LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 185, 30 April 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The amount of Customs revenue ■■'collected at the port yesterday totalled £1678 19s. 7d. ' A chimney on fire ,in Tinakori Road' 1 resulted -in tho Fire Brigado''being called out at 6 o'clock 'yesterday evening. A steerage passenger, who ■ arrived from Sydney by the Maheno, was stopped by the Health Officcr 'yesterday ovenins, and will, it is understood, be sent back to Australia, as he is suffering from consumption. It was dccided at last night's meeting of the Wellington Rugby Union that in future children under 16 years of age be admitted 'to tho Miramar. grounds, on the occasion of Cup 'matches, at a charge of threepence. Tho opening meeting of the St. Mark's Young Men's Club, • held on Tuesday evening, took tho form of a progressive euchre party, in which about a hundred members participated. Prizes woro given to tho, whinner and tho "booby." Supper tchnihated a pleasant evening. At a wcll-attendod meeting of tho Labour Representation'' Committee, held last evening, it was resolved to contest no fewer than four seats in tho city and suburbs, at the coming election; It was also decided to compilo a roll of ail. unionists in tho city, so as to show as strong a fighting body in the labour. interest as possible. • " Tho Wellington Rugby Union has accepted . tho tender of Mr. W. Nimmo for the erection of a temporary stand alongside the northern boundary of No. 1 ground at Miramar. No charge will bo made for seats on the stand; which will bo capable of accommodating 700 people. :It is expected that tho .stand will bo ready for occupation by Saturday." . • Dirty banknotes in circulation are a menace to tho public health. The Wellington Chamber of Commerce recently drew attention to tho matter in a letter to tho Chief Health Officcr (Dr. Mason). That official' has replied'as follows':—"It 1 seems a pity that tho "procedure followed at Home,by tho.Bank of , England cannot.be. followed hero. That, is— that overy dirty banknote after being re-, turned to the bank is destroyed. I will draw, the attention of the-bankers to your complaint. I,think, hqwover, much good would como from your, approaching; the- various; banks direct. Tho .Public Health .;Act , has many drastic clauses,. and ..the officers appointed under the Act liavo riiany powers, but tho destruction of banknotes is 'not one of them."

Extended references to tho life and musical work of the late Mr. Walter Slaughter appear in English papers just to haiid.' The composer of "The French Maid" and "Bluebell in Fairj'land" had strong opinions as to the rights'of a composer to his own; works. On one occasion Mr. Slaughter, took the law into his own hands in regard to. music pirates.; He was. walking along Upper Street, Islington, when ho saw; a hawker selling pirated copies of two of his compositions, "The Dear Homeland" and "Gondola Dreams." 1 He promptly seized all the copies, gavo full expression to his indignant. feelings, tore,the sheets to, pieces—and walked away. , Once, whilo on a cycle tour, in passing through Lowestoft', ho heard a street organ grinding out one of his popular songs from "Bluebell." Tho music was so devoid of-, any expression that Mr. Slaughter 'immediately -jumped off. his bicycle, and, seizing the handle .of the organ, showed tho man to whom it belonged how the work should be played to the right time,'and with tliO'proper,pauses.; .

Wellingtonians who aro to have the privilege of seeing "The Scarlet Pimpernel" lioxt month will be interested to hear that that play has just boon tho subject of an action in the Courts. The dispute was over tho royalties, and it was decided in favour, of the plaintiff,, Mr. Courtenay Thorpe, the actor, who claimed against the "Baroness Orczy" and her husband that ho was entitled to recoivo 20 per cent, of tho royalties on: the play, for which the defendants had received no less a sum than £5980, as the result of its Successful run in England. The "Baroness Orczy" is the.pen-namo of Mrs. Barstow, the author of "Tho Scarlet Pimpernel"; the contention of herself and her husband was'that they agreed to pay 20 per cent, to Mr. Thorpe from March, 1903, to March, 1906, arid'that the agreement was only existent over that period. On the other hand, Mr. Thorpe stated that he assisted Mrs. Baretow in the dramatisation of the'play, which was . produced with great success in London by Prod. Terry and Julia Neilson. Mr. Terry said that it was Mr. Thorpe who introduced the play to him, and Mr. Thorpe stated, that it was written under his advioo. Mrs. Barstow said that whon sho met' plaintiff he suggested she should write a play. This sho did, and Mr. Thorps did not approve it. When she' wrote "The Scarlet Pimpernel" sho wished', to put the matter on a'business footing, and suggested to plaintiff that ho should have 20 per cent, on all hor dramatic work for tlirco years. Sho coufirmed the .arrangement on March 2, 1903, and that was the only arrangement thoy had. Tho latter did not suggest that he wrote any of "Tho Scarlet Pimpernel" for Mrs. Barstow, but that ho revisod the manuscripts, and suggested speeches of the kind which would produce rounds of applauso. After occupying two days the caso was decided in favour of the plaintifF. Mrs. Ethel IT. do Costa, 1,L.8. (nco Miss Rthol R. Benjamin, of Dnnedin), after practising for some years.in Ihnt city, has commenced practice as a barrister and solicitor in No. 6 Nathan's Buildings, corner-Grey and Fcatherston Streets, Wellington. Mrs. J)e Costa has tho distinction of being the only lady practising at tho Bar in the Dominion. Intending clients can depend on prompt and careful attention at Mra. Do Coata's hands.

The snapping of tlio overhead tramway wiro in Lower Cuba Street (at the Mercer Street intersection) stopped 1 the tramway traffic over the western track on the Jervois Quay r-cfcion for half an hour yesterday aftornoon. The wire snapped at an insulator, and fell to tho ground, but 110 accident resulted. Tho novelty of witnessing the rubber-gloved gang at .work stopped tho steady flow of doctors to the Town Hall booth for a time. The action by Mr. F. M'Ardle, one of the directors of the South Pacific Mortgage and Deposit Co., Ltd., recently commenced against tho Company and other directors for an injunction restraining tho Company from acting 011 a resolution purporting to remove him from the Board has been settled. The Company and the other directors, by t-Jieir counsel Mr. T. Young, have admitted tho resolution to be invalid, and that Mr. M'Ardle is still, a director of the Company. The defendants agree to pay . all costs of the proceedings, and the. plaintiff, by bis counsel, Mr. D. M. Findlay, agrees to take ,116 further proceedings against the Company or tho present directors, in respect of their appointment. On and after Monday next the cash coupon system of purchasing bread will bo put-into 'practice, in Wellington. No more will tho housewife be able to jog townward. in tho afternoon to partake of her caslv-up-after-noon tea, with the safo knowledge that on reaching 1 liome tho faithful "cottage" or "turnover" will b& found rc-pcsing- on the back doorstep. No, indeed, such', folly is a thing of the past. Now, it will be necessary, for her to stay at home twiddling her thumbs, in order to be ready with the little, ticket' when the familiar ."Bakool'? is heard at the scullery door. Of course, some ladies have "girls" that can be .entrusted with the' baker's paper money, but others have not, and theirs will be the unfortunate lot on Monday and after. The bakers are to ask 3s. <td. for a dozen coupons, each'of . which will purchase a 21b. loaf, or two dozen coupons that will each represent a . lib. loaf in value. If a person does not. care to purchase coupons—which are coloured green and orange and are a Tittle larger than an ordinary tram, ticket —they must pay . cash', for their bread.