LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 765, 14 March 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Union Company's steamer Maheno with an English and Australian mail on board, arrived at Auckland from Sydney yesterday. The Wellington portion of her mail will arrive Here by thi> afternoon's Main Trunk express. .-In an editorial note in Saturday , ' issue, commenting on the leasehold oaucui tw- P™^ o^', a, misprint of "lease i»£j,< v^^ made the Selena in which it occurred a flat contradictioi of the one preceding it. "The advocate,' of the leasehold,' 1 , it read, "have, a thou sand fames advanced a multitude of con sideratione' to establish -their- case -Leasehold,',should have read "freehold.- . Thursday 'next (St. Patrick's Day)'wU be a bank holiday. - - . . . _WK was _; .a, signal .; observed/at tb Brothers lighthouse when the Unioi Company's Poherua passed there fo K a ft ton ° n Saturda y morning.'- Trans ifltcd the message read, "Have you i S ? r t ß h°p ? L and t0 tllis Cl # ain Kofiertson £§°n °» er T' • r < ephed W-'No surgcoi available/' As it was thought that some .thing serious. might have • happened ci the island, the collier stood by for furthe signals, and was requested. to lower i £°f n, Th iL re<lnest was complied with but .the tide, was then making nenrl' 7 knots .and it was ; seen that' it was in! Practicable to.effect.a landing, so Captaii Wobortson. pushed on for Wellington, am as soon as Seatoun signal station wa neared the message from the lighthoii" was communicated. As a result the Gov .ernment steamer ffinemoa left for th v roth ? rs £ 8 - 30 -P-n»-. with Dr. T. Kemi aboard On arrival at the island at mid nignt it was discovered that an assistan keeper was ill. Captain Bollons decide! to leave one of the Hinemoa's crew a relieving officer and bring back the in valid, a young man .named Monaghan: o f a F°". wa ° only landed on the islani last rridny. ■ ',■•-' Several important matters'will; it is nn derstood, come up for cousideration at i meeting of Cabinet to-day. All the Min isters will be in attendance, excepting th Hon. G. Fowlds, who is accompanying hi, ixcdlency the Governor on his .final tri] to the West Coast. . What was felicitously termed Mmday was held yesterday afternoon a the Jirookiyn'illetuodist. Sunday Schoo in connection with the inauguration o the- Cradle ltoll.". A public'ceremony ij connection with this branch of scioo work is somewhat unique, and the-at tendance of paients with their babies wa; large. Ihe service was conducted, by Mr W. Hoive, who has- been in charge of th< infant school since its .inauguration i tew months ago. The Eev. J. E. Clarl was. also present, and after he had pre sented certificates of membership to th< mothers present, gave a short addrea dealuig with the training of children Several simple hymns iveie.eung by thi infante, and solos rendered by two o: the teachers, Alias Coventry and Mr Densem. . , ' After a spell of ;a ■ few ■ weeks, Scrgeanl Rutledge, assisted by Constable Jl'Kelvie. resumed the usual Sunuay raids yesterday, and. visited .premises in Cambridge lerrace. A quantity of liquor was-seized and proceedings -vnV probably follow. ," Speaking at Christchurch on Fridaj evening on the need for a Labour partj in 'Parliament, Mr. T, E, Taylor said the average man was apathetic as tt what. the . Government was doing until he got out of'work. Of late-years considerable dissatisfaction had arisen witli existing conditions. The speaker strongly criticised .the Land Bill, stating thai principle had been sacrificed to party, and that ( the followers of the Government wero bound to uphold the Govern ment, which had ;such a speckled floeli that it could not tell the sheep from the goats. A Labour party was needed in Parliament, -t'ho members of which would be pledged up to the hilt not tc sell the freehold of another inch ol 3rown lands, and would also be "united in insisting upon the municipalisatior )f- necessities of. life. Mr. Taylor urged that the land platform drawn up at the conference of members of Parliament tho previous day could only be fully enlorsed by a Labour party. In the of the Auckland Reference Library the attention of the luthorities has been drawn "to a series 3t volumes of considerable historical interest. These are the "Journals of the House of Commons" of which there arc i great many volumes forming a complete record of the transactions of, and lebates' in, the House from 1547 to 1852. rho volumes havo only paper covers, but *ey are being substantially, bound and should form ono of thc'most interesting jollections in the library. The annual meeting 'of the Anti-Opium Association is to bo held in tho Assemblj Hall, Y.H.C.A., to-morrow evening. Thi ipoakcrs will be Miss A. Henry, of the Jhina Inland Mission; Mr. Tung-Liana ffwang, Chinese Consnl: Itov. Koitl) 3wen, and Mr. J. G. W. Aitlten (president if the association). : Shampooing, Clipping, Hairdresslng, Uanicuring, Face Massage, Treatihent of Falling Hair and Dandruff, Combings liado up. Natural Hair-pads. Mrs. lolleston (over Carroll's), 14 Willis Street, 'Phone 1699.— Adtt. ' ■

Wellington trams are said to be the noisiest in New Zealand, probably from the fact that tho rails are laid on a bast of concretei ,nstead of on wooden sleepers, as is the case with some of the suburban sections. So loud and insistent is the clatter of a car proceeding through the city that conversation is difficult ■ unless those engaged put their heads v togethei and speak with immodulated emphasis. It is ■ not uncommon for two people thus conversing to be caught by the tram pulling up at a stopping-place, surpnsinf other passengers with the unconscious force of tehir speech. "Tram row" has evolved a pretty play in finger signs between passengers and the conductor. Whili a car is in motion the conductor, 01 taking a card to clip merely looks at it: owner, who invariably holds up _bne, two or three fingers to indicate over . hov many sections he wishes to ride. A representation from the Hay ward'; Land Company met the members of tin Hutt County Council at.Hayward's Fori on Saturday afternoon to personally in speot that part of the Hurt Kiver whicl threatens to make a breach near tin crate groyne, erected some time ago. X was the desire of the company to exteni the groyne, but the County Council's in specter (Mr. Cudby) did not favour th idea. On Saturday it was decided to at tempt to divert the river into a straighte course by deepening the channel; whicl work will- most- probably be done by th County Council under a financial arrange went with the company. The sum of 10s. a day for water wa what was being paid by some fewpeopl in Balclutha, prior to a good shower som 10 days ago, which replenished iff som degree the exhausted water , tanks. Th season has throughout been an exception ally dry one, and rain was ofte: eagerly looked for. A heavy 'rain fel over a wide district on Wednesda night, and proved most acceptable, t all. Some of the orops in the distric and in the south generally Have sufferei from the drought, this being particn larly the. case in respect of winter, tar nips, several fields: of which, have d« veloped signs of. the blight. As regard cereals, however, the fine weath-sr ha been most favonrable to good crops, ani ae a consequence the quality of th wheat from the south this year, miller say, is as good as, and in many case superior to, much of the wheat from th more popular districts of North Otagi and Canterbury/ ; . . • ; Within the next da? or two tender will be called by the Public Works D< iwtment for the construction of the firs section of the irrigation works on th Steward Settlement in North Otago. I wil( comprise two distributaries of total lerigth of 11J , 'miles. Provision wiL , of course, be' made for the carrying awa of the surplus water at the.'. terminus, c the main race. At different points ei capes will also be constructed in orde to cope with flood waters, which th maiti race will by natural ■ drainage r< ceive. The settlement comprises an arc of about 17,000 acres of irrigable land. A about the time the settlement wa opened for selection, some two or thre years ago, a start was actually made b the Government on the scheme that i now to be gone on with, and the. mai canal, of • a length of about 14 miles, wa cut through the settlement,. also a sma] portion of one distributary./ There, hon ever; operations were suspended. Som eight months ago the Public Works Di partment put in hand. the. plans for th whole scheme. This comprised, in add lion to the main race, the constructs of ns many as 14 different distributarie diverging , from the main canal-at diffei ent'points, ranging in length from a fe' chains to 20 miles, and covering a tot: distance of about 50.. miles. ." .--,;. ;ln the Industrial Court in Sydney n cently, Judge Heydon was repeated! pressed by counsel in a summons matte to give a ruling that would have-take him ■ outside the scope of the awar upon which the case hinged. At last hi Honour, somewhat, exasperated, e: claimed: "Sir! I am not a Kadi; cannot make laws as I like; I cannc order things just because they appej to me •to be good, as the first Count Court judge in England did in the firs County Court case." His Honour wer on to.tell the circumstances. It was ijnse^in-which a young man was sue tor debt,-and the judge found out durin the course of the hearing that the youn man .helped in any wa by his rich relatives. He felt very deep! that they ought to have helped the youtl so ho gave-judgment for the debt 'again' the young man's rich aunt. "If.l CO ui I 0 j hlnß ?.T of • that sort '" addwl J «dg tfeydon, 'I might be able to do what yo The , plan of the New Eiver estuar prepared in connection'with the reclaim bon at Invercargill and sent t the Marine Department, Wellington, ha gone astray (says the "Southland Times"! iliis information was placed before th City Council last week, and the Mayo explained that it would cost ten guinea to replace the plans. It was recalled tha plans previously sent in connection wit the,first proposed reclamation had al= been lost in the Marine Department t Wellington, and that had it not fortui ately happened that, a draft copy ha been retained here the replacement woul have cost £50. It was decided that fres plans be prepared, but that meanwhil a telegram be dispatched to' ; Weilingto immediately urging an. exhaustive seare for the designs. Councillors spoke freel of the apparent, carelessness shown in th head ofhee. and instructed the town cler' to draw the Minister's attention to th matter. . . : .-. A return just compiled shows that th total number of co-operative workers em ployed by the Government is 4381, ir eluding 826 employed on roads. The me , on railway works are distributed as fo] low—Stratford: Onganie, 516; Norfc Auckland, 444; Kawakawa-Grahamstowi 371; Gisborne-Rotorua, 251; Midland, 592 Greymouth-Point Elizabeth, 288; Catlins 402; Westport-Inangahua, SO; - Ngahere Blackball, 103. ' • ■ : . - In.regard to the timber industry, Mi J. C. Thomson, M.P. for Wallace, ha forwarded the following letter to tb Hon. J. A. Millar, Minister for Railways under date March 8:—"I understand t£a you are leaving for Victoria at an earl; date. As you are no doubt aware, ther' is a large area of birch forest in this por tion of Southland. Sawmillers were send ing away to. Australia thousands of fee until within a tow years ago, when thi prohibitive tariff ot the Commonwealtl Government killed what was a fairly lu :rative industry. Sawmilling is one o; jur important industries, and I am anxi )us that something shall be done to opei ;he Australian market again.- I beg t. request that when you are in Victori: ?ou will be good enough to give this mat cer your attention with a , view to ascer laining whether wo could arrange a re jiprocal agreement.. As you are aware iustralia must take kauri, and the Com nonwealth Government might agree t< some arrangement regarding, birch if z loucessipn were made with respect t< ;hat timber. At anyrate, I trust thai rou will do what you can. Wore then in'outlet for our birch in Australia—anc re have thousands upon thousands oi lores—it would give a great impetus t< iawmilling, and the railway would gaii i large increase in freight.