LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 769, 18 March 1910, Page 4

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 may not be penalised, notifications calling for. tenders for the cartage of railway stores and material at Wellington for one year from April 1, 1910, and for the supply and delivery of New Zealand coal for New Zealand railways.

The postal authorities advise that tho Victoria, which, left Sydney on Wednesday for Auckland, has on board an English and Australian mail for Wellington, which is due hero by the Main Trunk express on Monday next.

It is reported that Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener impressed upon the Government the expediency of extending the age up to which compulsory service might be enforced in the Dominion to 25 years. So announcement has yet been made by the Government on the subjeot. '

Flag-Captain Prowse, of H.M.S.. Powerful, has informed the local' secretary of the Navy League that arrangements have been made for the school members of the league to visit the warship on Monday afternoon next. Mr. Palmer is bow making the necessary arrangements with the schoolmasters as to the time the children are to assemble at the men-o'-war steps to embark in the flagship's boats.

"Musious" writes:—"Might. I suggest that the Besses o' th' Barn Band either introduce some light operatic' music into their programmes, or set apart a night when tho public. ca.n have the opportunity of hearing 'it? If I might be permitted further to suggest a programme, it would bo drawn iiom any of the following:—Gilbert acd Sullivan, Balfe, Wallace, Sidney loan, ajul many other composers of music for military bands, with which as yst we are only acquiinted by repute."

A hand-list of New Zealand birds has been., compiled by Jlr. Hamilton (director of Hie Dcrainioa Museum) at the instance of hho•Government. No attempt at description of the various birds' has been matte, but references to the chief works in which lotterpress and illustrations may. be fi/W.d are given.' The list, which includes the names of all imported as well as ail native birds,- comprises all known species. It should prove of great convenience to collectors and observers of the gantry's avifauna.

Not many. New : Zealanders, perhaps, have ever heard that seventy years ago the whole of the South 'Island was sold to an Australian for less than ,£4OO. The story is told in a Sydney paper in an article on William Charles Wentworth, one of the New South' Wales pioneers who was responsible' for carrying the Constitution Bill through tho British Parliament. That was in 1835, and it was .fifteen years earlier' that for the paltry sum mentioned,, and some prospective annuities to certain New Zealand chiefs, Mr.'Wentworth secured the-whole of tho middle island of New Zealand and 200,000 acres in the North Island. Sir George Gipps disallowed the bargain, and Hie claimant was heard at the Bar of tho Legislative Council. A Court of Claims held, that, in 1839, the British Government had made New Zealand adependency of New South Wales, consequently the alleged purchase was too late to be valid. An Act was passed ousting the claimants and forbidding persons to form, colonies without the consent of the Crown. Had Mr.'Wentworth's claim remained good, he would have held the world s record as a landlord, having in possession more of the earth's surface than any other private individual.

Kans and specifications for the alteration and extension .of the Salvation Army s recently-acquired building at Island Bay, which is to be converted into a Prison Gate Home, have been prepared, and all _is now in readiness to make a start with the work. Preparations for this work havo been going forward steadily, and the local Army authorities are now only awaiting final instructions from the Commissioner, before proceeding; Colonel Saunders, the Army's builder and architect, will arrive in Wellington next week. ... Tho Bailway Department has decided to run a second express over the Main Trunk lino between Wellington and Auckland daily between March 23 and 29 (mclusivo), to relieve the extra traffic pf faster week. . The second'-'express will leave Wellington at 8.55 a.m;, and arrive | at Auckland at 4.40 p.m. the next day; a ? d '" mnln B'south, will leave Auckland at 10.35 a.m., arriving here at 7.21 p.m. I the following day. I ■ is. still a little Unexpectedness iij in _ lu Y tts 'he following incident told by the- 'Argus"," sliqws :—James Mtrtirck, a young farmer, was driving two _cows along the Smythesdalo Eoad one line afternoon, when he was passed by. a man in a cart. They exchanged remarks about the weather, and the man m the vehicle drove on. After proceeding a short distance he stopped and turned back towards M'Gurck, of whom c ?£ kei * "formation as to the direction ot the township towards which he was dnymg: When M'Gurck reached the spot : where the oart had been turned round he saw the glitter of gold on the roadway, and picked up a nugget, which afterwards turned the scale at toz; 2dwt. ; lOgr. Iho gold had been uncovered by the wheel of the cart as it turned round, iue nugget had been worn smooth on its upper surface by. the traffic over the road. .

At a recent meeting of the Japanese Peace Society, Count Okuma delivered some noteworthy utterances. He | said (as reported in the Japan "Times") t that m the past those who had advocated peace had proved the very destroyers of peace. Napoleon 111 convoked the Peace Unierenco, and three; years later Europe was plunged into a war for which he was b anieable. Tho Tsar.promoted the hist Peace Conference at The Hague, and nine years-later the Russo-Japanese War took place. Since 1870 the armament of In £° W ff? had , been Readily increasing in strength, and now, after the RussoJapanese War, the naval preparations of the powers were on an unparalleled scale, lie most peace-loving nation in the world, America, was being forced by others into making a large expansion in her armaments. "Another strange fact," Count Okuma continued in dealing with what he described as obstacles to peace, was, candidly speaking, the position of Zli l P lni eSe ' or - T ather > Asiatics, in the world/ The racial prejudice against the people, oven after their nation's attaining to the rank, of a first-class Power, was, the Count feared, "a cause of ■iotnre disturbance of peace." If .' the Japanese were treated persistently with the prevailing antipathy, and the pressure of other Powers were continuallv bearing on them as at the present, the Japanese may be obliged to appeal to actual force, and claim the right position r'intence/K thatCaUSedA - ri -

■ Near Ohanpo, on 0;c Main Trunk line, the rails for the distance of about a mile have sunk several inches. It was found necessary to dig ont all the balh J' s J n ? d mate a fo "adaHon of six hundred bundles of ti-trec. uls " West School Committee was held last evening, when there were presentMessrs. Caste (chairman), Burrfdge Marsden, Davis Cotton, and Evans. Hr Dmldmg is to bo asked to judge the grounds for a prizo to be given by Mr. Burndgo It was resolved to depute the headmaster, Mr Bedlingfield, to approach the Government with a view to obtain" fund" S the oadets ' uniform "I understand Parliament will meet about a fortnight earlier than usuaf" remarked Sir. J. A. Hanan, MP. upon his return to luvercargill after the r* cent conference of leasehold members. At the Mount Cook Police Court yestorday before Mr. T. S. Lambert, J P James Henry Wren pleaded guilty to be" mg helplessly drunk in Tory Place and ij B ? ckm , a , st ". alias Sylvester pleaded not guilty to a charge ofdru ,£' enness and disgusting conduct, in TonPlace. Sergeant Rutfedgo and the arresting constable gave corroborative evidence and, tins being her third recent convict tion, she was fined 405., or H davs in gaol. Walter Carrick pleaded guilty to" being drunk in Adelaide Road, for wlich he was fined 10s or 48 hours' imprisoiimon. A first offender pleaded guiltv to being intoxicated in Cuba Street, and was admonished, convicted, and Hisohargtd-

The three Conciliation CommissionersMessrs. P. flally (Wellington), J. R. ■piggs (Christchurch), and Harlo Giles (Auckland)—have all been in Wellington this week, conferring with the Minister' for Labour (the Hon. J. A. Millar) and with each other on the working of the conciliation machinery of the Industrial Arbitration Acts.

A Chinese-English calpndar, which has been prepared by Mr. T. H, Shah for the Chinese Association in this . city, should prove an object of much value to Chinese residents, and of no little curiosity and interest to Europeans. The calendar gives all the dates of the year by English and Chinese designations. In addition, there are a universal time indicator, a list of Chinese fesHvals and New Zealand bank holidays, a map showing the distribution of the Chinese population of the Dominion, and lists giving, in English and Chinese, statistics of the Chinese residents in counties and boroughs. The figures are based' on the census of 1906.

That the rabbit pest is more prevalent in the country this year than for some time past is (says the Gore "Standard") evident by the number that are daily brought into the Mataura works by rail, carts, etc. The season commenced at the beginning of last week, and already several thousand carcasses have ' been handled, the packers being kept busy until midnight. The heat of the early part of last week had a disastrous effect on some of the consignments, and it is stated that already as much as ,£IOO worth of rejects have been put aside. One lot was so badly affected that it wa3 impossible to skin them. As much as 7Jd. per pair is being paid this year to rabbiters, some of whom are said to bo earning as much as .£2 per day. Every morning boys attending schoolare to be seen taking their ■ catches to the market, and soma of them earn good pocket-money by this means.

It is a remarkable fact that, in spite of the opening out of the country by railways and roads and the clearing of jungle tracts, the number of persona killed by wild animals in British l India does not show any decrease; in . fact last year,.:wo gather from the 'lancet,' 1 the figures rose to 21G6, an actual increase of 200 in comparison with the deaths in 1907. In Bengal, tigers Mlled 100 more persons, while in the' Central Provinces and Berar the increase was 64. 'In the Chanda district, one tiger alone killed 19 people before it was shot, while panthers and bears accounted for 95—practically double the total of the preceding year. ■~ In the United Provinces the mortality.was 194, against 139. As to the deaths from snake-bite, the decrease was very satisfactory, the number falling from 21,419 to 19,738. This total was the lowest since .1897.

Speaking to a "Southland Km**" reporter, Mr. Hanan, M.P., stated that he was satisfied that the Land BUI of last session would not be brought before Parliament again, and he doubted very much if there would be another Land Bill introduced in the coming session. He thought - that the greater part of the session should be devoted to ■ consideration of the Local Government Bill which the Prime Minister last session intimated he would introduce after the vacation. Consideration would .'also, he believed, be given to some amendments of the Licensing Act. The Mangaweka Station, will be made a stopping, place for the' Main Trunk express trains on and after April L ' • The Auckland "Herald" understands that great dissatisfaction exists among the mounted regiments- which took part in the encampment in the Auckland Domain, on the occasion of the visit of Lord Kitchener. The chief complaints hare reference to the commissariat arrangements, and the .amount of fatigue work which' the mounted men were called upon to do for other branches of the service. It is reported that the officer commanding the Mounted Brigade (Lieutenant-Colonel Holgafce) has forwarded a list of the complaints by various units to the officer commanding the district. Of this more will, no doubt, be heard later. ■;

The principal official test of the new Grafton bridge (Auckland) took place on Tuesday, The dead load of the span on [ itself, is about 3600 tons, or about ISOO i. tons to each half. The load put upon it, was 292 tons, but this was placed on one half only, which is.a very 6evere trial. The' value of. "the test was increased by the fact that 261 tons lay on the bridge for over 17 hours in the shape of road metal rand drays: The .pressure from a throng of people does not' exceed 801b. to. tho,square foot This would equal 412 tons on tho whole arch, and 206 on half the arch,.but 40 per cent, has to be added : to alive load'foi "impact" as against a dead load. The maximum depression observed was approximately one-eighth of an inch, which is considered a very satisfactory result. ', ; The Auckland Harbour Board's loquest for the Government to approach the Admiralty with a view, to utilising one of. the vessels of the Australian station for the purpose of surveying the Rangitoto Channel is under consideration by. Cabinet. ~:.-..• The nativo locusts are reported to bo more numerous oh the Port Hills at Christchuroh . than they have been for many years. Small grasshoppers are also more plentiful. The reason for this ib probably to be fotrad in the fact that during the last two years there has been a more than usually abundant growth of grassland no,fires have taken place. The locusts are not identical with the migratory pest to be found in South America, Africa, and Australia. The New Zealand locust has only, a short flight, and on -a sunny day several may bo seen rising in front of the pedestrian as he walks through the grass on parts of the .Port Hills. . .

Operations in connection with the proposed salvage of the ill-fated Waikare ara no further advanced, owing to 6tress of weather. The syndicate recently decided to charter the, schooner Anna to make the trip, but owing to the bad I weather and the unfavourable windslie little vessel, has been, unable to get away: Mr. J. W. Jamieson informed -a r "Southland News", reporter that an ef- ! fort was being made to charter the tug Theresa Ward to. take, the party round to Dusky Sound, on account of tho waste of time caused by the inability of the schooner to get away. They were, so far, no wiser on the subject of the prospects of salvaging, although he had noticed that every second man he met-had the whole question of. salvage cut and dried.. "You have only to do this and that, and there you are," they say. No one, however, knew how things were, nor could they know until the results of the diver's, investigations became known. "We have received theories from as far north as Wellington," he said, "and if they were as feasible as they seem on the face of them, salvage would appear as easy as shelling peas. Diver May 'wisely will not advance an opinion of any sort until he investigates." ■■

Owing to the chorus of criticism which the attitude of the judge at a recent trial provoked, the President of the Republic has just signed a Bill for the modification of the procedure at assize courts. The interrogatory by the presiding judge is, abolished, together with the reading out of the act of indictment. Instead, the Publio Prosecutor will explain the charge against the accused person, and iucreased facilities will be granted for the calling of witnesses for the defence. At the same time the Bill which is to be Eromptly submitted to the Chamber of loputies provides for the complete suppression' of the hectoring system, which has been so frequently adopted in the investigations by examining magistrates. There is no doubt that the Bill will meet with a favourable reception from Parliament. — Paris correspondent London "Telegraph." • Another trial of the new tramcar for the Brooklyn line was held yesterday morning. Tho series of trials carried out havo proved entirely satisfactory. Ono or two minor alterations will, however, bo made to the car before it passes the Government inspection and is ready for service. A conference of the Federated Painters of New Zealand will be opened in Wellington on Saturday, March 20. It is expected that representatives from all the, centres of the Dominion will bo present. One of tho many remits to bo discussed will be tho proposed consolidation of Labour into a political party. It is stated that replies favourable to tho proposal have been received from Auckland, ChristchuTch, and Duncdin. shampooing, Clipping, Hairdressing, Manicuring, Face Massage, Treatment of Falling Hair and Dandruff, Combings made up. Natural . Hair-pads. Mrs. Rolleston (over Carroll's), U Willis Street. 'Phono «9».-Adrt.