LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 610, 13 September 1909, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

\ r— —-» 1 — L .\ , Tho.Mokoia, with an English'and Australian moil,' arrived nt Auckland from Sydney, at 4 p.m. yesterday.- The Wellington portion of nor mail will arrive here by the Main Trunk express this evening. y

•A further budget of Government advertisements, which under the boycott Established by Ministers are refused to Thk Dominion, will be found, on another page of. this issue.; They are; published,-'as usual, at oiir ■ own'CQst, to ensure that .our readers shall, not be prejudiced . by thOj gravely improper action of tho Govohijnent. •• :y ; , ■-

v The.Police-' Commission will-commence dts Wellington sittings at the Museum to-day, ;at 10.30 a.m.' '. v '. Here' is an,'item, from tho' "Evening Nowe" report of the first . Bailey Boance. in 'Christchurch "At tho. close, of tho lecturo and questions, Mr. .Bailey, still under control, called up three, men from the circlo. to search him.- A more or. less superfioial and perfunctory search was made, and certain, articles found'in Mr. Bailey's pockets wero placcd on tho tablo.. Among thoso articles was a purse, and when it- appeared one of the six super-; visors previously appointed by the meeting! and who were sitting around tho table, picked, it up and opeped it. 'Don't touch that,' called out Mr. Bailey, and the- supervisor.,replaced the purse, not,-however,' before noticing, that it contained ,'a number of foreign-looking coins." There appears to havo been some bickering botween the "control" and the searcher who discovered the purso,' and-who wished to examine tho coins! The '.'control," however, insisted that no investigation .should be. mado of tho contents of tho purse—which is perhaps a pity. V.\ ;; .. - - A local shipping■' authority, according Ito an exchange, 'believes that Nelson will provo a considerable'rival to Wellington now that Nelson is. accessible. to the largo;liners. - "It needs no moro than 'a casual glanco nt tho mhp ; to seo how Nelson is going to beat Wellington .for tho West Coast transhipments," ho remarked. .'"Vessels, instead of transhipping their cargo for the West Coast, will in tho near future tranship at Nelson for two reasons— 1 firstly, bocauso they are nearer homo, and secondly that goods can-! bo transhipped much cheaper at Nelson'than at Wellington, with its he'nvior charges."' 1 ..

•A. Wades town, resident writes alleging that last night at Seven o'clock two eloctrio lamps wero unlighted in. ono of tho darkest gorges on tho'road leading to Wellington. Pedestrians had to stumblo along in tho. darkness oyer, a newly-metalled road|,at -considerable incon< vonicnco to themselves, and tho gloom, , made gloomier by the guttural croaks of on,adventurous ; mopoke • on 1 ono of 'the trees in the vioinity, reminded one (says, tho writer) of a bush road, and not a thoroughfare within half a milo of: a city post offipe:.. Twelve oadoU are aboard tho Union Company's Dartforil receiving their training.at the Sands of Captain Cooper and his officers.' There ia accommodation for 60me forty lads aboard the vessel, and the present dozen cadets havo made such excellent .progress that tho com.pany will probably draft an extra number On to the ship s books before 1 She again leaves New Zealand waters. .

The Poto'ne Railway '. Workshops will'' bo called upon to find, room for a largo, number of engines, which Will bo coming in off tho track during tho next few months,, Tho idea is that they must all be ready for tho Christmas traffic, and it is* expcctod that about forty will bo overhaulud at Pctone between now and the end of November.

Tho Young Women's Christian • Association are to'be congratulated on tho peat success of tlieir anniversary concert hold in tho Town Hall last Friday evening. In order to consolidato tho work of this association, a boarding establishment is nn° absolute' necessity. Dr. Newman emphasised this fact in his opening remarks; Pointing to the littractlvo array, of girls filling .th 6 ohoir seats,' ho said,. "Surely theso arc .worthy, of. a palaco at least, equal to that owned by tho young men, and I feel sure that, in less than four years this will bo an accomplished fact." - '

A familiar steamer in ■ New Zealand waters is lenvinp those shores lor a lengthy period. This is tho Mariapouri—one of tho Union Company's crnok steamers of thu early but loug since put iii tho shade by inoro'im-' posing vessels of tho great fleet to which shq belongs. Sho leaves Wellington, to-day for Suva, and will presently enter tho fruit scrvico .between Melbourne and Fiji! for which - tho lloiou Company looantly secured tho oontfmst

During tho wc-ck ended on Saturday lost, tho Customs'revenue' collected at 'Wellington amounted •to .£21,562 ■ lis. lid.,' beer duty totalling £20 IBs. Od. The figures for tho corresponding period last year wereEcvoriuo £21,777.175. 7d„ beer duty £187 Gs. ' '

Window ourtalns ablaze took the city firo brigado to 43 Martin Square, at 10.33 o'clock on Saturday night/ TJio house was a threeroomed ono, occupied by Mr. Robert Gawn. The flames wero easily -extinguished; and not more than £3 damage was done.,

Arrested on a .charge of having stolen a watch and two chains, worth in all about ISs., William Morrison will oomo before tho magistrate this morning. Dotectivo Connolly apprehended the accused.

Hie Honour Mr. Justice Chapman will sit in Chambers this morning to arrange civil fixtures.

The Welsh Society held their monthly meeting on Friday night, tho president (Mr. Rocs Watkins) being in the chair. For the benefit of Welshmen who think of coming out to the Dominion,, tho society decided to supply the Welsh press at Home with, authentic information as to prospects, conditions, etc.; out here, and Messi'6.. J. L, Jones and R. W. Barber wore appointed representatives of the society to meet welsh people on their arrival in New Zealand. The next trtoeting of tho society will take the form of a social evening, when members will entertain, their friends. A committee consisting of the president, vice-president, secretary, and Messrs. J. L. Jones, and J. Gruar was set up to make arrangements for tho social. In future, meetings will l be held every second Friday in the' month.

An article on the future of Miramar and those works which are to be instituted/in the borough by the Wellington Harbour Board appears'elsewhere in.this issue. ,' .'

A printer's error crept into the', article by "Citizen," appearing on Saturday, which dealt with the proposed improvements in the' seawall at Oriental Bay. Tlio writer is .'mado to say that if tho proposal to erect a wall from point to point wero carried out tho land reclaimed would be "miserable" for a consider; able part of the year because of the spray coming ovor. It was intended to describe tho area as "unusable." About 11.35 o'clock on Saturday night, whilst a tranlcaf wm proceeding/to Island Bay, and when near Duppa Street, it ; came, in contact with'a horse, which was standing, on the line,inflioting injuries which necessitated the animal being destroyed. This was dono by a constable dispatched fpom Mount Cook Police Station.

Having completed repairs to the',' broken cable in Cook Strait,' the Government steamer Tutanekai returned to lier berth at the; wool jetty on Saturday morning. A flaw; however, has been discovered in : another oable in the Strait, and'the steamer.leaves this morning. to - resume 'repairing operations.Captain Post reported on Saturday chat h'i had secured one of tile drifting buoys, apparently the one sighted by Captain M'lntyro, of the Stormbird. The buoy had in tow 240 fathoms of mooring wire, a mushroom anchor, with which it'was secured, and ; twenty fathoms of wire cable which it had broken off before starting on its drift north, It ,wtts discovered eighteen miles from the spot' where. it - was originally- moored. Tv'o other buoys are still adrift. • <

•A* deputation of leading, citizens waited on the Mayor of Aucklnnd on Saturday morning, arid asked him to call a public meeting, with a view, to Arranging a suitable reception to Sir Joseph Word on his arrival at Auckland on September SO. The' Mayor agreed to .-call' a meeting for Wednesday next. Representatives of all local Wodies will be invited to attend. ,

Tho Minister for' Education (the Hon. <0. Fowlds) told, a Dominion reporter that he did not intend to move in the direction suggested by the Auckland deputation of musicians, who asked that singing should no.longer be:a.compulsory subject' ih'-th'e "training; of :teaohers, and that the ohildren should be placed under specially qualified. instructors in vocal ihusic. 'TVo intend," said-the Minister, "to devote our. energies to training the teaohers as well as possible, and wo look to tli«m to do the work in, the schools. That is tho systcm in tho united ■States.' and; in England,; and, it works, very, woll." '•

The subjcct of debate in the semi-final. the.-fifth annual tournament of the Wellington Debating Societies' Union is! "That it is impossible to secure the adequate. • defence of New : Zeiland.'. without compulsory military: training." To-night the Vivian (Bap-, tist) Sooioty-will meet tho' Y.M.C.A.. in. tiio latter's rooms at 8 o'clock; when Mr. A; K. Atkinson'will act as judge. On Thursday tho debate willrbo botween tho Victoria College and lCarori'-'Socletibs, aUil will".take $^0' in tho Karori f Borough Council.Chambers. This ao« bate will be judged by Mr. J. TV. Black. •.',

• In tho courso of tho present - cruise of the Methodist Mission schooner . George Brown in the Western. Pacific, she visited a Bmall group of islands in the Northern 1 Solomons. -The mission' party'arrived 1 at tho. principal station;Liunitfwa, ' just' in .time to' witness' a weirdceremony by the natives, who wero constructing d temple to" thoir heathen gods closo to tho Church ofHho' Nazai'ene. Tho natives; (states the;Auckland;"Star") aro of small, build (with the oxcoption- of tho King and his .daughter, who arc- 1 physically- above the, English standard),, and are not inclined to work, but in the erection of their temple kept on in relays of'about 150 in short hour shifts. The building was 100 ft. long by 40ft. wide, of massive timbers, bound' together -with 'sinnetj and the toilers wero heartened by the chanting of a female' choir of more than 200.' women.'.and girls. These: wero worked, also, iij relays, and thus never for, a, moment did the weird chanting cease. - The carven gods, of .a rough kind of stone, lay close by the temple, covered many feet deep in njats f so that they 6«ould not he - profaned by . seeing or bemg seen by unbelievers. -HowevOr, one, of the mission parfy managed to obtain 'some very fine photo-, graphs. As'the natives are still dressing lir the Garden of -Eden's first fashion, tho sight ;of Miss Nicholson, tho first white woman to visit the place, .created as great a sensation as the first dircctoiro gowns did in Paris.. ,

-The Anglican Synodof the Diocese of Waiapu will meet on Thursday next'for tho purpose'of sleeting a bishop to succeed the. Right. Rev. Wi Ij. Williams, who recently sent in his resignation to tli6 Primate.-' The new bishop will bo tlib fourth; Occupant of tho See. The first Bishop of Waiapu was.tho missionary, William Williams, at wfloso consecration in St.-Pauls, Wellington, in 1858, Bishop Selwyn said he felt 'that'he' (Bishop Williams) should have been, for his age and experience, preferred before himself. Bishop Williams resigned in 1870, and whs succeeded by Bishop Stuart, another-dis-tiuguished missionary, who, after presiding over the diocese for near twenty years,.. Jeft New Zealand to take up: missionary -worjc m Persia. The third Bishop of Waiapu was the Right Kcv. :SVi -1, .Williams - (the son of the first bishop), who was- consecrated in 1895. The olection of a bishop has to receive the consent of the General Synod, or, if that body is not in session, of a majority of the 6tandmg committees of the other'diocescs bt ; the Church of the Province of New Zealand, ana the consecration must tako plaoe in the-Dominion; At the request of tho, Bishop of Wellington, spcoial prayers were offered in St. Paul's pro-Cathe-dral and other Wellington- churches yesterday for the Divino guidance of tho Waiapu Synod in tho clioioe of their new . bishop, .

; story, is told'by: a northern paper about the party of Maoris who ha«e gono for a tour.of American theatres. -.An old Maori is said to havo gono ashoro at Rarotonga to have a- look round. The heat was ' very oppressive, but, despite this fact, tho. old Maori mustered up enough energy to purchase a cheap thermometer, and, after addressing it to'his home at To Arolia, asked a postal official-how much ft would cost to sond. Tho inquisitivo man asked what the parcel contained,; and reoeived the sWtlinß reply that it was a thermometer he was sending to his people to prove how Hotit was in the Cook Islandsl

"Beastly bore, Doctor," drawled, a student from the gallery, when it.camo to Dr. Newman's . turn to speak after tho oratovy competition on Saturday night. The prompt commiseration . caused ?. much, > laughter. "I havo not' been' bored. I hove thoroughly enjoyed.<thfr evening," commenced' Dr. NoiVman, when another wag put in; "You got_a sleep." The Mftyor denied tho accusation. He had beard all about "embracing Christianity," "blistering feet," "lucid ekies, and 11 lot of other things (quotinp from the speeches;). "J am v«ry wfde awake, ho continued, and proved ns imloivby starting oft on an amusing epccoh, Oratory was going; out of fashion, lie. declared, |in these days when 'everyone talked shorthand. He quoted an'abstruse, sentence, from Shakespeare, who, of course, was always right, aiid 'then said that it wiis.a dictum of Lord MateaUlay that every speech,- should k be capable of being understood by 500 people in a flash. He had quoted, Shakcsycare, and iiot'dno of them had Understood, wliiit tho quotation mennt.; (Laughter.) , The •translation was, "lie mugged up his specchefi." N0w,'.500 of tlwrn understood that in a flash. (Laughter.) None of the medal candidntcs had made use of slang, but lie had heard a girl student say that she had no "tickets" on one of the speakers. Ho did not intend to speak 1 too long. Thero was a remarkable inscription on an ancient tombstone in Egypt; ; All the virtues and achievements were set forth' of tho than buried there. He: had ruled over great . cities—"he was a mayor,'like somebody'else"—and lie had dono very, great works—tree-planting' and' - other things—and, crowning the record of his' virtues was this i statement, "and never mado long speeches." Ajid at 1 this 'climax, the' Mayor, remimed'his'chair, amidst 'much laughter.

Tho Wellington Bowling Club is to open itfc season on Saturday afternoon, October 2. Soma of the more enthusiastic members have already had a "roll up."

,\An election will toko place to-morrow to fill a vacancy in the Miramar Borough Council. Tliero are two' candidates, Messrs. C. 8., Bowie and J. B. I'inlay. -

Tho conveyance of live stock by sea is natnr. oily always attended with considerable risk, ana frequently heavy ioss occurs in bad'weather, but lately it , lias been proved that a heavy sea/is not altogether responsible for tbo dumping 1 of stock over the side (nays a West Coast paper). During tho past month no fewer tjian fourteen prime bullocks, in addition to tho average number of' fat sheep,-had to be put overboard jn comparatively smooth weather. Although tho conditions on tho stock steamers provide up-to-dato facilities folr watering and feeding, tho percentage of 'losses is very great. Snippers say that tho recent heavy losses prove that turnip-fed cattle, upon which tho winter supply mainly depends, will not stand tho sea , voyage so well as gra6s or bush-fed cattle;' A .- ■ ' !

Tho extraordinary views of the Hon. 0. Eowlds as to tho effects of a drop in,tho prioa of wool' wore scathingly, > dealt wfcih by. -the, Christchurch "Press" m its leading columns on Saturday. After quoting Mr. Fowlds's statement in full, our contemporary •. continues rIt is hardly necessary to point out tie fal- • lafeies with which this statement s literally teems. Our export of wool in, 1907—t0 quote the latest/figures- given . in th*? Government . Tear Book'—was valued at «£7,G57,?78,0r very . nearly 40 per cent, of our total exports. Our export of flax amounted to «£532,085. more than 4 per cent, of the total. Yet Fowlds would' havo us believe that a fall ill mo price of wool is'not felt so readily by the people of New Zealand as a droj) in tho price or Ilax. We need hardly say this is contrary to all experience. Everybody, except Mr.; Fowids, ha 6 noticed-that prosperity or ,depression is do- • pendent in a very marked degree on the price of wool, and that either a rise or fall in that, commodity is very sneedily rdlected the general condition of. tlie people. The 1 Press, continuing, shows, furthermore, how httlo truth thcTO- is in the suggestion that tho production of wool is confined •to the wool kings" spokon of by Mr. Fowlds, and, quoting the "Official Yearbook." points out that out . v of 19,997 flocks in tho Dominion, Ho loss than . 17,750 were flocks of ,2500 sheen and under, while there' were actually 12,000 odd flocks of ■= less , than 500 . sheep each.', The.'Tress -• cx-.-presses surprise that the Minister 6hould have-! ; bceu so injudicious as to again draw attention, to .the astounding blunder■ he .made t when t--6pealring in the Hoiiso. as to the drop in tho. •price ot wool. . . f,l l ' ' ! 1 . ■ Tho Chkstchurcb Siporte Club hold its final s professional contest lust Friday ovonittg, l -when tho attraction was a fifteen-rounds match between It. Turner, of Sydney, and Bert Murphy,; , of Auckland, a younger brother to BiLly Murphy, who some years ago Was the champion' light-weight pugilist of tho Avorld, and heat all coiners in Australia and America. . llio big contest proved rather • disappointing* as, though tho Aucklander fought pluckily, lie lacked the science, of, the Australian, who, barring accident,' Wpcartd-' to lifvvo tlio purso I offered by tho'cfub in his safe keeping oftor the'first few rounds. Murphy did most of tho leading in the :.opening round, - which ended slightly in his.favour, but subsequently Turner ■■ ■practically'had; things aU'hiß own'way, and , •the New Zeala'nder wM su'plainly: beaion, by the tinie that<tlie seventh tound wan in pro-., gress that Turner asked the referee to stop the contest .Murphy said ' No," howo\er. and although .tlicy went , olv.until the uftconth ■ round Turner ; always had a long load on points, and won easily. ■■ .

A lady who recently visited the. Sumner In- : ' stituto for Deaf' Mutes, informed ; the Chnst- / church"Press''- that-a littlo ■ girl pmtially; blind' could select articles belongifig ■ to her. 1 companions bv her acute sense of smell.'; Tho Director; of tho Institute; has sinco supplied some interesting, particular. He states that it is a popular fallacv. that if one sense.in an in- i% dividual; is impaired tho other 6onsos are abnormally .developed as tfcotaghvby ■ way. -or : natiir&l compensation: Tor example, it is generally believed that' blind people; possess a particularly' acute sensb of touch,' and that : deaf people have a particularly wide range of.; vision.' As a matter of fact; th? Director <a- . plains, tho reverse is most frequently the case, and. it is , onlyi because such unfortttnate"individuals havo to relv more upon thoir ( . unimpaired'faculties\that theycultivate them:; to a greater' extent than' is, usual with' persona normally endowed in.thoj mattef-of,scnsc&; further states that the'little girl; who ib blmd , in.ono em other deflr • oicnt, 'w order, to acrniwiw aAj . sirioll obiwt has ,to' hold -it;.fclose ■to '/hor jfaco. .Probably tho lady .Visitor ;*&»'• supplied the 'oriKiltal.in-. formatioh JsaWjOTe';,child 'e&rcisihg- her slight'in^this J m&W, l, ;liiii'. l Ji<>t -'unnaturiilir,'; camo to,.the conclusion that'.she was- doteri4iii> 1 " infe tW ownership' of the J - articles'. she waft handling'by' her' senSo of'smell. 'Many; othor .visitors have a similar' mistake..