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Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 76, 31 March 1913, Page 4

The folio-wing is Mr T). C. Bate-s , weather forecast, for 24 hours from 0 a.m. this day: "S.TC. winds prevailing. There is prospect of fine weather, days bright, and cold night«. Barometer little movement . Tides moderate. Moderate swell oIT coast."

The heaps of embers wliiofi strew the flat roof of the now Post Office block show how heavy was the 'bombardment it was subjected to irom Emlcan's builuing in Saturday's fire. Fortunately the Post Office roof is covered with a fireresistant material (Reinforced Jlalthoid'i or the result might have been serious, not merely to the edifice itself, but to the Waverley Hotel block, which is on the other side. As it was the roof of the hotel, which is of corrugated iron, did take fire in more than one place, but JMr Sloan, the manager, with iiis assistants was swblc to extinguish these outbreaks in comparative comfort, the Post Office interposing a. substantial barrier between them ami the actual fire. The way in which the Post Office roof bore the brunt of the fiery shower speaks well for the flat -method of constrnction when the surfjiee is suitably protected. The superiority of this type of roof as offering less hold for 3. fire and affording n standpoint from which to fight an adjacent conflagration has lonjr been recogirised in the United States whp.Te flat reinforced and protected roofs are more lightly rated by the Insurance Companies than the ordinary form of roofs covered with iron, etc.

The inquiry conducted this morning by the coroner (Mr T. Greshain) into the circumstances of the dearth of Peter Olaf Petersen, made it clear that no blame for the unfortunate occurrence was attachable to anyone. Evidence ■was given to show that Petersen (who was a newsvendor and was 74 years of age) was, despite all warning notices and repeated reproof from the foreman of works, sitting beneath the elevator balcony of the new goodshed in course of construction on the Queen Street ■wharf. A couple of carpenters at work on the balcony above hail some trouible with a heavy beam which slipped and fell endways to the wharf below, afterwards falling over on to Petersen, who was sitting near by reading one of his papers. The accident happened nbcut one o'clock on the 17th inst., and Petersen died in the hospital last night as the result of the injuries received to his head.

Further paxtknilars have been received ■by Commissioner Cullen regarding the suicide of Constable Dandy, of Taupo, who ehot himself in the head with a military rt»volver. The coneta-ble was at Toteaanu ■with Sergeant Bales during the day, and the. laiter accompanied deceased to the station to inspect the ■books. .Dairdy went imto a shed near the house, and ac he did not camo back the sergeant instituted a eesireh. The constable's dead' body was then found. There wae no apparent reason for ihe suicide. Deceased leaves a widow apd a young family.

The steady downpour of rain that extended over Saturday night was gratefuHy welcomed bo*h i"n town and country. During the 24 houis ended 9 ajsa. yesterday nearly three-quartere of an inch fell, the exact amount of Tain recorded by !Mr T. F. Cneesemau at the observatory being .67 inch. The benefit conferred by the rain was extensive, ac tike ground had been rendered specially receptive by the preceding warm, weather.

When a man named Arthur Smith, was charged at mc Police Court this morning with having assaulted a. youth named SLide, ALr. fiaokett, for accused, asked Slade it" he had not been engaged -i foxing' , Bmith. Counsel explained to the uncomprehending justices who sat on the case that "foxing" practically meant spying and eavesdropping on lovers when the latter, in supposed seclusion, were exchanging sweet confidences. Slade denied the suggestion, though he said he knew that iln'. Domain \va3 notorious for

"foxing." Smith's explanation of. the assault was that he mistook .Slade for one. of a number of youths who had greatly angered him by "foxiug him. and de-alt out summary punishment. He was ordered to pay the costs of the prosecution, amounting to £4 8/6.

Owing to inclement weather on Saturday afternoon, the oflicial opening of the Kauri Gully Scenic Reserve at Xortheote did not take place, but a visit was paid by Messrs. H. H. Hunt, J. B. Tonar (representing the Scenic Reserve Committee of the Xorthcote Borough Council), Mr. T. E. Pearson {, landscape gardener for the .Auckland City Council), and Mr. A. E. Greeusiade (member of Xorthcote Borough Council). Although the incessant rain and the slippery nature of the paths provented anything like a thorough inspection being made, suflicient could 'be scon to show that the Scenic Committee had m-acle good use of the Government grant of £80 in beautifying the surroundings. At the afternoon tea, subsequently held at the residence of the caretaker (Mr. 11. Xieholls), the chairman of the Committee (Mr. Hunt) expressed his regTst that Mr. H. Stebbing was not present, as he felt that it was largely due to his efforts that tlm beautiful tit of bush was brought under the notice of the Lands Department and also before the public.

The -postal concession on books forwarded from one public library to another, -or from a library to a subscriber (-which consisted of a penny per pound or a fraHion .thereof) has been w-rthtlrawn by the Postal department. The Wellington Public Librarian hae received a letter stating that "the experimental scaJt was availed of to such extent ac not to warrant k≤ continuance in the Wellington postal district or ite extension to other districts."

Word was received in Auckland yesterday afternoon that tlip ketch Huon Belle had been driven asiinre at Hook's Bay, Waiheke, on Saturday mornins, during the strong nor'-wer=t»rly blow. A heavy sea was breaking over the vesselDamage of a rather serioup nature was caused, to rigging and deckhouse fittings, ■but fortunately the hull was not much injured. The crew succeeded in refloating the vessel yesterday morning, and a messa.ge was sent to Auckland for assistance. The Te Awahina was dispatched in the afternoon, and the Huon Belle was towed into Auckland. She is owned by J. J. Craig, Ltd., and is employed in the shingle tr;ade.

"The farmer is a pldegma.tic individual and will never cross a road to see anrfching," declared a witness when giving evidence in a compensation ease at Otmetchnrch. "Ah!- , remarked Mr Jrrstiop Denniston, "wart, a minute, \ must take that down." Witness explained to ■Mr Stringer. X.C.. that t.hp reason why ho visited a wool store which he declared other farmers would not woe (because hj was more of an inquisHive penson than the average farmer, otherwise he would not be president of the Fanners' Union.

The practice of driving a mob of |u>rscs loose along the roads of the euburbs is one that has caused complaint at times, and generally the local bodies recognise the danger of the pra-ctice "by prohibiting it by 'by-law. This lias not, however, been done in Kpsom. and to-day (leorge Johnson was charged, under section 15.3 of the Public Works Act. 1908. with driving horees on the footpath of Domett Avenue, action having been taken by the police. Mr. Richmond raised the legal point that section 153 only provided that "proper guidance" of the driven animals should be observed, and not that the animals should be kept oil the footpaths. If it meant that horses would have to be roped, or have a cordon of drivers, the result would seriously affevt the driving of urrforoken coles to sales- Mr. Cutten. S.M., said that the simplest way to treat with the difficulty in lowns wae for the local body to make a by-law, but meantime he would reserve his decision and consider the scope of the section in the light of the points raised by Mr. Richmond.

There , are eighteen coal luiltas in Wellington Harbour, (the- aggregate coa-1----c-arryinfr capacity being about 20,000 ton;- These huiks are constantly engaged supplying ooa.l to fiteamere, the amount bandied per month being from 20,000 to 80.000 ifcons. .Mast of this coal is handled at the whaxves, the ocean steamers 'being supplied wMle discharging or loading tlieir general cargo. Intercolonial or coastwise vessels are treated in like manner, and in most cases the veveels carrying the coal are berthed at ihc wharves and discharge,coal on shore and into hulks at the same time.

It is not generally known t-hut when nominating a candidate for the Mayoralty, a cheque for £10 has to be lodged, and in the case of candidates for the City Corancil, .Harboirr Board, and Hospital Board, the sum of £3 each has to be d-epcsHed. If successful, 1/ c money is returned, hut if any unsuccessful candidate fails to poll one-eighth of the total votes polled 'by the lowest enoceesful c-andklate, his deposit is made forfeit to the district fund.

A well-known land agent in Christchurch, approached on the matter of property exchanging, which has 'been receirtly condemned by the Lasv Society, said that undoubtedly there was a jrreat deal of propertj exchanging going on probably as the outcome of fche tightness of tbp money market. The parties on coming tog-pther would each foe a.rmous to gpt the better of the <teal, with the result that the value of the properties ■would ibecome inflated. A great many transactions of this nature 'had gone through in the past year, hut there was no reason why such exchanges slhould not Ibe perfectly equitable if tire proper safeguard of an independent valuation on each sicSe were adopted. Some agents ctrrtainly did encourage these deals for the sake of the commission, the basis of which was usually a percentage on the gross amount of the properties exchanged. In some eases the practice was an -evil, bnt if the system of indepf*tideu't valuations Tvere a<i.opfted. all undue inflation of values would be avoided.

" Never before in the history of New Zealand have 28 farmers been in Parliament," says Mr. G K. Wilson, M.P. for Tauniarimoi.

,Mr Wmiaja .Hay, <rf Dm^n «-mmieeioner of his Go^T trade conditions . arT^™ 1 * journey around tne ic«rM nuki ßs a trom each p!;lM and report « «.»™ c 3ti a S' n »*» ' United States andT BI F" 1 *" , - *>» Africa and India, which ufe EUTt>Pe - will probably he his l<, t / Count] 7 returning J£ v st °P befai

Wehngton market for the '£,1 * grade tomatoes are realising 2d'an,f,? per lb. retail. A s the wHI cent having taken place last week" In the Thames Police Court to-day » native named Wareta Wirimu U charged with the theft of cheque, Z mO h n n- V 'h W ; ait 4 arUru ' the oi abU , ar d .saloon-keeper. AViriinu'plwfod (Vml ty," and a fine of £8 and costs On default, two monUw in Mt. Eden Gaol) was imposed. '

In the course of some remarks on the financial position, the Hon. W F ra ~.r Acting-Minister of Finance, who retted on Saturday from a tour of inspection in the Northern peninsula, expressed the opinion that although the present pos* tion of New Zealand was sound, the Gov ernmer.t would have considerable diffi culty vi acquiring sufficient loan moner on the Home market to meet all the reasonable demands for road, bridge and railway work in the baokblocks When the present Administration took charae only £17,000 remained in the Treasury to carry out development works, so thai until money could be borrowed only the most urgent had a hope of receiyin*" attention. To increase the difficulties of the situation the Administration had not beet, able to borrow from the Post Office Savings Bank within £1,000,000 of tie sum previously borrowed, as the high rates of interest ruling had induced depositors to place their money elsewhere. The four and a half million" loan would also fall due next year, and if it could not be renewed the Government would be faced with the raising of another large loan to repay it. He hoped to see an improvement on the termination of the Balkan war, but the Indications were that there was going to be an abnormal demand on the Home money lenders, concluded the Minister.

While returning from the T Ipnkuran xacee on Easter Monday a motor car belonging- to a Dannevirke resident caught fire. , A spark set the hood alight, and it buried, furiously. ,T,he padding o( the car was also considerably damaged, "w-hiie two new tyres on the back wheels were eeorched. The damage is estimated ■by tie owner at £J>o. — :

The Prime. Minister is arranging i sctreme. Tinder which A. and P. societies will be given representation upon tne Board of Agriculture which it is proposed to set up. The members of the Board, other -t>han those representing tbe societies, will be appointed by the Government.

It is stated that there v not a keen demand for Otago Harbour Board debentures at present, owing tn the fact that holders of money have no difficulty in obtaining 5J per cent interest on " good security investments." The Board is offering 4 per cent, but tbere is some talk of the rate of interest on the Board's debentures -being raised to 5 per cent, as money is required to carry ont essential work.

The installation of observation cars an the Wellington tramwaj-s has been attended with such gratifying results thit it is quite likely that the innovation wi become a permanent feature of the tramway service- Visitors from various parts of the Dominion state that they ha.lt never before bad such a fine opportunity of seeing Wellington, and they were agreed that the trip was an excellent way of advertising the city. The Mayor he made a suggestion that it would prow profitable to. run observation cars as » regular thing on. cay, one day per week His suggestion was that it should lie* day on which the inter-colonial boats were in port, when doubtless many pasengers would ho gliid of the opportunitj to go round the city by this means, It was h« intention to recommend the Cify Council to adopt this plan and make it -a regular thins. If the cars were rut and a system adopted of advertising th« trips on the steamers, he believed tiat a great many visitors to Wellington from overseas would go by car round tic city and suburbs. Those who have visited Duncdin and have some knowledge of the harbour, will be interested in learning that the work of reclaiming Lake Ix>gan is going forward at a steady pace. It is berap filled ■with fairly solid material dredged from the Victoria channel. It is esti mated ttrat the reclamation wHI be. completed in five years. The matter o( "laying out" the reserve for recreational purposes is still a subject for consideration, and possibly keen debate The idea at present is to provide gra«7 areas for football, hockey, and teams, and a freshwater lakelet for thoe yno do not caTe to go down to the sea for fun, but no definite scheme has as yet been adopted.

As a result of the complaints of badly prepared food at the furious military camps -this year, the New South Wales Minister for Defence has decided to establish a school of cookery. Aspirant* for the position in the forces will I*_ required to -pass a qualifying exanuna*** Special rates of pay will 'be toed. W« course of instruction is to 'be concentrated into less than 12 mortths, so* 1 some of the new cooks may be Tead 7T be let loose on the nest series of camp* The Minister is not altogether surpnsw at the complaints which have *een m*£ Boys suddenly taken away from tUP ordlTEiry life and placed on a solditf fare, he says, were sure to tod « change a bit awkward a* first. cooking will not, he is sure, to tf»J satisfactory until fhe men are prof* ■ trained for the work in a, less than months' course. .. The liquidator* invite tentoeta plant, of Messrs Masscy Bros,"