LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 219, 9 June 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

An English and Australian mail, ex Moana at Auckland, arrived in town by the New Plymouth express last night. The Warrimoo, which left Sydney for Wellington on Saturday, has on board ton Chincso passengers, who transferred from an- E. and A. Company's steamer to the Warrimoo. Tho Secretary of the " Now Zealand Industries Week" movoment announces in our advertising columns that shopkeepers aTO asked to give a gaslight display of their ixhibits of Now Zealand-made goods this evening. Tho negotiations which were opened by tho Wellington Harbour Board sonio month J ago with a view to the purchase of the Patent Slip are still being carried on in secrccy. The Patent Slip Company a fev/ day 3 ago made an offer to tho Harbour Board, and the special committee of that body has replied by making another offer to the company. There the matter stands for the present. Tho Fire Brigade was called out to two small outbreaks yesterday. Tho first was at 3.11 p.m. to a houso, No.i 85 Hill Street, occupied by Mrs. Ida Andrews, where tho mantelpiece in the kitchen and a portion of the wall were damaged. .A spark from the kitchen is supposed to have ignited some linen that was being aired. The second call at 6.30 p.m. was to a chimney on fire at No. 26 Taranaki Street.

At a meeting of the Wellington Bricklayers' Industrial Union of Workers, held on June 1, the sum of £2 was donated to tho Canterbury Agricultural Labourers' Union towards , the expenses in connection with their case before tne Conciliation Board., At the same meeting the following resolution was passed That this Union protests against the_: suggestion made all over tho country by the Farmers' Union that the Arbitration Act be made inoperative over farm labourers, and that the Government be urgod to maintain the present Act as far as farm labourers are concerned." "T~bat the functions required to be performed by this section are such that no selfrespecting persons would offer their services." Such is the protest of the Picton Hospital- and Charitablo Aid Board against Clause 50 of tho Hospitals Bill. The functions referred to are those of a sub-district committee, and are to bo such a,s may bo assigned to it by a Hospital arid Charitablo Aid Board or prescribed by the Minister. These functions must bo exercised under tho direction of the Board, • and do not includo power to borrow uioney, make rules or bylaws, or make any apportionment of expendi-

Law students who present themselves for their " final" at tho November examinations of the New Zealand' University, and fail t-o convince the examiner that they aTO lit and proper persons to bo passed—thereby under? going that painful'process which is commonly referred to as " being plucked"—are given an opportunity of trying again , at'the May examinations. Of thirty-four candidates who sought to retriavo ; in May, 1908, their bad luck of Novomber, 1907, one solitary aspirant got through. Thirty-three, among whom, were students who had. tried once, twice, even unto the fourth time, .The successful candidate was Mr. ,J. J. Butler, an cx-ot. Patrick's College boy. V During his on, Lpp; Angeles at thg, lecture, at Newtown last evening, Mr. H, N. Holmes related an. incident, told to tourists, illustrative of tho idea of the greatness of an American magnate in the American mind. It was a story of a small boy, who had asked his mother'whose,were the tram-cars. "Mr. Huntingdon's," she replied. " Vv'hoso hotel is this?" "Mr. Huntingdon's,".,came tho response. • They journeyed to the seaside. "Whose beach is this?". "Mr.^Huntingdon's," again the mother replied. " Whose sea is this?": Here ivas the limit. "It's God's." Then sai(l the thoughtful, boy: "How, did Ho manage to get it from Mr. Huntingdon?"

■ Tho sitting of Wo Magistrates at the S.M. Court occasionally leads to complications. Matters ' were/ considerably miked" yesterday morning in the Tipper Courtj room, where Dr. A. M'Arthur; S.M., was presiding. His Worship had to wgit for some time before any of the parties put in an appearance, and when a case.was at last started it was found that counsel, who should have been representing the parties,', were nrt present. When this matter liatl' beon straightened out several parties -whose tiases-had ready been-struck oiit because qf their-non-appearance camo into.,the Courtj but his Worship stood firm and would not meot ; tho exenses. Ono solicitor protested' that ho had not heard the orderly call his case, whereupon his Worship remarked: "Perhaps you would like the Court to run down the street to you." A means of avoiding a recurrence of such trouble suggests itself. The present procedure is for the Clerk of'the Court to call over the names of the cases 'which are to be taken upstairs during a'.halt in the business in the main Court. If a list of I the'cases to be heard upstair? was posited in the corridor of the Court there wquld bo .no excuse for any of those, concerned missing their engagements, as latecomers, who had not been present when the cases were mentioned,'could refer to the list. •

A local industry in active operation that attracted a good deal of attention yesterday was. the process of hat-making shown; in Messrs. C. Hill and Sons! windows on Lambton Quay. /A bench han l been set up, and there, with shape, shelac, and curiously? shaped irons, an export is seen fashioning a Derby-hat of the latest and most approved shape. An interesting' feature of Messrs. Hill and Sons' diiplay is a couple of large frames containing diagrams showing the shapes of the headß of many of the most prominent men, past arid present, that the Dominion has known. There are those of several past Governors, the Chief Justice, and Mr. Justice Williams, large and shapely, besido those of Mr. Justice Cooper and Mr. Justice Dennistori, much smaller by comparison. The diagram of the lato Mr. John Ballaiice's head is particularly large and well formed, and close by are diagrams of those of the late 'Mr. , Soddon and Sir Joseph Ward, curiously alike in shape and size. The shape of Bishop Julius's head- is very' striking, and King. Mahuta's is of the massive order. Some heads, as shown in the band lino of their hats, arc peculiarly irregular, protruding more on one side than on the other; others again show the greatest breadth more in front than behind. Whether such designs would' be of assistance to a phrenologist or not, they certainly exert a fascinating interest, and a changing crowd studied them throughout the whole of ycstciday.

, Mrs. Ethel It. <I« Coat*, LL.B. (aw Adas Elhtl R. Benjamin, of Dnnedin), after practising for some years in tkat city, i has commenced practice as ft barrister anU solicitor in No. 6 Nathan's Buildings, corner Grey and Featherston Stroets, Wellington. Mrs. Do Costa has tho distinction of being tho only lady practising at the Bar in tho Dominion. Intending olionts oan depend- on prompt and careful attention at' Mrs, Dc Costa s hands. -

. It is probable the Hon. Dr. Findlay will deliver a spccch next week in reply to criticisms of his Wanganui address. The specch in all likelihood will bo delivered at Wellington. • A. meeting of the Conciliation Board was held in Wellington yesterday. In the unavoidable absence of Mr. O'Regan, who is in Foxton, Mr. H. Coopor presided. Tho business for consideration was tho tailors' dispute. Mr. P. Muir, on behalf of tho Union, did not call further evidence, but reviewed tho claims of tho workers. Mr. Grenfell intimated that the employers wished tho claims to. bo heard before the Court of Arbitration. Regret at tho attitude of tho employers was expressed. Tho Board then proceeded to frame its recommendation'. According to Mr. E. Gallichan, secretary of the' New Zealand Liberal and Labour League, who returned to AVellington a day or two ago after attending the 'i'uapeka election, railway matters entered largely into the fight. Mr. Horn, the Liberal and Labour League's candidate, had been a supporter of the Otago Central route, and during his candidature also spoke in favour of tho Law-rence-Roxburgh extension. Dr. Chappie, on tho other hand, declared wholly and solely for the Lawrence-Roxburgh line, whicti won him the support of a strong body of settlers, and, it was believed, was the main factor in

his return. Writing to a member of the staff of Tiie Dominion. Mr. G. S. Munro, manager of the late.New Zealand Exhibition, says:— "Herculean efforts are being made to expedite the opening of the Franco-British Exhibition. It was originally intended to open on May 1, then it was postponed till Slay 11, and to-day (April .30) the opening has been fixed for May 14,- and, so far as I can judge, further postponement will be necessary. What amazes me is the tranquil manner in which these postponements are accepted by the public, involving as they do enormous loss ,of revenue. Had such a condition of things obtained in connection with tho recent New, Zealand International Exhibition, thero would have been good grounds' for complaint against the management."

The small butchers sell foremiarters o r mutton at a lower rate than that which they pay for such meat. What looks liko a commercial absurdity is easily explained. Forequarters are not exportable as are legs, aiii sq ,111 all the • piece-mutton for, export there are the forcquarters to be disposed of. These are sold at the retail shops of a big me it' company at such a' low rate that it is impossible 'to compete with them, and yet tho small butcher is bound to keep forequartjr mutton in stock. He is charged by the big meat ''companies 3d. and 3Jd. per lb. -for ew,e and- wether forcquarters, and has on account of the company competition to ret lil both lines at 3d. per lb. Tho retail' butcher estimates the cost of handling and delivery at Jd. per ib.

Mr. W. S. Short, chief clerk,''etc., Roaijls Department, has been appointed a commissioner to apportion the cost of constructing' the' new bridge at Hamilton, Waikato, be-, tween tho local .authorities interested there-, in. The bridge was designed by Mr. J. E. Fulton, of Wellington, and will cost about £20,000. The inquiry will be held at Hamilton on Friday next. Mr. Short has, also bfeen appointed, under Royal; Commission, to conduct an inquiry at Dunedin, on June 24,as to' the pollution 'of, the Kaikorai Stream, arid ; ,as, to..tlie-best means of preventing such • pollution, landiialsM as.',tQihi>w„tlio.iCost of any works to be out'should-, be apportioned among the local bodies interested in the -same.. - The:, parties-, to this ; inquiry are, tho Taieri County Council, the Dunedin City Council, the Dunedin Drainage Board, and tho Boroughs of Green. Island, Morningtoii, Roslyn, and' Maori Hill. *•" ;