ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43069, 16 March 1907, Page 4

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

■ x Thie; Waiotaibi Company have secured another 2701 b of;, picked stone fromi jhe No’. 7 stope, above ’No. 5 level. • . At the Auckland Police Court a youngjmian named Dignan was fined £l4 8s 6d for assaulting a team car conductor. 1 " - In. Australia last December there were members of rifle clubs, an increase of 6,604 for the year—one result!of encouragement given to this useful | aim of the .service. The,'South) African. Rugby Board has decided to make a donation of £IOOO to found a “Springbok Bed in a London Hospital to be chosen, by King Edward. At Christchurch a man with fiftyfive convictions was adjudged an habitual drunkard under the Habitual Drunkards:’ Act, 1906, and was. committed to the Sdmitarian Home for two years. . v The, following is from ap .obituary' which ’appeared .in a contemporary: “After; years of faithful service he passed 1 away, and we hope many gentlemen in .this town will show themselves braVe andi uns.elfi.shl enough to follow hi® example.” Our Waihi correspondent writes: “After a protracted experience of the law’s proverbial delays, the oompensa-I tion claim of the Waihi Printing and, Publishing company v. the. Borough Council, in connection with the cutting down.of Seddon street, has definitely - .been fixed for hearing on Tuesday, April 16 th, before the Warden and! .two assessors.”

W® understand that information hlas been laid against a Thanies calb proprietor for not responding to the call of ! the police when asked to com vey a‘man, arrested for stabbing, to the 'gaol. The case, which! is one of the first of the kind heard at Thames, is interesting, as deciding the powers of the police .in such cases and the responsibility of cab proprietors after the day’s work is dione. An old Taranaki resident who had never .previously “speculated” on a horse race broke the ice at the recent New Plymouth! meeting. Something prompted him to invest £1 on Southern dross in the hurdles. He did' so, and was returned! a dividend of £lB 16s. rile was delighted, and backed 1 the same horse in the Welter and received £7 18s dividend In horse racing, as at card's, it is generally the beginner who enjoys the luck. Or. Barnett, a native boro New Zealander who is mow president of the New! Zealand! 'branch of the Medilaal Ajssociation, referred in his presidential address to the good and wholesome work of the Otago Medical School. He mentioned that of the 600 qualified men and women practising in New /Zealand 100 were educated at the Otago School. For twenty years that school had been sending up candidates for medical diplomas. In addition to those who completied their in Dunedin there was a considerably greater number who had been partly educated there, and' who, 'after ( jeompffiefing their oourses at Home, had! returned to Now Zealand to practise. The influence of the' Dfcago 'School was I therefore a very pronounced factor in the •'personnel, training, and attainments of the New Zealand practitioner®.

.. Recent advice from Canada states that thie prosperity of the country has had the curious effeiot of discouraging desirable men from garrison artil- ; iery service there, and it has, in fact, becodae impossible to locally maintain the strength of the regiment of infantry organised to man the forts in Halifax after thie withdrawal -of the Imperial troops. Canadians are eager enough to enlist when any fighting is necessary, as was proved; in the Boer war, but the monotony of garrison duty at 'ai minimum' wage does not appeal to them; consequently it is not surprising to learn that some hundreds of former soldiers and others have been enlisted in England to be brought out to increase the strength of the Canadian -permanent forces. A pleasing little ceremony took place at the Waihi railway station, whien ex-driver Howartson was pren eenied 'by Mr W. I. Heseell, stationmaster on behalf of the Waihi railway employees with a handsome silver cruet and salver as a token of thiedr regard, on thie occasion of his leaving the service. Mr Hassell, in making the presentation, referred to the esprit de corps which characterised the three branches of the services, stating that Mr Howatson had always foster, ed thie feeling and general regret was expressed at Mr Howairtson leaving the service. Messrs Haynes, Hiatekctt, and Kenny, representing the office and locomotives and! maintainors, also expressed their regret and wished him success in his future sphere of action. Mr HoWarteom thanked them heartily for theor kindly expressions and for thiedr very handsome gift—(Own correspondent) {Mir C. S 3. Button, .of Auckland, the newly-appointed acting Supreme Court Judge, possesses only one hand. This is the left hand, with which he does his writing. Until a few years ago Mr Button Was for a considerable period Mayor of Birkenhead. He was always a prominent Nonoomformist churchman at ißjiikienhead, andi a leading spirit in Ydung Men’s Christian Association work. His'only daughter, a veay gifted young lady, is a missionary in China. About two years ago, in the latter days of the late Conservative Government in England, Mir Button went to the. Old Country to reside temporarily. This was at the time when the operations of thei Education Aks# were rousing the Noncomformisfcs. When it came to Mr Button’s turn to pay the disputed 1 tax, he arrayed himself with the passive resisters, refused to pay the "iniquitous" levy, and was duly prosecuted and fined. \