West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Friday 11 December 1896, page 4


NEWS AND NOTES.

THIRD SWAMP RE3ERVB.-A deputation headed by Mr. B. C. Wood, M.L.A., will wait on the Commissioner of Landa at 4 o'clock this afternoon with reference to the Third Swamp Reserve.

THE FREMANTLE TRAGEDY/.-The charge of wilful murder against Jumna Khan, who ran amok at Fremantle yesterday week, will he gone into at the Fremantle Police Court to-day.

EXEMPTION OP THE TINFIELDS.-The Under-Secretary for Mines, Mr. H. C. Prinsep, states that it has been decided to grant an exemption from the labour con-ditions on the Greenbushes tinfields for a month, dating from December 20.

THE POLICE AND THE PUELIC.-Mr. A H. Heinhockel, Irwin-street, writes asking us to state that he did not write a letter headed " The Police and the Public " and signed " G. Hindbolke," which appeared in

our columns on the 10th inst.

THE LATE WILLIAM GRIFFITH.-Mr. J. P. Rasmussen, the secretary of the Fre-mantle Lumpers' Union, has asked us to state that he has received a cheque for £5 5s. .towards erecting a headstone on the grave of the late Win. Griffith, from a gentleman in Perth who does not desire to have his name published.

MINES OFFICIALS.-Warden Hicks, of the Dundas goldfields, intends spending his leave of absence in paying a visit to the Eastern colonies. We understand that while he is away he will visit all the chief mining centres in the various colonies, in-cluding Ballarat, Bendigo, and Broken

Hill.

ENTERTAINMENTS. - An advertisement appearsin another column calling attention to a social avening in connection with tho Bricklayers and Masons' Union, An attractive programme is promised. The Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners will hold a smoke social this even-ing in the Fremasons' Assembly Rooms,

Fremantle.

GOLD IN WESTERN AUSTRAKA.-A corres-pondent writes to ns : Here is an extract from a private letter which may be in-structive, and is certainly amusing :-*' Yon don't really believe, do you, that tbere is any gold in Western Australia? In fact the tightness in tue money market here is by some largely attributed to heavy ex-ports of gold to Western Australia for salting purposes.''

OLDE ENGLTSHE FAYRE.-There was a fairly good attendance at the Olde Englyshe Fayre last night, when the per-formance presented on Wednesday even-ing was repeated. Mr. Stowe sang " Golden Mountain " extremely welL Miss Ida Holboin was favourably received in her several contributions. The closing farce, "The Ghost in a Pawnshop," was much appreciated. The performance will be continued this evening.

INQUESTS.-At the Police Court yester-day morning the City Coroner (Dr. Lovegrove) commenced an enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the drowning of P. A. E. Haynes in the Swan River, at the Causeway Canal, on Tuesday. The jury were Messrs. Edward. Berry iforvngn),

(George Boniger, and John Byrne. They inspected the body, after which the inquest was adjourned till this afternoon. To-day also the inquest on the body of the infant son of Mr. G. Massey-Baker, who diejj suddenly last week, will be resumed.

THE POOE-MAN'S POSSESSIONS.-I* th» Local Debts Court yesterday a debtot pleaded for tim», in which to satisfy a creditor who sought to obtain judgment against him. The debtor pleaded poverty and want of employment as the canses of his inability to pay. "Have you any property ?" Mr. J. Cowan asked. " Non», sir," wa3 the reply ; " I've only got a big family of eight children." " It seems,* said Mr. Cowan, "as if poor man always do have very big families. That is all they generally possess. Tho poorer th» man the bigger the family."

FREMANTLE SCHOOL.-The annual Fre-

mantle School Athletic Sports will be hold at the Fremantle Oval to-day, commencing at 2 p.m. prompt. The judges are : Messrs, R. Fairbairn, K.M., A. B. Kidson, Mi.C, and F. Connor, MJj.A.; starters, Messrs. J. J. Higham, M.L. A., and M. Coronel ; time-keepers, Messrs. D. K. Congdon, M.L.C., and E. Solomon, M.LjL. Old Boya may enter for the Bicycle Handicap and foot race on the ground. The School Speech Day will be held Tuesday next, December 15, at 4.15 p.m., when the school and sports' prizes will be distributed.

UNDENOMINATIONAL HOME FOB, YOUNO) WOMEN.-A meeting of all ladies ano} gentlemen interested in the -propoied establishment of an undenominational home for young women is to be held in th* ball-room, Government House, next Monday afternoon at 4 o'clock. The meeting is convened by Lady Smith, who has taken the matter in hand, in the interests of girls in shops "who have no homes and other young women similarly circumstanced. An interesting account of an interview with Lady Smith and Sister Lizzie appears else« where, and gives an outline of what i» suggested to be done.

DAVIS' FANTASTIQUES. - Another larg« audience greeted Professor Davis in the Fremantle Town Hall last »vening, and* judging by the heaity lau^Mer and ap« pla use, enjoyment was geneial. The most mysterious item on the programme was th» imitation of spirit writing on c1«. ,ed slafcesj which created a great sensation. Mr* Davis ventriloquised, the " spooks 'Î walked, Mrs. Davis, read thoughts sue« cessfuUy, and everybody enjoyed them-selves. The entertainment will be repeated to-morrow and Saturday evenings, and a special matinee.is announced for Saturday; a;ts.-ioon at 3 p m., when school children with privilege tickets will be admitted for 6d., and reduced iafes will obtain all ovep the house. .,

Miss ST. JOHN'S BENEFIT.-The Gaiety Company, together with other leading members of the dramatic profession, will tender a complimentary benefit to Miss Alice St. John, at the Perth Town Hall, on> Friday next, 15th inst. An attractive and] varied programme will be presented, in-cluding the cleverly-written and amusing comedy "Hook and Eye,' which was sa successfully produced in Melbourne and Sydney by the Brough-Boucicault Com* pany. The performance will be under th« patronage of his Excellency the Governoj and Lady Smith. A large audience is ex-pected to be present. The prices are 4s., 2s, and Is. Seats may be reserved with-out o «tra charge at Nicholson's, Barrack«

street.

SUPREME COURT.-The adjourned case, Rockliffe v. Mahomet, came before Mc Justice Stone yesterday morning in No. 2 Civil Court. Mr. S. H. Parker, Q.O, »i. peared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Penna« father for the' defendant. Several at-

tempts were made to 'commence the evi-dence, after each of which a whispered consultation between the parties occurred, and ultimately Mr. Parker announced that an agreement had been arrived at on th» claim and a counter-claim entered by the defendant. According to the terms of settlement, His Honour entered up judg. ment for the plaintiff for £90 on th» claim with costs, and also a verdict for th« plaintiff on the counter-claim. The sitting was then declared closed, and after an adjourned case has been decided next Munday, the business of the December list will be entirely disposed of.

SANDALWOOD AREA AT MECKERING-The Consorvator of Forests, Mr. J. Ednie Brown, yesterday morning returned from his trip with the manager of the Agricul-tural Bank (Mr. W. Paterson) to Mecker-ing, which place ho visited for th» purpose of inspecting a block of land covered with young sandalwood trees, which was brought under his notice by Mr. Paterson. Wa understand that the representations of th» latter gentleman concerning the timbei

were found by th» conservator to be per«, fectly correct. Mr. Brown will submit to) the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mr. A. R. Richardson, in the course ef a few days, a report upon the visit. The trip was a very enjoyable one and mad» under th«most favourable conditions, th« journej. being taken in Mr. Paterson's special rail« way car, which is fitted with every comfort

and convenience.

THE GREAT SOUTHERN RAILWAY.-Onr

special reporter at Karridale telegraph««, last night as follows :-Mr. F. H. Piesse) (Commissioner of Railways) states that it is extremely improbable that the taking over of the Great Southern Railway will be actually completed next week; and the Albany festivities will therefor« have to be postponed. It is understood

that some delay has ari=ea in settling som« of the land transactions entered into between the company and other parties, and that until these aro settled the company declines to complete the) sale to the Government. Mr. Piesse has informed the residents of Albany, Katanning, and Wagin that he -will give at least a week's or ten days' notice when the Government will be able to take ever tha

line and when the festivities'can take place,

SALE OF STATION PROPERTY.—Messrs Connor & Doherty have completed the pur-chase from the Australian Joint Stock Bank of a station property in the Northern Terri-tory of South Australia, called Auvergne. The property has an area of over 2,000 square miles, the leases having a frontage to the Victoria River, and the country is supposed to be one of the best patches of pastoral land in the Northern Territory of South Australia. On the property there are about 7,000 head of cattle and 300 horses, and the stock from this district have al-ways been celebrated for their prime and healthy condition. Mr. Desmond, a well-known North Queensland squatter, has been appointed, by Messrs. Connor and Doherty, manager of the property, and he is now on his way to Auvergne from Fre-mantle to take over the management of

the run.

WESLEY SUNDAY SCHOOL, GUILDFORD.-« An attractive Service of Song was held ii the Wesleyau Church, Guildford, on Wed«

nesday evening. The audience was most, appreciative and the financial result very pleasing. Mr. W. G. Johnson presided witt« his usual effectiveness at the organ. Mr. W. Guppy acted &3 conductor. The con-nective readings were given by the Bev. 'JP, Bird. The solos were taken by Miss P. Taplin and Miss L. Johnson and Messrs, Gribble and Bamford, and the duet by Miss K. Devenish and Master H. Devenish. The service of song waB in aid of the fund» of the Sunday School, which have als« bean materially assisted by the sum alio» cated to the school from profits arising on? of the recent United Wesleyan Sunday -Schools' Floral and Industrial Exhibition in -Perth, in which the Wesley School took part.

SURFACE DRAINAGE FOR THE CITY.—It is

understood that one of the first acts of the Executive Council, on the return of the Premier from the opening of the Leeuwin lighthouse, will be to consider, in accordance with the Premier's promise to the City Council, what assist-. ance, if any, can be given to the city in connection with a surface drainage system. For some time it had been apparent to the councillors, they state, that a surface drainage scheme of some kind was necessary. When Mr. Deverell took over the work of the city surveyorship he confirmed this opinion, and stated that he would be prepared to formulate a plan of surface drainage which would fit in with the larger one of deep drainage when completed. The slop water was, under the prospective plan, to be carried from the dwelling houses on to the water tables of the streets, and thence into one main drain of the city, where it could be flushed along to the river. The only lion in the path, however, was the want of funds, which the council now believes the Premier will assist it in

obtaining in order to carry out this very pressing reform

J CnmsTMAs MEDLEY.-TheMedley, which reopens this afternoon at 4 o'clock in the Town Hall, will be closed to-night at 10.30. An attractive programme lias boen arranged for the evening. The Perth Artillery, under tho command of Captain 'J. Talbot Hobbs, will give a military dis, ; play, and the Head-quarters Eand, under

' the-conductorshipof Bandmaster Bryan,

will contribute musical selections during the intervals of the entertainment. The , champion squad of the B:>y«' Brigade will be presented with the medals won at the competition on Wednesday evening, and will (byrequost) repeat their drill. The rifle team will also givo the rifle exercises. ' The ladies in charge of 'he Queen Anne

stalls purpose disposing of all their Wares , before the time for closing has arrived. The doors open at 7.30. In the unavoidable absence of the Commandant, who is en route to Malopurne, Captain J. Strickland will perform the opening ceremo ly to-night.

s THEDAVBLACK MYSTERY.-The mystery surrounding the discovery of the remains of an Afghan in an old saw-pit in the bush near Davelack, on the 15th nit., will in aU

probability be cleared up in a few days. 'At the inquest on the bwly yesterday, evi-dence was given tending to prove the identity of the body. About four months ago three Afghans, named Abdul Hocsin, Houlahan, and Hamsun were camped at the home of a man named Dixon, with 30 'camels. After all the camels, which be-longed to Abdul Ü003ÍU, had been disposed of, with the exception of sir or eight, Tíoosín suddenly disappeared. Moolskan accounted for his absence by saying that he had gone to Soush Australia. The ; sante day that Hoosin wai missed, the re-maining eight camels were sold by Mool-shan to two Afghans for ¿300. Three daughters of Dixon identified the clothing found on the body as being exactly similar to that worn by Abdul Hoo3in, and various other articles found on the clothing ware recognised as belonging to him. The evi-dence of six witnesses was taken yesterday, the "inquiry sitting, with the exception of an-, hour's adjournment for refMshments, from 2.30 p.m. to S p.m. The inquest will be resumed this morning at 11 o'clock There«re 14 witnesses yet to be examined, and some further developments ere ex-pected to-day.

1 LAND ' RESUMPTION COURT.-A Lan i Resumption Court was held in tha Perth Police Court-house yesterday, to cousiaer the question of compensation for the land resumed by the Government on the cress of the Mount overlooking the tiver and fronting the Perth Park. These consisted of Perth Town Lots L 57 to L 63 inclusive, and a portion of L 64. Mr. M. P. A Canning, J.P., sat as arbitrator for the «Soreinment; Mr. B. C. Wood, M LA., oz Arbitrator for the owners : a uti Mr. Bice Saunders, J.P., as umpire. Mr. B B. Burnside, Crown Solicitor, appeared for the Crown, and Mr. P. W. Moorhead for the owners. Evidence as to rame was

given by the owners, and Messrs. W. P. Stevens Smith (of Messrs. Wilkinson and Smith), D. Boss, and B. Taylor. Bafore making their award the arbitrators, to-gether with the umpire ond the solicitors, visited the land resumed with the object of better arriving at ita value. Their award was as follows, including every-thing :-Mr. J. D. Maiming aud Miss C. E. Manning, Lots L 57 and 58, 204ft, frontage, claimed ¿6,490, awarded £3,366 ; Mr. H. W. Mills, Lot L 59, one chain, claimed .£3,210, awarded ¿61,902 16s.; Mr. L. B. Cump3ton, Lot L 60, one chi.in, claimed ¿62,970, awarded ¿1,960 4s.: Mr. P. W. Moorhead and others, Lots L (ii and 62, two- chains, claimed ¿85,940, awarded ¿4,356; Mr. S. C. Sutton, Lots 1 63 and 64 (part), one and a half chains, claimed ¿4,500, awarded ¿3,207. Th3 tots! amount, claimed was ¿23,110, or an average of ¿40 per foot; the total amount awarded, ¿14,912, averaged ¿26 par foot.

FREMANTLE HARBOUR WOEKE.-The rapid development of the scheme of harbour construction within elie river at Fremantle was the subject of general remark at the Port yesterday. Although the great progress made recently in the work of dredging and wharf construction has been duly recorded, the public of the seapoit were apparently not fully alive to the importance of the undertaking until yesterday, when the rigging of a three

masted schooner was in full view at the northern end of Henry-street. The sight of a foreign vessel in the river was so falpable an evidence of the progress of the

'ort that numbers of citizend mad» visits of inspection to the new wharf on the nouth quay. Fully 300ft. of finished wharf is now available, and alongside of it are the three-masted schooner Korsvei, and the steamers Beagle and Croydon. There are some who contend that it is doubtful wis-dom on the part of the harbour authorities to allow the immediate use of the new .channel by any vessel whose master chooses to enter the river. It is pointed out that the work of constructing the river harbour is really only beginning, and that if its ultimate utility is to be anticipated by a, premature use of its advantages serious delays will be occasioned to the operations vf the dredges. It appears that the Har-bour Master does not feel called upon to restrict the wishes of the mariners so far «s the new river channel is concerned, and the Executive Engineer controlling the harbour works is not given power to en-force any authority with the view of pre-serving the work of the Government from interruption and delay.

STREET MUSICIANS.-A correspondent writes. May I draw the attention of the authorities to the plague whioh has recently descended upon the city in the shape of perfect hordes of itinerant musicians. I notice mention was made in the WEST AUSTRALIAN of the nuisance caused at a concert in the Town Hall this week by the vagaries of a street brass ¡band outside. That, however, is mild to what we are daily, nay, hourly suffering,

from early morn till dewy eve., and thence right into the night watches, we are infested by these disturbers of our peace. This morning, as I wijite, I am almost dis-tracted by the nuisance caused by a brass band outside my office window. Having first 1 given a hideous vernon of " Oh, Promise Me," thoy followed it up with a hair-raising rendering of a trio from "Iolanthe." They then very unnecessarily informed the neighbourhood, through their instruments, " I don't want to play in your yard," to which we might have retorted that we don't want them to play ia the street either, and then they executed the Soldiers' Chorusfrom"Faust"inastyleappropriately suggestive of battle, murder, and sudden death. I don't know whether their next effort, "The Little Alabama Coon," was intended to raise our spirits, after inat,. but I do know this that I am in a state of extreme mental depression, and seem to find comfort only m the reflection that

we must all die. Surely we have quite sufficient misfortunes iu the shape of dirt, disease, mining slumps, bad roads, ditto footpaths, without having this crowning

one added.

CREMORNE GARDENS.-From the ap-plause at the conclusion of each item on the programme presented by Jttr. King Hedley's orchestra and concert company last night,and the not infrequent encoresMiss Nagel and Mr. W. Neilson, of the vocalists, coming in for the larger shares of these-it was evident that the fairly large audience which patronised the -Gar-dens, notwithstanding the unreasonable weather, appreciated the performances. Mr» Neilson's rendering of the song, " Star of Bethlehem," considered by critics to beone of Adams' most beautifully phrased works, mefc with its customary reception, a demand being made for its repetition, to which the vocalist was content to respond only by bowing, much to the disappointment of his hearers. To-night is advertised as the third " Fashionable Friday" night, and another special pro-gramme is to be presented. Mr. WiU Daly, a young Victorian baritone, is to make his debut before a Perth audience, and Mr. H. Campbell is also to make a first appearance as a clarionet soloist. Miss Nagel is to render new songs, and Miss Johnson and Mr. Neilson will also appear. Mr. Neilson is to be heal d for the first time in Perth in the song from the opera of " The Pirates of Pen7ance," Bung by Frederick-"Oh, is there'not one maiden here ?" Herr Prancik will play a violm solo, and Mr. Eastonis to rehder new banjo selections. Mr. Stocks will make his farewell appearance at the Gardens this evening, prior to leaving to appear at the Albany Cremorne Gardens, ïîasy ohftirs for to-night's performance mar be reserved at Nicholso&'s.