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Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 55, 6 March 1900, Page 4

Captain Edwin predicts at 1:3.45 p.m.: ''Strong1 easterly winds, glassrise. Tides high and heavy swell. Indications rain." West Australian land'lines are interrupted south of Condon owing to severe gales and heavy rain. A miner named Dan Conway met;, with an accident while working in a winze in the Waihi Co.'s mine, a. piece of the country'came away and struck Conway on the head. He is progressing favourably under Dr. Forbes' care.

During the last week .Mr 11. H. Metcalfe, C.E., visited . the Onehunga springs in order to guage the supply available for . outside district's. He found, as the result of his visit, that one and a hilf million/.gallons of water Avere running' to waste daily from the springs, over and above the drawn for the town of Onehunga, and this in the.driest season of the year. . .

Mr H. J. Elytli, of Greenhithe, has written to the Auckland Harbour Board expressing the thanks of the residents of that district to the Board for the action taken in respect to the erection of a wharf at Greenhithe.

How to rid Sydney of rats .is a most important topic of conversation just now, says the "Daily' Telegraph." In conversation Captain Mark Breach, an old trader to Sydney, related an amusing incident, recalled to his memory about the published, statements concerning- "rat catching" on the wharves and in the city. The ship Cadueeus, which will be known to old inhabitants, in 1864, carried troops from Melbourne to Auckland, but while she was lying-' in Port Melbourne tok on board a number of rats, and the result was that when the Caduceus arrived at Auckland she was infested with the pest. A bright idea occurred to the commander (Captain Adolph Holton), who offered his men a glass of grog for each fat which they produced before him dead. The plan worked admirably, und very soon "the ship was' free. Captain Breach is of opinion that if a similar offer were made at the present juncture, it might tend to reduce the rat population.

A fatal accident occurred lately on the Upper Waihou, ■Hokinnga, in Mr H. Dangen's bush at Waitoroto, to a native named Tane Kiwi. The deceased was engaged with hvo others jacking a" log on to a catamaran, and while doing so the log, which was a large one, over 4000 ft, canted, came over the jack, causing the'log to undercut: ft caught the deceased between two logs, crushing' his chest in and breaking his jaw; at the rebound of the log deceased fell. Death was instantaneous. The deceased, who was 2G years of age, was a widower, leaving two children.

The Rev. W. Jellie, 8.A., began his ministry in the Unitarian Church, Pitt-street, on Sunday. In the morning Mr Jellie laid before the congregation the aim which he had in view iir undertaking the ministry in Auckland —to build lip a church in which all might come together in freedom to worship and work for the common good. In the evening- he took for his subject the "Principles and Doctrines of the Unitarians," upon which he delivered an earnest and impressive address that carried with it the conviction that whatsoever light and truth he had received would be freely given to the service of his fellow students in- 'the great school of nature and God. '

A large Maori gathering and feast took plpee a few days* ago at Taita, Kaihu Valley, . Northern Wairoa, pii the occasion of the opening of a new church (Anglican), which had. been built by the Maoris about a year ago. Crowds of Maoris and many Eurov peans were present, and all were liberally provided with all sorts of good things. The services w:ere con-

ducted by the Revs. A. J. Beck, Wild te Paa, MutU Kiriwi, and H. T. Papahin. After church was over, a

memorial stone was unveiled in the burial ground to the memory of the late Chief Netana Patuawa. who was a friend of Bishop Selwyn, and much respected by Europeans as well as natives.

'At a meeting- of Kamo School Committee on February 20th the following resolution relating- to the notice from the Education Board re an inspection of private schools was agreed to." This committee regrets that it cannot agree with the contention of the Board in the latter part of the fourth paragraph, as the committee considers there is a grave danger that in the future those parents who can afford to do so will place their . children in private schools, leaving the public schools of the colony to educate those children whose parents cannot pay for their education, thus raising two classes of schools in the colony, viz.: (1) private schools under Stnte inspection and who charge for tuition; (2) schools where no charge is made and the ■ children are educated by the State, thus creating two classes of colonists and sowing. the seeds of future class friction.—(A Correspondent).

Hon. Jas. Carroll, Native Minister, 'left for Gisborne by the s.s. Elingumite. Colonel Pole-Peuton was a passenger for Napier by the same steamer. Harvest thanksgiving services were held at the Onehunga Wesleyan Church on Sunday last. The Rev. J. A. Luxford preached in- the morning and the Rev. W. C. Oliver at night. Appropriate hymns and anthems were rendered by the choir under the leadership of Mr J. Laking, assisted by an efficient orchestra, Miss. Fleiftlng presiding, a.t the "Organ. The., church was nicely decorated for the'occasion, and the services, which were most hearty, were attended by large congregations.

Captain - Abrahamsen, of -the- N^r-j ewg-ian barque Anglo - Norman, at | present at Port Germain, South Aus- ■ tralia, had a rather unpleasant ex- | perience on his visit at Delagoa Boy recently. On entering the harbour he was intercepted by four Englisn men-of-war. He ran up his signals and shots were fired ahead and astern of his vessel through the rigging. ; He further signalled that he had n : cargo of railway sleepers on board. ■ He was thereupon ordered to pro-! ceed into port. ' A vessel which ar-1 rived from the same destination on j the following day was not so fortu-' nate, as in the meantime sleepers j had been declared contraband of war. The cargo was therefore ordered to be taken further down the coast. On acount of the risk of cargoes being declared contraband of war, Delag'oa Bay is now, according to the master of'the Anglo-Norman, being avoided by shipmasters as much as possible.. At the time the Anglo-Norman left. Transvaal refugees were still coming down in large numbers, and provisions had risen to famine prices.

At the University Senate there was a long-discussion*on the subject of conditions of tenure of senior scholarships, and it was decided to adhere strictly to the letter of the statute. The resolution of the Auckland Professorial Board, "That candidates should not be eligible to compete a; second time for senior scholarships.'' was referred to a committee.

The prizes won at the recent butchers' picnic were presented at the British Hotel last, night. Mr C. Norgrove presided.. In giving the winners 'of races their prizes he made suitable remarks. Mr E. Salmon was present on behalf of the master butchers, and he presented the gold medal g-iven by them for the Butchers' Handicap, won by Mr J. Reeves. The health of- the master butchers Was drunk, Mr Salmon responding. It is intended to make a presentation to Mr W. L. Moylan, the popular hon. secretary, at an early date. The picnic will result in a profit of about £20, which will be carried forward to next year.

A meeting of the Executive of the Auckland Ratepayers' Association was held last eveniug in the Alexan-dra-street schoolroom. Mr Graves Aiekin (President) presided. It was agreed to refer the question of city valuations to. a committee appointed at a previous meeting. The question of appointing- a city engineer with expert experience was referred to a subcommittee. It was resolved to write to the Medical Association suggesting that they, should appoint a committee to assist the local Board of Health in taking steps for preventing the introduction of plague; also to write to the Mayor, asking him to communicate with the authorities of Southern cities, in order that joint, action should be taken.

Throiig-h some misunderstanding the railway employees did not participate in .yesterday's half-holiday. The Minister for Railways (the Hon. J. G. Ward) will, however, make arrangements to give, them a holiday on some future occasion. ■ ■ Just opened up, a large shipment of ladies' and children's boot and shoes, best English mamifacture, at lowest cash prices.—Smith .& Caughey. (Ad.)