LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 411, 21 January 1909, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The postal authorities advise that -an American mail, which left San Francisco on' December 28, and coming via Tahiti and Earotonga, is due to arrive in Wellington on Sunday nest by tho Manapouri. To-morrow, Anniversary Day, there will be one delivery by the letter carriers,, which will closo at the Post Office at 7.45 a.m. ''.■ The civil sittings of the Magistrate's Court will not be held this morninc, as the Magistrates are engaged on the Hutt licensing quiryA correspondent writes from Tokaanu as follows:—"lhere have been great catches of rainbow trout'here with the fiv. . ; A. fair catch: of twenty-two fino fish," averaging 111b., is reported, the largest (151b. weight! having been caught by Mr. Busby, of tho Old Country. Nine of the fish were caught '.nth in an hour and three-quarters. That some people when addressing a letter, have a vague idea of where the addressee will found is proved by the following, .which, was-handed to a wharf official'yester- : day: "Mrs. H. S—, earo of Coal Hulk at' Harbour or Sea, Wellington, New Zealand." This was addressed in New Zealand on an ordinary postcard, and reached its destination safely. Coincidences are always interesting. Yestorday a donation of £25 for the Otaki Hospital was acknowledged from Shannon flaxmillers at. tho meeting of • the Hospital Board. The chairman (Mr.. J. P. Luke, M.P.) mentioned that this sum had been raised at a concert, and would carry with •'* mo usual subsidy of 2'4s. in the pound. Mr. R. C. Kirk remarked that, strangely enough, the first patient admitted after this substantial donation had been received ■: was the promoter of the concert himself. A'meeting of tho Battalion Band military; tournament and fancy fair ladies', and gen- : eral committees was held in the Hall last night, about fifty ladies being present. ' The following were elected to take charge of the stalls:—Tea Kiosk, Mrs. .IV L.' Dean; Maori stall, Mrs. 0. Knight;, confectionery stall, Miss Murray; fancy stall, Miss Forbes; bran tub and fruit stall, Miss Cunningham. A tug-of-war will be held in con-' nectiou with the fanoy fair, between the Per-' manont Artillery and the various corps of theordnance and battalion.

It is generally considered that Taumarunui, : one of the sub-termini on the Main-Trunk ; line, has tno chance of an excellent future,: handicapped, however, by tho leasehold.syst?im J ., of ! and tenß J e - At the present nearly all the land.in the locality is held by the Natives on communistic and not individualistic .lines. Tho result is. that there is trouble'finding the proper owners;.of tho lands, to whom rents are due, and the money has,been impounded or paid into some judicial. Native Court. / Meanwhile there is'no provision for: road settlement, the Town Board has practically no money to spend on the streets.: A chango of some description is required, writes our travelling correspondent, m order to give Taumarunui a chance of be-, coming a prosperous centre. ■ '■•

A well-known Napier' builder, Mr. W. flard, in conversation with a "Hawke's Bay Herald ' reporter, emphasised the difficulties gilder which ..employers.are placed by the Arity^lo.'l Court.awards, not so'much-"by the ■rates.of wages'fixed'a's by the different' hours worked by'various classes of wbrkhieii>"For ■instance," he said, "in my -business T employ men-who are under five different awards, xho:oarters work 48 hours a week,, the carpenters 47, tho machino hands,i 46, the plumbers 45,' and tho painters 44. They don't all start at the same time' in tho morning, and': they, don't all have the same. interval for_ lunch. ' How to keep the work going satisfactorily when all classes .are employed on tho same job is something: of a poser ,to the average builder, and yet tho public innocently wonder how it is we are sometimes'Hdra"gedi<-befprß Court for breaches of-awards."

In the opinion of, Mr.- ,T.. B. Fleming, chairman of the Victoria. College.Council, the Maori language should be included in the list of optional subjects in'.the-syllabus" for the' ma'triculation examination of the New Zealand University; but, judging from the expressions of opinion which fell from those councilors who were present at the council meeting last evening, he occupies -rather an isolated-position in regard to that-question. I A brief discussion on the subject arose from the reading.of a memorial from the authoriii ? i - . ste P hen 's Maori Boys' College, Auckland, wherein it was urged.that tho counoil,, by resolution, endorse the' principle in support of'a similar memorial: which had been sent ,on.to the University Senate, now m session at Auckland. If was decided'that '■*?f?,.f n $ te W T^ s ', O M>. for.the .consideration'of jtlio senate, only, ...., ['■■," V,... ,' .'., \J r ,. : .\ - : boisterous 'state of the weather, tho number of visitors to the I'oxton beach shows no sighs of diminishing, and eaplr (states the "Maiia'watu btanuard.) witnesses arrival and departure of people mainly from Palmerston district. - ; As -a,seaside resort, the Foxtonbeach takes a lot of beating. It is within a short train distance of Palmerston, and a coach service enables,people to' reach the seaside at a reasonable hour.. The number of people who proceed to Foxton beach each Saturday evening to spend tho week-end is astonishing, and accommodation is already.difficult to obtain. If there was a, branch line of railway to. the beach it is safe to say that instead 'of hundreds making the journey'during the summer, thousands would .undertake it..-■ If the. Foxton people are alive to their own mtorests they will (failing the construction of a branch line m future years) see that a decent, road is provided, for the one that is now in use in no way rellects credit on the,authorities. , . ■ .-.V;

The evidence at the inquest on George Uurr showed that the poor fellow had been in a bad -way mentally for some time, and suffered from the hallucination that men wore following him about to club him,' but his condition was not considered serious enough to require that ho should bo put under re-st™n^-Frequently, when he-went out "to walk in the neighbourhood, he would come back exhausted, from running away from the men he .supposed were following him On .the day .of- the tragedy, when he was sitting on the verandah of their boardinghouse, and his wife was inside, she heard , "?.?, I ',' ,Ma ' rie . come here,'quickl Look,; : look I She .replied,. - "All right, dear: -I'll .be out in a minute." -He called, "Come quick—-look!'.' and whoa she hurried out she saw,him leaning over and blood flowing tie had perpetrated the fatal act, and'"when she asked why he had done it;he pleaded' I'orgive me; I- could bear this life no longer. He died-soon afterward. The widow, added that he had a good many times expressed,his intention, of taking his life rhe Coroner, found that death was caused by hernorrage, T the result of a woung. selfinflicted while Lauri was of unsound. mind; _.The first meeting.for the new year, of the Victoria College Council, was held at the Ullege last evening, there being present:— Messrs. T.R. Fleming (chairman), A.T Maginnity, W H. Quick, F. P. Wilson, A. &'. Meek, C. Wilson, and R. M'Callum. The .statement of accounts showed that the bal ance at the bank on the general account amounted to £562 17s. IOd.T while a statu tory ; grant of £1500 was expected, making a prospective credit of £2062 17s. 10d" "from which accounts amounting to £790 18s sm fl-om r t T) Or q od wr t be f paid ' Al > horn A. D. S. White for au oxtehs on'.of his Queen's Scholarship for one year was granted E, M.Ryburn another Queen's scholar, aT,! plied for leave to .transfer to Invercargi 1, i the Otago University District. It was no nted out that the counol had no power, under tho Act, to grant the application, which was (therefore, re erred to the Government, 3 a recommendatwn for favourable considera

For instructions on the, latest and most be coming stylo of Hairdrossing, for Hair.'Ttim? ment. Face Massago and Shampooinir. visit Mrs. Eolleston, Willis, Street (over ' Personal attention,. adnco free. Tel. 1599.-0739 There aro more ways tha none of blending tea, but thero s only one honest and richt •»■«■? and that is to blond for quality; Many t»iU aro blonded for value-that is, teas of certain prices are lumped together in order to •■ n lca certain of profit. Crescent Blend Tea is blended for quality, irrespective of the prices of the teas required to make the blend. It is a scion tine .combination of the- strong: robust teas of Durjonlins -and the lino delioate teas of Ceylon Two shillings per lb. from all stores.—Advt. '

Anniversary Day will be kept as a special bank holiday throughout the provincial dis-, trict. '■■•'■".' The artesian bore put down at the Arataki Experimental Station on a spot indicated by the Rev. M. Mason, the water-finder, is giving a flow of 600 gallons an hour (states the "Manawatu Standard"). The bore at Woraroa.is down.s3oft., and at this depth an/obstruction has Been met with. _ At a meeting of Cabinet yesterday, authorities were taken for road works, amounting to £14,600. A total. expenditure of £52,000 on railways, including, construction works and additions to open lines, was authorised; also £23,000 for material for the Post and Telegraph and Public Works Departments. The lowest tender for the. erection of a post office at Richmond (Nelson) was accepted. It was decided to appoint an engineer in connection with irrigation works in Central Otago. The adjourned annual meeting of the City and Suburban Co-operative Building Society was held last evening, at Messrs. Gualter and Dykes's buildings, Mr. T. H; Hustwick presiding. Messrs. R. H. Na'gle and J. Fcnton, the retiring directors, were re-elected to the.board, aud the appointment of Mr. Geo. Sutton as auditor was confirmed. An appropriation under the first' issue was drawn by Mr. E. Palmer, Queen's Drive, who holds three shares, and is entitled to £300. 'A ballot the second issue fell to Mrs.M. Duncan, whose five shares entitle her to an appropriation of £500." • It would appear that Auckland, and Dunedin are the only centres that have.profited to any great or regular extent by legacies to education—secondary education.. 'Wellington is i singularly, neglected in this respect. No, philanthropist remembers the local secondary institutions when arranging the terms of his last will and testament, although little, windfalls are by no means unknown in Auckland, or Diraedin. The foregoing was the .burden of a brief discussion on i ways and moans" at the Victoria College Council meeting last evening, the discovery of the shortcomings of local philanthropists being Mr. C. Wilson's, who stated the callous fact with an.air of pe?simism, which was reflected upon the countenances of his fellow-coun-cillors: "'..'.■■••''.