LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 587, 16 August 1909, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Th©Mpk<>ia, vnth Australian aud Brindjpi nipils, was uot expected to reaoli Auckland until last night.- Aocordipgly the majla will not arrive in Wellington until tc-morrow evening, ■>'. • ' •'. ;-, ■•■ ..■,- _ /; ,■. Customs revenue collected at Wellipgton on Saturday amounted to £1058 ; 18s, ; 2d,' The total for the week was £22,617 lls. 3d,, beer duty to $Is. Pjgurea for resiwndjng; periods "lest year wers for' the day £1320 65., for the week £24,874 17s. 7d., beer duty, £19. ;•..:■■' ; v.V: '■'':}'■'■} V The staff of the Electric; Lighting: Department! has lost lio time in carrying 'out/the , proniised private lighting extenßloh to Broofc lyii. Two weeks ago the work, was-put. in , hand, and on Friday last the first private house in the district had been connected up, and was electrically. lit ! during the even-, 'ing- '■.'-■ .' '■' ; . .■■;: . : :■. "Playgoer" writes complaining that while the.prices for the Nellie Stewart season in Auckland were 55., 35., and Is., jn Wellington tljey are 55,, 3s.', and ??, Hβ ia anxious to know wliy.tne patronp of the gallery jn Wellington are penalised in this 7 "why. ■, \ The,; New Zealand Educational Institute is movjng in the Supreme Court ior a 8- : tpry j'udgmont.on : the practice of ' the Ms»rlr borough Education Board Jn appointing its teachers from year to year, ; This,'it is held, is an inffitigemeiit of ; a certain proyisign of the Act, ai)d tbe govorping institute haj taken tbe above aption. : 'Mr. Myers'has been retained by the institute, „ .';'-* : •■''V'; , :''..;".

The gnishJßg touches are now being given tp the newly-grassed portion of. the Keni !Terrace reserve, -, ■ WiICU the turfing wa§ 4ons a tworfopi:strip of sp.jl'was ]aid. on" the outer edge of the grf>g§ tp enable planting tp bo ;dpiifj,.. and inake, the nprthern end ; pf the reserve uujfprm. with the sputjiern patas and. a 'specios of RflbbiigQ tree have now been put in from the intersection of Vivian, .Street up.-tp the bpttpm of Elizabeth," Streptj

A legislative omission hes-been 4isplosed by the death of.Mr. Samuel Brown, the late employers' representative on the Arbitration Court, The Act provides for a noting in the absence of a member, but makes no provision for procedure in case of death, Mr, W. Pryor, seoretary of the J*i>W Zealand Employers' Federation, is at present deputy-re-presentatiye for the smployera, but with that gentleman ;sitting, the Court will only- be able to deal with casea where there is 'no 'pute, or whe'ra both sides agree for a case to be heard, as the Court will . now .be cop- : stituted. Suoh will boi the only cases dealt with at the coming sittings of the. Court at Palmerston North, Jfapier,- Wanganui, and Wellington, Tho Act will prqbabjy; -be amended early next session to meet a cpn-i-ingency such' as has aiisen. . ' "■'■.'-'''.'•.; ',' .; The appearance of mysterious objects am'd m.ysterious. lights.in tho sky npt 'b'eeiv' confiued to the United Kingdom and tp the. '■ British i colonies in the Pacific, The letter from St, Petersburg jn the '"Japan Weekly Mail"" of June 19 contains the following :— "A number of observers were struck-by. the |appearance ■in Tash,kend of 4 ' mysterious ! aeroplane,: which ' epvered.. a.. very cpnsicjer-, able, area of the province, as. attested by eye-witnesses,... ftp, explanation is fdrthepm,.ing of thk iiqanifes.tation; , but newspapers from widely-separated ..districts .report the occurrence. A , suggestion -.'has- been inade that ;the .aeroplane ; ig from British '■ India, where, it is said, experiments have'been in progress for some, time in secret," ' . . : -

Mr. J.; W, Read, the local 'billiard champion, has been giving , a taste of his skill in the south. Playing against a , well-known amateur in Ohristchurch lie conceded 300 poinfe in a game of 600 up, and won by 86, hisbest breaks being 97, 89, 67, 68, 54,. and 60 (unfinished). Conceding L;'Rpdgers 350 in 750, ho ran to his-point? while his op? pone'nt scored only 504." Read, who was |n fine form, made breaks of 104 (all off the white ball), 89, 67, 68. 64 (off the white), 56, 50, and 98 (unfinished). The most important game of the tour was against W. Stephen§on, Sonth Island champion, at the Christchurch. Cycling and Motor Club's rooms on Friday evening laat. , It wae expected that Stephenspn would fully extend the visitor, but Read took the lead from tho outset, and was never headed, winning with the scores 750t-426. The winner's best breaks were 115, 87, 83 (81 off the ied),'sl, 48, and 57' (unfinished). Stephenson made breaks of 80, 78, 49, and 46. "" Thq death of Mr. J, Maunder, of HpkW tjka, brings tp mind the old days of th.Q Coast when the Burgess and Sullivan gangj the notorious bushrangers, were levying'on all whom they met (states the Greymouth correspondent pf a Christohuroh paper). Mj. Maunder was the last man wpo spoke to George Dobson, whpm the gang murdered in mistake for a bank manager supposed by them to be returning from a gold-buying expedition. It seoms that the late Mr. der was "stuck up" by the waiting bush- , rangers, and when they found that they had got hold of the wrong man it was proposed to do away with him, Burgess remarking that "dead mon tell no tales." Sullivan, however, objected, on the ground that Mr, Maunder was a poor old miner, and they had enough murdors on their hands already, iind he was allowed to go on his way. AHor walking a short diatenoo, Mr. Maunder met the unfortunate man Dobson. Ho told him to,look out, as ho '■ bad been stuck up by the Burgess gang. Dobson laughed, and said thoy would do him no hurt, ns ho had nothing qn him worth talcing, nnd pnrsucd his way, Mr, Maundctr shortly aftor heard the shot which killed tlio poor-'fellow,- but he could do nothing. All they got was some fow shillings from their victim. Mr. Maunder had a remarkable escapo, as at the timo he had upwards of 200 BOvoxoiaM iu ft belt atuqeped. touud bis body,

Tho Juvonilo Endeavour Society of Ngaio K«vo a ooiictrt at tho Wesleyan Church, Ngalo, ou Friday night. Thoso takinc part in tho' concert wnro trained by Mr. Charles

Duncan. I'rooccdn of the entertainment are Lo bo ercdiUjd to tho funds of the eocitty,

On Sgptornbcr 3. at a public mooting to bo hold in tho Tnrntialif Street Methodist Church, tho Hon. Q. Fowlds, Ministor for Education, will present tho prizes and certilloatofl won (it tno recent Scripture oxaminatioiin in connection, with tho Wellington Sunday School Union. Olio of tho-turbine mnchincs at tho city lighting station was, it i» understood, put out of action at' tho end of last week as tho roHult of an ocoldent over which tho onginccr hud no control, Arrangements were soon mode, to cover the trouble caused by the mishaps by utilising other machinery, but tho turbine , in question will not be able to l>o used again for several months, Tho necessary parts are not obtainable in New Zealand, and will probably have to bo fitted in Amorica, , '