LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 492, 27 April 1909, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

g . ... ■' The mails which loft' Wellington on March' 19, per s.s. Mooraki, and connected at ■Sydney with Naples - mails . per ■ R.M.S. Orontes arrived in London on the afternoon of April 25, due date. ■John Neil. Rider, bootmaker, of. Wellington, was'yesterday adjudged a bankrupt. The first meeting of creditors will bo hold at the Official Assignee's offico on May 4; ; Among tlio cases which will occupy the'; attention of the Court of Appeal this morning : will be that of Res. v. Hughes—an application for a new trial. .; ; . 1 ." May 25 has been fixed as the date for the commencement' of ytlie hearing at Wellington by tho. Court of Arbitration of tho industrial dispute inthobbotmaking industry. ■ At a special meeting of tho City Council yesterday • afternoon, an application was >eceived for the free use of the Towa Hall on May 2 for'a concert in aid of/thoi fund for nursing the sick poor of, Wellington: Councillor M'Laren moved, and Councillor Fletcher seconded; that the request bo 'granted. The motion, was carried. ■.!' ' . Tho Otaki River has of lato years changed its courso on numerous occasions, and once it swept along the beach for some': distance. Our Otaki correspondent states'that on Sunday night a Very- largo volumo of water was running, and, at the outlet, thero .were two mouths. On Monday morning both were' found blocked, and an entirely new course .had been opened. ■ • ■ - The annual conference of the New Zealand Railway Officers' Institute opened yesterday in-a room adjacent to. tho Thorndon station. Tho delegates present' were Messrs. Graham (president), Ivcogh, and Robinson> (Canterbury) ; Wallace, Barclay j and Hutchmgs, secretary (Wellington); Foster, and M'Comish (Auckland); Wright'and Bennett (Wanganui); Stannaway, Marshall, and Beekman (Otago); MTherson (luvcrcargill). Tho sittings of the conforonco, which aro hold in camera, .will probably continue throughout the week; . "Oh my second visit- to Taumarunui, after an absence of four years (writes a contributor •to a country paper)', I was. surprised at . tho evident t preponderance >. of Europeans to Natives since my former visit. I mentioned this to a chief of a neighbouring liapu who was walking. on ' tho balcony of tho best hotel waiting for lunch, who replied: 'Oil, plenty of Natives hero; you see, I bet you moro Maoris go past hero beforo one o'clock . than pakobas.' 'All right,' I agreed ji'/I givo you one shilling for every Native thaVfpasses, and you give mo one shilling for every white man.'' Ho agreed. First came two .whites, then two moro, then a lady, then another man—no Maoris. Thinking that tho chief was regretting his bargain, I proposed to cry off, as I was nearly a pound to tho good by 10 a.m. Ho said: 'No fear! I. go on. I doublo it every time you like.' So I thought tlio old fellow had perhaps more, money than was good for .him, and 1 agreed to go on — two tnoro whites, tivo ladio3 —no Maoris—l must have a. soft thing on, when at 11:30 along ramcs a Maori ■ funeral, with 190 followers 1" i Teas grown in different localities have different characteristics, and even tho tea from any particular garden is not the samo in two suc- > cessive seasons, Climatic clinnces, differences l of soil, exercise influences, and it is in the art of the tea blender to bring together the different teas and by combination, to produce a particular flavour. 'Crescent Blond Tea is a choice' i combination of Ceylon and Indian Teas, and tho flavour never varies. All storekeepers, 2s. Uljjoj; ib."

A man was arrested yesterday by Detective Abbott on a charge of stealing a pair of fieldglasses, valued at £3 10s., tbo property of Georgo Bubbers. Tho mails which left Sydnpy on 1 March 16 per s.s. Aorangi, via Vancouver; arrived in London on the night of April 21, three days late. ' • . • c "You can't construe an Act of Parliament ii by means of metaphors, which are reserved 11 nioro for poetry," observed Mr. Justice t: "Williams in the course of; a judgment yestcr- 1( day. . 'O t It is the intention of the Court of Arbi- , tration to hear the compensation case Fisher v., Bond at ''Wellington on May 21. This is a claim for £300 in respect of injuries which plaintiff assorts ho sustained whilst in the , employ of defendant at Now Plymouth. ■•. <■ Tho fire brigade received a call to Hataitai at 9.9 o'clock last night. It was found that c ail outbreak bad occurred at tho nino-roome<l i dwelling of Mrs., Kathleen Clark on Matai ] Road. The inmates and neighbours had ex- , tinguishod the fire, which was confined. to ( some scrim and paper, before tho brigade ] could reach, tho scene; j Tho motor-cycle test, hold between Wellington and Waikanae on Saturday afternoon, . was a reliability trial similar to those .which J have been held in other paTts of the Dominion, which devotees of tho sport regard as 1 useful in supplying data to guide them to oorroct conclusions in all matters affecting i tho reliability of machines. . It takes- some ' time to make all the necessary calculations as regards petrol consumption, lull olimbing, and i reliability as between cycles of .different i horse-power and weight of maohinca' aud * aud it is not anticipated these will 1 bo available until' Thursday. - ; "Do you think, Mr. Chairman," inquired a. householder at tho' Mount - Cook School Committee .election last ovening, "that it is a fair thing to keep, back the wages of the ; school cleaner for a lyholo month r[ It was appointed question; and tho'meeting nung on the chairman's reply,, which was to tho effect that tho committee had a debit balance of Is. 5d., and no funds would bo available for- payments until the receipt, on May 1, of'-tho capitation : allowance from the Education Board.: "Tho new committee will liavo to pay back wages, then?" was tho next query, to which there was no reply. < . Roforenco to tho apathy of parents on tho occasion of tho annual meetings in connection ,with local schools was made in tho report submitted by tho headmaster at last night's meeting of .the Wellington South School. "Rarely," observed Mr. Flux, "are tho meetings attended by more than 40 or 50 householders. It. can hardly bo that this handful of people aro tho only ones who aro interested in the welfare of the/children. One can hardly conoeivo that parents,are so little interested .that they cannot.turn out-on one night in the year in order to do their.share towards ensuring that tho children shall bo trained under tho best conditions—morally, physically, and intellectually. The sparse attendance is sometimes put down to. content on_the part' of parents as to tho way in "which tho education of tho children is conducted. But Lam afraid this excuse is too thin. . May_ 1 not appeal to parents to attend, these meetings in greater numbers to bold up the hands or teachers "who, without unduly magnifying their office, liavo in their hands tho most momentous issuo—laying-tho foundations of tho nation ?. To tbo conscientious teacher the thought of . the seriousness of hiia work is at times overwhelming! Little wonder then if a teacher often longs for deeper sympathy on tho part of parents." ; 1 A peculiar discovery came to light at' tho annual meeting of * householders" called ; to elect tho To Aro School Committee last evening, . For some: years past—in .several cases for five ,or six number of householders have sat on the school committeo -in ignorance of the fact that they were/ not eligible to do : so owing to their places of residenoe being beyond the boundary. This in itself was an interesting position, inasmuch as their children hair boon attending the school, on which ground it was ruled by Mr. Wm. Allan (a member, of the . Education Board), who presided, that they could'.vote, at,the' meeting; but tho situation ' w&sgiVen' piquancy by 'tho fact that :'a ' Bible-ih-schools "ticket" had ; been ,quietly , arranged, and'on, nominations, being called for, tho names of those on " the ticket were proposed,. Mid-, objection was ' made, to 'of th& 'nine members'Of : the old committee being nominated. Their names had to.be expunged from the black-board, which gave tho "ticket" an easy run home. Before the meeting closed it was decided to. recommend'to tho Education Board that the school district boundaries be altered, so as to include Maarama Crosoent : and its vicinitl, which, though much nearer To Aro, is really in the Mitehelltown school district.. :..