LABOR QUESTIONS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2155, 27 January 1891, Page 4

LABOR QUESTIONS.

London, Jan. 12. There are one hundred thousand unemployed in London. Jan. 24. In the court to-day an application for Brresting the railway strike funds was granted. The efforts of the Earl of Aberdeen, who was mediating in the railway strike have proved futile. The Dundee dockers have refused to come out on strike in sympathy with the railway strikers. Berlin. Jan 22. The Socialist organs in B-rlin welcome the prospect of a visit from Mr Fitzgerald,the Australian labor delegate,, and promise to assist him. New York, Jan. 12. Half a million members of the American Federation of Labour are organising a strike on May Ist for eight hours labour for those engaged in mining. Melbourne. Jan. 24. The Gas Company lost £13,000 by the late strike, Wellington, 24. The various nujous affiliated to the Wellington Trades Council were recently asked to express an opinion with reference to the proposal to form a National Council for New Zealand. Seven have decided in favor of the scheme, and three against. Three nnaffiliated bodies are also opposed. Seven unions have yet to give an opinion.

N.Z. RIFLE ASSOCIATION

Puketapk, Jan, 23. The principal prizetakers and scorers to-day were: — Otago Match. Mahoney, Wanganui Navals, £8 89 Webster, Auckland, £6... ... 87 Kruse, Wanganui, £5 ... ... 87 Henderson, Auckland, £5 ... 86 King, Oamaru, £4 ... ... 86 Bunting, Wellington, £4 .. 85 Taylor, Auckland, £4 85 Eight took prizes o£ £3 and £2. Cheistohxtbch Match.

Taylor, Auckland, £8 .... ... 46 King, Oamaru, £6 44 Begg, Dunedin, £5 ... ... 44 Bills, Victoria, £5 43 Oaken, Dunedin, £4 43

Sloane, Victoria, £4 42 Williams, Wellington, £4 ... 42 Eight took prizes of £3 and £2. Auckland Match.

Doughty, Auckland, £8 40 Taylor, Auckland, £6 ... ... 40 Oaden, Dunedin, £5 ... ... 89

Stitt, Wellington, £5 ... ... 39 Shepherd, Thames, £4 ... .. 38 Bunting, Wellington, £4 ... 38 McCarthy, Victoria, £4... ... 37 Eight took prizes of £3 and £2.

The Carbine Cup for 1891-1892, awarded to the highest aggregate scorer in the Ladies’ and Auckland Matches, was secured by Lieutenant Oaken, Peninsula Volunteers, with 85. The meeting will conclude on Monday afternoon, when the Champion Match will be fired.

The annual meeting of members ot the association was held at the camp to-night. At the election of members of the council Captain Montgomery replaced Colonel Wales for Dunedin and Lieutenant Foster took the place of Major Purnell for Wanganui. The other members were re-elected. After a good deal of discussion it was unanimously decided that a permanent site fer the meetings of the association be chosen as near as possible to Wellington, the selection of a site and other details to be left in the hands of the council.

Jan. 25, Details of the last big match, 500 yards, 10 shots, are:— W. Pickett, Tenui, £l2 12s (given by the Hawkes Bay Licensed Victuallers’ Association) ... 44 Aisher, Wellington, £8 ... ... 44 Willmott, unattached, £6 ... 48 Haddock, Blenheim, £5 43 Johnston, Wanganui, £4 ... 41 Spinley, Auckland, £4 ... ... 41 Syders, Dunedin, £4 ... ... 40

GK Perry, Wanganui; Eule, Ashburton ; and Acheson, unattached, won £8 each.

District Representative Match, 200, 500. and 600 yards, 7 shots at each distance, open to teams of 20 men from specified districts. Prizes —Exhibition challenge shield, Hobson’s cup, and £2O in money to the winning team; the shield and cup to be held for one year. Otago 1600 Wanganui ... ... ... 1593 Auckland 1544 Canterbury 1512 Wellington 1510 Teams Match.

A Battery, Auckland, £3O ... 444 Wanganiii Rifles, £2O ... ... 422 Wellington Guards, £lO ... 420 Hon. Reserves, Christchurch ... 413 Wellington Navals ... ... 406 Nine teams competed. The Union Company’s Cup was won by Private Kruse, of Wanganui.

So far the Auckland district has taken the bulk of the prize money, the amount of its representatives’ winnings being about £2OO.

OLD-TIME CUSTOMS. In the middle ages the lower animals were frequently tried, for various offences. Mr Baring-Gould has collected some curious eases of this kind. In 1266 a pig was bunrt at Fontaneyaux Roses, near Paris, for having eaten a child- In 1386 a judge at Falaise condemned a sow to be mutilated and hanged for a similar!

offence- Three years later a horse was solemnly tried before a magistrate and condemned to death for having killed a man. During the fourteenth century oxen and cows might be legally killed whenever taken in the act of marauding ; and asses, for a first offence had an ear cropped; for a second offence the other ear; and if after this they were asses enough to commit a third offence, their lives become forfeit to the Crown, “ Criminal ” animals frequently expiated their offences, like other malefactors, on the gallows, hut subsequently they were summarily killed without trial, and their owners mulcted in heavy damages. In the fifteenth century it was popularly believed that cocks were intimately associated with witches, and they were somewhat credited with the power of laying accursed eggs, from which sprang winged serpents. In 1474, at Bate, a cock was publicly accused of having laid one of these dreadful eggs. He was tried, sentenced to death, and, together with the egg, was burned by the executioner in the market place amid a great concourse of people. In 1694, during the witch persecutions in New England, a dog exhibited such strange symptoms of affliction that he was believed to have been ridden by a warlock, and he was accordingly hanged. Snails, flies, mice, ants, caterpillars, and other obnoxious creatures have been similarly proceeded against and condemned to various punishments—mostly in ecclesiastical courts. And, stranger still inanimate objects have suffered the same fate; for it must be remembered that only in the present reign was the law repealed which made a cart wheel, a tree, or a beast which bad killed a man forfeit to the State for the benefit of the poor. It had been said that punishment is not likely to be efficacious unless it swiftly follows the offence. This was improved on by a Barbary Turk who, whenever he bought a fresh Christian slave, had him bung up by the heels and bastinadoed, on the principle, it is supposed—though the application is decidedly singular—that prevention is better than cure. —All the Year Bound.