Local and General.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3168, 14 March 1911, Page 4

Local and General.

Messrs F. S'. Malcolm and Co.announce particulars of a sale of hignclass furniture and household goods tomorrow r.t 2 :>.m.

Maori custom has always presented difficult problems for the legal profession. According to a solicitor at the Supreme Court yesterday, when one tried to effect an execution against a native’s stock, one not infrequent \ found that a beast seized might have a pedigree . longer than most pedigrees registered in the Stud Book. again, ho said, not only had the animal a pedigree, which was known only to its owner, but its owner’s relationship was quite as hard to. follow. These who tried to seize an animal might, for instance, find that it belonged to the daughter’s aunt and her aunt owned the mother, and her mother bred the grandmother. “In fact,” the solicitor concluded, “after the beast has been seized you find it has Been owned by hair the tribe, hut not hy # the native you have got judgment against.” In the Magistrate’s Court- yesterday two men named respectively Timothy Connolly and Martin Carroll, were brought before Mr W. A. Barton S'.M., both having been arrested on charges of vagrancy. Carroll, said Sergeant Hogan, was an intolerable nuisance and had an unenviable record. Regarding the other accused little was known, save that lie was suspected of_ being a disorderly person with insufficient lawful fneans of support. His Worship inflicted sentences of two months’ imprisonment with hard labour in the case of Carroll and one month' in the case of Connolly. A Press Association cable message from Svdnev last night- stated that the s.s. Makura had sailed for Vancouver. Sir Joseph Ward and the Hon. Dr. Findlay were passengers by the vessel. What is the limit of any man’s worth in salarv ? That is a blunt question put by the “London Daily Mail” to a world in which mere men are underpaid than overpaid. The “Mail” wants to know if the limit is £SOOO. £IO,OOO, or £20,000? Now, a Socialist would have no difficulty in fixing what he would call a just limit; but since justice is not always the propelling principle in the matter of fixing salaries, it is interesting to look at- the remuneration paid in the 0;d Country to some men. To begin with, salaries of £IU,OOO are very few. Large salaries, however, arc- becoming mere numerous. Last year at Home 202 men, scheduled in the income tax returns as “employees,” received an average of over £SOOO each. These were the great employees. Salaries of some shipping organisers ranged between £SOOO and £IO,OOO. After the employees come Cabinet. Ministers, of wlicrn nine receive £SOOO a year each. And it is so easy to be a Cabinet Minister nowadays! Higher up in the administrative scale the Lord Chancellor is paid £IO.OOO a year. The Attorney-General has £7OOO a year, and the Solicitor-General £6OOO. In 'addition to salary, eacli receive fees which are not told in Gath. "Oh, to be in England!” Following out the method invented by Eintlu/ven, Monsieur Bull of the Marey Institute, of Paris, has contrived an improved machine for registering electrically the variations of the beats of the heart m such a way as to aid in the diagnosis of cardiac affections, 'flic patient lias but to dip his hands in salt water contained in vases connected with a galvanometer. Every movement of the heart is registered by a waving line traced' on photographic paper. It is possible to make the examination at a distance by means of connecting wires, the patient being at a hospital and the -legist ei mg apparatus in a laboratory. At Leyden a connection of this kind had been employed over a distance of nearly a mile. A telephone enables the physician at the patient’s side and the experimenter in the laboratory to keep in constantcommunication.

The Minister of Mines (Hon. R. McKenzie), questioned by a “New Zealand Times” representative as to the scope of the Royal Commission on Mines, stated that it will be asked to report npon the -sanitation and ventilation of mines, to state whether steps can be taken to prevent inineis’ phthisis and whether safer methods of working are necessary. The Commission will sit wherever there are important mines, and should be in a position to commence taking evidence in the course of a few weeks. “Complaints of insufficient ventilation and other unsatisfactory hygienic conditions in some of the mines "are,” added the Minister, “ieceived by the Mines Department. _ and while it is conceded that the sanitary conditions in the mines of the Dominion are generally satisfactory, exceptions always prove the rule; and m order to definitely ascertain the exact; conditions prevailing, the Commission has been appointed.”

Some excitement was given to the everyday round of business at the Bank of England the other day when a lunatic appeared and demanded money. The man went to the office of the cashier and presented a letter which declared that there was a considerable sum of money due to him. The letter contained a threat that if the money was not paid a few people would be killed. The bank o-ffic al saw at once the sort-, of man he had to deal with, and telling him that the detective on duty was ft bank official asked him to accompany the officer, and told him all his demands would be satisfied if he did so. "When they reached the Threadneedle Street entrance two other detectives joined them At the corner of Dowgate Hill be suddenly drew a revolver, and was about to level, it at one of the office; s when the three threw themselves on him and overpowered him after a struggle. An interesting correspondence has passed between Mr. J. H. Richardson, Pahiatoa, and the Hon. Dr. Findlay, Minister for Justice, upon a suggestion by Mr. Richardson that the names of convicted persons who have led respectable lives for a given period after serving their sentences, should be struck off the prison records. Mr. Richardson pleaded that the State should do nothing to hinder, hut everything to assist, n man who was making an honest attempt to- live down the past. Tlie writer urged that men- who had been convicted and were trying to live honest- lives, should be protected as far ns possible in courts of justice from the exposures and insinuations of opposing counsel. The. Minister replied as follows; —“Perhaps you have not considered the practical difficulties in the way of giving effect- to your suggestion, the principal one being that it is net possible to mutilate public records.”

To-night is the last night of Hie Pathe Pictures curent programme. Tomorrow the' usual change will be given, which is to be limited to one night only. On Thursday and Friday, per arrangement with the British Biograph Company two new and complete programmes of exclusive subjects will be shown. “Ranch Ufe in the Great South-west” will be the star film for Thursday and special items are promised for Friday (St. Patrick’s night). ( When punctuality is overdone, it sometimes becomes a vice instead of a virtue, as a young man named John McCohville learned in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Mr W. A. Barton, S.M., was on the Bench, and the charges against McConville were, in the first place, that of being found drunk and, secondly, with having procured _ liquor during "the curency of a prohibition order. On the first charge the prisoner was convicted and fined the sum of £1 and costs 2s; in default, 48 hours’ imprisonment. The latter offence, it was alleged, arose out of a misunderstanding” the accused being under the impression that the prohibition order against him expired on Friday, when, in reality, it expired on Saturday at midnight. By 4 o’clock on Saturday afternoon he was quite under the influence of liquor, and was arrested on the former charge. The Magistrate said that he would allow for the mistake made and! would fine the prisoner £1 and 2s costs; in default, four days’ imprisonment. A number of London policemen were kept at bay for several hours' - by a. bulldog. A man anmed Hyatt, living in rooms above the European Restaurant, Bartholomew-close, E.C., was found on the floor of his room with his throat cut. The bulldog kept guard over-the body, and savagely prevented any approach to her prostrate master. The police were sent for, and through a hole which was bored in the door they were able to see the man’s body on the floor. On his chest sat the dog, snarling angrily. As it was known to be a fierce one it was realised that it would he dangerous to force an entrance. When a constable appeared at tlie window the dog sprang savagely towards him. The panels of the door were broken in with tlie intention of shooting the dog, but it was resolved to tiy poison instead, and poisoned meat ami milk were thrown into the room. The dog resisted the bait for some time, but eventually took some of the milk, and was soon * dead. Hyatt is stated to be an American, who had been five or six mouths in London. He was between 35 and 40 years of age. Surgeon-General Sir Thomas Galway, principal medical officer of the Aldershot command, speaking at a meeting of the National Service League, stated that he had recently had to draw up a report on the health of the British Army for 1910, and it had been forcibly brought home to him that the present excellent health —both mental and physical—of the army was mainly due to its physical training and discipline, principal’*- since the South African war. Although the British soldier of to-day was recruited from the seme classes of tlie communitv -as in the past, he was far more active and intelligent, and a better soldier in every way. Progress in the health of the army had really been most extraordinary. For instance, last year the men admitted to hospital only numbered half the average of the previous five years : and not only that, but the waste of the army, which used to be from 25 t-o 30 pe r 1000. had gone down considerably. On making up the returns for last- year he found the- number bid diminished to nine per 1000. All this went to show that what the Nat onal Seivice League sought to bring about would be to the improvement of the mental and physical capacity ox the nation.

The statement that the cost of living has increased of late years has a good deal of foundation in fact, but the trouble is not quite so general as many people believe. The price, of many articles of common consumption has actually been reduced during the last decade, and in other instances there has been no serious advance. A representative of the “Lyttelton Times” secured from an old-established and well-known grocer in Christchurch a price-listissued originally in 1898, and compared it with the corresponding list for 1911. The first figures show the IS9B prices, and the second the 1911 prices:—Goolden syrup (21b tin), 7d., 6d.; sugar, per lb., 2fd.. 2d. kerosene per tin os 9d 6s 6d., os 3d., prunes, Sd., 6d. ; dates, 6d._ 3d.: figs, 7d., 4d. ; rice, 24d., 2d.; flour, (501 b bag), 6s 4-jd, os 6d.: rasins, 7d., od.: currants, od., d. A tin of kerosene contains one-sixtli of a gallon more than it did in 1898. The prie of a plain bar-soap, which is sold now at 9d. a bar, hrs risen a - enny during the period, and plain matches have gone up from 4d to od a packet. Factory butter cost Is 3d a lb in July, 1593, but last July it was sold in Christchurch at Is a lb. In December, IS9S, butter cost Is 4d a lb, a price it does not reach now even iu the months of scarcity.

To get up in the morning and be faced with the necessity of shaving before leaving home for work, is an experience which most men have. A local gentleman who had slept in# rather long the other morning hastily jumped out of bed with half an hour to shave, dress, have breakfast, and reach his place of business. His razor waS not in the best of order, and he regarded the operation of shaving with no favor. However, to his utter surprise and joy his good wife had, on the previous day, had the foresight to purchase one of Morse’s patent "Safacto” razors,' which she there and then presented to him. He tried it, and reached work in time and smiling. Call and see the "Safacto” at either of Morse’s shops in Gladstone Road. Twelve months’ guarantee given and setting free.*