LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 202, 20 May 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Customs revenue collected at Wellington yesterday amounted to £4835 10s. 4d. ' Sitting in-Banco to-day, Mr. Justice Chapman will hear the following casesPannevirkd Corporation v. Reis; Sloivey v. Lodder. Examinations were held recently by. the Lxamincrs of the Inspection of Machinery Department. Three hundred and eleven candidates in all were examined for certificates, and 215 passed. : • v At tlio City Council meeting to:morrow evpjiing, .Councillor Carjiiichael is to rnoye—That every precaution that is necessary be immediately taken to prevent the licciiso noiv held by tho Occidental Hotel being removed from the Council's freehold property tp the freehold property ,of sonie other person." . ' The Upper Hutt is becoming a township to reckon with. . At yesterday's meeting of the Chamber of Commerce the secretary (Mr. S. Carroll) was instructed to write 1 to the Postmaster-General urging the provision of a telephone exchange, at the Upper Hutt. At the meeting of the Council of Jtha Chamber of Commerce yesterday, it was lesolved Ho call a general, meeting of tliij Chamber at an early date., tc bo liolrl jii the evening. At the annual meeting of the Chambor it was decided that there should be general meetings held in tho evening' at least oneo a quarter; ajul this decision is now to. take practical form. The members of tlio* Wellington Cycling Club held an enjoyable smoko concert in their roopis last night. Dr. Isard' (president) occupied the chair, ■- and there were about 200 present, including the members (jf the British football team. t Mr. F. 11. B. Fisher, M.P., proposed the. health of the visitors, and Mr. N. CJalbraith that of the captain.* Excellent speeches in reply were made by Mr. Harnett (the manager) and Mr. Hording. Before tho proceedings terminated a presentation, was made to Sir. H. Bell, an old member of the Club, who is leaving shortly for -England. A number | of mumcal and other items , were contributed during tho evening.

Mr. F. W. Jlansfield, chief electoral officer for New Zealand, is at present in Auckland. Speaking to a pressman, ho stated that of the electoral reforms introduced by the Electoral Act of 1905, the one ,of most value is tlio adoption of one enrolment form instead of the two in vogue formerly, one of which was used for transfer purposes. • The misuse of the latter in hundreds of instances had the e/fect of leaving the name of the .elector "upon' the roll; of' the district, which he had left. TJiis irregularity • can now' Jiardly occur, as every elector must-disclose previous enrolment when claiming in a new district, which forthwith cancels the former registration.' •

The question of representation, on Harbour Boards is Agitating the Chambers' of Commerce from one eiul of the colony to 1 the other. , The new Harbour Boards Bill that was circulated last session eliminates that ancient right and protests from al] parts of the Dominion have been reported. At yesterday's meeting of the Council of the Wellington r Chamber of Commerce it was decided that the Minister for Marine .bo applied to asking whether it is his intention to introduce the Bill'next session,, and, if so; will he supply copies of the Bill, in the form it js proposed, to be presented, to , the Chambers of Commerce as early as possible. The secretary (Mr. S. Carroll) 1 was also instructed to arrange a deputation of representatives of Chambers of Commerce to wait upon the Minister early in the session with respect to the matter of representation.. , "No other city in the Dominion can boapt of a bush which approaches it.'' That is Dr. L: Cockayne's opinion of Wilton's bush, near Wadestown, part of which is a City Council reserve. Dr. Cockayne, who visited the bush.yesterday, and commenced to make' a list of its contents, stated that it does not soom to have been much damaged by tho recent fire. One gully is quite in a virgin state, and contains almost every species of plant that can be seen in a New Zealand. forest, except in the 'far North. The bush is quite different from 'the one at Day's Bay, being a mixed pine forest, with great variety 'of ferns, climbers, and other vegetation; while the Day's Bay bush,: though very fine of its kind, is a beach rata forest,. and beach forests are never so luxuriant. Dr. Cockayne states that the tree 'ferns in Wilton's bush are magnificent, and the bush ;is very dense. To-day jhe will pay a visit to tho bush reserve at Silverstream. . '

A meeting of the Wellington No-License League was held on Monday evening in St. John's Young Men's classroom, the President (Rev. J. Comrie) presiding. A report of work done by tho organisers was followed by. an address from Itev. J. J. Franklyn, who has just taken charge of tho Vivian Street Church of Christ, and who, together with Rev. C. E. Ward, had been elected a vice-president of the League. Mr. J. MacGibhon, a member of the New Zealand bowling team just returned from Australia, \yas the next speaker, and haying lived for five years under No-License in the Mataura electorate his remarks ' had reference thereto.' Financially their town was as sound as ever, despite the loss of the liquor revenue, and socially the change for the better was most marked. 'Many of the older residents personally opposed to NoLicense were now favourable, because of the benefit to tho young people. During the five years of' No-License only one drink tragedy had occurred, whereas previously every year claimed its victim. He made special reference to the injustico which breweries and depots had been allowed to inflict upon the No-Lioense areas, and expressed a hope that the Allinnoo would do its utmost to have these made subject to the popular vote. Mrs. Ethel R. do Costa, LL.B. (neo Miss Ethol R. Bonjamin, of Dunrdin), after practising for some years in that city, has commenced practice as a barrister nnd solicitor in No. 6 Nathan's Buildings, corncr Groy and Featherston Streets, Wellington. Mrs- Do Costa has the distinction of being tho only lady practising at tho Bar in tho Dominion. Intending clionta can depend on prompt and careful attention at Mrs. Da Costa's hands.

It is probable that the list of oases for hearing at tlio forthcoming ciyil sittings cf the Supremo Court will be settled on Friday. ; Tho demand for rock oysters has been exceptionally heavy at the depot in Auckland this season. The Marino Department recoived advice yesterday that with the sup-, ply coming to hand nil orders were being completed without delay. Yesterday afternoon the harbour ferry steamer Countess ran into the breast-work near tho Ferry Wharf. The vessel came off second best; in addition to sustaining damago to her bow,. some belting was strained. One pile of the wharf was slightly damaged by the impact. Tho " Otago Daily Times" reports .that, whilst berthing at the George Street Pier at Port Chalmers on Saturday forenoon, the TJlimaroa's bow came into contact with one of the piles at the end of the pier, snapping it off a few feet below the water level, besides smashing several cross beams and some ironwork; It is rumoured that the Northern Union's Rugby game will be witnessed in Wellington at an early date. It is stated that the New Zealand professional team will play a series of matches in New Zealand against an Australian professional team. Arrangements for the tour are said to be well advanced. .

Maybe Mr. Vanderbili's coaching experiments on the Brighton Road may do something to restore the sporting man of the period to sartorial sanity. One would liko'to sc« the leather-jerldned, petrol-stained, oil-skin-capped traveller and .the begoggied croaturp'.wjth a poat like a pajitomimo cat put to shame by the taut, ami trim passenger and . the spick-aiid-spah drivor of the poach.—"World." , At the executive meeting of the NoLicenSe League at Petone last oveniug, a progressive plan of campaign was submitted by tho secretary and adopted. > The work of the various, committees was clearly - defined, and instructions were given to conveners to get into action immediately and report progress next week.' The Propaganda Committee was instructed jto push; on with the : work of forming, local- committees: in every part of the electorate, such local committees to havo full local autonomy. There was a large number of visitors to tho now Y.M.C.A. building again last evening. . A basket-ball match between teams representing tjio football club and tho. rest of the Association was won by the footballers by 8 goals to 6. The- following musical programme was rendered: —Song, Mr. H. Par-get-tor ; duet. Miss Brittain and Mr. A. Jantke; piano solo, Mr. Allan; recitation, Mrs. Sutcliffo. .Tho -British, football, team have been invited to attend an athletic reception in tho new building this evening. The scientists of all departments who took part in the recent investigation of the subAntarctic Islands . havo not been idle . since. Half-a-dozen of them -are' combining to produce a work. which will bring up. to date all the information possessed about these islands, including an account of the recent scientific visit. . A .sum of money was voted by Parliament last session for the production pf this wprlc., - Each/ to . the. volume will write on the particular scientific or, other aspect .of the group with -which lie is specially acquainted.;; Captain Bollons, of the Ilinemoa, will furnish an account of the ibi'rd life of the islands, which hag . not been-fully described before/ Dr. Chilton, .of Ghristchurch,' will be'general editor of'the Vork, : which is. expected to• reach bulky proportions, and the Hon. R. M'Nah has under-; taken to contribute' an historical; 1 introduction. The work is'now. well under way. i