LOCAL & GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2521, 27 June 1893, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL.

The Late Mr Ballance.—lt is understood that a compassionate allowance, similar to that granted to Lady Atkinson, will be granted to Mrs Ballance. Good Templars Social.—This evening a social will be held in the Temuka Volunteer Hall, when a good programme will be gone through Refreshments will be provided, and as the charge for admission is only (id, there should be a large attendance. Criminal Assault.—On last Sunday a lad named William Gibson was arrested on a charge of having committed a criminal assault on a little girl named Scowen, as she was on her way from school. Gibson is only 15 years of age, and the little girl is between seven and eight years. Gibson was returning from Pleasant Point, where he had obtained a recommendation for the position of pupil teacher at Winchester. General Workers Union.—As seen by advertisement a public meeting of the General Workers Union will be held on Saturday evening next, when matters of importance will be dealt with ; explanations of the rules and regulations of tae union ; inauguration of a deathior benefit fund, etc. Those who are interested in labor matters are cordially invited to attend. Students of Truth.—" Sister Magdala " (Mrs Worthington) addressed her first meeting in Wellington on Sunday. She announced that she would shortly take up her permanent residence in Wellington and re-establish the Temple of Truth. The Registrar-General has decided to replace Mr Worthington's name on the list of officiating ministers under the Marriage Act. Timaru F. and H. Society.-—The annual meeting of the Timaru Floral and Horticultural Society (said to be the oldest society in the colony), was held last week, when the balance-sheet showed that the society ended its 22nd year with a debit balance of £1 lis lid. The past year was a bad one for all the floral societies in South Canterbury, and it is to be hoped the coming year will.be a more favorable one. Freemasonry.—The installation of the Worshipful Master, Bro Dawson, for the second time, and the investiture of officers, of the Lodge Caledonian, Timaru, No 16, took place on Thursday evening. There were present a large number of members and visiting! Among the latter being Bros C. P. Hulbert, G. Sup, Canterbury Christchurch, and Bros White and Dunlop (Geraldine). A banquet was held afterwards, and was a great success. Fire—a. fire occurred at Ashburton on Saturday night at 10 o'clock at Hampton's, cabinetmaker's, and rapidly extended to Lublow's tailor's shop adjoining. Both shops were completely destroyed. Nothing is known of the origin of the fire. Hampton's stock and tools were insured in the North British office. The building belongs to Mr T. Bullock, and is insured in the South British, but the amount has not transpired. Mr Lublow's build : ng was insured for £250 and the stock for £3OO, in the Liverpoool London and Globe office. Much >tock from both shops was saved. Cricket.—A London cable message dated June 23, states that the Australians b at the Kent Eleven by an innings and 1 run. In their first innings Kent made 104, and in their second 89. The betting on the All England Eleven v. Australia is 2 to 1, and it is believed that the former will win easily. The Australians, however, profess themselves sanguine of being able to make a gool stand. The Pall Mall Gazette thinks iVl «.t the people in the colonies are not quite " * iV,, »t like team are doing their best, satistieu v.. --. heeu thinking too much but that they have - * « o ,orifi,Qing the of their own jdeasure ana .. interests of the game. The Sydenham Licensing Question. —Steps have been taken by the jjrohibitionist party to move for a writ of certiorari removing into the Supreme Court all th- proceedings in connection with the granting of licenses to the Southern Cross Hotel, Crown Hotel, and Sandridge Hotel. The licenses for these houses were fefused by the former Sydenham Licensing Committee, and the grounds on which the present application is made is that the licenses are new licenses, that previously to their being granted the ratepayers of t!i« di.-trict had not determined whether the number of publicans licenses might or mi:.'hfc not b« increased, an>l that the coraniirtue had no power to grant the applientious Ax Atjbitratiov Casb.—ln the civil action I). 11. Brown, of Ohristohurch, mili'i - , against John Jickson, of Timaru. miller, claim £250 and interest from April 1 h-fc which came before His Honour Mr Justice Dennistoun, at the sitting of the Supreme <.'ourt, Timaru. an 1 was referred to the arbitration- of Mr G. T. Boot i, and Mr II J. LeCren, Mr C. A. Wray act ng as U'upire, the award was mad-s hiht week, the arbitrator." finding unanimously in favor of the plaintiff, D. H. Brown, the amount claimed. Tue claim was based on an agreement that plaintiff, while manager of the Belford Mills, should receive a bonus of £:!o0 when a profit of £2OOO was made in any one year. Mr J A. Caygill. of Christchurch, lepresentod the plaintiff, and Mr J. W. Wdite, of Timaru, the defendant. The arbitrators hel.l their enquiryat Timaru and Ashburton, and'forwarded their award to the Supreme Court at Christchurch. The Weslkyan Bazaar.—The Wesley an bazaar was again opened last Saturday in the afternoon, but the attendance was small UDtil evening, when a large number of people assembled there, and a good deal of business was done. The Temuka Brass Band was in attendance, and contributed in no small measure to the success of the evening's entertainment by playing some selections of music in a very creditable manner. A magic lantern entertainment was'given by Mr Knight in the Volunteer Hall! which was well attended, but the light was not good, and there was nothing to commend in it. The pictures were right enough, but the light was very poor. Tne business done at the bazaar was very satisfactory, and the produce and live stock sold by Mr Maslin brought very good prices. On the whole, though the weather was very unfavorable, the bazaar proved a success. The exact amount realised has not yet been ascertained, but the net proceeds will not be less than betweeu £7O and £BO. A large quantity of goods remained unsold, and these will be disposed pf by Boms other rnoana, '

Temuka Stock Sale.—The fortnightly sale of stock at Temuka takes place to-day. Entries are advertised in another column.

Hotel Burned. The Raglan Hotel was totally destroyed by fire on Friday morning. It was insured for £4OO in the Commercial Union. The cause of the fire is unknown.

Compulsory Closing.—A meeting of shop-assistants at Christchurch decided to communicate with the Hon W. P. R eves, asking him to introduce a clause into the Shop Hours Bill making closing on Saturday afternoon compulsocy throughout New Zealand, the present measure having been found most unsatisfactory in practice.

Rangitata South Debating Society. —lt will be seen by advertisement that the next meeting of the Rangitata South Debating Society will be held on Thursday, June 29th, instead of Friday, June 30th, on account of other local entertainments. The subject for debate and the paper to be given are both interesting, and there will no doubt be a large attendance. A Wreck.—The derilect vessel, bottom up, seen off Cape Foulwind on Thursday, is the Auckland built cutter Lizzie, about 40 tons, which left Hokitika for Onehunga on the 9th inst., laden with pine sleepers. Shortly after this bad weather set in. The wreck was towed to the Westport breakwater on Friday evening. The wreck is now anchored off the breakwater. Death of Sir William Fox. Sir William Fox, who had been gradually getting worse for days past, died at Auckland on Friday afternoon in his 82nd year, on the anniversary of his wife's deah. Sir George Grey has been visiting him of late, and called on Friday, but he was too dl to see him. Sir William Fox's lastpubl c appearance was in laying the foundation stone of the Salvation Army Barracks on the Queen's Birthday. He founded the New Zealand Alliance, to whioh he contributed £IOO a year, and his purse was ever open to every good cause. The Gowanburn.—Some men working on the other side of Oakura, south of New Plymouth, report seeing the bow part of a ship's boat, on which was painted in black: letters '• Gowanburn." On Febraaryoththe Gowanburn left for San Francisco, and on February 22nd a large four-masted vessel was seen by some men off Awakino, north of Mokau. A gale sprang up the day after she was sighted, and a short time afterwards a lot of the Gow -nburn's wreckage was found on the Awakino beach. From this it ia supposed hat the vessel must have founderad.

'i he Cad.man-Rees Case.— At Napier on Friday the jury in the Cadman-Rees case retired at half-past 11 o'clock. The drift of the Chief Justice's summing up was that the jury had not to determine whether Mr Cadman had been dealing in native lands while he was Native Minister, his own evidence and that of Mr Smith clearly showing that he was at least indirectly interested in such purchases. The alleged libel was that he had used his position aud influence to further such purchase j, and it was for the jury to say whether that had been proved. At halfpast 2 o'clock the jury asked whether if one item in the allegation was considered libellous they should give a verdict for plaintiff. His Honour answered in the affirmative. At tea minutes to i o'clock they returned and asked what amount of damages would carry costs. His Honour said that the costs rested with the Judge, but -10 s was usually considered to carry costs. He should so regard such a verdict. The jury after a total absence of nearly seven hours returnad a verdict for plaintiff for £l. Judgment was entered up accordingly, each side to bear their own costs.

A Maintenance Case.—At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Timaru, on Friday last, Kate Kelly, a single woman aged 21, sued James Mulally, a married man, for the maintenance of her illegitimate child and costs of confinement. The evidence for the complainant was to the effect that in November, 1891, she was called home from Wellington to take charge of her father's house, her mother being mortally ill. The neighbors, among them the defendant, used to be frequently visiting the house until Mrs Kelly died, when all almost ceased their visits but defendant. The complainant's father and elder brothers were away working in the day time, and defendant used to drop into the house and stay sometimes for a couple of hours. Mary Kelly, 15, a sister of the complainant, said on two occasions she saw Kate sitting on the accused's knee, with his arm around her. A neighbor said that on calling at the house one day he found the door locked, and when he was let in accused was in the kitchen. The complainant said that she submitted to accused because he said he had £2OO in the bank, which he promised to draw out and take her with him to ''Yankee-land." She could not keep him away, and when she spoke to him of his wife and five children he said they could do better without him. When she told him of her condition he kept putting her off, an 1 ultimately told her she must get money from her father. She finally went to Oamarur where she was confined and was very ill, and told her father about the matter. Her father at once saw accused and he, according to Kelly, did not deny the. paternity, but said he must have been drunk when he did it; he said if it was Mb of course he must take it, but his wife w ould not allow it inside the house. For --><* accused admitted that he was the deien-. '--■.aa in tfre daytime, but often in the girl a m,v. - -.„ at said she always called him inw the window. He denied ever haying been familiar with her, and in fact denied every allegation she had made. When he was at the house they talked about ordinary subjects. The accused's wife denied hearing her husband admit the paternity of the child, and alleged that on one occasion she saw the girl in a disordered state both as to her dress and mentally after a man had left with a bottle in his pocket. It wa3 sought to show that two cousins of the complainant's were frequent visitors to the house, but she denied that they came to see her. or that she had ever kept company with any one. His Worship reserved his decision until Saturday, when he gave it as follows: — If the complainant's story were true, it disponed of the cass, but there must be corroborative evidence, and the question was whether thee was sufficient corroborative evidence. There were three points in whichcomplainant'sstory was corroborated. The first was the want of explication by defendant of what he was doing fooling about the place for nearly a year, which of course required considerable explanation. Then there was the evidence of two indepeu J .ent witnesses as to incid nts during accused's visits, the evidence of Toner as to skylarking he overheard, and of the complainant's sister that she had seen complainant sit ing on defendant's knee. Defendant himself distinctly denied that these things took place, and the Court beiDg satisfie 1 that they did take place, of course the rest of the evidence given by defendant was not much to be relied upon. As he had lied in regard to these two items, he had probably 1 ed in regard to more important particulars. Under the circumstances he did not attach much importance to the girl's concealment of the truth from her father. The girls own conduct had been very bad. She knew perfectly well that Mulally was a married man with five children, and by her own account she was willing to consent to his desertion of his family and to levant with him and his £2OO to another country. There was no excuse for her conduct; but it inu-it be remembered that she was the sufferer. He need say nothing about defendant's conduct, it spoke for itself. And he had not only been guilty of what he was accused of, but guilty also of giving false evidence. On the sufficiently corroborated evidence of the complainant he adjudged defendant the father. On the question of costs he would not make any order for the payment of Bums already paid by complainant, but defendant must pay outstanding liabilities, £lO 7s 6d, and 6s per week for the support of the child, and £2 2s solicitor's fee,