LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 176, 20 April 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Government is offering prizes of £20 and £15 for designs for an official coat-of-arms for New Zealand. The electric tramway service at Auckland was suspended on Good Friday, to enable the employees to bold their annual picnic. A good deal of interest is being taken in 'potroleum' in" the Gisborno district, and a Dominion reporter has been informed that if Dr. J. M. Bell's report is at all favourable, the Gisborno Oil Company will proceed immediately with boring. Dr. Bell has a staff of five or six men on survey work in thoseoil-fields which are situate near Whatatutu, about thirty miles from Gisborno. With tho Governor about to take up his residence at Palmerston North, many are wondering how the social amenities that have always figured in the vice-regal programme during the session are to bo arranged. Captain Lyon, A.D.C.,. informed a Dominion representative that His Excellency would giv#'at least two balls in the largo Town' Hall during the session, and 7 for less pretentious functions— u at homes," levees, small dances, etc.—tho Concert Chamber would probably bo used. Mr. T. S. Lambert, J.P;, presided at a sitting of tho Mount COok Police Court on Sjnturday, when eight moil wore charged with drunkonness. William de Conachcr was fined 10s., or forty-eight hours' imprisonment, and also ordered to pay a doctor's fee of £l Is. Accused was given till April 22 to pay. Peter Jansen, alias Petersen, was fined 10s., oi' forty-eight hours' imprisonment. Miohacl 'Byrne, George Ryan, James Summers, Robert Wilson, and Wjlliam Smith were each fined 55., or twenty-four hours' imprisonment, and one first offendor was convicted j and disoharged. >

The Customs ravenuo collectcd at Wellington last week amounted to £9032 Is. 9d., Saturday's total being £617 2s. 2d. The beer duty collected last week was £388 12s. A party of Wellington golfers, - consisting of Messrs. Higginson (2), Hodson, Turrell, and Brandon, are paying' tlieir annual Easter visit to Mr. Cecil Kebbell, at Tehoo (Alfredton). It is expected that all the Ministers of tho Crown will bo in Wellington this week, and perhaps tho following week, for important Cabinet meetings. Those out of town yesterday were tho Hon. J. Carroll (Native Minister), the Hon. Dr. Findlay, and the Hon. J, M'Gowan, each of' whom is in tho Auckland Province.. . As a nilc, Wellington audiences are very oiderly as far as the Oneriji House is concerned, but the exception was the case on Saturday. For ton minutes before the curtain rose the gallery was in an uproar, on account of tho aggressive tactics on tho. part of a late-comer in trying to secure a scat, and even in tho dress circle a well-dressed young man made'himself objectionable at odd inr tervals. 'The Y.M.C.A. camp at Otaki consists of IGO persons, including 130 boys. The . encampment comprises l fourteen tents, ' and there is a senior in charge of each. The boys arrived'in camp at 1.45. p'.mi on Friday. The afternoon was spent in sport, including tho first round of inter-tent football, ! which created a great deal of excitement. Last night a united service was to bo held in the Town Hali, the Rev. Mr. Roberts preaching, and the boys themselves taking a prominent part. Mr. Tom Mann does not .like the Wellington Town Hall. When he saw it afar off, lio thought it dull and dingy. When he visited it, he found stucco instead of stone,' and tin to imitate plaster, though plaster itself was invented to imitate stone. He assured , his audience at the Opera House last night that the Greeks would not have, used tin in that way, aiid he went on to treat, the Town Hall as a shocking illustration of William Morris's theory that good work is impossible, under modern competitive industrialism. The Brougham Hill Tennis Club's Tournament was, not proceeded with on Saturday on account of the inclement weather. ,ono game, however,' took place in a slight shower late in the afternoon, in which Howe and Howe beat Dart and Powell, 6—3,- 2—6, 6—4, in the. Men's Championship Doubles. Play is to recommence at 8.15 this, morning, and the Brougham Hill, the Wellington, and the Newtown courts:will.be used; but even with this assistance'the finishing games will have to bo played on Tuesday. Miss Nunnelcy will meet Miss Travers in .the Championship Singles, probably early this; afternoon. . ' The Minister for Justice stated to an Auckland reporter-that there was no foundation for tho statement that thore was a shortage of polico in Wellington, but an old officer in the service, states that there , were' as many polico in Wellington 'ten years ago as there are. to-day,> and the city has put on ,20,000 population during tho interval; ' Furthermore, there wore not'so many probationers used as constables as there, .are to-day. The 'Minister should carefully peruse the full annual reports of the Inspectors of Polico for Wellington and other centres, not the whittled down extracts that find a place in the annual report of the Commissioner for Police. / ./ In conversation with a Dominion reporter Mr. ,F. Harris,- a member of': the Gisborno Harbour Board, stated that, ■ although he .had just been on a tour of tho North Island, he had not seen a town vyliich had so many .empty' shops as" New. Plymouth'. "Unless something happens, it is going to •come down, in view of the completion of the Main Trunk Railway," said \ Mr. Harris. "■What about Stratford?" ; suggested . .the reportor. " Life is too short," ho replied, " and tho railway takes too long. It is not looked upon as an immediate possibility." He understood also, ho said, that the Now Plymouth' Harbour, Board .wojrid lost? £2000 a year as the result of losing the passenger traffic when the line was completed. Writing to' a friend in Auckland) a resident of the New'.Hebrides says:—".Since the new Convention is bring put into working order, property ,is becoming of more value and importance. Land values are'going/up fast, and business is booming./ The question is, will it last? I think it will* for some time to come,' ,at any rate. -Another company is 'being i.formedin London and Paris to work the New. Hebrides, kniwn as ' Tho New Hebrides, Limited.' They, have ono, Steamer on the way out from Europe, and claim to be getting two more. A bank is also to be, started by the, same .company at Vila, with, a capital of £50,000; and they will do general commercial business, as well as devote attention/to planting. .Competition air round promises to bo keen." Last session there was a question raised in ■ the House of Representatives the case of nurses who had performed years, of valuable service in the backblocks, and whose. assistance was eagerly sought by set- : tiers, but who had been unable to pass, the State examination, and could-, therefore, not claim registration. The Minister, at the time of the debate, made certain promises in regard to simplified examinations in these special, cases. Questioned yesterday on the matter, the Hon. G. Fowlds said that a time h.ul been set for the reexaminations, but without referenoe to records lie could not state whether they had yet been held., 'Every chance would be given nurses of practical ex? perience, but, perhaps, deficient in education, of passing. An examination was" absolutely necessary, for the Government could not deal lightly with their responsibility to the public in this matter. The old leaven still works. The Orangemen attending the conference of New Zealand grand lodges (now amalgamated) formed up in procession in .Customhouse Quay yesterday morning for the purpose of parading through iho city to the Webb Street Primitive Metnodist Church, and decorated in the"' vivid regalia of' tlib Order they made a particularly gallant show in tho I bright sujilight of Easter morn. None, howI ever, was more conspicuous than the officers, who carried naked swords, and it was one of these who, in the sober execution of his duties as marshal, irritated tho susceptibilities of ii 'person with more than a suspicion of green in the colour scholne of his neckerchief. He challenged tho swordbearer to fight, and used' offensive language in the presence of ladies who were dotted among tho onlookers. The police, however, were not on the sccno. Mrs. Ethel It. Ho Costa, IX. B. ' (net, jf)s? Ethel R. Benjamin, of Dunedin), after practising for Borno years in that city, has commenced practice as a barrister and Solicitor in No. fi Nathan's Buildings, corner Grey ami Featherston Streets, Wellington. Mrs. De Costa has the distinction of beinc tbo only lady practising at the, Bar in the Dominion. Intending clients can depend on, prompt and careful attention at Mrs. Do Costa's hands.