AUCKLAND HAPPENINGS.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 1 August 1918, Page 3

AUCKLAND HAPPENINGS.

[From Our Own Correspondent]. > ' Auckland, July 30. THE^AcAPED MURDERERS The people of the Henderson and Swanson districts must breathe more freely now that the two men convicted of murder who escaped from the Avondale Mental Hospital a few days ago have been run to earth. These chaps, it is supposed, were on ;■ their way to the Waitakerei Ranges, and if they had succeeded in gaining the wild country thereabouts there is no saving when they might have been recaptured, while the settlers scattered about would have been kept in a constant state of terrorism. Toeta Kai Nuku, one of the escapees, is a Raratongan, and just two yea < s ago while on a backblocks sheeprun, in the King Country, he shot a shepherd °ne Kenneth Livingstone, dead, and seriously wounded another man. He was declared to be insane, and has been in the Mental Hospital at Avondale, Auckland, ever since. The other man, Norman Keals, committed a very cold-blooded crime, or rather double crime. One February night in 1915 this man forced his way into the sleeping apartment of his (sister-in-law at Onewhero, and shot her, as she lay sleeping, in the head. Then, snatching up her infant child, lying by her side, he carried it out to the verandah and .deliberately strangled it. Keals was sentenced to death, the sentence being subsequently commuted to imprisonment for life. For some little time he had been treated as a criminal lunatic. Both men appeared rather glad than otherwise when they were caught. They had suffered prettily severely from the intense cold, lack of blankets and want of food. The outside public have probably only the vaguest idea of ;the constant vigilance necessary at-mental hospitals, not only to prevent ■ escapes, but to prevent the patients from attacking and injuring vone another. Criminal lunatics, especially, are as cunning as they are ferocious and will sometimes, as in this L ease, outwit their custodians in -spite of all precautions. There is s^ssE^eailynothing in Keals' manner, —-^J^inlSSily, to suggest that he is dangerous homicidal maniac. t " PEEPING TOM." A notorious character, Thomas Payne, made his appearance at the Auckland Police Court the other morning on a charge of having been found by night on private premises without lawful excuse. The police described the accused as " a peeping Tom," and said he was a perfect nuisance in the seaside suburb of Devonport. It appears that Thomas has a weakness for lurking about after dark and spying through bedroom windows at ladies disrobing before getting into bed. On one occasion he was seen peeping over an iron-fence on the beach at a number of young ladies who were bathing. Another time Thomas crept up in his usual stealthy manner to within listening distance'of a young couple who were seated on the beach at Cheltenham, and later on the same evening he was caught in the act of peeping in at a bedroom window while some of the ladies of the family were preparing for bed. He was further described as a single man, 30 years of age, " with a perfect mania for peeping." The Magistrate told the accused he would end up in a mental hospital if he wasn't careful. He had rendered himself liable to 12 months' gaol. He would be sentenced to three months' with hard labour, So the next twelve weeks or so Thomas' peeping will be confined principally to the walls of his cell. FRUIT PRICES f IN AUCKLAND. jLjk line of hot-house grapes jJßised five-and-seven pence a polrod at auction in Auckland a d'^y or two ago. They would ,- Retail "at about 7/6 to 8/- per lb. The only moderately priced fruits obtainable in the shops at the time of writing are Island oranges and bananas. Apples of fair quality are fetching sixpence per : lb. This despite the fact that there was a record-breaking crop of the fruit this year. There has also been an immense crop of lemons, and large shipments of lemons have been received from America as well as from Sydney. And yet lemons that are any v good cannot be bought retail for less than two-pence apiece. Small wonder that one so seldom

hears of a fruit shop-keeper " going through the Court." SHAMEFUL! Those who, like myself, are fond of taking a stroll pretty frequently to the top of Mount Eden, from whence is obtainable one of the most magnificent panoramic views, or series of views, in Australasia, will have learned with indignation of the wanton destruction of a number of the beautiful shrubs and trees adorning the mountain. Fancyanyone visiting this beauty spot of Auckland and hacking and slashing with an axe at the lovely native shrubs. Yes, and deliberately ringing a splendid pine. The work of destruction must have cost both time and labour, and the damage done cannot easily be repaired. I understand that a reward is to be offered for information leading to the conviction of the offender. But who can the offender be ? —a larrikin, a lunatic —or a German? THE DOMESTIC HELP PROBLEM. The housewives of Auckland are in sore tribulation regarding the domestic help problem. The Women's Employment Bureau reports that general helps are almost impossible to secure, in spite of the fact that wages are h'gher and conditions better than ever before. The fact is the status of the domestic has altogether changed during the past few years. Time was when the " slavey," as some people have the bad taste to call her, was expected to labour from early morning until late at night. She had few " nights out," and met with very little consideration, as a rule, at the hands of the mistresses. Nowadays, and very properly, as it seems to me, the " help" looks for definite hours of labour, and the certainty of being free at regular intervals. In making this demand she is only asking to be put on a footing with the factory-girl and the shop assistant. And her work, in a great many cases, at all events, is of a harder kind than either the factory or the shop demands of their employees, while the wages are higher, generally speaking, in the case of the latter than those paid tc the domestic. All things considered the shortage of household helps is likely, I think, to grow more acute as time goes on. Meantime- such girls as are still willing to help in the home are not only asking for high pay but for hours undreamt of in the past. They expect every night in the week " off." nowadays, as well every Sunday free, and a girl who advertised in an Auckland paper the other day for -a situation as " general" actually stipulated that she was, in addition to getting off every night and every Sunday, to be allowed two hours' a day free to practice on her mistress' piano ! THE COST OF LIVING. The man who said he was walking about to save funeral expenses might, if he lived in New Zealand, at the present time, think better of it and decide to " pass out," rather than face the cost of existing. What could have been purchased for a sovereign, in the shape of meat, dairy produce and groceries, in Auckland, before the war now costs 28/7. In Wellington 29/3H; in Christchurch 27/6J4 ; and in Dunedin 28/554. The most expensive place in which to live to-day in New Zealand is Whangarei, where the goods costing 20/- in pre-war days now cost 30/2 !!! In Auckland at the present time, a house in any decent locality near town, oontaining seven or eight rooms, lets readily for from 25/- to 30/- and upwards. And it is almost impossible to get such houses within the penny section. A four or five roomed house in a distant suburb oommands a rent of at least a pound. Household furniture, in Auckland, has advanced in price by 40 or 50 per cent since the war, and a large house-furnishing firm here assures me that if the war ended to-morrow present rates would not drop —they would increase— and the higher prices would remain in foroe for five or six years to come. "It was so after the Franco-Prussian war," said my informant, " and it will be so after the present war." This is a nice look out for " parties about to marry." A POOR RESPONSE, I regret to learn that the appeal made to the public on behalf of the Maoris who so generously went to the assistance of the shipwrecked Wimmera passengers has met with very poor response. The conduct of these natives in drawing upon their scanty stocks of food, etc., in

order to relieve the necessities of the castaways merits recognition. It is not yet too late for those able to do so to show their appreciation in a practical way of the great kindness exhibited by these Maoris. Mr Robt. Rew, provision merchant, Lower Queen Street, Auckland, will gladly take charge of any parcels containing food, old clothing, blankets, etc , intended for the Maoris, and will forward same on to them at once.