IN OTHER CENTRES. (BY TELEGRAPH-SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 299, 11 September 1908, Page 8

IN OTHER CENTRES. (BY TELEGRAPH-SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

AUCKLAND. September 10. The engineering works now in progress in connection with the Auckland Harbour Board's improved harbour scheme were inspected on Tuesday by some visiting engineers. The party inoluded Mr. W. F. Burrow, testing engineer of the Public Works Department, Sydney, and Mr. Murdoch, a member of the Wellington City Council, who has just returned from a visit to England. Mr. Gannon, of the Auckland Harbour Board's engineering department, acted as guide, the party leaving the' Queen Street Wharf in the board's launch for Birkenhead.' There the ferro-concretc, ferry jetty and concrete wharf, with stone retaining walls now in cours_o of construction, wore examined. The Calliope Dock works were next inspected, and the visitors saw the sinking of the large cylinders which are to carry the shcerlegs, and the ferro-concrete works which are in progress there. The visitors were particularly iinpressodwith the harbour board workwhich contain some of the finest machinery south of the line, and about tho largest lathe in the Southern Hemisphere. Mr. Burrow was particularly keen in examinjng all the ferro-concrete works at present in course of construction at Auckland's waterside, as he is interested in ferro-con-crete work on the other side, and has seeij a goocl deal:of, it. Mr. Murdoch expressed surprise that the Auckland harbour improvement scheme had not been commenced twenty years 1 ago. , If this had boon dono Auckland would have' been a very great port at tho present time; Maori Fishing Rights. A circular has been received from the Rotorua Rod and Gun Club by the acclimatisation society in reference to the claim put forward .by 'the Rev. F. A. Bennett locally-and- by Mr. Wilford in Parliament that the Maoris of the Rotorua district should bo granted free fishing rights throughout the year. , The club pointed out that this would be a : very' objectionable course in the interests of acclimatisation and sport, and it invited ■ the co-operatiou of tho society in opposing it. Pheasant Breeding. Tho advisability of keeping up tho st-ock of pheasants in tho Auckland Provinco by breeding them in captivity and restocking areas where' the birds have almost disappeared has for;, some time' past been under consideration of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. After mature deliberation the society has determined to start breeding pheasants -on its property at Tapapa, and has erected the necessary pens and breedinghouses. • A numbei of pheasants for breeding purposes.aro on order from Wellington, and the new departure of the society may be expected to be 'in full Bwing shortly. The society, however, suffers from lack of sufficient funds to equip and continue the pheasintry on a ■ sufficiently large scale to ensure rapid progress,, and has accordingly issued a circular signed by the president (Mr. E. W. Payton) and, the. secretary (Mr. T. F. Oheoseman)-inviting contributions from all those' interested in tho matter. Charge of Assault. . In an assault case' yesterday the accused met -with a;, sharp sentence and a severe ivarning from ;tho Bench. According to tho [>blice ovidehep, a,'young- fellow named Wiliam Ba;-nett, entered a public house in Welesley. Street, but tho barman refused to serve lini with any drink. Bamett thereupon licked up a water-bottle and threw the con;ents over the barman. He went outside md was proceeding, along tho road when mother young man named Mangan, who had vitiicssed the incident in tho bar ; passed him ind remarked that it was "a dirty trick to lo to the barman." Barnott thereupon itruck him with his fist, and producing a )eer bottle from his pocket hit him a heavy )bw on .the forehead, with it. Mr. M'Callum ;old Harriett;' that the Bench were convinced ;hat he had behaved in a blackguardly way.' 3o might have been standing in tho dock on i charge of murder. Ho would go to gaol or three months with hard labour.