ITEMS OF INTEREST

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 43219, 24 August 1907, Page 4

ITEMS OF INTEREST

The Auckland Fresh Food and Ice Company, Ltd., were fined £o and £2 5s costs for purchasing and selling milk obtained from unregistered dairies. - There were 114* applicants, for the position of electrical engineer of the Auckland City Council. Me Alexander Wylie, of Halsall, England, was the successful applicant.

In connection with the recent Parliamentary banquet at Raetilri, it. is said that the Commissioner of Police has issued instructions that the committee be prosecuted for selling liquor without a license.

The Management Committee of the. Wellington Rugby Union, suspended a. third-class team for kicking, punching and' using foul language, and also for making a demonstration against a referee. Judge Edgar, of .the Native Land Court, is staying at the Junction Hotel. We understand' that the Court will have a lengthy sitting at-Thames, extending over several months. The first of a series ..of shooting matches for trophies was held on Saturday by the members of the No. 1 Ohinemuri Rifles. The ranges were 200yds, 500yds, and 600yds, with 7 shots at each range, the best score being that of Corporal Moore, who registered 92.

Wanganui seems to be losing its head over Webb’s victory. The Post states that on Wednesday Wanganui people telegraphed repeatedly to Wellington: “Must have Webb tonight',” in spite of the reply that the Monowai would not arrive in time to catch the mail.

One of the Auckland members of the amateur New Zealand team which recently played in Sidney, stated in answer to a question put by a reporter that the professional movement would go ahead in New Zealand like wildfire now that it had. been started. a.s it bad the sympathy alike of players and public. A West Coast correspondent states : —Knight and party, proprietors of the Golden Arch claim at. Boatmans, who have 'been engaged in development: Work lately, have struck the main reef, and! gold shows freely in the stone. The Consolidated Company is now getting the machinery carted to the Blaekwaiter mine. The Minister for Labour (Hon. J. A. Millar) has received a communication from the Victoria Chamber of Manufacturers! stating thatJfhere is no truth in the assertion, as far as Victoria is concerned, that “kauri rubbish from New Zealand mills was sent, to Australia and -made into mantelpieces by Chinese and, sent back to New Zealand.” Whilst wind bound l at Mercury Bay, Captain Martin, of the schooner Awanui, secured part of the sheathing off the bottom of the warship: Buffalo, which went ashore in the vicinity about 85 years ago. The relic, which is 6ft long, was washed lashore during the recent storm, and, excepting for a few worm holes, the oak wood is m good condition. A most pa.tbetio instance of canine fidelity has been evidenced in connection with the sad death of Mr Edward Croucher, at Whangarei. Tire deceased gentleman’s dog, one of the collie breed, followed him to the hospital on, Wednesday evening, and refused to leayei there until Friday afternoon, when he dejectedly followed the remains to the Maunu Cemetery. At Taumaranui on Friday last: two men named George Heonessy and John Lonergan.' w r er'e charged with having no visible means of support. Both accused are young men, supposed to have come from Australia. In their swags was found a drill, cards, loaded dice, doublet-headed pennies, etc. They disclaimed ownership of a brace of revolvers found in. a separate parcel. The men were remanded until next day. The constable and two townsmen had an; exciting chase after the accused.

By what right or by whose permission the public use sea beaches was a question raised at the Supreme Court at Christchurch, but nothing, very definite resulted 1 from the discussion:. Mr Justice Chap man, in the course of summing up, said that neither counsel for the defence nor- the prosecution had thought it necessary to mention the actual title to the ground. Whether it was a King’s foreshore, or what it was, they had: not been told, but it would not assist the jury much if they knew. They knew it' was a beach, and most beaches in the colony were in about the same position. People used them for amusement in suitable ways without asking or inquiring whose property they were. Some time ago a paragraph went the round of the papers stating—as a remarkable coincidence —that the finger prints of a veterinary surgeon named Vane Tempest, arrested in Capetown, were found to be identical with those of Montague Thacker, who had been in custody at Bloemfontein. It has been found! that, the chances of one person's finger prints corresponding in eveiy way with those of another were a million to one, and the reported coincidence in South Africa naturally excited a great amount of interest amongst the police authorities in various parts of the world where the finger print system lias been adopted as a means of identifying criminals. The Commissioner of Police in New Zealand l (Mr W. Dinnie) was amongst those who doubted the correctness of the discovery, and he wrote to the police authorities at the Cape asking whether the report, which he had read in the papers was correct. By this week’s mail (says the Wellington Post) he has received a reply . from the Commissioner of Police at Caper town, which shows that: he was right in his surmise as to the improbability of the .story. The letter states that Vane Tempest, who was brought up in Capetown, is identical with the man who, under, the name of Thacker, had been previously tried and convict- ( ed in' Orange River Colony. :