LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 172, 14 April 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Dominion will not. be published on Good Friday (April 17). : r , The now Post Office at Groymouth is completed, and is now in use. It is possible that the Prinio Minister will visit Greymouth shortly to preside a.t an official opening of the new. building. ~ . : . . , The financial year of the Bank of New Zealand, which ended on March 31. proved n record one, .'and the members of the staff are to be presented with a token of the fact in the shape of bonuses. .' A single man named James O'Donoghueaged 27 years, and resident at No, 16 Druromond .Street, sustained a fracture of a leg whilst practising football yesterday. He is being treated at the hospital. The Government have not yet . decided tho use to which the Ministerial "residence" in Molesworth Street is to be put. The building may be usexl for during the .session ; and another- suggestion is that His Excellency the Governor may,. bo ' provided with offices there. '- ; : . Electors are reminded that.the main roll.of electors for the general parliamentary elections at tho end of tho year close to-morrow. It is of special importance that this should be noted and taken advantage of, beoauso no name can be added to the.'supplementary rolls until the main rolls are : printed, an operation that will occupy several months. If all the dogs In Wellington aro not properly registered it is . not going to be tho fault of Municipal Inspector Doyle. . Finding that a section of the dog-keeping : community are deaf .to repeated watnings and blind to tho lessons already administered in the Magistrate's Court, hp lias laid yot another batch of about twenty informations. Thoro may bo more to follow. Councillor Brodie has given notice that ho will movo at Thursday's' meeting of tho Miramar Borough Connoil— "That tho Borough Engineer bo asked to furnish an estimate along with a report for an extension of the Seatoun tram lino along to a point known as 'Marshall's Old' Store' in Worsor Bay, and that the Council take steps to liavo tho extension carried out as early, as possible." Mrs. Ethel It. Co Costa, (noo Ml as Ethel I?. Benjamin, of Dunedin), after practisinß for somo years in that city, lias commenced practice as a barrister 'and solicitor in No. 6 Nathan a Building, corner Grey ami Featherston Streets, Wellington. Mrs. Do Costa has the distinction of hoinß the only lady practising at tho Bar in the Dominion. Intending clients can depend on prompt and careful attention at Mrs. De Costa's hands.

The Customs revenuo collcctcd at Wellington yesterday amounted to £2477 Bs. 7d.

The Waimarama case, which was begun at the Court of Appeal yesterday, will probably not conclude until to-morrow. With regard to the of William Guest, an inmate of the uhiro Home, it was decided yesterday that an inquiry into the circumstanccs was unnecessary. Surveyors arc now at work cutting up tho Crown purchases in the Yiaimarama Block, Hawko's Bay, and also tho Native Land Court subdivisions of the block. Notice is given by the Town Clerk (Mr. J. R. Palmer) that the supplementary district electors' list will close at 5 p.m.' on Wednesday, April 15, and 'all ratepayers and residents of the portions of the city; recently amalgamated are advised to make application for their names' to be placed on the list. ■' • Two more cases of scarlet fever were notified from Brooklyn. on Saturday, and one yesterday, making a total of thirteen to date. Though searching investigations have been mado, the precise cause of the epidemic has not yet been discovered. The latest patients are being isolated in their own houses, the fever ward at the Hospital being full. A tram accident was narrowly averted shortly after seven o'clock last, evening by tho promptness with. whioh the inotorman applied his brakes. A car was turning from Cuba Street into Manners Streot when a. small boy rushed in front of it, with tho view of crossing ' tho thoroughfare, ' and was knocked down under the platform of tho car. The driver put his brakes on with such commendable speed that a bystander was able to pull tho boy out none the worse except for a fright.

Tho drivers' award, which embodies the agreement arrived at between tho parties (already published in The Dominion) was filed by the Court of Arbitration yesterday. The only point on which the parties could not agree was the question'of wages; The docision of the Court on that subject is that the wages of both classes of drivers should be increased by 2s. per week—i:e., for those driving and attending a Single horse, the weekly wago should be £ 2 75.; and for. those driving and attending■■ two or 'more horses the weekly wage should be £2 Us. This decision is. that of the Jndgo alone.'; Mr. Pryor;; who sat in the Court, in lieu of Mr. Brown, the employers' - representative, wno was Interested in the matters in dispute, thought that in the circumstances tho increaso was' not justified. Mr. M'Cullough, the; workers' representative, on tho other hand, thought that a larger increase should be given.- The award, which came into force yesterday, will continue in, force until April 5, 1911.

A deputation from the New 'Zealand National Defence League recently waited upon the Minister for Railways, the Hon. W. Hall-Jones, with , reference to certain, railway concessions which it v.'as desired should ta Extended to delegates ifrom various branches.of the League who would-be travelling to Wellington to attend a conference td be hold at Easter. In the; course of his'reply, the Minister, in declining the request, suggested that if any help were to be 'extended to the League, it Bhould come from the Defence , Department., The matter 1 was subsequently referred to the''Acting-Minister for Defence, tbo-Hon, R. M'Nab, and he has now replied..that his department would be unable to pay the railway expenses of delegates, even if they wei-6 sworn-ih members of the Defence Force. Tho Department could only pay their expenses in certain cases, Buch' ; as going to or coming from their duty and attending at some of the rifle meetings.' In these circumstances he could not use. thodefence funds to pay the railway faros of civilians. . / .■< .

Among the visitors to, Wellington at present is Mr. William Black, F.R.1.8.A., civil engineer, arid a nieniber. of the Capetown City Council.'-'-'-Mr; Black's fame as an architect is not unknown to New Zealand, his design for tho Auckland Town Hall, having secured' second . place to.--' that .'of' Messrs.' Clark and Clark, of Victoria, which won for,' him a prize of £200. His design, for an immense block for tho New York Mutual at Capetown, which cost £165,000, took first prize, besides which lie has'a string of banks, schools, -towhhaljs (including East London arid Wynborg), hotels, and ■ "business-blocks in South Africa to his credit. • Mr. Black bears out the reports of the bad times that- are being exVorienced. in South Africa, and tho results in the seaports of, that country.-Only quite recently a case came under his notice -where a city property, which he ; knew cost £23,500, was sold for £2000, and a big water supply scheme for Capetown: had to be abandoned for .the .present on account'of the marked depression. When Mr. Block left Capetown, city prpporty was still valued for municipal.,, purposes ,at absurdly /inflated prices, though it was, in many cases, being sacrificed by 'owners desirous of Scouring the ready cash, which has become such u scarco oommodity. Similarly Mr. Black bears out the, reports that the Dutch people/are in'the ascendant all over South Africa, and, in his opinion, their arrogant' rule , cannot -be checked save by another war. It is not,improbable that Mr. Black, who is touring the world, may settle in New Zealand to practise •his profession, though • he' has received a strong call from Canada. '

While the Prime Minister of Now Zealand ,(says the London "Investors' Review" of ■February 15 last); is exuberant, as Usual, ■upon the wonderful prosperity of the colony, and is able to boast of a surplus of . ordinary revenue over ordinary expenditure for-1907 amounting to £1,500,000; to. promise also not only the establishment of superannuation allowances for tlio employees of all local bodies, but an annuity system for tlio general public—on the " living ( by taking in .each other's washing" system, we suppose, lie is constrained, however, .to admit that the population is short of requirements. Whilst graciously pleased to intimate his opposition to indiscriminate immigration, he still recognises that the. colony needs more people, and, in drder to attract them, perhaps, he thinks that the " monopoly " of markot gardening, now held by Chinese residents in the colony—just fancy that i— .should be broken down by employing marriod prison labour on Government lands in the vicinity of the four principal cities, half of whose earnings should be devoted to tho support of their wives and families, and half to meet the charges the prisoners tliemselves impose. There is more light on tho condition of the colony in that suggestion than in all tho rest of Sir Joseph Ward's discourse, so far as wo get an inkling of its contents through tho telegraph. But is not the new loan about to make its appearance ? And why not repatriate the Chinese?' Are itlie whites in that colony too well ponsioned and too much loan-dosed to condescend to dig their own gardens?

Messrs. Mandel, Harris, and Co. nofifv that their premises will bo closed from Thursday, April 1(J, till Tucaday morning, April 21. for the Easter holiday*. .

PERSONAL ITEMS. To-day the Prime Minister and the Hon. R. M'Nab will bo at Roxburgh (Central Otago), the Hon. G. Fowldo at Duncdin, tlia Hon. J. CaiToll North of Auckland, tli«_ Hon. Dr. Firidlay ar.d the Hon. J. M'Gowaa at Auckland, the Hon.. AY. Hall-Jones and the Hon. J. A. Miliar at Wellington. Mr. Sidney Kirkcaldie will visit England a little later in the year. Mr. T. Humphries, Surveyor-General, has returned from a visit to Hawke's Cay. Mr. and Mrs; Harry Plimmer, of the Julins Knight Company, are spending a holiday at Rotorua.!• ■ 1 ' Mr. Tlios. Pringle,' of Wellington, will leave on a trip to England arid the Co:itinc:;fc next month. ' .• -Mr. James Dykes (of Gualter, Dykes, nndCo.) leaves on a business visit to Australia by .th'o Mahono on Friday next. Mr. T. E. Donne, General Manager of th« Department of Tourist and Health Resorts, left for the South last evening on departmental business. . '' • .. f Mr. A. Hamilton, curator of the Dominion Museum, left yesterday morning on' a hui'a collecting expedition to the back of the Rua-. hino Mountains. , Mr. J. G. Mitchell, late General Secretary of the Auckland Y.M.0.A., has re-> ceived tho appointment of Religious Work Director of the Y.M.C.A. in" Muscatine, iowi, U.S.A. , V: Tlie Hon. J. A. Millar (Minister 'of ' Marine) in the course of the next. week, oi two will visit Blenheim : in connection with improvements that are to be carried out to the river port of that town. •••• , . ••••>;• : Mr. Prank Barton, the motormail who waa injured severely in the Courtonay Place accident'of a fortnight ago, is doing splendidly. Thanks to a good constitution and any amount of pluck, it ti expected that ho will be able to,leave his bod nva hionth's time.. Lieutenant Thomas ; Herd,, bandmaster' of ! the Wellington Garrison Band,, has been notified of his appointment as judge to;tlio West Coast ' Bands' Association's ! contest to 'be i held on: May 22 and 23. The test pkee selected ;is "Carmelite," an arrangement of th« Carmelite Songs by Mr. S. Cope,.: ■;

The death is announced of Mr. G. Rorrison, of Kaikoura, at the age of eighty-seven years. Ho was born at Kircudbrightshiro, Scotland, and cam© to Now Zealand in 1857. Ho bought the Tulloch Mains property, near Kaikoura, arid'was the first settler to.show the great capabilities of the Kaikoura swamp land. , .' . • /

> The. members of the Sheridan-Anderson Pantomime Company and the. Julius' Knight Dramatic Company are passengers by tho Moeraki; due here from Sydney to-morrow. The Pantomime Company opens at'the Opera House on Saturday next,' on which day ' tho dram'atic organisation is .billed to appear' in Auckland in." The Scarlet Pimpernel.! 1 . , '

V The estate of the late Mr. Allen,M'Lean,who died in Christchurch last;year, has.been certified for probate at £596;904 13s. lid. The/;'' Lytt'olton. Times ". records, that:, personal property, aftor the payment, of \debts, is valued at about £570,207, and realty at about £20,700.,, The amount of probate duty that the estate will pay has not been decided ■'/' .-'/'if/'

The ; London"Sportsman'' of; > March: 4 Macgregor, : the ■ famous' 1 New Zealand three-quarter, who played, for tho teamv which has just left England, and also for the; fimous amateur, combination 1 - two j'ears ago; intends settling down in Glouces-' tor. He is ' starting" in';.business as a' Bports outfitter; and expects to" open a .large shop in that city within a-few days. Macgregor Held a lucrative post, in New .Zealand under the. Colonial Government,:' but has just resigned it, \as ho has no intention of. returning ,to Now Zealand, at least for three or four-years. k

: Changes have been made in-the Customs •Departmont as follow: —Mr. W. J. Hawley, collector at Gisborne, to bo : collector at •Titnaru, vioe Mr. 0. Colebrook, retired j Mr. Howie, collector at Greymouthi to be collector at Gisborne; Mr. F. J.' ,Walker, landing waiter 'at /Wanganui, to be collector at Groymouth ;;Mr, S. E. Harropi'landirig waiter at Wellington, •to bo transferred - to Wanganui; Messrs. F. Abererombie' (Wellington), J. J. Purjong (Auckland), ;Gr i*. Prichard (Christohurch), > F. W; Lawrence (Timaru), H. W. Wi!liams: r (Wellington);;.and^;C;' 0. i Eyre (Auckland): to, be landing.waiters.

• Judge Fisher and Mr. H. Lundius, 'Aotea Jilaori Land' Board, have returned from a visit to the north of tho province, where they'have been examining into timber-cut-ting rights at, Waimafino and flax-cutting rights' at Raotihi. They also inspected blocks of Native land which have been vested in'tho Board, and which,' after' being surveyed and subdivided,will, bo thrown open for publio competition within the next two Or 'three nionths. The lands, aggregating about 10,000 acres, front the main, road from Raetihi ta Pipiriki. ':