Local and General.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXXII, Issue 62, 6 August 1906, Page 3

Local and General.

A lady' who stipulated that her natoocj should not be divulged has given af donation of £SOO to the Wellington hJospital. "

Gibraltar is the smallest British posfssion. It measures less than two sq. miles. Canada is the biggest, wi'th 3,746,000 sq. miles.

From the London Times of May, 1806 : "A decently-dressed woman was last night brought into Smithfiekl for sale, ' but the brutal conduct of the bidders induced the man who was, or pretended to be, her husband, to refuse to sell her, on which a scene of riot and confusion highly disgraceful to our police took place." An Auckland dairyman was mulcted recently in fines and costs totalling. £2O for breaches of the Dairy! Industry Act, in failing to clean utensils used in milking, cows udders, etc. The Magistrate described the case as horrible. In one of the cans milk in a putrid state was discovered, and a boj*, connected with the dairy was so dirty that filth could be scraped off. his fingers with a knife.

It is not generally known that instructions were recently issued to all guards on the New Zealand railways to see that no boys travel in smoking carriages. It is not quite clear (says an Exchange) whether the Government desire to protect the budding youth of the colony from acquiring a predilection for the soothing weed or from hearing the racy anecdotes that are frequently exchanged among unregenerate males between whiffs. Whatever may be the cause, the departmental decision is a good one.

In the course of some remarks at the opening of i the Town* Hall Carnival at Wyndham, Mr McNab, M.H.R., said ha noticed that the census showed that Southland was going ahead much faster that Otago, ana in consequence Otago would have to surrender one of* her parliamentary seats to Southland. While the general trend of settlement throughout the colony was to the North Island with its milder climate, it was significant that, so far as the South Island was concerned, the greatest increase of population during the past five years had occurred in the coldest portion.—Southland, to wit.

Sir Joseph attended a reception given by the citizens in his honour at the Wellington Town Hall on Thursday night. There was an immense attendance, the great hall being crowded in all parts. There were considerably over 3000 people present, and they gave Sir Joseph and Lady Ward a warm welcome, Sir Joseph receiving quite an ovation on entering the hall, and later on when rising to speak. The Mavor of Wellington (the Hon. T. W. His! op) welcomed Sir Joseph back to the city, saying that, on behalf of all parties, he wished him success, for in his triumphs he had shown, no undue elation, and in his adversities he bad never shown any unnerving fear'. Sir Joseph's speech was practically non-political, and broke no new ground. He paid a tribute to Mr Seddon's great labours, and commended Mr Hall-J ones for his conduct during the last few weeks.

The matter of the license of theWaianakarua Railway Hotel, which the Waikouaiti Licensing Committee refused to renew, was before Mr Justice Cooper in Diraedin on Thursday in the form of an application for a writ of mandamus to order the committee to grant a-renewal. Mr J. H. Hosking appeared for Out red, owner of the hotel, and Mr A. S. Adams for the Committee. His Honour remarked that the affidavit before him by two members of the committee appeared insincere, as it did not state whether, in their opinion the premises were out of repair. There were Uncontradicted affidavits before him that" the premises were not out of repair. Mr Adam said the fact of the- matter not appearing in the affidavits was due to a misapprehension in thinking it 4 was not required. His Honour said that the information before him was insufficient if the-, committee upon oath declared that as the result of their examination they' found the premises to be out of repair, and the accommodation insnfficient. Then there wasj th® question of law, as to whether thfey had the right to> refuse. Mr Hosking said he saw that the committee would have to face the difficulty pointed out by his Honour. Moreover, on the question of predetermination/ there was a conflict in the affidavits .on that point. If material to the issue he was in. tending to ask that these committeemen be cross-examine,d on the affiidavit., and if Mr Adams would now prepare an affidavit, he (Mr Hosking) would ask 'him to get the members to deny that they went to the meeting with a prepared judgement—in fact, a written judgment. Mr Adams : Do you suggest that ? Mr Hosking :I do, and shall prove it. The case was adjourned for a week. His Honour has to be satisfied the committee»acted in a judicial manner,