LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1023, 12 January 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Victor ll'Duff,. a bookmaker was arrested by Detectives Hammond and Lewis at, 11 p.m. on Tuesday on two warrants of commitment for failure to pay fines (i£Bo and ,£2O) imposed in Auckland for breaches of the Gaming Act. The terms of default are three months' and one month's imprisonment, sentences to bo cumulative, and M'Duff has been lodged .ill the 'Terrace Gaol to undergo those terms. He is the bookmaker ivho.ie name fipnred in connection with tho "welshing" charge at the last Trentham races, and his appeal in.that case is likely to be shortly dealt with by the Supreme Court.

It' is "stated in" local engineering shops that Mr. 31. P. Cameron, hardware 'expert to- tho Customs .Department, will shortly niake a tour of the Dominion with a view to investigating the precise condition of the 'engineering industry in the various centres, and will afterwards report to his Department." This is regarded as the outcome of representations made to the Government some months ago by engineering deputation's, ■ which asked that tho industry should be-grant-ed increased tariff protection.

Iho Otira tunnel has been completed at the Otira end for a distance of 53J' chains, and the bottom heading is 91 chains' CI links in. At the Bealey end. the - bottom heading is in 12 chains and the lining is completed up to nine chains. The Greymouth ".Star" says tliero is no possibility of tho work being completed in the contract time, five years. The contractors have had to face enormous difficulties, which were increased by the fact' that this is the first really long tunnel in the world whose dimensions have been on such a small scale. The smallness of tho tunnel makes the handling of spoil extraordinarily difficult. ' ~

The new tramway car-sheds at Thorndon are. now completed, as far the building itself is concerned. The overhead work and tho lighting have still to be fitted up, and this work will be gouo on with immediately. The special gear for the track work to connect tho sheds with the main lino is due from Homo about'the end of the present ■month, and on its arrival, the work will be put. in hand at once.

The bodies of'two tramcars, which are being altered from box cars to the. sidedoor type, are now ready for the trucks, and the work of converting four 'other box cars is in hand. Tho . trucks are duo in Wellington about January 21. The fruit shipment by the steamer Manuka, which, arrived from Sydney yesterday,. amounted to. only . 310 cases.A meeting, convened by Mr; D.' J. Nathan, .was held. jn Godber's Kooms on '. 'icsday evening for the' purpose of making arrangements. for entertaining Sir. Joseph Ward and (lie Hon. Dr. I'indlay before they leave for London. ■ Among those present were: The Hoiis. Br. Collins, C.'M. Luke, J. E. Jenkinson, W. \v. M'Cnr'dle, Messrs. A. A. Corrigan, AY. M'Lean, H. Beauchamp, J. P. Luke. M.P.,'.K. Fletcher. M: Kennedy, and E. AY. Arnold. • Mr. Nathan was voted to 'the chair. It was decided that. Sir Josenh Ward and the Hon. Dr. Findlay should be entertained at a ban- ' qtiet, and that I.adj' Ward ■ and Mrs. Findlay should bo entertained 'at a ' "social" or "at home" in the Town Hall. Both gatherings are to be nonpolitical. Committees were'set up to make the arrangements for the functions. ' . .

It has- been-'ascertained, reports the "Otago Baily Times." that-spurious halfcrowns aro in circulation in Dunedin at tho present time. Members of the public are therefore cautioned to be caroful to examine the silver change they may be handling; Local -bankers -stated in reply to'.'inquiries that t-iey had not encountered anv counterfeit coins of late. No . doubt, ■ however, it was added by one banker, 'Wellington would eventually get its-share of the bogus coins now "circulating in Dunedin. In tims they would work their way northward.. An exchange states that the committee of the Dunedin Athenaeum has received anonymously. from England ss. '."conscience money" in respect of , some magazines that had been taken out of the institution and not returned. There havo also been returned, to the-Athenaeum during the past month three books which had been issued to a subscribr 25 years ago, and overlooked and packed away in .a box until they were recently discovered.

The operations of the new Act making it illegal' for directors of public companies or other persons interested : in 'business with local bodies to act as members of such bodies has,.it is understood by the "Otago Daily Times," affeot,cd at least three members of .the Port Chalmers Borough Council. One of these (Councillor W. J. Mitchell) tendered his resignation as a member of the council last evening,! and two others. have retired from the directorate of tlio local gas company. , '

A few days ago a hammer-headed shark was seen close in shore at Arran Bay, near Cowes Bay, AVaihekc (says the Auckland "Herald"). ' Mr. C. Insley, a visitor; shot the monster, which was afterwards photographed. It measured lift. _ froni pose to tail, and, weighing as it did about Bowt., it took several men to haul it ashore. Bathers on the harbour beaches are at.present-much,perturbed by reports that shark 3 have been seen in the harbour. It is stated that two large specimens came closo in shore at Devonport on Saturday, one of them evincing a desire to form acquaintanceship v;ith tho occupants of a rowing boat. Considering that AucKlanders have no public bathing facilities worthy mentioning, apart from the beaches, it is a,'great pity that such undesirable visitors snould arrive to_further reduce tho available water. But they strengthen very greatly, the undoubted claim that tho people of Auckland have upon'the authorities for tho construction'of a sufficiency of baths.

i A novel, idea for cheap grazing'has apparently occurred to a resident in Mount Albert district, writes our Auckland correspondent. At the meeting of the board on Monday night a letter was read from a ratepayer complaining regarding stray horses having btsen on his property. The writer stated that ho was unable to turn them out, as with the horses'was an attendant in the shape of a bulldog, which animal would not even let him go on his -own section^

Applications were received by the State Guaranteed Advances Board yesterday, from local bodies for loans amounting to <£121,590. The applications ■ were for the usual local body works. In addition to these, loans aggregating .£75,255,'f0r which all forms had liocn duly complied with, were finally passed by tho Minister for Finance. The total of applications approved up to the end of last year was .£1,431,531.

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The "Feilding Star" states that on Tuesday last the local police received information that two lads who had deserted from tho Amokura were in the Feilding ''district. Inquiries were made, and shortly afterwards the boys were found, lhe police took them into custody, and they are to be returned to the ship.

"New Zealand offers a multiplicity of attractions,"- said an officer of one of the Homo steamers now in Auckland, appropos of 'he present epidemic of desertion. "The climate, social life, and tho Xeiv Zealand beer so d-repiy impress the average sailor that lie is extremely loth to leave. This-is a veritable paradise to him, the surroundings bsing positively alluring to a mariner iust off a- six weeks' voyage. Yes," he added reflectively, "we do sometimes have trouble, and there is generally beer at the'bottom of it. At Home our men go ashore, and, after drinking ths best portion of a gallon, return-in an amicable mood. In New Zealand -they probably consume the same amount, ■ but instead of returning they proceed, to paint your peaceful cities red, and the result is disastrous to both themselves and their employers."

There was a fair attendance at the Theosophical Society's rooms iu Ballance Street last evening, when Mr. J. R. Thomson, organiser of the New Zealand section of the society, delivered on interistTn? lecture on "The Way to the Inner Life." Mr. R. Hardie Shaw occupied the chair. In the course of his address the lecturer dealt at some tiength with the various methods of seeking out "the Kay," as elaborated in the Theosophical teaching."