LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 280, 7 August 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The steamer Mooraki, which sailed for Sydney hud a permit to carry BO extra passengers in No. S bold, The total number of passengers travelling by the vessel was 2G3. "If wo huvn to stop borrowing and raise additional; revenue by taxation, it is not going to be raised through tho people as a whole by an increase in the Customs duties," remarked' tho Attorney-General at Feihling last night, At about half-past 10 o'clock last night tho local telegraph olliec received advice that owing to a break In the.wiro communication, was cut off with Auckland. It is supposed that stormy weather has been interfering with tho fines in the north. Tho Hon. A. T. Ngata, who returned to town last night, states that the Native meeting which he addressed'at Omahu, near Hastings, gave a general approval to the proposals outlined by the Acting-Prime Jlin-i. ister in tho speech on the Nativo land quc6 i tion wliich he delivered at Papawai. Tho decision of. the City Council at its last rfioeting that tho scale of discounts in regard to direct current power supply bo made applicable to alternating current power supply, and that tho minimum charge for alternating supply be ss. per month, refers only to motors, and not, as has been taken in some quarters, to heating. At tho Mount Cook Police Court yesterday, before Dr. Mackin, J.P., cases, of insobriety wore dealt with as follow:—Alice'. Brown, fined 205., in default 48. hours' im- ■ prisonnicnt; Joseph Lee, 205., or seven days; James Smith, 205., or seven-days; Charles. Harvey, 405., or 14 days. A first offender was convieted and discharged, and another, who did not appear, was fined 10s., or 48 hours. The unsatisfactory condition of a number of the Brooklyn roads is stated to be due in a large measure to the class of metal supplied to the district." Arrangements have liecii made .by the- City Council for a now metal supply from Bead's Gully, Happy Valley, and a start is to,be made with llie stone crushing terday. The council'is working the crusher itself instead of under con-, tract, and it is hoped to begin putting out metal next week. There is a large'quantity of first-class stone in the quarry. . Tho following Press Association cablegram from Brisbane was published yesterday:— "The Darling Downs Estate, New Longbeaoh, consisting of 51,557 acres of fre«hold and 21,760 acres of leasehold; with 124,000 sheep, has been sold to 3sossrs. Watt and Coleman, of Napier;" Our' Napier -correspondent telegraphed yesterday :—"The land deal referred to in a cable message from Brisbane, in which Messrs. Watt and Coleman, of Napier, are interested, covers 428,000 acres of leasehold, not 51,557 acres of freehold and 21,760 acres of leasehold, as stated." ...

The vicinity of the unbeautiful "Jam Tin Gully," Newtown, is about to be made' 1 more presentable.'., Mr, .R;. A. Wright, M.P., waited on,, the Reserves Committee of the City-'Council'yesterday and asked on behalf of the Citizens' Relief Committee that a sum of money should be voted in the direction of assisting the- Unemployed Fund Committee to improve a portion of the Town Belt at the intersection".of Johns Street "and' Wallace; Street, and make it' into a suitable playground for children of-tho vicinity. It. is understood that, the committee will make a recommendation .to next week's meeting of the City Council that a, sum of money ,bo voted- to further the' scheme. :-'. '. : ; 1 - The weekly, meeting .'of the Tara'Jnki .Street- ; .Wesleyan., Literary' and 'Debating Society.-was'.held on Thursday evening in'the young. men's ■ classroom, . The subject was a debate, on the question' :i"It ; it desirable'that England should continue her. policy of Free-; trade?"-' Mr. R,W..Nelson affirmed, and Mr. G.Sapper led for the negative. After a good ..discussion, the,-vote.' taken ''resulted in favour of-tho negative by a small margin. Tho Rev. S.' J. Serpell presided,, aiid there ; w'as : 'a ; 'fair i ' r aUeffda»cc.-:{iNest'; , Thuislay' a. farewell social: will;be given, to Mr, E. L. Burgess,'one of. the, oldest and. most active, members of the society, who is shortly feaying ■ the city. '\ :■'■■' ■■ :•-,; -.'-'.-V '•' '■■■';■• ■ '•'.'_ :.'■'.' '' ■ ; Swimmers who have 'seen' week after week' of .the'winter pass'.without a^y : move' being; made in the direction of beginning the-new dressing sheds, at the Te Aro Baths havo recently been predicting that the City Council would'commence, tho 1 work'just when the. baths •would be wanted by the- public,:-. The' IJaths.Comiriitteo of tho City. Council is alive to tho i position, however, and' has no desire to see patioiis of the baths besmirched with wet paint and tar.'. A-recommendation'will probably be brought down at next week's meeting of the City Council, urging the City Engineer to' make a.start, with.tho work of completing the baths at tho earliest possible date, -the money, for the dressing sheds'having been voted somo weeks ago. '■' ■•'.''■-."

: The "Timaru Post" states 'that when the late Hon.- R."J.-Seddon was Premier, Mr. Craigie (now M.P. for Timaru) succeeded in getting put upon; the .Estimates a sum of. £125 to provide photographs of the battleship "New Zealand" for tho various 'schools',in the Dominion. Nothing further was done'in the .matter at that time, but recently Mr. Craigie revived it, and yesterday ho received a letter from the Hon.;G. Fowlds, Minister for .Education,; stating that the High missioner has, now been .ashed to procure eight photographs of the battleship, and from these.it is ihtendodto reproduce a sufficient number; of prints to distribute among the schools of .New Zealand.. \ . "Mr. Edgar F. Stead propounded a new theory in: regard to "the New Zealand, falcon during a lecture -on- New Zealand birds at the Canterbury Philosophical Institute on Thursday night. He showed by-specimens which he. produced, that tho female was much larger, than the male, as was the case '. with all falcons. In New Zealand there were supposed to' be, two distinct varieties,. and he said ho was endeavouring .to prove that the larger-bird was thefemale and the smaller : the male of , the samo variety. His largest, . specimen coincided with tho .largest'dimension given by Duller for the femalo bird, and his smallest-speci-men coincided : with' the smallest ■ dimensions given for the male He had found two birds of those descriptions mating, and that, to his mind, disposed of the theory that there weie two. different varieties in Now Zealand; ' ',■;..-....-' '■ ..

Before a large'audience, the AttornoyGcneral (Dr. Findlay) delivered a political address at Foildhig last night; ■ Tho Mayor (Mr. W. J. B. Trewin), who occupied tho chair, warmly welcomed the Minister oil behalf of the residents.' Dr. Findlay stated that it, gave hinv great pleasure to deliver a speech at; Feilding. The town was noted for the impartial hearing whicli.it gave to speakers on both sides of politics. Not lc;ng ago Sir Joseph Ward had a capital reception there, and Mr. Masscy," who replied to him there a week or two later, was accorded' an equally enthusiastic hoaring. . (Laughter.) Dr. Findlay confined his remarks mainly to a reply to the recent criticism of his views on taxation, closer settlement, and tho now idoals. of-government. A hearty veto of thanks was accorded Dr. Findlay on 'the motion of Mr.' S. W. Fitahcrbert, seconded ,by Mr. J. G. Cobbc;: Reports of the spiech will be found in other parts of this jsmio.

A private 'cable message .was received in Auckland on Thursday from England notifying the death of Mr. Henry Isaacs, which occurred on Tuesday. Mr. Isaacs was Mayor of Auckland from July G, 1874, to December 16 of tho same year. Ho was born in London about 1824, and left England in 1852 in company' with his' brother George, and came 'to Auckland via Melbourne. .Tho two brothers commenced business .: in Auckland, Their venture • afterwa'rds _..'' developed into a ''large' firm, which .during tho Taranaki and Woikato wore.: - carried out a number- of heavy contract's ill connection with tho provisioning of the troops. Mr. Henry Isaacs was also in business in Melbourne'in connection with his. brother Edward. While- in Auckland he took a great interest: in'public affairs, and was for many years a member of the Auckland Harbour Board and the Auckland City Council, He was also oho of tho promoters of. tho Auckland Shipping Company, which was subsequently merged into tho Now Zealand Ship-: ping Company. For many years past Mr. Isaacs had been living in retirement-in London.

It is sia'ted that tho amount oxpended iu' the formation of Anderson Park so far ia £12,321. '!*h« cigarette evil, said Dr. Findlay, at I'cilding last night, is now growing to serious dimensions. ' Three prisoners will como before His Honour Mr. Justice Coopor in the Supremo Court y>'« morning for sentence; they are: William AiLean, bigamy, at Wellington; Andrew Amos, criminal assault at Wellington; Frederick Cyril Ross, eight charges of theft, at lending, In a lecture on Now Zealand birds 'm Gbnstchurch, Mr. Kdgar P. Stead .exhibited'■'. the skin of a curlew stilt, which inade tho third he had secured in New Zealand. This bird, ho stated, bred in tho Yonesei Valley, and camo hero in the summer. The last' specimen ho obtained was still in its winter plumage. "Hero is another,"-the speaker continued, exhibiting a specimen with a brilliant breact and other conspicuous markings. "Ho is in bis, evening dress, which he.wears when ho goe3 courting, and it,is quite an elaborate get-up." Mr. Stead, as reported by "The" Press."" also : told- some diverting stories of tho kea. Ho said that, five of theso interesting birds that he had in captivity would throw up. tins merely iW tho fun of hearing them rattle when they came .down again. Ho also showed a lantern slide depicting a kea standing on tho edge of a rock with a sheer fall of 150 ft. dropping ,chips and pebbles over tho face in an ecstasy of whimsical delight. Another picture showed a male and femalo kea on top of a.slump, and the good lady dutifully scratching her lord's head with her beak. "When she got tired and stopped for a moment or two,'/ Mr. Stead added, "he hit her feet and made her go on again."