LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 184, 29 April 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Thts Customs revenue collected yesterday amounted to £2471 Is. sd. Tho secondary 'departmerifc of tlid Petom. District High School has, according, to tlie annual report presented to the householders at the' annual 'election ' of the school committee on Monday last, done vbry creditable work. Five pupils havo matriculated, ton passed the Junior Civil Service examination (six ivith credit), three gained senior scholarships, and'four junior scholarships;. At the annual meeting of householders of -tho Island Bay School district, held on Monday evening,' it was unanimously resolved on tho motion of Mr. D. M'Laren, seconded by Mr. C. D. Morpeth: "That this meeting of householders of Island Bay protests against tho action of tho Bible-in-Schools Loaguo iii attempting to introduce an element amongst; tho school committees which might lead to sectarian strife and bitterness, ,-and considers that the issues should bo decided en the general political : field gather thain'through the school' committ'dcs!" '• The London . "Sportsman" describes .the. boxing contest on March 17, for tlie Championship . of' the 'World,' between '' Toriimy Burns, of Caiiada, (tho" prise'nt holder), and Jim Rocho, .Champion of Ireland, as a colossal fiasco. : Burns sparred for an opening; he landed ono or two light left jabs, and then feinting shot the right" across, on tho point. . Time, ■ 89sec.. . Squires, of | 'Australia (ono of tlie Canadian'svictims)',' who had assistod to train Roche, issued a cliallengo to the winner. The match is fixed to tako place iii the open-air at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea, 011 May 11.. . • , " What athletics' owe to the body," said Mr. J. A. Connell at tho choss social last evening, "chess is ,to the mini" . ' For many years he had suggested tho introduction of the game.into, the schools, arid, he thought the New: Zealand ChoSs Association might turn, their attention to sbihothirig, of. this sort. He claimed to havo prbved the suggestion practicable, for at Wairoa lie had succeeded in forming a chess class • amongst the school children. (Applause.) * Out of about 200 children at the: school twentythree had attended the first; lesson. (Applause.)/: One day a week theso. class aspirants remained behind and the members of tho local club toi.k turn in instructing thoin. Tho. speaker had been extremely pleased at the progress made, and probiibly in a j'ear or two some of the boys would be tournament players. (Applause.) i . "That women should hold equal rights with men in. public. affairs " was: the .interesting subject of a debato held by the St. James's Literary and Debating Society last evening. Miss B.'Mason, who led off in the affirmative, referred to tho proved intellectuality of women, and quoted the names of famous women in support' of. her. contention that if they were given the opportunity tliey Would show themselves the equal of the Stbriier. sex' iii public affairs. Mr. E. Finlayson, foi; the negative, argued that the woman's proper sphere of action was tho home, and tho upbringing of her children on the best lines. At the conclusion a spirited debate, Mr. L. Cozens, who occupied the chair, summed up,, and on putting the question to the voto it .was decided by h bilre majority that women should have the samo rights as men in public affairs. It is ortly right to mention that tho ladios were in the majority at the meeting. The hearing of argument, relative to tho ; application, of Frank- Sales for a new trial, on , a chargo of breaking and entering at Christchurch, will, be resumed before tho Court of Appeal this morning. Afterwards, the caso.of tho King v. Edward R„ Black, alias Wilson, alias. Maymiin, Oinrigio' Tolley, .alias Freeman, atld Elizabeth Black, alias Freeman, will be considered. The question for tbo opinion! of the Court in this caso is wiiother there was any evidence upon which tho jury could properly convict tho prisoners of breaking and entering at Wanganui. If thoro is tiiiio, and tho parties are ready, tho Court'will also hear tho caso between Quill and Hall to-day. Additional fixtures havo been mado as follow Scott v. the Exhibition Commissioners to-morrow, with Reed v. Simpson, aiid Joyce v. Wood to follow. No dato has yet been arranged in connection witli tbo hearing of tho cases, Oxford v. Moore and Judd v. Byrne. Tho case, Pryde v. Drysdale, lias been withdrawn..' Ki*. Etiiet it. do Costa, LL.fe. (Rico flHss Ethel B. Benjamin, of Duncdin), after practi?intr for feonio years in thai: city, lias: commenced practice as., a barrister and . solicitor 111 No. u Nathan's Biiildih'Kß, corner Grev and Fentherston Streets, YVellirij;toii. Mrs. De'Coatn has the distinction of boiuß the only lady praotiaing nt tho Bar. in tlie Dominion. Intiadink olionto cnh dopoiid oil proir.pt and careful attention st Mrs, Dts Costa's handa. 1

Two bookmakers havo been' summoned to appear at tho Police Court on Friday, to answer charges of betting with .infants at Miramar on April 20. The college and hostel which has been orected in South Terrace, ■ Kelburne, in memory of Bishop Hadiield, is to be formally opened on Friday next, at 3 p.m. ' It is hoped that all friends of Bishop' Hadiield and all who are interested in the college, which, as is woll known, is designed to serve as a collegc for theological students and a, hostel for other students attending Victoria College, will attend the opening and inspect tho building afterwards. Tho work of prepnring tho site at Miramar for the Wellington Gas .Company's gigantic gasometer is proceeding apace. Mr.' Shires (chief foreman) and two under-fore-men have arrived from England to 'erect the gas-holder (made by Clayton, Sou, and Co., Ltd.), and are now engaged in tho work of preparation. , Part of the bottom of the site is hard rock, which has to be blasted, and after, a recent shot a piece of black birch timber, that had evidently been embedded for ages, was discovered ehcoiiipassed in tho rock, evidence that in the distant past the Native bush must have flourished in that part of the district. How tho wood bccaine buried in the rock can only be a matter for conjecture. "Lex" writes: — In reference to your paragraph in Saturday's issue stating that Mr. Justice Williams's, thirty-threo 'years' occupancy of the judicial bench probably constituted a record for English-speaking countries, I desire to point out that it does nothing of tho kind. To cite three cases within my own knowledge, I may mention that the present Lord Chief Baron Palles, of the High Court of Justice in Ireland/ has occupied his present position since February, 1874';, the Right Hon. Hedges Eyre Chattertolij the list of the Irish Vice-Chancellors, sat in his capacity as a Judge of the, Court-of Chancery from 1867 to tho time of his retirement,: 1904 —an unbroken period of thirty-seven years; while tho lato- Recorder of Galway, Mr 1 Thomas Rice Henn, Q.C., had occupied his judicial position during the greater part of the Victorian era, having been some fortysix years a Judge of the County Court at the time of his retirement., ~ Among the guests at the chess social'lost evening was Mr. Charles Janion, who was referred to during the evening as the only survivor of the .first New Zealand .Chess Congress in 1879. Responding to the toast of the pioneers of the game, Mr. janion gave an interesting reminiscence of a telegraphic chess game iii 1866. it was played shortly after the erection of the telegraph lino between Christchurch and -Nelson.', Tho electrician of the Department happened to le 1 staying, at the same place as himself,,at Nelson, and, between them they formed a chess club, and obtained permission to play over,, the wires . with a Christchurch Club after hours. In those days, however, they had , to pay for their moves and for their operators. Christchurch won the two games played. When visiting Christchurch in 1901, said Mr. Janion, he had endeavoured to. obtain the names of tho chess players with a view to republishing the details of /the game, but . without success. The Wellington Gas. Company intend to illuminate that part of Courtenay Place in the vicinity of.. its offices , with a monster 2400 candle-power gas lampj the largest lamp of itfc i kinil iin ; Wellington! .'Tand probably in the Dominion. This large fourburner incandescent Scott-Snell lamp is at present:i^emg\ : fsiisperidsi> higli"!~abovo the main entrance, and' the officials anticipate being, ready to light up, for the .first , time oh Saturday evening... This is the same class of lamp that has bean recently adopted for lighting tho Mersey Dock-Board's'property at Liverpool, in reference to which the : 'Gas World" says:—''The Mersey.: Dock Board havo a largo scheme iii hand' for improving the lighting of the dock estato by means of the incandoscent burner. ' The improved Scott-Snell lamp, which has already done duty on. the dook v estate; is to be the main instrument in the scheme, and Messrs. Anderson and Suffield, Ltd.,' have received' an order from, the Board for between 500 and 600 of the lamps.' The order runs to some thousands of pounds; With electricity at hand, it is rather "a triumph to be selected for such duty." The burners of tho big lamp are to be fitted with-the best ramie 1 mantles, and .mil give an even, steady light of great penetrating ; power." • ' • ■■ ■„''