AUCKLAND'S STATUE OF THE QUEEN

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10238, 6 January 1899, Page 5

AUCKLAND'S STATUE OF THE QUEEN

An Auckland telegram states that the QueenV statue is being landed from the Waikato, from London. It weighs 9£ tons. The committee intend asking the Governor to unveil it. on his re-visiting Auckland in March next..'

A MISTAKE.

.-, When tho front doors are open, giving -access to the old Provincial Council Chamber, there is always some inquisitive individual who seeks an explanation. Yesterday an elderly female, with a suspicious-looking bottle, strolled into the vestibule, and asked what Court was sitting. The- Teachers' iCourt she was told. "Who's that on tho 'Bench then?" "Mr Scott," was the answer. "Oh, I thought it was Tommy Tavlor," she .muttered a.s she shuffled down the steps. It is not known whether the head master of the East Christchurch School was nattered by the mistake.

NEEDLEWORK IN THE SCHOOLS.

According to a Press Association telegram from Wellington, regulation No. 24 Under the Education Act, 1877, has been amended as follows: "All the girls in any public school in which there is a mistress or an assistant mistress shall learn needlework, and the inspector shall judge all other work done by girls more leniently than that done by boys in such a degree as would be implied in reducing, by 10 per <»nt., the minimum marks required for any *-unination pass."

THE BRITISH CABINET.

The alleged rivalry between Lord Salis.hury and Mr Chamberlain was the subject of an article contributed to the "Indepen- ■ r dance Beige" by its London correspondent on November 24th. The writer declares on good authority mat at a recent Cabinet . meeting Lord.Siilisburv's desire to yield on tne question of Fashoda was over-ruled by * Jus imperious colleague, who is now virtually toaster, and directs England's foreign policy \ trith the more audacity that he is not Officially responsible. *He sums up the - k! Ua o ° a b * v tno ophorism, "Salisbury reigns, , out Chamberlain governs."

JUDICIAL CHANGES.

The "Wanganui Chronicle" iinderstanda. , «at Justice* Cbnolly, of Auckland, interi^sj <-. uking a twelve months' holiday, and thfts | ~ Mr District Judge Kettle will be appointed i -te relieve him. It is also rumoured that f "•£* H. W. Northcroft, S.M., is to be sta''«K U Hawera » and th »t Judge Ward, of ' "'_trvt' at,vo Tjand s Court is to succeed him , {•wanganui. Mr Eyre Kenny, the Wel•2{£_ n S,M -» wiU Probably be transferred water to Wanganui or Nelson.

- A NEW YEARS MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN.

«_»• New Years Da - V 8 a Press Asso - -1 |*tion message Irom Wellington) the Gover- '•' tk_' at tte re( l uest of *h° Premier, sent \_r blowing cable message to the Secre_*Tof State for tlie Colonies:—"Please 'V_ t" I,cr Ma i estv that the People of <_jf .. ea * and aro des * roH3 °I sending their 'for k ate r ersona l nnd heartfelt wishes '* __V ; v *^ lt ant * ' ,a PPy new year." Yester- ;,.*', "f s Kxcellcncy received the following ! "Wfroin the -Secretary of State:—"Queen mc to express her thanks to ft-Elr*. 01 N ew Zealand, and, further. lam jsomniandej to convey to them her good ;*»lK*fornewvear."

, °U> AGE PENSION CLAIMS.

oo far about 250 claims have been made ji* Registrar at Christchurch. Many of |JP& form- have been wrongly filled in, and Kj*ftgi.tra r has had a great deal of trouble fifget them put right. Some of the appliflpa cannot read or write, and others were

born in the days when there was nothing but baptismal registration in tho Old Country, and so have no means of proving their age. There are already persons who are making a profession of filling up the Old Age Pension forms fo»* applicants. Some of the old people are blind, and some are bedridden, k> thst the Registrar has no easy task. Their ages average about 70 years," but some arc as old as 85.

LA PEROUSE RELICS.

With reference to the cable message announcing that a private yacht, the Lady St. Aubyn, returned to Sydney with relics of La Perouse's sliip equipment and armament, a

"Sydney Morning Herald" reporter, who went aboard tlie yacht, was shown many intercstingjpieoes of guns, old flintlock muskets, load and iron shot tihe size of marbles, all in a fair state of preservation. "By digging down," said the captain, "we came upon wliat is supposed to have been the workshop in which the boat was built by the shipwrecked crow, and in which they embarked, never more to be heard of. Many, no doubt, have read his travels, and have seen where his voyage ends abruptly, he never being heard of after parting company with Captain Cook in Botany Bay, Australia, in 1788. One hundred years liad passed away when the remains of liis two vessels—L'Astrolabe .(/quadrant) and the Boussole (compass) — were found on tiic island of Vanikoro, lat. 11 deg. S., long. 166 deg. E. It is only a few years ago that the guns, anchors, &c, wero brought to Noumea, New Caledonia, by a French man-of-war, the Bruat. It is supposed that during tlie night these two vessels went on the reef which surrounds the island, peril aps in a calm or during a hurricane." Ily engaging the natives to fossick near the scene of the wrecks a number of Spanish and French silver com3 were found, also one gold one. These bear dates 1727 and 1728; Carolus 111.

CATECHISING A CONGREGATION.

Dr. Cobb, the curate-in-charge of St. Ethelburga's. Bishopsgate street, has (the London "Daily Mail" reports) made an in-novation-in the conduct of certain services in his church which bids fair to become exceedingly popular. One Sunday, recently, in place of the usual sermon, Dr. Cobb catechised his congregation, and obtaiued answers to his questions which were exceedingly satisfactory on the whole. A "Daily Mail" representative who saw the rev. gentleman was told the reason of this new departure. "Why I did it,'" said Dr. Cobb, "was because so many of my people take points of religion for granted. They do not know, and often do not trouble to know, the reason for many of their beliefs. My idea is to teach them to ask themselves intelligently, 'Why do I believe what I do - :' and to learn what the foundations of their religion a_*c ba.st<l on. One seldom gets an insight into what is at the back of one's congregation's brain, but too often goes on preaching and hoping that out of trie truths contained in a torrent of words just a few will stick. The congregation at St. Etbelburga is composed principally of business people, clerks and so forth, and a number of ladies. Lost Sunday the men were the only ones who gave answers ; the ladies will, I daresay, take a more active part later on. Of course some of the answers were incorrect, but on the whole they showed that interest and care had been taken in the preparation."

THE FINN AND THE FUNCTION

Mr J. A. Panton, P.M., Vice-President of the Royal Geographical Society of Victoria, who went to Hobart to witness the departure of the Southern Cross expedition for the Antarctic Circle, came back to Melbourne with rather an amusing story. On board the Southern Cros_, and in cliargc of t!he dogs, ore two Finns. They dresa gorgeously, each in a long blue tunic, which gives one the impression of having been fashioned out of a blanket. On their heads they wear a peculiar cap, surmounted on top with an unusual-looking tassel. Their feet are encased in weird-looking boots, round the ankles of which are rolls of straw. One day one of the Finns went ashore, and was an object of awe, admiration, and respect combined. He |--ould not speak a word of English, and soon lost his bearings in the city. He jumped into a cab, and tried to convey to tlie joliu the information that he desired to go to hia sliip. The cabman drove him towards Government House, and when they reached a building near his Excellency's residence the Finn alighted. A lady approached, and the Finn once more engaged in signs. The lady, being under tlie impression that ho was a distinguished foreigner, directed the cabman to Government House. The driver took Ids fare forward, but there being nobody present at tlie fashionable function who understood Finnish talk, the helpless foreigner could hot explain that he was a lost man. Indeed, he was mistaken for a foreign notability connected with the expedition, and was feted and fed on ices and many other delicacies which were being served to the guests of a party which was in progress at the Governor's residence. Eventually lie was conveyed to the ship, and astonished the crew and his brother attendant of the dogs in particular, witu the story of how he had been singled out for kindly attention at Government House.

THE SICK SAILOR.

A Cliineso trader was the scene of a humorous smuggling incidenc upon her arrival at Sydney from the East tne other day. The Customs officials (says the "Daily Telegraph") made an unusually extensive search for contraband opium and cigars, and one of them became suspicious of the attitude of a sick sailor, who lay in his bunk with'"a-broken leg." Sharply interrogated, the invalid whined out in English, 'Doctor says no touchee mc; no movee." The official, however, proved inexorable, and, amid choice imprecations in florid Cantonese, the sailor was tenderly removed to another bunk. A search revealed the cause of illness, wmcli consisted of a wholesale consignment of boxes ot cigars, neatly packed in rows as a foundation to the mattress. The disclosure so affected the "sick" man that he speedily vanished up the companionway, and lias not since been heard of.

THE PHOTOGRAPHING OF COLOURS.

Herr Selle, the German doctor who has perfected a process for taking and developing photographic pictures in their natural colours, was in London when the mail left. Herr Selle's method (says the "Pall Mall Gazette) is tne, at first sight, simple one of taking tlie photograph upon one plate through successive screens of yellow, red, and blue glass, and afterwards developing them in a series of baths of similarly coloured solution. But the main secret lies in the composition of the plate upon which the negative is taken, and in that of the solution in which it is developed; although there are, of course, other and subsidiary secrets connected with the film and its transference, and with the method of reproducing the positives for lithographic purposes. "I do not claim," concluded Dr. Selle, in effect, "that my process "will yet give every possible shade of colour, but it gives most of them, as you can see. It has been a long, long labour, but at length I have solved the problem."