LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 148, 17 March 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tho : Customs revenue collccted 'ai ,Wellington yesterday amounted to £4110 ls.» <d.Y : The Otago University ''Council has / accspt'ed the.tender of Mr.^Gabriel Hodges for £4363; for erccting the new School of' Mines. Detective! Andrews arrested a young man yesterday,oil a.chargo,of having.'forgcd : ;the namo of Messrs. H. and S. Griflifchs to a' receipt for £5 os. • • The tendor of Mr. W. G. Mouatt, of 1 Greymouth, has" been accepted by the .Public Works Department 1 for erection of Soldiers' Creek andl Ford's Creek No. 2 Bridges,' on the ; Ngahcrc-Blackball Railway. Tho amount of the tender is £1713.

Tho Karori Borough Council notifies that a charge of 10 per cent. wfll be made oiithb first instalment >f rates outstanding after : .March 24. ; Proceedings will .be taken to re-, cover all. rates , not paid on or before that date. - - ' . ■

, Cabinet met yesterday on board'the, Man-' awatu train, the Prime Minister .having an. engagement that demandedhis departure.in the morninig. -y-The Ministers were ablo to. return, to by tho 12.30 train. '/■;."• . ' ... ' The Wellington '■ Cricket Association, which' commenced operations.. this '.'season' with a deficit oi. about '£80, .is .now in .a sound, financial position, and .it is hoped; to, finish up the season with a-eredit of something liko £100. .; His Worship the Mayor. (Hon. T. W. Hislop) invites' citizens : to observeto-day (St. Patrick's Day) as a publio' holiday;. The, day .will'.be.obsorvcd as a full , holiday by the Civil Service,-'legal firms and banks.:- The insurance offices will close in tho afternoon. With'the approach of the winter months : tlie criminal class are apparently gathering in the city. Another house, a dwelling in Buller .Street, occupied by Mrs; Rothenberg, was broken into on Saturday afternoon. The houso was, thoroughly ransacked, but as far as can be'ascertained,'nothing was removed/. . . .., .. A report from Auckland'states, that there; is a possibility of another .rise in the retail price of meat being made in . that city in tho' near future (although' tho wholesafe : prices have been receding). The reason ''is given that owing to tho dry season little fat stock was: coming forward, arid the market was ; almost bare of prime cattlo. 'Inquiries made in yesterday indicate that there is no such tendoncy in this, district. As a matter of fact, tho farmers had in somo cases been forced to seek the markot with a proportion of , thoir stocksowing to a .shortage of feed consequent upon the long dry, spell, and under these circumstances it was not likely that prices would rise. , In the .opinion of one leading butchor the effect of tho fires in the country had been' grossly exaggerated, and the value j.of some places where the land had been cleared of rotten logs mid ireeds had been increased about £2 or £3 per aera. Mrs. Ethel R. d« Costa, LL.B. (nee iilse Ethel Rl Benjamin, e{ Dnhedin); after practising f#r some ,rears in that city,' has commenced practice, as a barrister and: solicitor in No. G Nathan's Buildings; corner Grpy and I'oatherston Streets, Wellington. Mrs. De Costa lias tho distinction -of beiafr tho . only lady practising at the Bar in - the Dominion. Intendlnj! clients call depend ■ on prompt ; and careful attention at Mrs. De Costn'B hands, >

. His Worship , tho Mayor (Hon. T. W. Hislop) invites citizens to observe to-day (St. Patrick's Day) as|a public holiday.

The New Zealand team of amateur athletes are passengers by the s.s. Miowera, which left Sydney yesterday direct for Wellington. "Arbitration with the gloves off" was the phrase which one Labour leader applied to somo of tho proceedings before the Ar-bitration--Court yesterday. 11 Tho number drawn .at tho meeting of' members of tho No. 2 Co-operative Building Society of Wellington held last evening to decide by ballot a loan-appropriation was 33, held by Mr. W. A. Chote (two shares). The City Electrical Engineer (Mr.; Stuart Richardson) is at present-inquiring into tho circumstances, connected with the collision which'occurred between two cars in TinakoriRoad on Sunday. 1 Evidenco is being; taken,; and it is understood,that a report will probably lie' submitted to the Tramways Committed of the City Council; 1 '•: The Zealandia Rifles paraded at tho Central Drillshed, under Captain Corrigan, last', ovening. There was a good muster, 38 being on parade.' Tho. men were paraded for inspection and afterwards exercised in company movements. Several promotions fronii the ljanks.to N.C.O. grado, and also in the N.C.O. ,ranks were made. The .Wellington Carpenters' Union, without -availing, itself of the customary services of the Inspector of Awards, filed a number of applications for enforcement. These will be heard by the Arbitration Court today. . Before the Court rose yesterday afternoon, Mr. W. H. Grenfell, secretary of the Wellington Builders' Association, ! submitted that these applications could -not , L ,bo re-, ceived by the Court because, they bore only; the seal of the Union; and 'not the signa-: tures of the chairman and secretary.- He quoted the Arbitration Act to the effect that all instruments -,'; under ; .the, Act:.'must!; bo signed as well as sealed. The Court overruled the objection on the ground that such documents '- came under - regidatioris which provided that the seal was sufficient.' : ■ ' '-'fv