General News

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 28, 7 October 1893, Page 8

General News

writi “S competition open to fourth and ntth standard boys in attendance at the town schools has been started by the proprietors of thM journal. The conditions under which it will be carried out are advertised. Mr W. H, Mathieson informs us that, when leaving Auckland a few weeks ago he ran against one of the well-known Bowerman Bros., the elder of the two. He was rushing down the street in hot haste to catch the outgoing steamer for America, and Mr Mathieson saw in the paper next day that the brothers were among the passengers. The annual horse parade takes place on the Park Eeserve to-day. -The losses by the late coal sirike in the Midland counties amounts to 810,000,000. The Manchester Ship Canal will be opened on Ist January. r A mail for tne United Kingdom closes at Invercargill at 3,45 p.m, om Tuesday next. Advancing years are telling on that man of “ blood and iron,” Prince Bismarck, who is reported to be losing the use of his limbs. According to M. Zola, the novelist, Prance is not prepared for war, but desires to be revenged on Germany. Owing to the miners’ strike at Home, half-a-million children are dependent on charity for food. Hew Zealand’s customs revenue for the «ix months of the financial year exceeds the estimate by about £22,Ch 0. At the Loudon wool sales there is brisk and strong competition. Buyers expect that the first of the series of six sales next year will commence about the middle of January. Trouble ahead. Owing to the House of Lords rejecting the Home Rule Bill, the Clan-na-Gael is being reorganised. Patrick Egan and Pord are also busily engaged in reviving secret societies in America. Prom Auckland we learn that the girl Nicholson who swallowed matches, and the man Henry who attempted to shoot himself, are recovering. A novelty in electioneering is the formation of a committee of thirteen Maoris to work portions of the Hutt (Wellington) in the interests of one of the candidates. It is said that Hr Talmage, the famous American divine,will visit New Zealand within the next two years. It is proposed to hypnotise He Jongh, the Butchman accused of murdering women, including his wife. There is nothing in the existing law to prohibit this course. New Zealand wheat was sold in London on the 4th October at 28s fid per quarter. The first detachment of the “ New Australia” emigrants have arrived in good health and taken possession of the land given them by the Government of Paraguay. They are delighted with the country. The farmers of the Wallace County, to the number of sixty, met in Riverton the other day, and appointed a committee of twenty to report to a future meeting, re the representation of the district in the next Parliament. Geo. M rriman, the solicitor for the city of Sydney, has been suspended for alleged irregularities, involving, it is believed, betw r een £lojo and £oooo. The deficiency was discovered in his books while he was absent through illness, Mr J. Mackintosh, the member for Wallace, arrived from on Wednesday afternoon ; fifteen minutes later he boarded the train to Riverton, and in the evening addressed a meeting of the electors in that town, devoting his remarks to the position and prospects of the Riverton Harbour Bill. A contemporary seriously asserts that a special tax on bachelors over a certain age will be one of the planks in the platform of the ladies at the coming election. Bachelors should therefore marry in haste, even though they repent it at leisure. Tickling to the wishes of a large number of the ratepayers, Cr. Hast has consented to be nominated for another term for Waikaia Riding, which he has represented so long and so well. Sir Robert Stout has at last found a resting place for the sole of his political foot. It is now stated that he has finally decided to stand for Wellington. “ The Queen is very much upset about the loss of the Victoria. The Victoria was a good deal upset too.” So runs a paragraph in some of our exchanges. People whose sense of humour is so exquisitely fine Aiat they can joke on such a subject ought to be lynched. Distant fields are green. A settler in the Wellington district, with his wife and family, has left for the “ New Australia ” colony in Paraguay, and others intend to follow his example. Bicycling is a delightful pastime, but there is trouble in store for some of the local votaries unless they pay more ngird to the safety and comfort of pedestrians, particularly on the North Road footpath. In many cases the riders disdain to ring their bells, and whiz past people without the slightest warning. A number of complaints have reached us on this score. Perhaps this hint will be acted upon.

■The series of sketches of ‘ People "We Know ” will be resumed at an early date, a further supply of engravings being in the hands of the firm who carry out this work for us. They include the portraits of two of Southland’s earliest settlers. Attention is directed to the notifications published elsewhere from Mr J. Borrie, Registrar of Electors for the districts of Invercargill and Awarua. Erom these it will be seen that the main rolls were closed on the sth inst., and that any further names sent in will be placed on supplementary rolls. Stamp duty has been paid (says the Mercantile and Bankruptcy Gazette) on the following amounts of the estates of deceased persons, finally certified; —James M'Fetrick, Invercargill, £4147 17s; James Campbell, Invercargill, £1315 14s sd. Hero worship is certainly not dead in England. Mr Gladstone recently opened the Workmen’s Exhibition at Islington, and during the crush at the close his overcoat, of which he had divested himself before making his speech, was lost in the crowd. It was re-captured by a constable and taken to the police station. The Committee of the exhibition begged the garment, and it now figures among the other exhibits. A case of the remedy proving worse than the disease lately occm-red in Sydney. AMr and Mrs Scholfield drank a quantity of hyssop tea in order to relieve violent colds from which they had been suffering. Symptoms of poisoning presented themselves, and a medical man was summoned. Emetics were administered, but it was some hours ere the sufferers were out of danger, and in the case of the man chloroform had to be administered before the stomach pump could be used. The Government Eailways Bill is not to be proceeded with this session, which is now practically over. The Premier states that the people will have an opportunity of considering the whole question before the term of office of the railway Commissioners expires. The Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times hears that Sir Robert Stout will, at his first election meeting in Wellington, formulate a most extensive scheme of legislative reform, which will probably include the abolition of party government, the adoption of the initiative and referendum, and a complete revision of the methods of all work in select committees. Given fine weather on the 9th of November, and it may be taken for granted that “All the World and his "Wife ” will spend the day in and around Riverton. Thatcharming holiday resort has been selected for the Friendly Societies’ annual demonstration, fixed for the date mentioned, and the committee of management are working hard to make the affair as attractive and enjoyable as possible, At a meeting of the shareholders of the Longwood Sluicing Company, held in the Prince of Wales Hotel on Thursday, Mr R. Cleave presiding, it was decided to increase the capital from L 3,000 to L 4,0 0 by the issue of l<-0 additional shares of LlO each. A report was read from Professor Hooker, in the course of which he explained that the claim had not yet had a fair trial, and expressed his conviction that the property would pay when opened up. It is to be hoped that the Professor will prove to be correct in his opiiion. The shareholders well deserve to be rewarded for the pluck and enterprise they have displayed in sticking to the mine as khey have done. A case of great interest to sawmillers and settlers was decided in the Supreme Court here on Friday week. It was that of Francis Jack v. William Egerton, in which the plaintiff, a well-known sawmiller, claimed £IOO damages, and applied for an injunction restraining the defendant from committing further trespass on certain bush areas at Forest Hill. Mr Macalister appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr Harvey for the defendant, while Mr T. M. Macdonald watched the case on behalf of the Grown. The action arose through the defendant having, in virtue of a woodcutter’s license, entered on the plaintiff’s sawmill areas and cut and removed therefrom, before they were cleared of sawmill timber, large quantities of kowhai timber, which had been included in the valuation of sawmill timber on the areas made by the Land Department. After evidence and argument, His Honour Mr Justice Williams, said it was clear the State Forest Department had never treated kowhai as milling timber. The plaintiff acquired no right to the area applied for until he had paid for the milling timber growing thereon according to the valuation of the Land Department, and any injury done to the area was committed before the plaintiff had any title to it. Judgment was given for defendant, with costs on the lowest scale, and the application for an injunction was refused. A correspondent of the Sydney Herald, referring to the case infwhich a man was shpt dead in a warehouse through misadventure, suggests the passing of a stringent law to prevent the carrying of fire-arms. He says : ■ —lf each case in which one was known to have pointed a revolver at another were severely punished, the number of terrible deaths that arc caused in this way would soon be reduced. To point a gun or a pistol, even in play, at some nervous people is enough to deprive them of reason. We need the law I have mentioned to teach the young and the thoughtless that they cannot play with such weapons, and to prevent as far as possible the drunken and the reckless and the desperate from becoming a continual menace to the safety of the community.

Station properties in South Australia are not in demand. At Adelaide the other day the Moaoupe and Charoutt Estates nearly 29,000 acres; also, 5450 acres of leasehold land, with 39,000 sheep, 90 cattle, and 100 horses were offered, but although fully 100 business men were present, no offer was forthcoming. Mount Murrell and Owen Springs stations, near Alice Springs, with over two 2000 horses, about 2500 mixed cattle, were offered; but although the upset price of the horses was 5s per head, and the cattle the same, there was do offer. It is quite evident now (says the London correspondent of an exchange) that “ betterment ” will soon be an established principle in our legislation. It is probably not more than 10 years ago that the idea of making adjacent property owners pay their quota towards the cost of public improvements by which their property was largely benefited came within even the horizon of practical politics. When the idea was .resuscitated, it was at first denounced as rank socialism, and even five or six years ago orthodox Liberals were shaking their heads in regard to it. Now it is not merely adopted by the Government and by the Liberal party, but it is gaining a steadily increasing amount of Conservative support. The London County Council brought things to a crisis by inserting a betterment clause in their Improvements Bill. It passed the House of Commons, but was thrown out by the Peers. By a majority of nearly three to one, however, the House of Commons has reaffirmed the principle, and we may hereafter expect some very striking developments of it in our municipal administration. A singular grievance is ventilated by a Mr Llewellyn in a Sydney paper. He complains of the trouble and expense involved in attending funerals. When a friend dies (he remarks) we are expected to express our sympathy with the immediate relatives and attend the funeral. Should we not do so we are looked upon as unfeeling. Now for a man with a large circle of friends, especially a business man, the number of times he finds it necessary to attend funerals in the year becomes indeed monotonous. I venture to suggest that when one hears of the decease of a friend or relative it should be sufficient to simply forward a card to the bereaved with an expression of sympathy. This would adequately meet the case, and so save the time of appearing on the scene and the trouble of clothing oneself in the dreaded black, to say nothing of the cost of cab-fares, etc., which is so often a consideration to some people. The system I should like to see in vogue is cremation. Let the remains be quietly removed at night in the presence of the family and the clergyman only, who could read the burial service as at the grave. With regard to mourning, there are few who do not complain of having to burden themselves with black on hearing of a relative’s death. I know of a family in Sydney that boasts of the fact that it has been in mourning for the past ten years. Anything more unnecessary can scarcely be imagined.