LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 86, 4 January 1908, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Customs' revenue collected at' Wellington yesterday amounted to £2695 12s. 6d.

During the past .week the' privilege of using the Town Hall organ-'at'2s'.' ail hour has been availed of .by. five visiting.organist's.'-;

. .When at Niagara Mr. William Cable, of Wellington; was shown over an electric power-house on the Canadian side of the river that, -when completed, will generate' 125,000 . horse-power of energy. V, ' v

The contract for the Congregational Church new manse, Alicetown, for the Row W. A. Eeay, has been secured by. Mr. William Pe.arce, builder, Pefcone, and will be immediately commeneod under' the supervision of the architect, Mr. R. P. de Bidder, C.E., M.A.A., Lower Hutt.

. The D. Battery of Field Artillery will go into camp at the Hutt Park Racecourse today for their annual 16 days' training. The syllabus of instruction is a very comprehensive ono, and includos signalling, rangetaking, panoramic and field sketching, gunnery, riding, driving, and artillery practice.

Tho gato receipts for the three days of the Wellington-Canterbury cricket match totalled £157. 35., 'which,, in addition to the receipts from tho Otago match, places the local Cricket Association in a fairly satisfactory financial position. .It is possible that the r-csult may bo a tour to Auckland about the end of February, and a match with Hawke's Bay on the way back. Visits are due to both the Northern Associations, and tho question of finance has been tho only obstacle.

It is so cold in Canada in tho - winter time that the ground is frozen to a depth of six feet. In consequence of this, tho dead cannot be hurried in the winter, and the bodies are stored in vaults until such time as the ground becomes soft enough to oxcavato. Mr. William Cable says that at Montreal there is a fine crematorium, presented to the city by A. M. Macdonald, the approach to which is through a beautiful conservatory embellished with most beautiful flowers and shrubs. In the same city the CanadianPacific Railway Company has its big works, which, with the yards, cover 246 acres of land. Besides doing all tho repair work and carriage building, an averago of an engine a week is turned out.

At a spccial meeting of the Wellington Harbour Board to bo hold on Thursday nest tho following motions will bo considered:— By Mr. Shirtclilfo: —"That in view of tho inadequacy of tho present wharf and shod accommodation to cope with tho rapidlyincreasing import trade of tho port, the provision of increased accommodation bo treated as an urgent work, and tho engineer tako steps to have tho widening of tho outer too of the Queen's Wharf and tho erection thereon of two-storied sheds, as recommended by him in his report of May 31, 1900, put in hand at tho earliest possible date." By Mr.. Beaucliamp:—"That all communications from members of tho staff and from tho employees shall bo made to tho Board through tho Chief Executivo Officer."

Mrs. Ethel R. Do Costa, LL.B. (noe Miss Ethol R. Benjamin, of Dunedin), after practising for some years in that city, has commenced practice as a barrister and solicitor in No. G Nathan's Buildings, corner Grey and Feathcrston Street, Wellington. Mrs. Do Costa has the distinction of being tho only lady practising at tho Bar in tho Dominion. Intending clients can depend on prompt and careful attention at Mrs. De Costa's hands.

1; Thft:■ traiiiing-Bhip >Amokura will: leave 'Lyt-'.y' tolton . thisevening -On -, her; return .to Weilington. Tlie .vessel ,lias been absent about four-weeks. Her nest trip, it is understood) will bo-uptho.oMt cgast to Napier. Last Eight's Napier-Wellington express ■ train was .crowded -, with -holiday-makers to- » turning to thoir homos. Tli? train pas an • tacoptionally long one,- and' four, engines were: f : required to pull the living load up to the ; Summit. i * , ' '.'.'.'■ < .PnKeed.?!.'".vas'.(be: > brie{:-.iiui6Bagelwhich' <^' Mr. . Andrew Carnegio cabled to Mr; Craigioj' jr.;. Mayor of>Tinmrii.- His Worship, had* asking. M^.. Carnogio i.to. say whetbor j'tho' : plans for:,a -public: library at Timaru-were - j : ' approved, as a condition 'precedent, to 's i donation of £3000. i, ' * Tho parralceots and' flightless duoks which ' { Dr. Cookayno brought;, from. the southern I islands and : liberated on" Kapiti,; appear to.:. 5 bo thriving well in their new'homo.' 'Accord-': ing to a report which Dr. Cockayne received •: from tho caretaker of tho" sanctuary, tho birds seemed' quito-happy, therq-a week after they arrived 1 • Tho report furnished to the Dominion "by' ; Mr. H.. Birch (engineer' to tho 'Wellington Gas ' Company).:,regarding. thoattempts of : ' sharpers in London to; impose on visiting 7 Now: • Zealanders by professing st; knowledge ; of, tho towns. and people and the need of a "fiver," has been forwarded officially :to ' the High Commissioner by Mr. T. B; Donne, •manager of . the Tourist Department, with ■the request that tho matter be looked l into:

• If a deaf and dumb, passenger from overseas. appears' likely to become a charge upon - the public, the: Customs authorities liavo power,, to call l on tho owner of the vessel to pnter into a bond o£ £100 as a condition of ,llis landing. • The Department has just taken such, action in the case v of a deaf and dumb man, wbo ; arrived by the Moeraki from Australia. Ho is a slaughtorman, and it is stated that ho was expecting: to earn £5 a week at the present: rates- of pay in: thiß v country, and would have returned to Australia, as many Australian slaughtermen regularly do, at, tho end of tho summer. ■ His health is said to bo robust. Tho Union Company refused to givo tho bond which the authorities demanded, and the man was sent .back;to Australia by tho Maheno, which left last night. : ' v - ;v-: ..-

A article on , tho; peoplo who; write 'the jokes in. tho comic Press appeared by ■ Mr. ,A. S., Hoffman: in the Octobor: numbor of the Npw York "Bookman.'.' Nearly all the jokes, he says, are produced by somo-fifteen ,or twenty men and women, most of whom follow other work as a means of livelihood. ..Sir. Jiimes J. O'Connell has been writing jokes for nearly thirty years. Besides doing- a groat dealt of general newspaper .work, ,ho has travelled 'extensively,. 'and .his; lifo has been one, long struggle with- illhealth. His total output of- jokes, wo wo told, haß far exceeded 100,000. .Ho writes all his jokes at night, and transcribes and sorts them into batches in tho; morning. Mr. ,E A. ' Oliver ,is responsible , for more than ,75,000 jokes; He is credited'with being tho originator of tho conversational joko. -Mr. H.i I. Horton, another writer, has produced over 20,000 jokes. •

Mr: iA; G. Denbigh, who is engaged in commercial life in Vladivostok, and-is now on a visit to Australia, remarked a few days ago'in Sydney .that the, reports of the in tho Russian" city were mucli exaggerated....The mutiny, t in. the navy occurred 'just•■.'before -• ho sailed for Sydney early in November; but, he says, the incident was liot regarded as of a very sorious character. The crew of one of.the Russian torpedo boats, mutinied, ■ and having tilled -the commander, took charge, hoping:that .the remaining war 'vessels'in tho;harbour Would join them.. Although very great dissatisfaction existed in tho navy, tho remainder- of tho fleet refused to co-operate, and a gunboat and four or five torpedo boats at once opened fire on the disloyalists. Shots were exchanged, and for a little wjiilo the : firing , was' very hot. Tho routineers yrere compelled to pass between four'pr five torpedo^bbatsj 1 which poured shot into the deserters with great rapidity from •both sides. ' No fower than 40 of- the crew were mowed down, and finding they were beaten:the survivors ran' the vessel aground. A few minutes later the torpedo-boat was taken possession of, and the remainder of the ship's company taken in charge. The incident only lasted for about a quarter of an hour or 2G' minutes," Mr. Denbigh said, " and although it naturally created considerable consternation in the city at the time, the mutiny was soon forgotten. Martini law was proclaimed for three or four days, and then matters resumed their ordinary aspect.' Mr. Donbigh says that trade is somewhat dull iu •. Vlndivostock at present, but good feeling oxists botween the -Russians and tho Japanese. Hatters generally are quiet, a*4 no further' outrages are - anticipated.