The first genial croak of the "Magpie" — a new Dunedin weekly — will be received with pleasure. Unlike the orthodox croak it contains brightness and variety, and will find special favor in Oamaru where the conceiver of the croak is well known. Mr W. Alloo is known locally as an enthusiastic bowler, and in recent years has done even more lasting work on the mechanical and literary staffs of the Dunedin Star. The aim of the croak of the "Magpie" is plainly set forth as information in tabloids, cartoons and rapiers, and personalities without coarseness, and heroic missions, fads, isms, or cults are disclaimed. In short, it is an excellent croak and can be heard for threepence at local bookstalls. -Oamaru Mail, 31/3/1909.
The "Free Lance" offers its hearty congratulations to a little stranger that has just stepped into the journalistic arena at Dunedin in charge of Mr. Willie Alloo, who is well and favourably known both in the fields of printers' ink and bowls. This interesting debutante has been christened "The Magpie," and it loses no time in assuring the public that it means to be "death on snaix." It will appear monthly, and will give its attention to social gossip, sport, music, current events, and men and women. The first number is bright and chatty and well sprinkled with cartoons. In fact the "Magpie" is both chirpy and entertaining, and ought to liven up things in Dunedin. -Free Lance, 13/4/1909.
ALLOO v. WATERS.
A POINTED CARTOON.
STRIKING A BLOW FOR HONOUR.
CHARGE OF ASSAULT DISMISSED.
Considerable interest was shown by the public in the case in which William Alloo, the editor of the Magpie, proceeded against William Robert Waters for alleged assault. The court was well filled yesterday when the case was heard before Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M. Mr Hanlon appeared for the defendant, and pleaded "Not guilty." Mr C. J. Payne conducted the case for Mr Alloo.
Mr Payne, in opening the case said that the Magpie, of which the complainant was the proprietor, had been issued for 22 months, and was generally recognised as a thoroughly respectable paper. All matters before the public were dealt with by the proprietor, and he dealt with them in a reasonable way. If persons were goodlooking or if they dressed in a peculiar way they often had a photograph or a skit in tho Magpie. In the particular issue that caused the trouble his friend Mr Hanlon appeared, so that the persons there were in very good company. After the Magpie was issued on November 22 the father of two young ladies called Waters and of the defendant instructed a solicitor to write to Mr Alloo; claiming that the paper contained a libel on his daughters. Mr Alloo also took legal advice, and was informed that the cartoon in question was not a libel. His (Mr Payne's) firm wrote to Mr Waters's solicitors intimating that they were prepared to accept service of any writ they might like to issue, but adding that they did not think that the cartoon was in any way calculated to injure the girls. No writ was issued. Counsel then outlined the facts of the assault that occurred outside Begg's music-shop, and said that he subsequently wrote to young Waters offering him an opportunity of expressing his regret. Instead of doing so, he sent a letter by Mr Hanlon refusing to write any expression of regret, and saying that whatever he did was done while smarting under a some of wrong done to his sisters by Mr Payne's client. The paper was issued on November 22, and immediately afterwards Mr Waters, sen. threatened proceedings. On the following Friday the speaker intimated to Mr Lang that he would accept service of a writ, and on the Monday the assault took place. It could not have been done while smarting under a sense of wrong. Mr Alloo thought it was necessary to take some steps to protect himself, as this young fellow might assault him again.
Remarking that he might as well show it all, Mr Payne handed up to his Worship the sketch of Mr Hanlon referred to. "This gentleman thought it was an honour," he said.
Mr Hanlon: Your Worship will wonder that there was not another assault.
Mr. Bartholomew: It looks more like Captain Scott than anyone else I know of.
William Alloo said that he had published this issue of the Magpie with a picture in it called "The Meeting of the Waters." That day he received a communication from Messrs Hislop and Lang, and afterwards met Mr Lang, who said he had been instructed by Mr Waters, sen., to take action against him for publishing a picture in the Magpie. Mr Waters was of opinion that the picture belittled his daughters. Mr Lang threatened to issue a writ if witness did not withdraw the paper from circulation within one hour. It was impossible for him to do that, because he then had nearly 2000 papers out, scattered from one end of the country to the other. Mr Lang then asked witnoss if he would tear out four pages of the paper, but witness replied that that would be unjust to his advertisers. Mr Lang then commanded witness to go to his office and cut out that particular leaf. Witness rang up a solicitor and told a boy to have the leaf cut out, but before he had finished speaking on the telephone he countermanded the order, as he was advised to go on. Some days later, as he was standing looking in to Begg's window, he heard a voice saying: "Here, I want an, apology from you!" Witness did not know the speaker, and asked him what the apology was for. He said for a picture published insulting his sisters, and told witness who he was. Witness said he had nothing to apologise for. He did not think he had done anything wrong. After making several demands for an apology, Waters lifted his fist, and struck witness on the ear.
Magistrate: Struck you where?
Witness: In front of Begg's. He would not say the blow was as bad as a kick from a horse, but it was enough to make him feel it till 8 o'clock that evening. He had not the slightest intention of injuring those girls in any way. When the picture was brought in to him by the artist he examined it first as usual to see if there was anything that anyone could take exception to. He concluded that it was a clever drawing that could not hurt anybody, and anticipated that Mr. Waters would have a good laugh over it himself.
Cross-examined by Mr Hanlon: Witness said he had asked to be allowed to see Mr Waters in Mr Lang's office, but Mr Lang refused to grant permission. Witness was a bit excited at the time, and supposed he would have done almost anything, but, on thinking the matter over quietly, he came to the conclusion that there was nothing for him to do. He was excited because he was threatened with all kinds of proceedings. He would not have withdrawn the whole issue from circulation under any circumstances. He maintained that he had done no wrong, and never offered to apologise. He decided to do nothing after consulting his solicitor.
Mr Hanlon: Ah, thats the worst of those solicitors!
Mr Hanlon then produced the cartoon in question, and examined the complainant as to what it meant. He said it wns simply a street sketch, and the mode dcpicted was the fashionable way of shaking hands.
"Was I brought in to you?" demanded Mr Hanlon turning over the paper. "Because here is a beautiful thing of me. He admits that is a bit of a libel, sir."
Mr Payne: "Something to hand down to future generations."
Mr Hanlon (indignantly): I burned it before my boy saw it. Continuing, he asked what right witness had to publish a skit against two ladies in private life against whom he knew and could say nothing. Witness said that people often took a meaning that was not intended out of a picture. He would not deny that the artist meant it for the two Misses Waters. — Mr Hanlon: What is the meaning of this young man at the back of the picture with his hair standing on end and his hat coming off? — Witness: Had I been more disoreet I might havo asked the artist to delete that. So far as I am personally concerned I had no motive in publishing it at all.
Mr Hanlon: Is not that intended to represent a man who is thunderstruck or awestruck at the sight of these girls?
Witness: I never looked at it in this light before. It was perhaps a little extravagant, but he did not think there was anything to apologise for.
Mr Hanlon:Can you name any paper in the Dominion or in. Australasia where women living in private life are caricatured?
Witness: I remember that when I was working on the Bulletin, ladies, in private life were caricatured. — Mr Hanlon: Are there any papers in New Zealand that do it?
Witness: The Wellington Free Lance — a very good, and respectable paper.
Mr Payne: And there is the Auckland Observer.
Mr Hanlon: Will you swear that the Free Lance or the Observer publish caricatures of ladies who are living privately?
Witness: You are asking for a pretty big order. I would need to go through the files.
Mr Hanlon: And is it not your duty, before doing such a thing, to see what the practice is about caricaturing ladies?
Witness: You are going too far. I don't admit that I am in the habit of caricaturing ladies. I have admitted, for the purposes of your evidence, that this is a caricature. No decent journalist would think of publishing anything that would belittle any woman. Continuing, Witness said the defendant had struck him with his right hand half clenched. As witness was going away he told defendant he would have to pay for it. Defendant then, called him a "dirty hog," and said he would pay for it.
W. A. Bollard, artist, said that he had witnessed the assault, Previously, he heard the word "Apologise," and Alloo said: "No, I see nothing to apologse for." Waters struck with his right hand.
Mr Payne: Was it a hard hit? Witness: I would not have liked to have had it.
To Mr Hanlon: It was a sweep with his hand, hard enough to drive Alloo against the window.
J. W. Blackwood said he had seen, from about 40 yeards away, defendant strike a fairly hard knock at the complainant.
Mr Hanlon said that there was not much controversy as to the facts of the assault, and that the only question was the amount of provocation. The defendant had acted as he did whilst smarting under the indignity of having his sisters insulted. There was no question that it was gross impertinence on the part of the publisher of this paper to publish a cartoon or a caricature of these two young ladies. He had no more right to caricature them than to caricature any other lady who was not in the public eye. It would be outrageous, counsel went on to say, if our mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters were to be held up to ridicule by any paper that chose to publish caricatures of this sort. They were living privately, and did not put themselves into the public eye in any way. As might have been expected the young man took the law into his own hands. None of them would like their wives or sisters sketched in that way. They would find that ladies would very soon get out of the way of going into the streets at all for fear of being caricatured by any Dick, Tom, or Harry. Mr Alloo admitted having a libel about the speaker, but he was not going to prosecute him criminally for it, though he ought to do so. He was a quasi-public man, but if the same thing occurred to his wife he was not sure that he would not do what Mr Waters did. The picture was intended to show a man getting a shock at the "frights"'on the other side of the street, and no greater insult than that could be offered to any woman.
William Robert Waters, marine engineer, said he was very much offended by the cartoon, and acted on the spur of the moment. He hit complainant, on the side of the face with his open hand. On Mr Lang's advice they decided not to go for damages.
To Mr. Payne: He had not been in the position before of having to protect his sisters.
Mr 'Payne: Not against remarks made by a man prominent in the Competitions Society? — Witness: No; I know nothing about it.
Witness said he considered the cartoon a downright insult, and made up his mind to have it out of the editor one way or the other. He was not at all sorry for what he had done. He intended to strike Mr Alloo if he did not apologise. Alloo would have got more only he was up against Begg's window.
His Worship said that unquestionably there was a wide difference between public individuals and those who were living privately. Persons in a public place were subject to criticism but when it came to private individuals it was quite indefensible for ladies to be pilloried in a newspaper publication. There could be no doubt about the meaning of the caricature when one came to look at the figures in the background. The effect was to hold these ladies up to ridicule. The complainant said that he did not intend it to be offensive. To his (Mr Bartholomew's) mind, it certainly was offensive, and the relatives of those ladies would certainly be very naturally, and justly, annoyed at seeing such a publication. Those remarks were pertinent, when he considered the state of mind the defendant would be in. Defendant was a man of strong feelings, and resented this thing very keenly. He approached the plaintiff, who, in his (the magistrate's) opinion, acted quite wrongly in inserting such a cartoon, and asked for an apology, and the plaintiff refused to apologise. He appreciated the fact that the defendant would be quite worked up, and the blow which he finally gave was the outcome of his injured feelings and a state only natural under the circumstances. That being so, he did not think an assault had been made out. Of course, it was for defendant to take the law into his own hands, but he held it was only natural for him to have acted as he did considering all the circumstances.
The information would be dismissed. In answer to Mr Hanlon, his Worship added that he was not prepared to allow costs. -Otago Daily Times, 13/12/1910.
Apart from the larrikinism which is more or less an adjunct of New Year's Eve, the holiday season in Petone and Lower Hutt has been remarkably free from crime of all descriptions, and, except for a first offender who was fined 5s at Lower Hutt about a week ago, there has not even been an arrest for drunkenness for some considerable time. Some few months with the object of having investigations made concerning the idea of a bomb that would travel any distance from one mile or less up to 100 miles or more, Mr. William Alloo, of the mechanical staff of the Taranaki Daily News, communicated with Sir James Allen, requesting information as to whether a bomb such as the inventor had been testing (in model form) had ever been in use or received the consideration of the Defence authorities. Sir James Allen very kindly referred the matter to Major Smyth, of the Defence Department. Whilst the latter officer gave every consideration to details of the invention, he stated that he was not prepared to give a final decision as to its practicability, and instructed Mr. Alloo to submit his plans, etc., to the Military Inventions Board, London. This the local mechanic did, and he has now received advice from the secretary of the Board of Research and Invention that his communications have been referred to the chairman of the Air Inventions Committee, where it will receives every consideration. Mr. Alloo claims that his invention requires no aid to propulsion; that it can be directed to any particular spot; and that it will travel at ten times the speed of the fastest aeroplane. -Evening Post, 2/1/1919.
Queenstown Public School Jubilee (excerpt)
The following is a ‘pun’ which Mr McNicol (headmaster) one time gave his class during the geography lesson; “What town in New South Wales most nearly represents the name of one of the scholars?’’ — It is not recorded whether any of the class supplied the answer, which was “Woolomalloo!” The scholar referred to was William Alloo. (Mr Alloo, who resides in Dunedin, was among the expupils who attended the jubilee celebrations). -Lake Wakatip Mail, 12/11/1929.
GOLD FROM LEITH
EXPERIMENTS WITH INVENTION
£1 A WEEK TO OPERATE DUNEDIN MAN’S INGENIOUS MACHINE
There is gold in the Leith. Within a stone’s throw of the centre of the city the metal was obtained this morning. The return consisted only of specks, but the quantity won was of secondary importance. What wealth the Leith has it hoards like a miser. Prospecting its bed, therefore, merely seems a waste of time. Yet the method of panning held particular value to a participant in this search. He is Mr William Alloo, who was demonstrating the possibilities of a machine he has invented. That almost microscopic grains of gold were safely unprisoned in the bowels of his ingenious “contraption” is some evidence of its potentiality. The metal is gold, identification having been made by the Director of the School of Mines (Dr A. R. Andrew), who inspected the invention this afternoon on the banks of the Leith, behind the University tennis courts. When the Minister of Mines (Hon. P. C. Webb) visits Dunedin next week Mr Alloo intends to demonstrate the machine to him.
HANDLES TON OF SPOIL.
The chief merit of the machine is that it is mechanically operated at a most economic cost. The inventor claims that it can handle a ton of “dirt” an hour, and his contention certainly appeared reasonable when a reporter saw it working. The machine was being incessantly fed with shovelfuls of pebbly sand. The rough gravel poured from a chute at one end of the hopper, and the finer spoil was vigorously rocked in a cradle that derived its movement from a motor cycle engine, which Mr Alloo holds will run at a cost of £1 a week. This engine was cooled by water first pumped through a hose line by it, and then utilised to wash the “dirt” in the cradle. Once in the cradle, the goldbearing sand and gravel goes through two screens and on to mats made of ordinary felt that is usually placed under carpets. The sand accumulates on a series of small forks that firmly clamp the felt against several ripples, which prevent the “dirt” accumulating and assist in keeping it moving. The mats are periodically scrubbed in water and the gold obtained.
COMMERCIAL POSSIBILITIES.
Some importance is evidently attached to Mr Alloo’s latest invention — he previously made a sandwich machine — for it is stated that several persons are financially interested in placing it on the market, and that patent rights are already contemplated. The machine cost Mr Alloo £60 to make, but he told a reporter to-day that when it is manufactured on a commercial scale the cost would be approximately £35 “Many outlandish places in New Zealand have never been properly ‘picked,’ and the machine can be dismantled and carried anywhere,” he said. “Two men obtaining four pennyweight of gold a day could earn £l4 a week with gold at its present price." -Evening Star, 15/1/1937.
OBITUARY
MR WILLIAM ALLOO
There are few old identities locally and in the Lawrence district who will not remember Mr William Alloo, and amongst them regret will be general at his passing. Mr Alloo was a likeable personality, extremely clever in many avenues of industry, and immensely popular in sporting circles; more particularly will he be remembered in this connection as a bowler of considerable note. His interests also centred on trotting. At the time of his death, Mr Alloo was in his eighty-fourth year, and into his very long life he packed an immense amount of activity. At a very early age he arrived in the Lawrence district with his parents, and it was to here in later years that he returned and died. He went from Lawrence to Australia during the period of the great Victorian gold boom, returning to Dunedin not long after the introduction of the linotype. He became a proficient linotype operator; and in his generation was recognised as a firstclass hand. At different times prior to the 1914-18 World War he edited and published several magazines and journals; probably the best was 'The Magpie,' which was issued monthly; but from his undoubted literary ability no wider public was reached than when, some years ago, he issued his book on bowling. This publication is still in circulation, and in it Mr Alloo most effectively traced the history of the sport in Dunedin from the earliest times. It is a recognised handbook, so far as local bowlers are concerned, and is always in demand.
Mr Alloo's interests, for a time, centred in the catering trade, while once he ran the bookstall at the Dunedin railway station. He was possessed of an inventive turn of mind, and had many ingenious and useful patents to his credit. Amongst these were his machine which sliced and buttered bread in the one operation, and another apparatus for the extraction of gold from sand. His active mind evolved several useful appliances in the field of productive industry. Eor some years Mr Alloo had been in failing health. He is survived by his wife and a family of five — two daughters and three sons. The daughters reside in Christchurch; one son, Mr H. C. Alloo, is a solicitor in Owaka; another, Mr A. W. Alloo, a noted athlete, is a school teacher in Nelson; and Mr Albert P. Alloo, solicitor, of this city, is the third son. Evening Star, 1/2/1943.
Bowling Notes
(By Draw)
Prominent Bowlers Pass On.
By the death of William Alloo the game has lost one who did much to help in writing up its early history in New Zealand. Some years back he contributed bowling notes to the 'Otago Daily Times,' and he was responsible for the production of a splendid book, ''New Zealand Bowlers' Annual." This book comprises some 400 pages of very interesting matter, dealing with, the early history of bowls in New Zealand, and to the late "Bill" Alloo bowlers in the Dominion owe a debt of gratitude for his fine contribution. By it his name will long be remembered in bowling circles. His three sons have each been associated with the game, and H. C. (Cecil), of the Owaka Club, has proved himself on more than one occasion a fine exponent. -Evening Star, 5/2/1943.
Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.
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