INTER-PROVINCIAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 109, 10 March 1870, Page 6

INTER-PROVINCIAL.

Reports of the harsh treatment of the Constabulary are again being circulated The " Auckland Morning Advertiser " of the 14th ult. says : — We are informed that a party of about 150 men of the Armed Constabulary Expeditionary Force, under command of Col. M'Donnell arrived at Tauranga on the 10 ih ult. after eighteen months heavy campaigning, almost in a state of nudity. It is stated that when Col. M'Donnell, on arrival, ordered them to proceed to Maketu, ten of the men refused, assigning as their reason that they were physically unfit, and requested medical treatment. After examination, six men were sent to hospital, and four returned fit for service. These four refused to proceed, and were discharged and forwarded to Auckland by the Stuart. The worst feature of the case is that three months' pay is said to be due to them ; in fact, a general feeling of dissatisfaction seems to exist among the force on the irregularity of their payments. The Auckland " Evening Star " has the following : — " Nothing can be more gratifying to every lover of law and order than to see zeal on the part of our peace officers, and we are sure a meed of praise will be given to the police of this city for their detection, and bringing to justice a crime of enormous magnitude, that has recently been perpetrated in our midst. In the year of grace 1870, a man has been fouud guilty of shaving on Sunday. Constable Clark, whose name Bhould be held in everlasting rememberanee, with that acuteness of suspicion which reflects the highest credit on his watchfulness, had his fears aroused from seeing sundry suspiciouslooking characters with hirsute faces hanging about in the neighbourhood of one Symonds, and observing that certain others were emerging in the most hare-faced manner from his door, conceived the happy idea of bursting in upon the gang of desperadoes. He then found a person reclining in a chair in a position of helplessness, with foam around his mouth, and the proprietor himself brandishing in his hand a dangerous weapon, caught, in fact, infiagrante delicto. To drag the culprit before a court of justice was but the duty of the faithful Clark, but as it appeared that the crime was one, happily of rare occurrence ; in fact the prosecuting Commissioner stating that it was the " first case of the sort" the heaviest penalty that the law allows was not inflicted. The prisoner may well congratulate himself on the fact that he has been the first to transgress the' law. But it is not our duty, as a people, to mark our public abhorence of this crime; for there can be no disputing that if this evil is not checked in the bud it may grow to dangerous proportions ; and if it should unhappily become a habit that a man should shave himself, or shave another, on a Sunday, it will produce puch a state of lawlessness as will sap the foundations of civil liberty. To Constable Cl#rk £he thanks of the whole community are due, for ferreting out and unseething the crime, and we trust that the people will, at least, present him with a mark of appreciation — say a leather medal."

The "Hawke's Bay Herald" reports that "on the night of Sunday, 6th ult., three prisoners confined under sentences of penal servitude escaped from Napier Gaol under circumstances displaying great ingenuity and daring on their part. Their names are John Campbell, sentenced to seven years ; Henry Williams, to ten years ; and James Gavin to four years, all for horse stealing. They escaped by removing a board from the ceiling of the cell in which they were confined, and then breaking through the belfry by cutting away some of the Jower boards. It is supposed they effected this by means of a small knife, which they must have had concealed for some time. They are three desperate characters, and must have had everything planned and ready. The turnkeys went their rounds at a late hour the same night, and all then appeared to be quiet and safe. The men had nothing on when they got out but their prison clothes, and two of them were bare-footed. Notices have been sent to the various police stations throughout the province, and a most diligent search has been made, but nothing had been seen or heard of the fugitives.

There appears to have been an application on the part of the Imperial Government for the services of Mr. Commissioner Branigan for the Irish Constabulary. With reference to this the Wellington "Evening Post" writes : — " We are able to state authoritatively that thei*e is no truth in the report circulated in town this morning, after the publication of the telegrams alluding to the' disturbed state of Ireland, that Mr. Branigan is about to go home to take command of the Irish Constabulary. An application to that effect is rumoured to have been made by the Imperial Government, but cur Ministry determined, by way of retaliating on Earl Granville his scurvy treatment of us, to refuse it point blank." A man named Crossley, residing at Renwickton, Marlborough, attempted to poison himself by taking strychine the other day, owing to some unpleasantness that had occurred between himself and his wife- A doctor was sent for, and he at once adminis-

tered the usual antidotes. For three hours his body remained stiff and rigid. At the expiration of that time he began to show signs of moving, and has been improving ever since.

It will be in the recollection of our readers that a person named James Kenna was shot in the side by another man of the name of Sheridan, in a quarrel which arose out of card playing and gambling at Ohinemuri. Sheridan was not apprehended at the time, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. A copy of the warrant was seat to Tauranga to the police authorities there, with a description of his appearance, as it was suspected he went from Ohinemuri in that direction. On the arrival of the steamer Duke of Edinburgh last week, Sheridan was handed over to the police authorities of the Thames, having been brought to the police at Tauranga by the natives from a village named Mataora, where he had sought shelter. — " West Coast Times."

The " Southern Cross," of the 29th January, says: — "Our flax trade is steadily increasing and improving in value. Within a few weeks 30 1 tons of very superior flax was shipped from this harbour, realising from £26 to £30 per ton in Auckland. Some of our flax manufacturers are going to try the experiment of sending their flax to market without scutching.

A consignment of the true and real English crow has arrived at Auckland by the City of Auckland, from London. The English crow is a wellknown enemy and destroyer of the caterpillar; and the introduction of the species into ,the colony will be hailed with welcome, we should imagine, both by farmers and market gardeners. It is to be hoped that the birds will speedily and numerously multiply, so that their introduction into the other provinces of the colony may shortly be looked for. — "West Coast Times."