LOCAL AND GENERAL

In an interview in Christchurch yesterday, Mr. Massey said that the financial position of New Zealand was sound. There was nothing wrong anywhere. He was asked about the new Ministers. "I am not prepared to say anything at present in regard to the allotment of portfolios," said Mr. Ma-ssey. "A certain amount of reconstruction is going on; but I am not at liberty to say what it is. The Governor-General will make the announcement." Mr. Massey would not give any indication of the legislation to be brought down this session. The financial Statement, he said, would come down early in the. session. The state of the surface of the new Prince of Wales Park was the subject of a letter received at the Wellington Rugby Union's Management Committee last evening. The ground, it was stated, was covered all over with small pieces of broken glass, china, etc. The writer had been on the touch-line during the past three Saturdays, and could safely say that 75 per cent! of the players had come off the ground with very badly cut knees, legs, and hands. He had been asked by the players to. bring the matter under the notice of the union. The committee decided to refer the complaint to the Superintendent of Reserves with a view to ascertaining whether the matter could be remedied. Speaking of the Government's policy in regard to the State Insurance Departments, Mr. Massey said in Christehurch yesterday: "We have had an inquiry into this matter between representatives of the Government and heads of Departments, and particularly with Mr. J. H. Richardson, the Commissioner, who has had more experience in this connection than any other man I know of. The decision we came to was that it was better to have a manager for each Department, Life and Fire, and that the Accident Department was ,to be attached to the Fire Department; That has been done, and with all three Departments under one Minister it will work all right." The war on cycliats who choose to ride. at night without lights on their- machines has begun in earnest in Christchurch. Only a night or two ago a police raid was made on them, and ther* was a good "bag" on Monday in the Magistrate's Court. Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., increassd the fine from XOs to '20s. When the sub-inspector was asked by the Magistrate if charges against cyclists were decreasing, tlfe reply was that about 100 informations had been laid lately. The Magistrate said that complaints were being m&de in all direction* about the nuisance created by. cyclists to the traffic of the city. The only thing to do was to increase the fine so 'that it would be cheaper to buy lamps, thereupon the excuses were of the usual nature, such as 'had no oil," "left it at home," "it wouldn't light " and so on. Lloyds, the famous British marine insurance corporation, was at one time identified with the slave traffic. In a lecture on the institution, Mr. W. G. Smith, Industrial Superintendent of the Union Steam Ship Company, stated that in the beginning of the eighteenth century, Lloyd's appeared to have been thn favourite* delivery house for runaway slaves. In 1703, he said, amongst other advertisements of a similar character, the "Postman" notified all and sundry that a "negro maid, aged, about 16 years, named Bessie, having on a striped stuff waistcoat and petticoat, is much pitted with smallpox, and hath lost a piece of her left ear, speaks English well, ran away from her master, Captain. Benjamin Quelch, on Tuesday, Bth September. Whoever returns her to Mr. Lloyd's Ooffee House in Tower street shall have 20s reward and their charges." Mr. Smith also mentioned that at this time ships were sold by Lloyds by inch of candle. A pin was thrust through the candle about an inch from the top, and bidding went on until the candle was burnt down to the pin. The last bidder before the pin dropped into the candlestick was declared the purchaser. Apparently gambling transactions were carried on as well, for another advertisement stated that at Lloyd's Coffee House "a fine horse, just come out of Yorkshire, 60 guineas value, is to be thrown for by dice, each lot a guinea." With regard to the Yale Observatory's offer to provide a telescope for an observatory in New Zealand, Mr. J. C. Begg, of Dunedin, states that a promise of £5000 toward the fund has been made by a New Zealand gentleman, who desires for the present to remain anonymous. The conditions he attaches are— (1) that the observatory be in the South Island, and (2) that the balance of the amount required for the scheme be subscribed in New Zealand. Dr. Schlesinger, of Yale, estimates that the cost to New Zealand of the building and equipment should be about £9000. which would approximately equal the cost to Yale of the teles ;ope and accessories. Auckland has recently taken an interest in this scheme, and the City Council has voted £3000, to become available if the telescope is located in Auckland. Otago, it .'s contended in Dunedin, is undoubtedly superior to Auckland in the conditions requisite for telescopic work, and it is hoped that the opportunity will not be allowed to go by through apathy there. A strong feeling exists that the occasion js a favourable one for the initiation of an observatory, which would be served by what Dr. Schlesinger describes as "one of the finest telescopes astronomy has at its disposal." The telescope, which is of 26in aperture, is already in course of manufacture, and should be finished this year. The matter of its destination alone awaits decision. In a letter to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce Mr. Eric H. Lund said that the Post Office advised "as to the departure of mail steamers from San Francisco and Vancouver, which enables ub to know three weeks ahead as to the arrival of these direct mails. I would, suggest that the Post Office authorities should be approached with the request that when publishing this information they should also advise as to the last day on which- letters had to be posted in London in order to secure this connection." In reply, Mr. B. B. Morris, Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department, said that "advice by cable of the date and dispatch from London of mails sent via San Francisco ar.d Vancouver would entail an amount of cabling which is hardly justified. The mere fact that a mail was dispatched from London on a certain day does not mean that all intepded connections will be made; and once the mail order is dispatched its date order cannot be ascertained until it i s opened at its destination. It is pointed out that mails are dispatched from London to the Dominion approximately sixteen days prior to the sailing of the contract vessel from Vancouver or San Francisco. The time of transit depends on conditions in the Atlantic, and in the United States or Canada being normal, but experience shows that the time of arrival here cannot be accurately forecasted." ■ At the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Mr. H. D. Grocott, Chief Postmaster, explained that before the war the Post Office here received a timetable in advance of the sailings of mail steamers from London and New York, and those were issued in booklet form to business Hnns. Since the war, however, no advice had been received as to the date of departure of mail steamers, and the Post Office was not advised as to the dep&riuro of mail* from London or New .York,.

Advice has been received by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce that the British trade ship left London on 2nd June, and will reach New Zealand in September. Owing to the Australian drought, the "Wanganui Herald" understands that there is a shortage of prime beef for 'the Melbourne market, and that a buyer from that city is purchasing fat bullocks in the Wanganui district at the present time at 25s per hundred pounds weight (£lO for 8001b bullocks). It may not be generally known that 1 the New Zealand Government obtainis ■ its re-insurance for excess risks at Lloyd's on the policies issued by the State Fire Insurance Office. This information was conveyed by Mr. W. G. Smith, Industrial Superintendent of the Union Steam Ship Company, during an address to the Shipping Clerks' Guild on Lloyd's. When the State Office was established, he eaid, it was only natural that the other fire insurance companies in New .Zealand should refuse in any way to assist the btate Office by reinsuring any portion of its ; risks, and had it not been for Lloyd's this State enterprise might have been considerably hampered. It is the desire of the committee organising Wellington's "Welcome Week" that a representtive Rugby match be one of the attractions for the week. The Wellington Rugby Union has already agreed to co-operate, but it is now faced with a difficulty in view of a notification from the carnival committee to the effect, that, as one of the race days would be on Wednesday, 11th July, it had been suggested that the Rugby match be played on Tuesday, the 10th July. The Kugby Union committee considered the matter last evening, and decided to advise the Carnival Association that it regretted its inability to arrange a match for the Tuesday, and could riot at present give matches for the 7th and 14th July, as requested. The origin and pronunciation of the name Majoribanks, applied to a wellknown street on the Mount Victoria side 1 of the city, is the subject of inquiry by | a correspondent of "The Post." It is 1 strange that although the name was applied, like those of many other thoroughfares in the city, in memory of one of •■ the earliest arrivals in New Zealand, there are few people nowadays who realise its significance. -Curiously enough, 1 too, time hag effected a change in the 1 spelling of the name, which correctly is Marjoribanks. Mr. Alex Marjoribanks arrived at Wellington in 1840 on the ' ship Bengal Merchant, which sailed from Glasgow. He was officially connected ' with the New Zealand Land Company, '. and, after staying at Port Nicholson for a short time he went south, ultimately ; returning to England. The name is pro- ' nounced "Marshbanks." "Having read in "The Post" that a ■ resident in Wellington is in possession of a copy of the London "Times" of the year of the Battle of Waterloo, ' 1815," writes a correspondent, "I thought your readers might be inter- • ested to know that there is a still i earlier copy in New Zealand, namely, . that of 7th November, 1805, containing 6 dispatch from Vice-Admiral Colling- > wood, Commander-in-Chief of 1 His Ma- - jesty's ships and vessels off Cadiz, 22nd • October, 1805. It gives the order of the 1 British squadron that attacked the com- ' bined French and Spanish fleets on the ' 21st October, and also a full account of > the Battle of: Trafalgar. Another in- ' teresting item appears under the headl ing Law Reports, an application by a [ Mr. Erskine for leave to file a criminal \ information against a person for sending a letter, to Thomas Dickins, Esq., ' barrister, with an intent to provoke him to fight a duel." i How Lloyd's marine insurance under- > taking came to have an official designated "secretary" was told by Mr. W. . G. Smith, when delivering a lecture on I Lloyd's to the New Zealand Shipping . Clerics'' Guild. The attendants at [ Lloyd's, said Mr. Smith, were known i as waiters, and the head waiter was • known as the "master." He also car- ■ ried on any correspondence that was ■ necessary until in 1804, Earl Camden, ■ Secretary of State for War, brought some correspondence to an abrupt cons elusion by the curt intimation that he refused to carry on correspondence with i the waiters at Lloyd's Coffee House (where Lloyd's had its origin). This \ decided snub immediately resulted in the appointment of a secretary. Until recent years it was the custom for everyi one at Lloyd's, except the waiters, to wear their hats, and any member seen i bareheaded was liable to be accosted as "waiter." In the course of a lecture on Lloyds by Mr. W. G. Smith, Industrial Superin- ! tendent of the Union Steam Ship Company, he stated, that the corporation's greatest final achievement consisted in 1 organising and perfecting a system whereby news from every quarter of the' globe, from every bay, could be gathered 1 with the utmost rapidity. The great volume of the information so diligently ; collected in "Lloyd's List" was, said ; Mr. Smith, apparent from the following ■ extract from an old document:— r "Mr. Adams,_ Master of the Lloyd's Coffee > House in Lombard street, waited on Sir > Robert Walpole witii the news of Admiral Vemon's capture of Porto Bellol ' This was the first news received thereof, : and proving true, Sir Robert Walpole i was pleased to grant him a handsome i present." "That was in the year 1740." I remarked Mr. Smith, "and ever since i that time Lloyds has consistently put at i the disposal of the Admiralty and the I i Government all the information of that j ! description that comes to hand; but at ! ' may be incidentally mentioned that the ; giving of 'the handsome present' has not i been continued." (Laughter.) r.-£. n f 1?, 6*1 is,b^ ing made by Captain Gilbert Mair, of Tauranga, for the erection of a stone over the grave over the remains of Captain Travers, Captain David White, and seven of their soldiers ■ who were killed in the Whakatane Val- ■ ley, Bay of Plenty district, when fighting against the notorious rebel chief Te Kooti in May, 1869. Captain Travers 1 was shot dead when attacking Tatahoata, a strongly palisaded pa, near Mataatua village. He was ordered to hold a point of dense forest, known to be occupied strongly by the enemy, but instead of taking cover behind the fallen timber and trees, he was directed to shelter under a frail tumble-down old fence, some 20 yards outside the bush. Standing on a tree-stump he was sternly making his men take cover when the rebels opened a heavy fire. His trusty batman crept up and implored him to come down to a place of safety, but Travers replied : "A British officer never, takes cover." He fell almost immediately, and after a number of his men had bean killed or wounded they fell back on the main Body with their officer, and the dead and wounded; but not before his servant had shot his assailant. Captain White, one of the finest bush fighters then in the colony, was killed three days earlier while leading a corps of guides across a ford on the Upper Whakatane. The bodies of the two officers and their comrades were buried on the right-hand . side of the pa gateway, but Te Kooti, returning next day with a large force from a successful raid on the Mohaka settlement, had them removed "for tha oeasts of the field and the fowls of the air." Two years later Captain Prece and Captain Mair collected their bones and buried them with full military honours on a spot which was marked by planting two poplar trees at the head and feet. These trees still stand today, and Captain Mair now de»ire« funds with yvEich to erect & atone.

"They behave like a lot of school children, and not like human beings at all," remarked a member of the Technical College Board last evening, discussing the officials of a Government Department somewhat removed from education. Mr. E. Page, S.M., presided at the Magistrate's Court to-day, when two first offenders for drunkenness were each fined ss. in default 24 hours' imprisonment. A remand for one week was granted in the case of William John Herbert Fraser, charged with failing to account for £4 16s 3d to the proprietor of the Thomdon Bakery. Bail was renewed as previously. At the monthly meeting of the Wellington Technical 'College Board last e7 enmg an inquiry was received from the Town Clerk as to when the Mercer street workshops would be vacated by *"c school. It was mentioned that ±„25,000 was required before the new workshops could be completed, and that was not all the expenditure that was required to. enable the premises to be vacated. . The board decided to be as fully represented as possible at any local conference concerning technical education. The parking of vehicles, such as large motor-lorries, in the right-of-way leading to the Petpne Recreation Ground, from Britannia street, is not desirable, and the Petone Borough Council has suggested to the Wellington Rugby Union that steps should be taken to put a stop to the practice. It was further suggested that the best method would be to have a permanent ,post placed in the centre of the right-of-way at the Britannia street entrance. The Rugby Union Management Committee decided last evening to reply to the council, pointing out that it was a matter for the council's inspector, and that the union had asked the police to assist. Serious damage to a large pig sty at the Boys' Training Farm was done bylightning during a thunderstorm at Levin on Monday afternoon. The iron roof of the sty, the measurement of which was 42 feet by 36 feet, was torn completely off, and, according to an eye-witness of the incident, the sheets of iron were hurtled through the air, and the fragments were strewn over the ground for a distance of 150 yards. Four-by-two rimu scantlings were converted into matchwood, and all the reinforced pillars were cracked. Damage was also done to an adjoining shed. There were about a dozen pigs in the sty at the time, but they did not appear to be any the worse for the occurrence. A large number of burgesses of Falmerston North assembled last night to honour the retiring Mayor, Mr. J. A. Nash, M.P., and Mrs. Nash, after his fifteen years' service as Chief Magistral? The newly-elected Mayor (Mr. F. J. Nathan) presided, and all the local bodies and institutions in the district wern' represented. Mr. and Mrs. Nash wem presented with a solid silver tea service and spirit kettle, and the text of an illuminated address which is to follow was read.- The Mayor paid a tribute to the guest's eminent services to the borough and district, saying that they were in great part instrumental in bringing the town to its present prosperity. In reply, Mr. Nash said that ho had enjoyed every moment of bis public life. He prophesied that Palmerston North would eventually become the Christchurch of the North Island: His services, he said, were largely duo to th« co-operation and advice of his wife. The fourteenth annual report of thp Wellington Presbyterian Orphanp.ge and Social Service Associationt-Tcvords ;i satisfactory year.: The year closed on 31t;fc March last with a total of 107 children. 58 of whom are boys and 49 girls. T! -n total cared for during the year was US; 36 were admitted and 27 loft,. r.n.! 2c 1.). children have passed- through the iiss-.i-' ciation's hands since, its hu-c;>l:i>->. Ninety children are attending public schools at Berhampore and Island Bay, and nearly all are showing satisfactory progress. The health of the children, the report states, has been good. The religious education of the children is a feature of the homes. Appreciation is expressed for gifts and donations received during the year, including the Commercial Travellers' Christmas gifts, and liberal presents in the form of sweets, books, etc. Thanks-are also tendered to the Rotary Club for treating the' boys to Christmas dinner, to the Macarthy Trustees, and to others who have assisted the institution and its inmates during the year. The balance-sheet shows a credit balance of £155 10s 3d. The burial of the late Gunner S. C. Glading, of the 9th Battery, N.Z.F.A., took place at the soldiers' plot of the Karori Cemetery yesterday. Gunner Glading enlisted in January, 1917, and served with the. Artillery in France, where he was badly gassed. He returned to New Zealand in 1919, but never recovered from the effects of this disability, which weakened his system and caused his death at the Wellington Hospital on Saturday last. Deceased was a son of Mr. and Mrs. M. F. Glading, of Herald street, Berhampore. The service at the graveside was conducted by the Rev. A. G. Eldridge. Amongst those present were the Mayor (Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P., Sir John Luke, M.P., Captain T. M. Wilkes (representing the Defence Department), Mr. L. M. Blythe (secretary of the Wellington R.S.A. 'The sen, ior pupils of the Karori School form--ed a guard of honour at the graveside. This is Ehe second son that Mr. and Mrs. Glading have lost within t\"e last twelve' months as the result of war disabilities. At a meeting of the South Canterbury Power Board yesterday a long report was received from Mr. J. R. Templin, consulting engineer, on the immediate demand for power in South Canterbury, the estimated cost of reticulation, and the probable revenue derivable. The present demand was estimated at 2300 h.p. The report was considered in detail (reports the Press Association), and unanimously adopted. A committee was appointed to go Jp Christchurch to interview the Government electrical officials with a view to gaining further information on various points, and particularly to urge that South Canterbury be given more than the 950 h.p. at present promised from Lake Coleridge, and which., it is said, is not likely to be increased during the next four years. It was emphasised today that this supply would be hopelessly inadequate to meet the demand. It was said that if the Waimakariri scheme were not proceeded with, up to 10.000 h.p. could be profitably obtained from Lake Tekapo, half to be disposed of in North Canterbury. , . The Delineator for June is showing tha latest French styles for the coming summer. Price Is copy, postage 3d extra-. Kirkcaldia and Stains can supply Butterick Patterns of all stylesi shown therein.—Advt. ! Small Boy's Overcoats, Small Boys' | Raincoats, Suits, College Wear, Hats, etc., all bearing big reductions. Fowlds' Juvenile Clothing Sale.—Advt. A fascinating figure is yours, madam, provided you throw away that stooping washboard slavery habit and let Norubbing Laundry Help do the washing, thus preserving your own natural beauty, grace, and elegance.—Advt. Overtaxed nerves cause irritability. Always smile, take Ceregen with your meals, it feeds and builds up the nerves. , At all chemists 2s 6d to 13s 6d.—Advtu