NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1070, 1 March 1913, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

lu all the civilised world in 1912 no woman was executed tor murder, so far as the newspaper and telegraph records show (observes an American exchange). There were fewer convictions of women than ever before.

The gifts of American millionaires during the year for charitable purposes have been upon a generous scale; According to figures published in New York, they gave about £65,400,000 for educational, religious, social and scientific work, besides pure charity. Mr Pierpont Morgan heads the list. He is credited with £10,000,000. the estimated value of art treasures given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. Then came Mr Carnegie with £2,000,000, aud the Bell Telephone Company with £2,000,000.

What is the duty of a citizen who suspects another of breaking the law ? This question was emphatically answered by Mr Justice Edwards at the Auckland Supreme Court on Tuesday. A witness in an indecent assault case was being cross-examined by the prisoner. “What made you tell the constable about me ? Why didn’t you speak to me yourself ?” asked the prisoner. “Because I thought it was my duty to tell the police,” said the witness. “And the witness was perfectly right,” commented his Honour. “He suspected you of doing wrong, and he told a policeman about it. That was absolutely the right course to adopt.”

The number of legal practitioners in the Dominion at the end of 1912 was 963, an increase of 45 over last year’s returns. The number shown to be practicing in the respective districts and the increase or decrease shown for the year are as follows (the figures in parenthesis are the numbers for 1911): Auckland 2x4 (226), Hamilton (which was included in Auckland district last year) 42, Canterbury 127 (128), Gisborne 23 (20), Hawke’s Bay 51 (52), Marlborough 12 (xx), Nelson 21 (18), Otago 104 (106), Southland 36 (33\ Taranaki 62 (53), Wellington 248 (249), Westland 23 (22). North Island 640 (600), South Island 232 (318).

“It is pretty plain what a racecourse guesser is,” remarked Mr Justice Edwards at the Auckland Supreme Court. ‘T don’t know many racing men, but a guesser in my opinion is a man who goes to John Smith and tells him that a certain horse is sure to win, and then goes to other men and tells them that other horses are bound to get home first. Having exhausted the whole of the horses in the race, one of his tips is bound to be right, and, therefore, at least one man feels grateful to him. The guesser approaches the man to whom he has given the correct tip and usually secures the remuneration for his kindness in placing valuable information at a friend’s disposal.”

Nurse Beetham, in her report to the Hawera Hospital Board on the native health work, mentioned that one of her patients had been treated by many tohungas aud had tried all Maori remedies. She added: “As time went on these people began to realise the seriousness of the case, and their faith in the tohunga vanished. A medical man was consulted, an operation was pei;lormed, and after many weeks of continued dressings, the patient reached a normal condition again. One would consider this a lasting lesson to the patient to avoid tohungas. I have frequently heard it said by the patient: “No more tohungas ; kapai te pakeha.” But, alas, an assertion of this kind is more easily made than adhered to.

A grocer who had too many slow-paying credit customers offered a series of prizes for _ the best essays or written descriptions of. “How to Collect Poor Accounts." Without initiating any particular collection campaign, he aroused so much discussion in his town about slow paying, long credit and allied subjects that he increased the cash business all along the line for himself and other shopkeepers, and collected algo many dead accounts from debtors who evidenty feared that full publicity might be given their failure to pay up their obligations —the plan suggested in several of the essays.

An exchange says? The barbarous custom of firing a horses’ mouth as a cure for lampers has fortunately been discarded for a

more humane remedy. A horse so affected should be given a good dose of laxative medicine, such as three-quarters of a pint of linseed oil, to regulate the bowels, and one of the following powders might be given in the feed once daily, and be continued for a week :—Powdered nitrate of potash, 2 drachms ; powdered flowers of sulphur, 2 drachms ; powdered aniseed, 4 drachms. The diet should consist of soft, easily-digested food, green food if procurable. An occasional bran mash will be found beneficial, but no oats or maize should be fed.

Pity tor the folks who are compelled to work seven days a week was expressed the other day at the Methodist Conference by Mr L. M. Isitt, M.P. On his proposition it was agreed : “That the Conference, having been informed that there are classes of workers still struggling to secure a weekly day of rest, is of opinion that every man and woman is righteously entitled to one day’s rest in seven.” The motion was prompted by the receipt of a telegram from Mr E. J. Carey, secretar}', cl the Hotel Employees’ Union, expressing a hope that the Conference would not dissolve without recording its endorsement of the principle of a weekly day of rest.