LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 120, 13 February 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Customs revenuo collected at Wellington yesterday amounted to £1053 Is. Dd.. The lluapehu, which arrives from London to-morrow, brings a crate containing four owls, consigned to Messrs. Levin and Co., Ltd. Tho case between A. C. Feist and others und John Judd, a claim for. specific performance, will be heard at the Supremo . Court this morning. ■ ; A first meeting of creditors in tho .estate of Arthur Whealley,, settler, of Wellington, will bo held in the Official Assignee's office on February 18 at 11 a.m. , On March 0 the Arbitration Court will hold a sitting in Wellington to.fix dates for tho hearing of various disputes. The Court will subsequently deal with all business set down hero up to February 10. Tho " Lyttolton Times," referring to tho aobi>in of the Minister for Labour, Mr. Millar, in agreeing to preside at the conference of shipowners ami tho Seaman's Union, says , it is given to understand that the Minister has decided not to. reintroduce the amending Conciliation andy Arbitration measure. • '■ ' Tho Education Department has received 417 applications to participate in the Government subsidy of £3000 for the maintenance of public libraries. The total income of tho libraries on whose behalf the applications, have ,been made is £17,368, wd the subsidy will'.i»i distrljmtad at of 3s. s'll-! 2'id. in the £. The.payments are to bo made, before tho end of next month, ■' 1 -

A patient of the Mount View Mental Hospital escaped from the. institution on Mqnday morning, and it is understood lias not yet' been recaptured. He is about sft. Bin.. high, of stout • build, fair complexion, .is going bald, has a, clipped fair beard, .and when ho . escapo'd," was <dj'es3ed'-in « dark tweed ,coat • and ; cap arid ■■ white- moleskin trousers. Ho is not ,of dangerous ' tenden J cies. • -"V-: ~

Messrs. Inglis .Bros., 'of Willis Street! havo received from' the Star Engineering Company j of Wolverhampton (manufacturers of the Stuart motor-oar), a very'handsome massivo silver cup, valued at a hundred guineas; to be competed for in a. series of automobile reliability tests on the roads of the' Dominion. The cup, which is on view in tho firm's show window, is to" bo won .twice in.succession or three times at, intervals by the same car be: foro it becomes tho property of the winner. Details of the Star " Cup tests have-not yet boen worked out. s ...

During the bearing of a chargoof theft at the' Magistrate's Court yesterday ; counsel for the defence took exception to a .constablo having cross-examined the alleged offender when he was taken to the police-station, a precodurp which,, ho said, had frequently bean discountenanbed by Judges and Magistrates. Counsel made a formal protest to the Bench. After Mr."W.:G- Riddoll, S.M., had given his deoision in the case in question, he made somo remarks on tho matter, stating that it was '.quitp improper for a. .constablo to act- in such a way.' Defendant was accused of' having committed a theft,; and it was quite right for the constable to take liinV into custody, but the'officer had no right to crosi-examine the man.Constables should bo aware of their, rights and, duties in such circumstances. ' His Worship was • satisfied thit in this case the constablo.did not act wilfully, but at tho same time ho should not have submitted'defendant to such a crossexamination as ho did.

Reference was made to the slaughtermen's strike of last year by Mr. J. M'Qucen, Chairman of Directors of tho Southland Frozen Meat Company,-at the annual meeting of tho Company on Saturday last. The " Mataura Ensign" reports this portion of the speech as- follows: —"In referring to the strike, Mr. M'Queen said that laws had been made'to prevent these trade wars'. These laws wero a great success in imposing and exacting lines from the -poor unfortunate employer, but they were, a failure when the fines had to be imposed on tbo employee. The Government was going to enforce all the fines on the strikers, but this was not a popular political move, and had to be dropped. They had been assured that this was an exceptional case, and the Act would bo enforced on all future occasions, but. since then there had been another case in which the law had been set at defiance, and the Government had compounded, ho would not say a felony, but a breach of the law. He believed the arbitration law was doomed. The public would not long allow such an inequitable, state of things as at present .existed which .worked against the employer and let the employee go free. It was an outrageous travesty of British' justico. There were certain things which could not bo submitted to arbitration by nations— those things affecting their honour. In business tharo wero 'certain things which could not be settled without war. They had got on well enough with their employees though they had no award, but were no worse off than those who had. They wero working under an agreement, and hoped to bo able tjo continuo without tho assistance of the Arbitration Act." Mrs. Ethel R. Do Costa, LL.B. (nee Miss Ethel R. Benjamin, of Dunedin), after practising for some years in that city, lias commoncctl practice as a barrister and solicitor in No. G Nathan's Buildings, comer Grey and Featherston Streets, Wellington. Mrs. De Costa lias the distinction of, being tho only lady practising at the Bar in the Dominion. Intending ollenti pan depend - on . prompt and rtreful attention at Mrs. De Costa's hands.

His Honour Mr. Justice Button will hear tho defended divoreo suit, Adsett v. Adsetfc, nnd also undefended divorce cases this morning. The new school at Lansdowne.near Masterton, tho orection of which has now been decided upon by the Education Department, will bo built in brick. The Fire Brigade turned out at 12.41 p.m. yesterday to . a fire at the Botanical Gardens, where about two acres of grass and gorse were destroyed, before the flames were beaten out by the Brigade and some Corporation employee!!. Examinations were held, recently by the Examiners of tho Inspection of Machinery. Department at Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Greymouth, Hamilton, Invercargill, Masterton, Napier, Nelson, Puliekohe, Reefton, Stratford, Thames, Timaru, Totara Flat, 1 Wangnnui, Wellington, and Westport. Two hundred and fourteen candidates in all were cxanftned, and for the following classes of certificates .-First-class marino engineer, second-class marine engineer, third-class marine engineer, river engineer, marino en-ginc-ilriver, marino engineers of auxiliarypowered vessels (both for soa-going and river trades, : extra first-class engineer, firstclass stationaryengine-driver, locomotive and traction engine-driver, second-class stationary engine-driver, and winding engincdriwr (for mining certificates). Of the number who sat 149 passed.