LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 70, 16 December 1907, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The. amount of the Customs duties collected in Wellington on Saturday was £1904 9s. Bd, as against £2434 2s. 2d. for tho corresponding data last year. The collections fpr tho week totalled £11,634 18s. lid., as compared with £14,916 6s. 4d last year. Tho boor duty collected during the week totalled £418 9s. 6d., as against £358 3s. 6d. Yostorday was tho hottest day yet experienced in Christohurch this summer, tho maximum heat in tho shade being 87 degreos. Tho following cases of infectious disease were notified to tho Health Dopartmont during last week: —ln tho City of Wellington: Scarlet Jovo.r, 7; diphtheria, 3, Iα tho Hutt County i Scarlet fover &

The final civil sitting for tho year at tho Magistrate's Court is to be held to-morrow. Tho list is an exceptionally heavy one, comprising no fewer than 160 cases. On Sunday morning fivo of tho cells at tho Lambton Quay polico station were occupied. Tho naturo of the offences alleged is as follows :—Breach of the peace, drunkenness (2), obscene language, and theft. Confirmation services wero held at tho Petone Anglican Church yesterday morning, and at St. Paul's, Wellington, in tho evening. Bishop Wallis administered tho rite to fifteen candidates at Petono, and thirty-eight at St. Paul's. Tho Premier has notified tho Superannuation Committee that ho will bo very pleased to attend tho social to bo givon on Wednesday ovening. This social, to bo held in celebration of tho passing of tho Public Service Superannuation Act, is given to members of tho service and their lady friends. A very attractive programme has been prepared. The Wellington Art Gallery was thrown open to tho public yesterday for tho first time since the annual exhibition. Mr. C. N. Worsley's large oil painting of Mount Sefton now occupies a place on the walls to the left of the entrance. This fine representation of a. characteristic piece of New Zealand Alpine scenery has been lent by Mr. F. J. Studholme, of Timaru. The gallery is open on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, from one to four o'clock, and On the first Sunday in every month. That magnificent piece of Native bush which clothes tho hills on the western side of the Hutt River at Silverstream was noticed to be on fire on Saturday. Everything is, of course, as dry as matchwood, and, with the strong northerly which was sweeping down the valley, tho fire had a good hold. The Silverstream bush is one of the prettiest spots in the Hutt Valley, and it is a pity that something cannot bo done to safeguard this and other scenic treasures from the results of the carelessness of irresponsible individuals. An interesting compensation case was heard boforo Dr. M'Arthur, sitting with two assessors on Friday. Messrs. Davis Bros., who have a block of land with a frontage of 127 ft. to Jackson Street, Brooklyn—which is less than 66ft. in width—and being anxious to subdivide, thoy dedicated 13ft. under tho provisions of Sections 16 and 17 of the Public Works Act, and claimed £42 as compensation from tho City Corporation. The city offered to compromise for £30, but this offer was refused. The Court awarded the owners £25, with £1 valuation feo and £2 for costs. Mr. M. Myers appeared for Messrs. Davis, and Mr. J. O'Shca (City Solicitor) for the Corporation. The assessors were Messrs. G., Frost (city), and G. A. Hurley (plaintiffs). The Union Company's turbino clipper Maori established another record on her Saturday night run from Lyttelton. She left the Lyttolton breakwater at 11.53 p.m., stopping at the Queen's Wharf yesterday morning at 8.47 a.m. The time occupied over the passage was thereforo 1 8 hours 17 minutes. This latest trip lowers tho clipper's best time by one minute , . Considering the adverse weather encountered—a north-west gale in the Straits—and a strong ebb tide, the performance is a very creditable one. Throughout tho passage, the Maori's average speed was.-19.66. knots per,[hour., ..although, during part'...of, the trip.-.a. ''high, averagei of 20.5 knots ,f was'''registered/' The'general 'opinion is that, given favourable weather conditions, tho clipper will,cover the distance in something under eight hours, as, so. far, her full , steaming facilities 'have not been brought into ptay. v A Now Zealand Company has purchased tho Dominion rights for an English coal briquette. ■ Its texture is so fine and close that a briquette a little larger than an egg oan be sawn through quite smoothly without any crumbling and cracking. It is impervious ito the weather, and may be made from tho slack of any kind of coal. Some difficulty has been experienced in making the new briquette from the receipt furnished, but this has been solved by Messrs. E. H. Barber and Swannell, mining and i mechanical engineers respectively, of this city. Tho same difficulty has been experienced by tho Company which has secured the Australian rights, and Messrs. Barber and Swannoll leave for Sydney on Friday next by the" Marama to demonstrate how the briquette can bo successfully mado. It is understood that the dbst of producing* the briquettes is about ss. per ton. Tho public clock that tells the hours away at tho foot or Cuba Street has been given a Ohristmas.. present in the form of a muchneeded new case. This clock is not ono of yesterday, and many people missing it from its accustomed place ovor the- premises of Mr. W. N. Tucker has been making inquiries as to whether Time had at length claimed the instrument which had for so long kept a wary eye on his movements. Mr. Tucker believes that tho clock is about forty years of age. Ho has been in tho place for ten years, and the dock was there during tho whole of tho twenty-fivo years' tenure of his predecessor, tho lato Mr. T. King, when it was familiarly called'" King's clock." A Mr. Rowland had the premises for somo years before Mr. King, and Mr. Tucker belioves it fi'as erected in that gentleman's timo. Tho tvorks are as good as ever, and there is no reason to doubt that 'the clock will 'continue to record the fleeting hours for another forty years. j Some really good work in skirmishing, and attack and defence tactics, was carried , out by. the College Rifles at Trentham on Satur day. The men went out by tho volunteer "special," and encamped till tho following day, when the returned to town. The first part of the afternoon on Saturday was dovoted to cover practice, and tho value of khaki as a disappearing medium 'was , -fully demonstrated. Some of the men worked really well, and at a distance of 100 yards tho eyo was completely deceived, it being impossible to distinguish between tho crouching skirmishers and tho tussocks and boulders which littered the ground. Tho latter part of tho • afternoon was employed in carrying out an attack on a spur behind Hagan's farmhouse, held by a party of raiders, who were represented by No. 4 section under Colour-Sergonnt Evatt. Tho attacking party consisted of Sections 1 and 2 under Lieutonant Hutchen, and Section 3 under Lieutenant Meo. The scheme of operations resolved itself into a frontal attack by Lioutenant Hutehon's detachment, supported by a flanking movement by the section under Lieutonant Mee. Staff-Sergeant-Major Colclough Was also present, and gave somo useful hints during tho operations. Those company exorcises in field tactics are nn excellent idea, and well worthy of consideration by tho other corps in the battalion. Mrs. Ethel R. Do Costa, LL.B. (nee Miss Ethel E. ftonjamin, of Dunedin), after practising for Borno years in that city, has cpmmonced practico as a barrister and (solicitor in No 6 Nathan's Buildings, corner Grey nnd Feathciston Streets, Wellington. Mrs. Do Costa has tho distinction of being tho only lady practising at the Bar in the Dominion. Intending clients can depend on prompt and careful at toatioa at Mrs, Dβ Costa'e hands.

A young man named Robert Guest was arrested by Detective Cameron on Saturday afternoon on a warrant chargirig him with having used obscene language in a railway carriage on the Dunedin-Port Chalmers line. Upon being threatened with arrest by a oonstablo in plain clothes, Guost jumped off the train, which was travelling at full'speed. Tho train was stopped, but Guest had disappeared, The programme of the sovonth annual prize mooting of tho New Zealand Defence Forces Riflo Association has been issued by the Executive officer,. Colonel R. J. Collins, V.D. The principal alterations from last year are tho increase of the champion prize to £50; a special match for rifle club men tho same as for Volunteers; a teams match, Volunteers v. riflo clubs, with a £20 prize; the adoption of tho wind-gauge slide; reductions in pull of trigger, and alteration in size of bull's-eye at 200 yd. to 6in. in diameter. The Hon. R. M'Nab, Minister for Lands, who retnrned to Wellington yesterday, told a reporter that he found the people in Southland in remarkably good heart. They did not share in the trouble of tho dry season which had affected North Otago, and they had supplied vast quantities of tornips and other feed to keep alive the stock of the farmers of that district. This, together with the good prices of chaff and oats, and the present large show of grass in Southland, had combined to give the province an air of greater prosperity than he had over observed there.before. As showing the present traffic- on the Main Trunk line, Mr. H. J: H. Blow, Undersecretary for Public Works, who has just been over it, states that the night he slept &t Taumarunui there were four " shakedowns'' in the writing room, and another in the office, and several people had to be turned away. At Raurimu the next night there were fifty-seven' people at the accommodation houso. A large number of people are expected ! to make the "through" journey during the coming holidays, as this can now be done by perfectly easy travelling, without any inconvenience, and in fine weather the trip is moat enjoyable. There are about 1400 men working on the Main Trunk Line, and under ordinary ciroumstances they would leave off work on Doceinber 20, and not resume until about the first Monday in the New Year, to enable those of them who have homes in other parts of the Dominion to see their families. This year, however, the Department of Public Works is so anxious to press on with the line, that it has urged as many of tho workmen as have no special wish to leave to work right on through the holidays, with the exception of special days. About a fourth of the whole -number of men have agreed :to do this. As all the labour ia • done on the piece-work system, no extra rates will bo paid. ' Mistakes, quite unaccountable, frequently occur on Wellington's shipping telegraph board, and eauso great .'inconvenience to many. On Friday it was evidently an off-day at Napier, for the Niwaru.. was reported to have left Napier at 6 p.m., and actually sailed at 10.30, p.m. The Star of Japan was posted as having sailed at 9.30 a.m. Some hours later a correction appeared, saying that she had not sailed. As this boat was bringing New York cargo, ;j for,,a number of local warehouses, the agents were worried with inquiries 'as'towheiY'the'Star of Japan was leaving Napier; Definite advice was received towards evening stating that got away sometime 'after three: , Asito .how these errors occur requires some investigation on tho part of the authorities. <■'■'•,.