LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 76, 19 March 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tin l anmial meeting ol iko Taianaki Agricultural Society lias been postponed unlit Monday. 30th instant. At the lUenheim St. Patrick's Day ■sjmrta yesterday, Morris Ward., a wellknown local athlete, won the J 00, 220. and 410 yards handicaps and linished third in the 120 yards. 0. Hooker, an-other-local runner, linislii'd third in the 7.5 yards Sheffield. A phase of the lilackhall strike, which appears to have been generally passed over, is fsiiys an exchange) that according to clause 15 of the amended Act of 1007, every imioii in the Dominion that lias pai.-ed a resolution of =ympatliv or pledged monetary aid to ilia Blackball strike Ims lunnght ii-elf under the provisions of I his seel ion. and is liable to a. penalty of clim a- an "aider and abetter'' of the strike. There is only one pny-rnoni in Ihe Supremo Court building in \',. u |>|,-. nioiith, for probably it was never contemplated that more than one would be i-eipnrerl. 'i Osteiday, however, the room was already occupied by one jury, when 'he time came for another (o retire and con-idcr their verdict. So the public, counsel, Court officials, and reporters "the whole Ikiv and dice." as „ Ul . jm ( ;t —were ordered out of the justicc-roien itself, and the second jurv occupied the bewlie- ihere until the 'iirsl had concluded Iheir deliberations. As an instance of successful trading rim on purely cash lines, one lias but In turn f*o the Melbourne Clothing Com-

|iany with its three busy Mores at N'ew I'lyiiiouOi. Stratford, and F.ltham. liny. iii£ from tlii- linn means a saving iu the clist<uncr every tune. Mere "are j examples: Jleu's UoMvii singlets. 2s 2d: | men's woollen sucks. !i,| ; l„,yv tennis | >liirts, Is !lil: men's rream tennis -hills. I grey denims. 3s 'MI; men's Mile j»rini- ' <iril!e shirts. Is 1],1 : Numret palish. -Id i tin; hoys* Imw". 3d: men's sti-nii" I t]...,,(ers. 7- fid: men's real fur felt hard I hai--. Ss fid: men's suits, lfls (id: and I genres of other siieli bargains.—Ailvt. '

"Detective Boddam is one of the keen. est officers in tin's country," said conns"] in an action in the Supremo Court yesterday. A Catholic picnic, arranged by the Xew Plymouth branch of ihe 11.A.C.15.5. in connection with the St. Patrick's | Day cclefjrations, is to he held to-day at the Xgaire Gardons. Mr. A. Miller I'otts gave another very j enjov.ible organ recital yesterday eviin;,' ill St. Mary's Church, when he rendered a well-arranged programme to an appreciative ami a larger audience than he has had the pleasure of playing lo ! on one or two previous occasions. As a break in the organ music, the choir sang the anthem "The Wilderness." :>y Sirlohn doss, the bass recitative being taken by Mr. Russell Baker, and the trio following by Miss li. Ikiker and Messrs. Bannister and W. P. Crawford. This is the ninth recital Mr. I'otts b:is given here, and the same standard of excellent playing has been inainlai.iod throughout.

At an informal meeting of those who ! arc now taking in hand the question I of forming a society for the protection | of infant life in accordance witl ' I '"' scheme outlined by Lady .Plunket yes- i terdav afternoon.'Mr. I<\ ('. Bellringv. chairman of the Hospital Board, made a suggestion rlial the matron of the Hospital should supervise the preparation ot suilicient humanised milk daily to supply three babies, who should be selected by local medical men. with the object of carefully noting the result :>f such feeding. The matron acquiesc-d in the suggestion, and with the cooperation of the nurses it is probable that this portion oi the scheme will receive a practical test locally. At last night's meeting of the Taranaki liilles. Captain llellringei' presented to Sergeant loseph. in charge of No. :! Section, the challenge shield offered _ for competition between the sections. 'lh' winning of the shield stamps Sergeant Joseph's section as the most eilicient in the corps during the year, having re-n-aril to shooting, drill, dress, and atumdanee. II was in the last-named particular that the No. 3 scored heayilv, and managed to win by eight poiuK Captain Bellringer said he considered the inauguration of this competition one of the most important steps yet taken by the company, for it had encouraged a healthy interest and a regular attendance, mentioning that despite a shortage in numbers the parades during the year had been as large as ever in the history of the corps.

An act of gross vandalism and theft was committed at the Technical School last night. A student, who left his bicycle in flic lobby of the building, found after his class was dismissed that the lamp— a good one—had been wrenched oil' the machine, (he bracket being broken ill two. The pump was also missing, while all the tools had been abstracted from the bag. The case '.< one for the police, and we trust the nlVcnders niav speedily be brought !o justice. 11l connection with the matter, wc think the Technical School committee would be studying its own is well as ils students' interests were it to give the custodian permission to nllow"bicycles to be taken into the building. It was on account of the. custodian's refusal, acting on his instructions from someone in authority, to allow the student to take his bicycle into the building that last night's act was possible.

Walsh, the New York banker who ha, jusl been found guilty of wrongfully using the funds ol the bank, ol which he was president, is a man. of seventy vcavs According to the San Francisco correspondent of the "Age," he. like ,l„lie/. ISall'our, appealed to the people of scant possessions, inducing them oy .-lowin" promises to trust their sin-ill savings to him. Walsh formed several wild-cat institutions allied with his bank to handle these savings. Among them were the Home Savings Hank alii the F.(|uitable Trust Company. To many of the notes the names of ollicinls of the bank were iorged. The books of the Chicago Nalional Hank were so cleverly ,-ookcd that for several years the National Bank examiners were kept in e'noraiice of llle true condition of the bank'- affairs. The details of his crimes show Walsh to have handled the bank', deposits with reckless jndillcrcuco to consequence-. Watered stock lo th. p'robable extent of CS.btiH.IHIH or Ol 000,(100 was is-ueil. Through his employees Wal-h voted the stock to himself, lie I lien sold this watered slo-k to the bank-, taking the i icy lo huh-.' 'up private enterprises. All the sto-1; so issued by Walsh to himself and foi which he took millions from ihe bank'? vaults was pvaeticaUs valueless, it \vv also the practice of Walsh to maki loans to one of his struggling wild-cat industrial enterprises, and then sell (he bonds of that company to the bank at exorbitant prices. These bonds wen worth little or nothing. Another bar,! faced trick by which he stole the inonev of depositors was to make out cheque payable to bearer, and credit them !c liis own.personal account.

■i Having left the ranks of the legal e profession, Judges of the Su])reme Court ■i now and again throw a little light on i the methods of tho gentlemen of the '* liar. A case in point occurred yesterk day. A barrister engaged in a criminal n case was rating ii witness for not liav- '•- ing given his evidence in the "lower" d Court as fully,, as in the Supremo Court, r "Why didn't von tell ns that in the -1 lower Court V he asked. The witness r replied, quite innocently, that it was - because he had not been asked. The e legal niind was nut satisfied, and, with '' an eye to effect upon the jury, lie rei linked the witness, telling him that it - was his duty to tell the truth, the whole ? truth, and nothing Iml the truth; there - ■ fore, he should huve told all lie knew i cunscrning the case. The effect of the - homily, however, was spoiled by the > intervention of the Judge In the wP--I ness' favor. A witness was expected, ! he said, to answer questions, and no > more. If he went beyond that he would lie "jumped upon" by counsel., somo- ' thing like this: ''Will you please be content with answering my questions? If anything more is wanted my learned friend will get it from you in crossexamination." And the gentlemen cf the robe smiled broadly. A few minutes later the same witness was asked by the ..bulge if lie intended to convey a certain meaning in answer" to a roundabout query .from counsel. Witness gurgled a negative. "Well," rejoined the Judge, "(hat's ivhal learned counsel is trying to trap you into saying." Connisel immediately denied any intention of "trapping'" the witness.