LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 522, 1 June 1909, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Customs revenue collected at Wellington during the month of May amounted to £44,282 Is. lid,, beer duty totalling £983 os. 9d. In May, 1908, the respective totals Were £57,625.103. 9d. and £1192 os. 6d. As Thursday (Prince of Wales's Birthday] is a holiday under tho Wellington grooerß' award, all the local grocers' premises will be. closed on that day. • • A ' deputation of members of the legal profession in the Wairarapa will interviow the Minister for Justice (Hon. Dr. Findlay) at 2.30 p.m. to-morrow on the question of tne abolition of the District Court districts. Tho quantity of liquor seized by the police when they raided tho boardinghouso in Taranalti Place on Saturday was 88 bottles of beer, about one/gallon of whisky, and threequarters of a bottle of gin. It is understood that tho proprietress of tho boardinghouse will not appear before the Court on summons before next week, on account of ill-hoalth. The Wellington College Old Boys' Association has decidod to hold its annual dinner on; Waterloo Day (Juno 18) at the. Hotel Windsor. It.is expected that the function will be a greater success than any previous "Old Boys"J dinner, especially as tho guest of tho evening is to bo Mr. Allan MacDougall, this year's Rhodeß scholar, tho second old boy of Wellington College'who has gained that honour. .. . ' An elder sister was suing an elderly brother for maintenance at the S.M. Court yesterday, and when defendant Was called the woman, interrogating no ono in particular, asked: "Is that Richard?" indicating the defendant. Wen Richard was put iu the wit-ness-box tho doubt was explained—Richard had only' seen his sister once in thirty-five years.

A few years ago'Ho was a'man of considerable moans," Bttid counsel for defendant in a maintenance case at the'S.M. Court yesterday, "bat, unfortunately,' he speculated in property." Counsel went, on to explain that niß client had put his money into suburban property about Wellington, and he was now unableto raise a-penny on the property. His Worship said that it was no use making on order against defendant. Ho llad not got the money, and the Court could not put it into'his hands. vTho case would bo adjourned to give .'things a chance.Of improving. • The Saturday-to-Monday interruption in the activities of the 'Queen's Wharf was taken as an opportunity to operate on tho horde of baoon weevils that have infested "A" shed for a' week past Tho services of tho officers of the Biological Department were upon, and the shed \yas thoroughly fumigated, with a mixture of sulphurio acid and cyanide of . potassium. • Tho experiment Was quite' satisfactory. When the shed was opened yesterday morning, thousands of the larvae wore found dead on the floor. Tho deadly fumes also proved too much for tho rodent life of the'shed, no fewer than twelve rats having been found dead in the shed yesterday morning.,..

_Me number-of . passengers arriving at Wellington .from oversea ports.during the month, eudcd yesterday was 1171, made up as under" —from United Kingdom, 514; from New So'utli Wales, 620 j from Papeete, 37., The number of passengers leaving Wellington for overeeas was 1580, being 1267 for New South Wales, 255 for the United Kingdom, and 68 for Rarotonga. A striking feature of tho above figures is tho* increaeo in tho number of passengers leaving for Sydney as against the number of arrivals from the'same.port. Practically every vessel that has been leaving for Sydney oflato has had a permit to carry more passengers than her ordinary certificate allows. An imposing array of hansom coibs, expresses, etc., at the side dntrance of tho Town Hall yesterday led a reporter to inquire what function ovas taking placd. It turned out to be a "false alarm," however, for our representative' soon caught sight of the familiar figure of the City Inspector (Mr. J. Doylo) examining; tho drivers of tho vehicles with the view of granting renewals of licenses. Investigation is made- into ' the characters and personal fitness of the drivers and the state of repair and safety of tho vehicles. In the case of new licenses, the police are invariably Oonsulted. Mr. Doylo points out that some owners of, vehicles are somewhat in procuring liccnwss, and advises them to comply witn the requirements without ■. delay." ' At an interview with tho Executive Council of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, the Hon. J, A. Millar, Minister for Railways said that he had already agreed to increase tho pay of tho enginemon, but he could not agree to givo tho leading tradesmen an increase. He could not grant a 48 hours week, but ho was calling for a return, showing the hours worked and tho number of trains run on a certain Section where'it'was said that tablet porters frequently, worked as much as 78 to 85 hours a week. The deputation' contended against juniors being superseded by men who came into the service as labourers, and tho Minister, replied ~that he had given instructions that no pore labourers should bo put on. Tho Manawatii men taken on at the Potono workshops would bo placed at the bottom of their grades. It was his intention that length of service should bo tho basis of classification, but ho had found that this could not bo dono under the Manawatu Railway Purchase Act. The discolouration in patches of the harbour, upon which, some comment has' been made, has been discovered to be a form of whale-feed, a kind of ocean animaloulao that is relished by tho "right" whalo. It is frequently to bo obsorved at this time of tho year, when the whalos are ill tho habit of coming close into the land to "grate" upon the "discolouration." Tho capacious mouth of the "right""whale (so called originally ■ because it was tho right kind of wlialo to bo caupht by whalers) is fringed with-baleen hanging -from the upper jaw. The plates number froni 350 to 400 on each sido (tho longest from 10 to 12ft. in length), which arO finely frayed out along tho inner edge into a fringe of long elastic filaments. These jiro used as a sievo to strain out tho multitudes of small molluscs or crustaceans'upon which tho wluilo foods, and which nro gulped in with large quantities of water. Tho boat harbour on Sunday was cploured a dark brown with tho.whalc-fcod.. '

There Are two elements - In tea—tnolnti and tannin; theiuo has the stimulating'effects (or which wo alono drink toa. Tannin products dyfcpepsia, and is, therefore, injurious to the system. The pereentago of theino in. teas varies, and the variation is aocording to the quality, 'l'heino is tho attract from - the leaf, ftud pure tea must consist wholly of leaf and little or nothing of fibre and dust. Crescfiiit Blend Tea is all loaf j it is exquisite in flavour, rich, aftd (if full strength. Crescent Tea oaptiviitos tho pitlato. All Rrocerc, at 2a, per lb.

I lie next'Nevr Zealand lawri tennis championship will be decided at Auckland. The fortniffhtlv meeting of the City Council will bo held to-morrow night, as tho Prince of.'WaWs Birthday falls en Thursday. Councillor Smith will moves "That tho necessary steps be taken to widen tho roadway at the corner of Cuba and Manners Streets " t The Tramway Committee of the City Council is considering the advjsableness of- tho corporation's undertaking it's own tramway accident insurance risks, both with respect to the public and to the employees, The matter was mentioned at yesterday's meeting of the committee, but consideration was deferred until next meeting. Owing to thoso members of . Parliament whoare also members of tho Timber Commission desiring to Revisit their constituencies before the session,''tho time within which tho commission is commanded to furnish its report has been extended to the end of June. If Parliament adjourns after a very short session, tho commission will probably complete its labours beforo the appointed date, as it is 'understood that it has not very mucli more to do. • • The Minister for Public Works (theXHon. R, M'Kerizie) states that plans are being prepared for the alterations to the buildingß on Mount Cook, consequent on the Government's decision to remove the Dominion Museum to that site. Nothing is definitely deoidod be to what form the alterations will tako, but it is certain that many of tho valuable records now stored in tho wooden Government buildings will be sooner or later removed to Mount Cook. ' ' A deputation of Brooklyn residents waited on tho Tramway Committee of the City Council yesterday afternoon, and asked that tho present line be extended, from tho oorner of Willii Street and Lambton Quay to the General Post Office, ancLthat an extension of about a mile bo madoHfrom tho present Brooklyn terminus 1 to through Vogeltownj and thus conueot with tho Island Bay line near Berltafflpore. The deputation waß informed that the committee would instruct the engineer to prepare a report on their requests, and that the matter would be carefully considered.

In order to encourage the oil-boring operations now proceeding in different parts of the Dominion, and to givo a start to a pro<raising neiv industry, the Government hRB decided to olfer h bonus.of 3d. per gallon on: the first 600,000 gallons of kerosene produced and refined in Now Zealand. The conditions will be announced in the Gazette. Boring for oil has now been proceeding for a considerable time in three different localities—at New. Plymouth; at Waitangi Hill, 40 miles out of' Qisborno; and at Kotuku. near Lake Brunner, .between Greymouth and Otira, and there is no doubt' that the olfor of a bonus will stimulate the' -activity of ths operations at each place. The, modern descendants of. tho Knights of the Order of St. John of Malta, aro daily having their ranks swelled. Though perhaps not so exciting as tho ancicnt crusade against tlw Turks, the crusade of to : duy, against' accident and disease, is quite' as noble, and the work which tho St. John Ambulance Association is doing is indeed .praisoworthy.' Under the management of the Wellington secretary..(Mr. J. D. Avery), tho elassos of tho association in Wellington have.grown in size, and widened their fccope. This year there is . an appreciable increase in the number of "first-aiders" at: tending the usual weekly classes, and lectures have also .been arranged for -police probationers . Starting from to-night, there will bo'two classo3 given each week for employees of tho WfllTiiigton Harbour Bbard. The' lecturers will bo Dr. Be'gg , and Dr. Bpwerbanki i A statement was mado by Mr. Ames, city valuer, lately te the effect that selling values in Wellington, particularly in the suburbs, .wero .iiot so high at present as they were two or three years ago. For instance, land at Island Bay which was selling for . £10 a foot a couple of years back would now fetch only 'about £7.. "Yesterday a reporter asked him r if 'this-drop, in prices would;affect the rating value of tho properties, rendering a fresh valuation necessary.' Ho replied that it would not. Tlje values he referred to as having decreased ■ were selling prices only, and were not taken into account in making the valuation for rates. The rating value was always 'below the selling priee, even when the latter was at its lowest ebb, for such variable. assets as "prospects", which o&used a "boom" ia selling prices were not taken into account when the rating valuation was being made. ' ■ . .

No metropolitan city in New Zealand can boast so fine a pdradcas that ; whioli extends for tho full length of Clyde Quay—that stretch of 1" road that leads into Oriental Bay from the end of Cdurtenay Place. It has a broad asphalted footpath and bicyclc track, both distinct from tho road proper, ar.d as it stretches past the boat harbour it. forms a promcnado. favoured beyond all other-s in Wellington. It is regrettable that the pedestrian part of this parade at present ends with abruptness at tho municipal baths,. and at night this is positively dangerous, as there is no barricade or anything else to prevent tho stroller from a fall of about sis feet oil to a rough bouldcr-6trown beach. It is the intention of the City Council to reclaim a little at Fitzgerald's Point to widen tho road, and so make a : B.vnimotrical sweep into Oriental Bay. Work is needed badly by labourers at present, and this, together with *tho general . improvement of the unkempt beach in Oriental Bay (our pretty sunblessed suburb), is a work which might with some profit be done. .' •

In regard to tho incident which ocourred at the. Assessment Court at Hamilton Inst Saturday, when all the objectors to valuations withdrew a3 ;a protest agaitist alleged unfair treatment, the Hon. D. Buddo, Minister in charge of the Department, informed a Dominion reporter last 'night that ho had made inquiries, and found that tho protest' of' tho appellants was agrinst tho Court, . and' not against thfe. valuer. He regretted that: any, trouble had arisen, as tbcro was a valuer stationed in the district, and every reasonable means had heon used to sottlo tho difficulties out of Court. .He did not think that there was any ground* for believing that there whb any serious difficulty, as far as tho work 6f the valuer, was concerned. As an instance of smooth working , in regard to valuations, Mr., Buddo mentioned that at the recent Assessment Court at the Bluff only oilo appellant appeared, and out of six valuations to which lie objected, one, v/os reduced from £156 to: £121; anothor from £15 to £10, and tho'other four, aggregating £11)58 were Upheld. All tho otner objections to -th 6 valuations of the borough of Cainpbelltown wero settled ■ out of. Court. The Minister for Justice (Hon. Dr. Findlay) last: night that he had received a telegram from the dissatisfied appellants- at Hamilton, but had not yet gono into the matter.

Tho Tourist Department's lease of_ Iho greater part of Messrs. Hill and Knight's building in Panama Street expires at the end of tllo prcsoiit montii, after. Which poriod tho Department (now a branch, of tho Agricultural Department) will .transact its business on tho second floor of the new Public Trust Offico on Lsmbton Quay. It was intended at,one timo to place the tourist-bureau in that part of the General Post 1 Office now ocoupitxl by tho public office (fronting. Queen's Wharf), but owing to tho delay which lias ocourred in connection with the building of tho now part of tho G.P.0., the proposal has boon dropped, and it has been finally abandoned owing to the entrenchment sohomc, which his reduced tho bureau from the status of a department to a branch. In a recent speech, the Primo Minister Vlid that it. was tho intention of the Government to loaso the accommodation houses which have been controlled by the Department in tho interests of tho tourist traffic. The' houses owned by the Government nro as follow'Waimaneu (only supplies htiiohoGiis), Waikaremoaiih, Waitoni'o !• Caves House; To Puia'(Tologa Boy), Pukaki (halfway house to Mt, Cook),'tho Hennitago (at Mt. Cook), To Anau, and tho Glndo House (at tho head of Lake To Anau). Of tlicso it is '.probable tlmt tho Government will retain control at Waitomo, the Hermitage, and tlio Glatlo House, the reasons given' in tho first ease being that it is necessary- to have tllo caves safeguarded by a person responsible'to tho Government; in tho second becar.so'the staff of efficient guides Ims to bo kept in tho interests of tho safety of Alpinists; and in the last because tho trftok to Milford Sound froirt To Anau must bc controlled from tho Glado House.