LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 762, 10 March 1910, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Owing to the boycott-of The Dominion by the Ward Administration as regards Government advertising, we publish on page 2, at our own cost, in order that our readers will not be penalised, ho- : tices by tho Marine Department calling for tenders for the supply at Wellington of meat and groceries to the ■ Government steamers, and of", clothing, bed-ding,'-and hammocks for the training ship Amokura; also for alterations and additions to the Police Station, Manners Street,- Wellington., .

' A Press Association ielegram from Neleon,states that sixty. blackfiSh, some measuring .'twenty feet in. length, were washed up on the beach at Pakatfau.yesterday. " ' '' .

A military band has been formed in the oily. Although fairly well supplied •with brass baud music, Wellington has not been able, up to the present, to boast of a good military band, owing, no doubt, to want of enthusiasm among playere. The newly-established Wellington City Military Band, under ■' the baton of the well-known musician, Sir. H. Moschini, has already had several practices. The present membership totals, about thirty players. • • ■ /.'"..

From the days of the Crimean war to March, 1910, seems a far cry, and many ■of those .who played.their part in those stirring times have one by one stepped behind the scenes.. It must have been a warm greeting that look place last week between Mrs. Evans, lessee of the Hawera Railway Refreshment Kooms, and Mr. Neville Thornton, of Wanganui. Mrs. fivans was one of the band of nurses organised by Floronco Nightingale to nurse the wonnded in the Crimenn war, and Mr. Thornton was one of the wounded under her charge in the. hospital at Scutari. Though 80 years of ago, Mrs. Evans is still active and , hearty, and takes a keen interest in current events.

An elderly man named Carston, .72 years of,age, and a.steerage passenger by the Ulimaroa from Sydney, died on board the vessel last evening from heart failure. It appears that deceased, v:W was suffering from a severe cold, took ill just as the vessel was making port. On arrival he •was attended by Dr. Bowerbnnk, 1 who recommended him to come ashore, and while waiting £or a cab, he suddenly expired in the Tiiusic-room of the vessel. The deceased,, who hailed from Melbourne, was accomparied" by his daughter, and was coming to Wellington in order to stay with * married daughter, who resides in Adams Tirrace.

A good deal of correspondence is being received by the Hon. T. Mackenzie (Minister in Charge of the Tourist Department) with reference to the possibility of the famous Pink and White Terraces not having been destroyed. Speaking to a Dominion reporter on the subject yesterday, the Minister said that many views were held by the writers—some being under the impression . that tho terraces had been lost, whilst others were either of the opinion that they were only buried or were re-forming. Personally, he still thought it was very problematical whether the terraces were now in existence, and he continued to place a good deal of reliance on tho opinions of such men as Mr. il'Kerrijw, and Mr. .Percy Smith. If there was any chance of such valuable terraces being in existence, the Government would be justified in spending a reasonable sum in connection with them. What was going on at present was merely an investigation into the representations that had been made on tho matter: .-

A leng-thy postponement of the civil business of the Supreme Court iobk place owing to the absence of judges from Wellington, yet, now that the Chief Justice has arrived, only a few of the accumulated cases a«! ready for' hearing. Sir Robert Stout commented on. the fact yesterday, v;hen he found-that almost every solicitor who appeared before hini had an application for adjournment' to make. "I can't understand \rhy solicitors are not ready to go on with their cases," said his Honour. "Some of the cases have been waiting for months, and now, after dates havo been fixed, counsel have some excuse to make. It only takes a few hours to work up a case. In the olden days this kind of thing would not have been permitted. The business of the Court could not have gone on at all! I remember a list o£ twenty-four Banco cases, in hearing which Mr. Justice Johnston sat for three .weeks on end. Counsel could not leave the Court at all hardly, or, if they did, they had to leave a clerk in waiting, Teaay to. call them urgently if their cases were,reached. They would then have to hurry to the Court in a cab." '.■■■■ ■ •■

The Wellington Acconntant Students' Society held the first, meeting of its 1910 session in Godber's Rooms last evening, Sfr. H. C. Tewsley presiding over .a large gathering. The principal business of the evening was a debate on the point of whether a reserve fund should be represented by specific assets. Mr; H. D. Edwards opened in the affirmative, and Mr. W. Herbert led for the opposing side. The other speakers were ■ Messrs. .R. Sievers, W. Copeland, W. ■ Barclay, V." Bacon, and W. Falconer. At the close of the debate, Mr. C. 11. Matthews, who acted as judge, declared that the affirmative party had. carried the day. : The serious-business over,.;supper was served, and a recitation given ■6y Mr. Bacon.

The fire brigade received a call to Vivian Street at 8.8 p.m.. yesterday, an incipient fire having been discovered , in Mrs. Estoll's drapery and millinery establishment Most, of the contents of ■ tho shop were damaged by fire and smoke, but tho building suffered little. .The Cause of the lire :is unknown, no one having been in the shop during tho afternoon (the weekly half-holiday).

'.further inquiry is to bo mode with reference to tho complaints as to alleged damage to the scenery along the banks of the Wanga'nui Eiver. If possible, the Hoii. T., Mackenzie, Minister in Charge of Tourist Kesorts, will visit the district &t an early date. He informed a Dominion reporter yesterday that Mr. Hatrick was in error when he;.stated that ordinary Crown lands along the river had. been leased, because, asj.a matter.of fact, no Crown.. lands on which timber' had to bo out had been leased. ?If Mr. Hatrick were, referring to lands leased by. the Maori' Land Board, .then he might point out that they did . not; come . under the i'urisdictipn of .tho 'Government, which, e would add, had always done its best to persuade ,the trustees for the Natives to. conserve the scenery.' He did not eup- ; ■pose, that it would be possible or even advisable to set aside all the. lands on both sides of the river, as some of .them would >be required for sottlement purposes, but the matter, would most certainly not bo overlooked. ' ■'.

There will ■ be a capital sports programme in • connection with the 'annual picnic under the auspices of the. Railway Head Office Departments, which"will''fake place at Day's. Bay- to-day.

Yesterday .morning Mr. W; , . R.' Ha&elden, 5.M.,. sat as 'a l, Comniissi6ne'r to. .'inquire into- and -adjust.' accounts■ between' tho City Council and the Karori 'Borough Council consequent on the exclusion of Northland, and Creswick from the' Karori , i Borough, and their inclusion in tho city. Mr. 0 Shea, city solicitorj'applied for'an adjournment for four weeks, an applica-' tion agreed upon , by th6 : Karori Council, so as to give the parties concerned an opportunity'to settle certain'of the matters Between themselves. ■' Amkng tho questions, for consideration were the apportionment of special loans-for tramways, the''reserve' a,t Karori, at|d tKe quarry thereon, the Karori Borough. Council offices and sinking funds.' These' questions; he said, might be settled without calling upon the Commissioner for a' Tno application for an adjournment of four weeks was , agreed to the/Commissioner. -. ' .-..■■■•.■■ : ; '■;": ' --'■

To encourage a medical man .to lake up his residence in : the ner .country- of which Ohakurie is the. centre ,the Wellington Land. Board, under , 'the powers conferred on it by the Laid Act, has given ' .Dr. Satchinore,'of Oliakune,. the right to take, up -two Crown residential sections in. the. township for: jillO. •. :■. <, 1 In the report of-yesterday's! Court proceedings, it was stated that William Hepburn was awarded damages against Williams and 'Meredith, solicitors; a sum'of] : £& 7b. ./i'his-is in error, as.Messrs. Williams ■ and Meredith were the,, plaintiffs, and recovered from.' Hepburn , as defendant the sum of .£8 75., balance of cists in connection with , a divorce .'case irhich was conducted by■ • plaintiffs for 'defendant. It may be stated that Mr. Haselden:re-. marked that the solicitors'/bill in con-, nection with the defendant's divorce proceedings was the smallest which'he.had seen in his experience! ■ ■■'.'■

Signs of the ' times. A' somewhat amusing incident occurred to •; a down train on; Monday morning (says aWairarapa paper).; Just before ; reaching Matarawa, there is crossing from one paddock to another, and a farmer was driving his cows across in a leisurely manner whpn the train came along. The engine-driver whistled. ■ and slackened down, but "Biddy" and "Daisy" and the rest of the cows strolled carelessly along, and the train pulled lip altogether. . A move'was made again,'and one cow. went along in front of the engine, .deFying'the,, "cow-catcher." 'More speed was put on, and the cow went faster. Speed was slackened again,. and the coiy slackened also, but stilt kept on the right-of-way. The fireman was doing some good shooting, with lumps of coal, but failed . to register a "bull's-eye.". At .last; after'a good run, the guard dismounted from the train, ran ahead of the engine, and cleared the cow off into a small stream, wora she stood calmly watching the "rural train" crawl off at its usual speed. No one was in a hurry—only I branch line— : and no one in the Wairajapa has a right to be in'a hurry on tie trains now. i

General Baden-Powell will begin next summer the tour which ho has decided to make throughout the Empiro for! the promotion of the boy scont movement (says the London correspondent of the "Ago ). He proposes to go first to Canada, and at a later time, which lias not jet been fixed, he will proceed to Southj Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Hβ ii greatly pleased with the rapid increase in the popularity of his idea of: training boys for citizenship duty, but he fiids that there is no proper organisation , of the movement in many places. Just now ho is giving particular attention to the work in South Africa, where Sir Perty Fitzpatrick is offering prizes with tha object of profitably connecting it-with tie rural settlement of that country. General Baden-Powell is as enthusiastic as over in his references to the colonials that he saw in the South African war., "Possibly," he says, "it is what I saw in that campaign that prompts mo to make, a model of the • colonial. ,1 saw. something of the'self-reliance of tht backblocks man from Australia, New Sealahd, and Canada, and every one of cur boy scouts will learn how to cook Ms own 'grub,' to road the time by. the sun, to fight his way through impenetrable scrub, and take whatever gruelling maj come, so that he fights through to the «nd and gets there! Catch the boy, aid you make the man." - ■ . • ohampooing, Clipping, Hairdressing, Manicuring, Face Mnssnge, Treatment of Falling Hair and Dandruff, Combings made up. Natural Hair-pads. Mrs. Rolleston (over Carroll's), 11 ■■ Willis Street 'Phone IS99.— Miu

A man was arrested by Detective Cassells last evening on two charges of procuring sums of £15 and .£2O from Annie Brown, at Dannevirke, by means of alleged false pretences. He will appear at the Court to-day. According to a message received in town yesterday, A. Bain, the Scottish wrestler, was successful in his match against 11. J. Scott at Stratford on Tuesday night. Under the conditions Scott, in order to win, had to throw Bain three times in an hour's actual wrestling. If Bain gained one fall or was not thrown three , times, victory was to rest with him. It appears that the referee gave one fall in favour of Scott, the result being that Bain was declared the winner. The annual picnic of the Christian Endeavour Conference was held at the ■Hutt Park yesterday, and was largely attended. In the evening the Rev. T. Keith Bwen presided at meetings held in the Petone Baptist Church. • The number of ministers to conduct the General Mission of Help to New Zealand,' which is to begin next August, was originally fixed, at twelve. Later on the number was raised to fifteen, and an endeavour is now being made,'in view of numerous appeals for meetings,- to secure another missioner for work in the Wellington diocese. ■ . . On inquiry in official quarters it was stated that the report that the Government intend to make a charge for admission to the Sanatorium Grounds at Rotorua wae based on the vaguest rumour. A general meeting of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors was held at Wellington last week. There were present Messrs. Jas. Fulton (president, in the chair), Humphries, Mason, Ledger, Lowe, Davis, Beore, C. W. Adams, C. E. Adams, Atkins, and Sladden. The business before the meeting was a vote to be taken regarding the resolutions passed at the annual meeting held in Auckland in Jan-' uary last On the result of the ballot being declared it was announced that all the resolutions had: been carried. Mr. ■G..8. Sinclair, of Westport, was elected a member of the institute. .. ;

The ."Lancet|' has been considering the burning question of the deleterious effects of the three forms of smoking—the pipe, the cigarette, and the cigar. After investigation, it finds that it is not so much the smoking as the form of smoking which matters. Judged by the possible deleterious effects of, nicotine and other constituents, the pipe, it 'says, is least harmful, and the cigarette less so than the cigar. The argument' given against the latter is that the condensing process has a tendency to travel throughout the cigar, and the deleterious matter is thus conveyed in increasing quantities, as the cigar burns,:to the mouth. In the piDe there is a most effective condenser, wfiile.in the cigarette the unhampered combustion causes less of the unpleasant products to reach the system.' .

There is displayed in the case for fresh' exhibits at Canterbury Museum part of a very interesting collection of rocks presented by Dr. Bell, of the Geological Survey. The collection is composed mostly of specimens from the WestCoast, and amongst them are serpentine, asbestos, and other rocks. One of the specimens is auriferous quartz, containing mixed sulphide, with an appreciable quantity of silver and copper. It was obtained from the main Eangitata reef. There are also specimens of quartz from the Wilberforce reef at the head of the Eakaia.' In the case there is also a large sample of very fine coal from Parapara, a collection of rocks from New South Wales, and fossils sent out from Scotland by Mr. E. Dunlop,' who visited New Zealand some.time ago. Amongst other specimens there is a striated surface of rock obtained from Hogan's Eoad, Wakatipu. A Mr. Churchyard has been advertising in the London "Times" that his name is henceforth to be only • ClTiirch. One can well understand why (remarks the "Daily Chronicle".).; A name that offers an obvious opening to . the cheap humorist that fives in, moat people's # skins is' no light burden. ■ "Norfolk Howard" was for a.long time a well-known slang euphemism, due to the fact that.a.certain family had taken this name in lieu of their ancestral Bugg. This writer knew a household in which "Vipan!" was the regular signal for retiring, to. rest, one Gotobed in the' neighbourhood , having chauged his name to that. Juggins and Pickles also have.- been .'similarly ""Eufted'; in./ recent years, add Catt, which ordinary .people might possibly bear with an effort, proved intolerable to a butcher, who could not •endure the continual, allusion to "Catfs '.meat." .'.'....■.?■.'■.'■ ... ..' .. ■..'..,- ;.