LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 414, 25 January 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The b.b. Victoria,'from Sydney, with ail .English mail on board, , had not arrived at Auckland at 6 p.m. yesterday; consequently her mails were too late to be forwarded from OhoKunga by the steamer which sailed for New. Plymouth yesterday; afternoon. They cannot therefore reach ■Wellington before th> arrival of the Manawatu express <5n Tuesday evening. ' ... . : • . . . ~-■

The first;inward mail under' tho new 'New Zealand-Rarotonga-Tahiti-'Frisco contract ■arrived by the s.s. Manapouri at 4.30 p.m.. on Saturday— one day: early. She had; no English mail oil board. It will be remem'7 bered that the initial outward mail via this route was dispatched on January 3 and ar? rived up to time. . . ■ ... '■■;'' y

The' Health Department report the following cases- of infectious- diseases for the week ended January _23:-r-In the city: scarlet fever 2, diphtheria 1, tuberculosis 2. There wero no cases i^,the Hutt; county.

Owing to the rain which fell on Friday and Saturday, all cricket matches in Wellington had to be postponed. This is the sasond Saturday in succession, that the adoption of that course has been necessary.

Tho total number of arrivals 4n the Dominion during December was ((according to tho Registrar-General) 6612, as' against 2533 departures. In tho corresponding mouth of 1907 there were 4i)51 arrivals and 2296 de--partures. ... -.■'., .

. Captain M'Lean, late of the barque Eaton Hall, arrived by the Manapouri on Saturday on his way to Sydney. The Eaton Hall put into Tahiti dismasted on her way from Newcastle, to Valparaiso. She was abandoned to tho underwriters-and sold by agents tin San Francisco to tho Compagnio. Francaise . des Phosphates de l'pce'ariio, for use as a hulk at the works which thp company, is. startingat the island of Makatea. Captain M'Lean will return from Sydney to Chili..

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; Work on the Clyde Quay Wharf, which has been dropped for some time, will probably recommence to-day.

In a report of Court proceedings at Taihape on January 20 it was made to appear that Messrs. Parsons and Dunne, of Ohakunoi. pleaded guilty to a charge of keeping liquor for sale in a prohibited area, to wit 'Rangataua.- This was incorrect. The charge •was simply related to the technical offence of bringing liquor into a prohibited area without the same being properly labelled.

"Who's dead?" asked a score of people through the telephone last evening. They had seen A flag floating at half-mast on the staff high above the General Post Office, and burnt with curiosity to know who had passed away. It is cheering to announce that the flag did not herald a passing hence. It'had been flown to announce the arrival of an 'American mail by the Manapouri (via Tahiti and Rarotonga), and when being hauled down late in the afternoon the tackle got jammed, and the recalcitrant.bit of bunting had to be left flyinfe at the sticking point.

Summer is. here, but in name only. Wellington has had all kinds of weather to contend with since the New Year,. but that experionced on Saturday and yesterday was quite a new sample; perhaps it is that wmen Sir. Clement Wragge has labelled the "Ward" storm, respectfully dedicated to the.Pritae Minister. It took the form of a strong northerly gale, blowing at times with hurricane force, accompanied by an intensely muggy atmosphere and misty rain, so light that,'though fairly persistent, it was insufficient .to. lay .the dust.. A little of such weather goes a long way, and a change wo\ild be welcomed by an. irritated public.

As.there is more than one candidate for the office of secretary of the Seamen's Union,. both in the case of the Wellington and Dunedin branches, an'election is necessary in each instance, ballot papers for which will be issued this week. The \Vellington candidates are Messrs. W. T. Young (present secretary) and Holmes, and the Dunedin candidates are Messrs. Belcher (present secretary) and Mur-, ray. The election is conducted on federal 'lines, every, member-of the tJnidn vote in each case. It is not anticipated that the result will bo known for five or sis weeks ;as, in some instances' the papers will 'have to be sent td ; Australia anfl returned to Wellirigton and Dunedin. ... . ,'. '

In oiir issue of Friday last there appeared an acco-unt of ; a deadlock which had resulted in the cancells-Hon of the night-firing practice -which, it -was ■ originally intended, the Wellington Navals should have carried out on Thursday evening last. By ai typographical error, resultine in the omission of part; of the context, the position of .the-supervising, officer (Major J. E. Hume, R.N.Z.A.) with regard to tne cancellation or the practice was not made perfectly clear. In justice to that ' officerj it ought to be explained, in amplification of the.report referred'to;.that Major Hume did not consider that the precautionary measures which had been taken for the safety of the,public sufficiently complied with the'- regulations laid down for night-firing : practice, : and that being, so; was ■ not prepared to ; accept. the responsibility of supervising it. So far as can be gathered, .it would appear that it would' be practically impossible to organise such' precautionary measures as are adopted by the military authorities for night-firing at Home, and that there , is.considerable diversity of opinion regarding the jpMgin of safety which it is permissible to allow: under the conditions which .obtain in NpV Zealand. . The whole question will; ho , doiibt, be fully considered by the Council of Defenee shortly. .' .; ':- ■

In: these days -of commercial "shrewd-ness,"-.when men, hold their financial responsibilities but lightly, it is refreshing, says the "Oainaru Mail, to find an occasional example of severe ■ integrity. During the' 'ei&htie'Sj when the colony was suffering from its lean years, when prices" for all classes.:of produce .wefe.i.at. their minimum,a' client of i a big; v local * mercantile, firm' contracted, liabilities, •svhich were top great, for him* tV'fiMl' ! un'der,'the distressful conditions, then prevainßg,':and,'"realising the. hopeless-, ■ness bf a settlement, 1 the debt, which amounted to £90, was written off the books : of the company. The other week, : s6me Wenty years later,, the farmer,- ljaving.'shared , 'in : the renewed-prosperity of the district, brought :his .cheque-book into. tqwn..and .filled in,,.a form for the'whole amount of his indebtedness.. ' This' step wap, somewhat; disconcerting ; tb the officials of the financial concern, none l!of .wholn had .any , knbwlettge of; the debt, ■so that it was necessary to dig tip old and ['dusty ledgers, and , to delve into these with considerable patience in compiling the accbuntij s.ettj'ement of which hid been so long r?0 doubt- other local , firms can show on their bofil>s similar : mementoes of. those dark daySjf which, they, would be pleased to see'-as happily consummated, as the one :al.ready,: alluded to', •' '■" ' '.'..' } :.■'■■;. ; ■■.';'■■

'■:■ "Tl)& Place of Man in the Universe" was the- subject, of Mr., Franklyn's • sermon at thei Church of Christ, Vivian. Street, last night. He observed that : every form of sceptioism,-- ancient and modern, 'had(accused Christianity of exaggerating the importance of man, and compared him with the meanest; insects." The old mode'of at--tack ; was rejuvenated by modern science*. disclosing millions of! wbrlde. and the littleness of'thisj,'and the.-distances which light would cross only in ten thousand centuries. Common pebple felt the crushing sentiment of ,insignifi6an'ce,n6t less than the learned,. It was.hard to resist,the.suggestion of fatalism in.either, ail epidemic, o* the idea of man's litlleness and the dverpowerino might and majesty of his environments; "This might be responsible for a large percentage of. the irfehgipn, . licentiousness, and ■ despair which were Very.apparent even in this city. Referring to Mr. '.Wfagge's lecture, the preacheivsaid that while science was revealing to a certitude ihe existence of. a Divine first cause; the-Deity of the scientist was so entangled with the creation • that the dis■covefy of'this iinpersonal. God only led: to confusion. The. Pantheistic, notion of "God being ■in everything" did not satisfy the cravings the human spirit and mind. While Nature made Deists, Christianity, alone 'could make Christians, and a man needed more than brains and a telescope to know the'natufe of God and the value of man.

.The, erection of the skeleton-of tho Okarito whale isa' greater-undertaking than most people would believe (states the "Lyttelton Times"). Mr. E. It. Waite and his assistants are engaged on the work every day now, and it will be some time before it is completed. Most of the work in hand just now is of an engineering character. A row of stout. iron pipes, about 12ft; long, has been placed in position to hold up.the massive bones. • The pipes will have concrete foundations, and they wfll We to' bear the 'whole, of,the burden of the skeleton. A three-inch- "T" iron runs the-whole length of the skeleton,; and to it the -vertebral bones are attached. Uy # means pf the-iron the vertebrae are placed in position, and they are separated by wooden blooks; whioh will represent the. inter-verte-bral cartilage.,. The iirou has been bent, to show the curve in the whale's back. A platform, about 10ft. high, has been erected near the skeleton to enable the.work to be done, but it will be pulled down when .the skeleton is'ready to be exhibited. Visitors will be able to pass under the. skeleton, but.a platform, 6ft. high, has been ore'eted along the whole length, to enable them to get a good side view. Mr. Waite has taken a. series of photographs, showing the progress of the work. He has written to "Nature," in London, ' stating that his assertion that the Okarito whale is amongst the largest known has been challenged in] the Christchurch nowspapers, and asking directors of museums possessing skeletons of largo whales to communicate with him directly, or through the columns of "Nature." :, , ■■-... : ' .■'-

Foreign nation* would respect us more if we talked less of the strength of our Navy conduoing to tho peace of the world. The claim is a just one, as it happens, but the primary object of this country in maintaining a powerful Navy is not so much the peaco of the: world as the safeguarding of her own trade and territories.—"Naval and Military Record." .. ' : .

There are more ways tha none of blending tea, but there's only one honest and right way, and that is t» blend for quality. Many teas aro blended for value —that is, teas of certain prices aro I'wapcd. together in order to—;ake certain of profit. Crescent Blend Telj is blended for quality, , irrespective of the prices of the teas required to make tho blend. It is a scientifio combination of the strong robust teas of 'Darjeelinij and the fine delicate teas of Ceylon. Two eliilluiga por lb. from all stores.—Advt,