the Government employees work overtime, and that the usual tiling is for a Government clerk to change his working coat, give his hat a brush, and leave the office in time to get the workers’ car at 5 p.m. for home in the suburbs. The fact mentioned in “Visitor’s” letter in Saturday’s Post as to a friend of his working every night, week after week, for nothing, and being out of pocket, through having to buy meals in town, is, to my knowledge, not an uncommon one. I was for a number of years employed in one of the. Government Departments ,and until about three years ago the practice was to allow tea money to those officers who were absolutely obliged to return at' night. This was the only remuneration paid for ordinary overtime. Now, however, tea money is no more. The department with which I am acquainted finds it necessary to bring hack some of its staff every night' for nearly four months of the year, and the position of the juniors ; s very hard. The cadets for the first year have the munificent salary of five pounds per month with which to pay board and lodgings (for most 1 of them are away ftom home)) anti clothes, and in some cases they pay for coaching fees in order to pass the senior civil service examination. Now, to ask these lads to come hack night after night, and ho oblige dto spend three of four shillings a week for tea in town is very hard indeed, and one that deserves attention. Sweating by private employers is had, but swoating h.y the Government is a crime. It behoves parents to carefully investigate the position of the Government service before sending their offspring up for the junior or civil service examination, and I feel sure that unless tilings change for Ihe better soon it will be found as necessary to import' clerks for Government offices as it has to bring out laborers to Taihape.

MILK SUPPLY. HOW IT IS TO BE IMPROVED. In view of the considerable increase in the colony in the number of cases of infantile diarrhoea, and deaths therefrom, the views of the Chief Health Officer, Dr. Mason, on the subject, should furnish interesting reading to parents. Dr. Mason states that there was no doubt this increase was duo in a very great measure to the mill; supply. .Milk was an almost ideal medium in which bacteria grow; add to that the fact that the weather had been very warm during the past month or two, and wo had a very important factor in the bringing about of deterioration of milk. There was no gainsaying the fact that the milk supplied to people' in the large centres left a great deal to bo desired. A large amount of pollution undoubtedly took place at the time of milking, hut' the treatment milk received from the time it left the cow until used by the consumer was almost everything but what it should be. It was not an unusual sight to seo cans of milk standing on wayside stations in the blazing sun. To raise the temperature of milk in this way was to hasten the decomposition which the organisms always present in milk brought about. The practice also of leaving milk standing about on city stations was fraught with groat danger. Dr. Mason does not blame the milk supply altogether for the prevalence of infantile diarrhoea, but it was very largely concerned. A high temperature generally tended to the more rapid putrification of ail articles of diet. Hand-fed children were subject, to greater mortality than breast-fed children. Then overcrowding and insanitary surroundings played a part in causing ill-health. He certainly thought, however, that the milk supply was in the main" responsible for it. Dr. Mason says that lie would be very glad to seo the municipalities throughout the colony were quite alive to the necessity of something being done, and in some instances action had beep taken in the matter. It was the general public who wanted waking up. Except in the minority of cases at present very little care was exercised by the purchaser in the selection of his'milkman. The only way in which to ensure a proper and clean milk supply is to give authority to a private firm t'o establish a clearing house, or for the municipality to take the matter in hand on those lines. “if this were done,” Dr. Mason says, “and if proper contracts were entered into with the suppliers, a regular price all the year round could lie guaranteed, and in consideration it would be perfectly fair for the owners of the central depot to require greater carefulness on the part of the dairymen. It would, of course, be impossible,” the doctor added, “to make it a financial success unless some regulation was brought in whereby it would be impossible for people to sell milk other than that which had gone through the clear-ing-house.”

Sykes’s Drench—Always Reliable. Farmers want a reliable drench — one that will not fail when trouble arises. No drench has had such unqualified success as Sykes’s. Over a thousand farmers have written expressing their gratitude for the remarkable cures which it has effected. One of these is Mr. James Tomath, the well-known dairyman of Shannon, Manawatu. He writes: “I am in the - habit of drenching my cows with Sykes’s Drench immediately after calving, and at all times on the appearance of inflammation if any kind. I.have seldom known it ;o fail, and have always recommended it..”