LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 109, 31 January 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Customs revenue oolleoted at Wellington yesterday amounted to £1295 6s. Bd, The list of licensed surveyors; in tho Do-, minion appears in this week's Gazette. They , number 426. Tho annual picnic' of the gtaff of the Weilington City Corporation is to be h?ld,'.at Day's Bay on Friday next. ;. j Tho tender of Mr. W. Howson, of' Nowi Plymouth, for tho erection of a new Court-! house at Waitara, has been accepted. The, price is £775 19s. Bd., •. . :■) | Tho Gazette issued last ovening forbids the issue of money orders and forwarding postal correspondence .to Chester, Howard; Ship-Hotel, Collins Street, Hobart. I ■ The City Councilagreed last night t<> engage Mr. Maughan Barnett to give a serieß; of forty organ recitals during the year at & fee of five guineas for-each recital.. ,'. ! ■ Tho contents of a small detached 6hed at the rear of Barrand's chemist shop,' at the corner of Hill and Molesworth Streets, were by fire at 10.55 last evening. Tho Firo Brigade prevented further-damage, j Tho Education Board, on the motion of Mr. Hogg, M.P., yesterday resolved that the Works Committee report as to the advisableness of using corrugated iron and other firerosisting material in tho construction, of schools in country districts. . i An unfortunato mistake in a 'name in a local which appeared yesterday morning made it appear that Frank Caoksbn had been ar-. rested on a charge of assault on two girls." Mr. Cookson is not a party to the matter, other than that he; is concerned in the prosecution of .tho alleged offender. - : At a special meeting of the Wellington Harbour Board' yesterday, a list of persons, firms, and companies known to have paid to the Board the sum of £10 and upwarcjs during 1907, was approved by tho Board, and signed, by the Chairman as the roll of electors (being payers of dues) for the year iocs: . - : jIt was resolved at the meeting" of the Education Board yesterday that; application bo made to. tho Government' for grant? ..to replaco the schools' at Nireaha and'Maku'j which were | recently destroyed through bush fires. Referring to the destruction of these schools, Mr. Buchanan remarked that, when a firo was approaching a building the. best thing to do was to start a fire close to the structure. When this was done, he said, it invariably happened that the building was saved. It was decided at tho meeting 'of tho' Education Board yesterday afternoon that the Works Committee report ; as to whether it is possiblo to improvo tho acoustic properties of tho Board room. Mr. Buchanan, who brought tho matter up, said lie felt sure a great improvement could bo effected. Mr. Aitken held that the only way to remedy matters was by draping the walls. Mr. ,'Kebbell suggested- that wire should be placed below tho ceiling, but another member pointed out that it had been tried in another room without success.

Nothing could bo moro exasperating to an intending passenger than to see a car pass a recognised stopping place if'ho : or sho has boon waiting there for some time. Recently some people, who had been spending a pleasant hour at Scatoun, considered that they would have a bettor chanco of obtaining a • good seat if they walked citywards as far as the first stopping place and joined a car before it went on to tho terminus. They- were unanimously of tho opinion that a comfortablo seat all tho way to the city would bo; well worth tho extra penny. Tho motormau may haro thought that they wished to join tho car. on its return from tho terminus; at any rate, the fact remains that, much to the disgust of tho party, the car was not stopped. Tho matter was brought under tho notico of the Mayor by a Councillor last night, and His "Worship declared that inquiries would bo made. ■ With regard to tho proposed new school at Lansdowno, the Department of Education yesterday informed the Board that if a more moderato proposal wore submitted it would have a better clianco of receiving favourable consideration. It was pointed 'Out by the Chairman (Mr. Leo) that tho Department's request meant that a number of modern adjuncts—e.g., the cloak-room —would have : to bo omitted in order to reduce tho estimate to the amount suggested. Mr. Hogg,- M.P., stated that tho Board would have a better chanco of obtaining a larger sum if it waited a month or two. It was his impression also that it would be cheapor to build tho school in fcrro-concreto. Ultimately it was resolved that tho Department bo masked to reconsider its decision, and that representations bo made to ,it to the effect that the Board is of opinion that all new schools should bo of modern type.

There are 15,000 volumes of Transactions of the Nov,- Zealand Institute stored in tho collar of tho Parliamentary Library. The report of the Librarian of tho Institute mentioned this fact at tho annuil meeting yesterday. "A pity thoy were not burned " remarked one member. " They are dry onough to burn," said another. Musty records, apparently, have no value in tho oyes of tho Institute simply for the fact that they are musty records. The matter of the insuranco of these books was also discussed. " I don't know whether they aro worth tho money involved," said a member. " Thoy are sold at one guinea a volume, but it would be interesting to seo how many guineas have been obtained for them during the year!" In view of tho fact that the books were records of tho past, it was decided to place a sufficient insurance upon them to cover the cost of their replacement in the event of fire. At a meeting of the City Counoil last night, Councillor Carmichael inquired whether it was a fact that thirteen persons had been summoned for- wasting water, but that only nine had been brought bofore tho Court. "If it Is a fact," ho said, " 1 shall want to know why the other four wcro treated differently from tho others." His Worship: "I supposo the circumstances must have warranted it. I may mention two cases came under my notice. In the first instanco it was made clear that tho culprit (a boy) had used the hoso without obtaining tho permission of the owner, and in tho second caso tho offender used a hoso against orders. It was futile to proceed in thoso cases." Councillor Carmichael: "Some of thoso who wcro prosecuted consider that thoy were singled out." His Worship: "They aro seeking additional sympathisers. (After a pauso.) At any rate, I think nino out of thirteen was not so bad." (Laughter.) Mrs. Ethel R. Do Costa, LL.B. (nee Miss Ethel R. Benjamin, of Duncdin), after practis- : I inR for some yearß in that city, has com- . mcnced practice as a barrister and solicitor in No. G Nathan's Buildings, corner Grey and 1 Featherston Streets, Wellington. Mrs. De Costa ■ has the distinction of being the only lady > practising at the Bar in the Dominion. In- ■ tending otienta o»n depend on prompt and easeful attention at Mrs. De Costa's hands.

: The prohibition of tho importation of grape vines, grape-vino cuttings, and'grapes is re- , 1 yoked in this week's Gazette. v., i Tho General Labourers' Union, tho membership of which is well over four figures, < has become affiliated to thoiTrades and Lab- ' our Council. Plans for the new hernntago at Mount ! Cook have heon approved by the Govern- I inent'. The' building is to be • constructed of ferro'-concreto," and will contain forty bedrooms.' Tho Firo Brigade was called out to No. 13, Thorndon Quay at 9.30 last night to a house occupied by Mr. Davis. The window curtains ; in ono of tho rooms caught: on firo, but tho (lames wore got undor before much damage , was done. ' ■ >■ .The postal, authorities adyiso that tho next . English mail will arrive, in .Wellington, (..via Auckland, on Tuesday night next. Tho mail ■ loft Sydney on Wednesday by' tho; Mokoia for Auckland. v ,. . Appreciation of tho aetion-of Messrs. Wardoll Bros, in connection with tho recent death of a prominent member of the Grocers' Union was'expressed\at last night's meeting , of:-.the Trades and Labour .CouncihV v , Tho special order modo by the Wellington City Council referring-to'tho £100,000 loan for the drainage of the Melrose district ; tho ; £6000 for the- Cemetery l Loaii Repayment Loan; and the £9500 Waterworks and Te ■ Aro Reclamation Repayment Loan is gazetted. - this. week. Tho special order authorising a special rate for the Miramar Borough Council's recent loan of £71,000 for water,-and drainage is also' gazetted.' The-following names have been, added to tho .list of officiating ministers in '. Now Zealand:—Rev. F. W.; Whiblcy (Church of England) ; Rev. S. E. Hill (Presbyterian); Rev. S. Bonetto (Roman Catholic); Rev. James Spottiswoodo and the. Rev. T. A. Williams: (Baptists) ; Rev. A. F. Chodowski, Rev. S. A. Goldstein, and Mr. S. J. Nathan (Hebrew); Major B. Stono (Salvation Army). .The name of Ensign Edward Slattery. (Salvation Army) has'been removed from tho list. : , .The following order has, been issued. by Inspector. M'Donnell (in charge, of the .Coast police district) to his officers: —"As bush and other fires aro now so frequent and destructive over a largo portion of this district, and as thero is reason to bolieve that some of them at any rate aro tho result of recklessness or carelessness with fire or . matches, tho . members of tho force are hereby .enjoined, to bo continually. on tho alert to detect any breaches of tho clause of tho Police Offences Act relating to such cases, and to report tho samo as soon as 1 practicable to tho head office at; Napior, .Even the caroless throwing away of,matches, j lighted or unlighted, should, be reported in j future, : with tho view, of checking the. great danger and, evil above referred to?' ' Thp superiority of siugle desks'lis'compared with dual desks was referred' to at yesterday's meeting of the Education Board. Mr. Field, M.P., moved that the Government be informed that its decision not to grant money to provide singlo desks was, in the opinion of the Board, non-progressive. It was stated by Mr. Field that experts were unanimous in recommending tho use - of singlo desks. Mr. Aitken, M.P., seconded the, motion. Mr. Vilo said that, in view of the buoyant state of tho Dominion's finances, he was sur- " prised'at tho Government stating that if Boards lwished • to,iJnstal,,. single l,desks they ' must find the money for that purposo ,them--1 selves. In' reply to a member, tho Secretary ' stated that,.'to provide accommodation for ' two children would cost 1 235. with single ' desks against 15?.. with - a dual desk.- .The motion was carried unanimously.

The Maoris in the Taupo district have been exorcising their minds very considerably about church matters as a result of the Rev. Frodorick Bennett's mission among them, with the result that a : few days ago they oponod a now church at Tokaanu freo of debt, the dedication of .which was jdie .occasion of a visit, from Archdeacon Grace,, of Marlborough, whose father was the first missionary to tho Maoris in the Taupo district in the early days. At tho close of the dedication services tho Native ceremony of offering gifts was held. A tablo was placed in the open, the 1 Natives-coming up and laying upon it their gifts,- which in money totalled no less a sum than £200, with which it is intended to erect a branch church twolvo miles distant. Ono old Maori woman had no money to give, so sot to work and miido three Jiandsomo Maori mats (valued at: £30), which she-placed upon tho table as a -humble offering. ■ Mr. Bennett is doing much to instil into the Native mind tho good work of the missionaries in the olden days, and doubtless the £200 was to a large extont in remembranco of tho kindness of the Archdeacon's father's life amongst them. Tho principal chief jit Tokaanu is To Houhcu, whoso father was the famous chief of that kingship (which 'fawhaio afterwards ackingship (which Taiwhaio afterwards accepted), believing it no honour, and a stop that would in no way increase tho mana and influence of his ancient lineage. So sacred a chief was ho, in fact, that two slaves always fed him on feast and other days. Young Heuheu is a great sympathiser in the Church movement, and assists Mr. Bennett (himself a half-caste) in every way among his people.