LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 93, 13 January 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

« The customs rovenuo collected at Wellington 011 Saturday was £934 17s. 3d., as against £759 6s. 9d. for the siunc day in 1907. The weekly total for ordinary duty amounted to £20,995 195., while the sum of £10,299 6s. 7d. was the amount of duty paid (luring the corresponding poriod of Inst yenr. The amount paid in beer duty last week was £256,105. 10(1., while for the corresponding week of last year the total was, £313 Bs. Bd. Tho Health Department reports tho following cases of infectious disease in tho city during lust weel;Scarlet fever, 4; enteric, 5; diphtheria, 1. v The first meeting, of Cabinet since tho holidays will he held this morning. The Ministers attending will be the Premier Mid The Hons. It. M'Nab and J. Catroll.

Au election to fill an extraordinary vacancy on the Hutt River Board will bo held on February 4. Nominations oloso at noon on January 28, •

A slight shook of earthquake was, felt in tlio city a little before midnight, on Saturday. ■' , ' , v 'X', : V It is understood that the Tutanekai will rop.iir the two faulty cables in Cook Strait as soon as the weather, will permit. Thoro is a strong feeling in Anglican Church circles in Australia that the Federal 1 Parliament should bo urged to take over marriage and divorce legislation at an. early date with the object of passing a law restricting the facilities for divorco in some'of the States. It ie prdbablo that some time in . 19(18 action will bo taken by tho church with a view to educating public opinion on tho matter. According to an apparently well-informed correspondent of the Manchester ■ "Guarr diari," there is riot much . chance "< of the Federal Goverhriient turning - the bond for £25,000 given by Sir James Laing and Sons, the late mail contractors "to tho : Common-' wealth, into cash. "I hear," he wrote iiljthe "Guardian" at tho end of last nionth, "that counsel to whom the matter has been ''referred hold to' the view that the claim cannot be enforced oh account of certain informali-! tics." : . v A large number of entries have been received for the different events-■■•on the. programme of tho MiVamar Seaside Carnival to I bo ! held on Anniversary Day, January 22. | Tlio swimming portion of the programme j lias received special attention/ and .several | of the most prominent of the local swim-:j mors, including thi? champion, B. C. Froyhorg, (have signified their intention of com- 1 petirig. The huge submarine explosion arid the subsequent fish-collectiiig' competition will no doubt attract largo numbers.' Altogether a most successful meeting is anticipated. ' , Tho Federal' policy, of protection, continues to establish new, industries. The world-re-nowned firm of organ builders, Messrs. Nor-, man arid Beard, Ltd., is about to establish a 'branch of .its works in Sydney Jo supply the, market of the Commonwealth 1 . Some eighteen months;ago a representative of the firm, Mr. E. W. Notmau, came to Australia to riiitke enquiries about the ■ possibility of starting business, and as , tho result of his roport it was decided to establish works at Sydney. Mr. J. B. Holroyd has arrived from London to supervise the practical portion of the undertaking, and Mr. W. H. Wale has, boen'selected as the firm's'busiriess representative in Australia. .•Tho City Corporation's tar-shed, situated on tho'quarry reserve at Maranui, was destroyed by fire at five o'clock pri Saturday 'morning. The causei of. the outbreak is iiot known. Betweon 300 and 400 gallons of tar were stored iri tho shed; where thd asphalt for footpaths 'and 'channels' for tho Melrose district is mado, arid all wiis ■■ destroyed, .togother with the asphalt-making plant. The shed was of corrugated iron oil a wooden frame, and was dno of thoso removed somo time ago from tlio Clydo Quay yiirds 'to Maranui. It is understood that there was no insurance on the shod, though it was insured when, it was at Clyde Quay. - Patrick M'Aleer, a. single man, who has been employed for some time past as a ganger by the Coiinty Council, was missed from his work oil Saturday week, arid did not put in an appearanco'diirjng last Tho first intimation of what had become of hiiti, as far as tho engineer in charge'j of tlie work (Mr. Paterson) was concerned, was received on Saturday, wlieii the City Engineer's department was advisod from the Hospital that M'Aleer had died in that institution: on Wednesday,' arid; the. Hospital, authorities,wished to know what, money was duo to the deceased. M'Aleer was very popular. with the men on the' works he was engaged in, and -the news of his death caused a considerable shock. It is understood that deceased's mother resides ; either in ftow South Wales .or Victoria. , ; A lino new three-story brick building has just, been completed for Messrs. William Turnbull arid Co., land arid estate agents, in Panama Street. Tho structure, which has a handsomo elevation well displayed in red pressed brick with cpment faciiigs, has a frontage of 35 feet' by a depth-of 80 feet, Tho ground floor frontage is divided into a shop, a central entrance; and Messrs. Turnbull and Co.'s suite of, offices, and extending across the full breadth at the rear, is a large, well-lighted auction room (34 feet by. 24 feet). Mr. D. M. Findlay, solicitor, : is ' located on tho first , floor, and tho top floor has been leased by Mr. E. W. G. Coleridge/architect, who has sub-leased a room to the Seamen's Uiiion. All the offices are lined with fibrous plaster, and there are a strong room and conveniences on each floor. Tho building was erected by Messrs. Sanders Bros, from the plans of Mr. E. W. G. Coleridge. Arrangeinents have been mado by tho Defence Department whereby tho under-men-tioned volunteer officers will be examined in practical work. ; Thb theory examinations wero hold some ago. Acting-Captain Esson, City Riflos; Acting-Captain Coivles, Adjutant, Ist. Battalion W.R.V.; and Act-ing-Lieutenant Marshall, Civil Service Rifles, will bo examined at a parade of the Wellington Rifle Battalion to' be hold on Tuesday, January 14; Acting-Captain Coleman, Gisborne Rifles, at Gisborne, January 24; Acting - Lieutenant Prondeville, Ekotahuna Moilnted Rifles, at the annual encampmont; Acting-Captain Grimm, and Acting-Lieut-enant Cockcroft, Raiifurly Rifles, and ActiiigCaptain Martin, Napier Rifles, at Napier, February 3. Acting-Captain Pethefick, D Battery of Field Artillery, will complete his practical work at the annual encariipment now being held at the Lower Hutt Racecourse. Many people who have to pass along Mercer Street, arid have glanced across tho vacant section in tho direction of tho municipal lighting power-house, Harris Street, have been somewhat puzzled to know what the enormous steel tubular structure exactly is. Elevated somo twenty feet from tho ground are threo horizontal boilers, and between thctn arid the ground is a conglomerate block of steel tubos—perpendicular, oblique, horizontal, but all part of a definite scheme. Inquiry elicited the fact that this is tho largost Babcock boiler south of tho lilio in process of erection, and is part of tho schemo for reorganising tho power equipment of tho Harris Street power-house. The great boiler has 7740 square feet of heating surfaco. After tho bowels of this great boiler havo been adjusted, the wholo structure is to 1)6 bricked in. It will form tho centre-pin of the new power-houso that is to gradually supplant tho present out-of-date works. Mrs. Ethel It. De Costa, LL.IS. (neo Miss Ethel R. Benjamin, of Dnnedin), after practising for some years in that city, haß commenced practice as barrister and solicitor in No. 0 Nathan's Buildings, corner Grey and Fcnthcrfttoil Street, Wellington. Mrs. DeCosta has the distinction of being the only lady practising at the Bar in tho Dominion. Intending clienls can depend on prompt aud careful attention at Mrs. De Costa's hands. Photgrnpliic post cards of "Hospital Saturday " collodion, Parliamentary Buildings, fire series, and otlrer interesting events on aalo at Ztvk'e Photo Depot, 24 Willis Street (prico id. :oaoW<