LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1068, 6 March 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Wimmera, from Sydney, arrived nt Auckland between i p.m. and 5 p.m. vesterday. She brings an Australian and a small English mail (via Suez). Tho reason of there only being a small mail (some 33 bags for Wellington and south) is owing to the fact that this mail closed in Loudon only one day after the'one which arrived here via San Francisco last Thursday.

The .Arbitration Court will commence its Wellington sittings this morning. The saddlers' dispute, having been settled, has been struck off the list.

Tho new regulations regarding the registration of barmaids have been signed by his Excellency the Governor. They will be gazetted next week and until then no details concerning them will bo available for publication.

An incident which occurred on Saturday afternoon should serve as a reminder that people who attend cricket matches should always be on the look-out. Two ladies with their escorts had seated themselves on a form nn tho hill above the road near the entrance lo Xewtown Park, when a ball, slogged from the nearest wicket, soared high over the road and landed immediately at the back of the little group, so near, indeed, that in its descent ii touched the wide brim of one of the lady's hats. Tlad it fallen six inches shorter, the consequences might, easilv have been most serious.

A ennr?e nf sermons U bring prrnchnl in SI. .Tosciili's Church. Hucklr street, Inthe Hov. l-'athcr Hartley, M.A., on the Sundnv afternoons of Lent. The subjects are: "The Divinity of Christ," '''The Church." and "Modern Unbelief,"

The Alcitio County Council, at a special meeting on Saturday, decided to raise a loan of ,£28,000 for bridges and metalling at a cost of one penny ill rates on unimproved values.

Nearly one hundred people, monitors of the firm and employees, with their wives, children, and friends, attended the annual picnic of Messrs. T. Balliiiger and Sons, which was held on Saturday. Three brakes were chartered to convey the party of Mason's Gardens, at Taila. Hero ample scope for amusement . was found in various directions by both old and young. The juveniles in particular derived entertainment from a sports meeting organised for their benefit. The excursionists returned to town in the evening after a thoroughly enjoyable dav.

A consignment of some 300,000 jarrah blocks to" bo used in the blocking of Willis Street (extension), Customhouse (}uay, and the General Post Office triangle have conic to hand. The work will be proceeded with as soon as the rush of work in connection with the recent rain-storm is over. Just at present the cifv engineer's staff has its hands pretty full. The brief note published on Saturday in regard to the Cabinet's decision not to subsidise the fund towards defraying the cost of sending the >>.v Zealand athletes Home to the Empire Festival meeting was intended to refer to an application of the Canterbury Cycling Club.' The original promise of a subsidy no to i£2so, as stated by Sir Joseph Ward, still holds good. A special meeting of the Miramar Borough Council is to be held at noon on Wednesday to consider, and, if approved, to adopt the special'order made respecting the diminishing of the width of King's Road, Miramar, from 99ft. to 66ft. The Cooks' and Waiters' Union will hold a special meeting in the Trades Hall this" evening to consider its case, now before the Arbitration Court. Two delegates will also be elected to represent the union on the Trades' Council. When the Wellington Carpenters' and Joiners' dispute was before the Conciliation Council, the local Trades' and Labour Council adopted the view that reference made by The Dominion, in its editorial columns, to the conciliation proceedings, constituted a breach of Section 115 of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. Acting upon this view, the Trades' Council reported the alleged breach to the Labour Department. The Department sought, the advice of the Crown Law Officers on the subject, and has i'now been advised that in the reference made by The Dominion to the Carpenters' dispute, when it was toforc the Concilia! ion Conntil, thero. was ao breach of Section 115 of the Act. The president of the Trades Council (Mr. E. J. Carey) stated on Saturday that his council would now seek an opinion from its own legal adviser (Mr. D. M. Findlay) as to whether or not a breach had been committed.

Tho cases of Hales v. Dcvercux and Badham v. Yerex have been provisionally set down for hearing at the Supremo Court to-day. The Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Cooper will continue the hearing of tho Native land case relating to tho Okahukura Block.

Wo arc informed by Mr. C. A. Wilson, broker of the Ilunua Colliery Company, Ltd., that tho prominent business men and members of the local bodies in Papakura are giving their sympathy and active support to tho project. It has long been a mailer of regret there that the coal seams were not worked, but a number of causes operated to prevent tho extensive deposits being mad: of utility and profit. Kesidents of the rising 'township (which is almost near cough to be a suburb of Auckland) feel that at last the great mineral wealth of their district is lo bo tapped, and realise tho inestimable value of a branch railway to the coal mines, through tho beautiful Hunua Gorge, as it will open up an extensive and fertile, but little-known, valley. Thercforo it is to be expected that they will strive to assist the company by every means in their power. In Auckland also shares are: being rapidly taken up.rnnd' the interest of users of coal has been aroused by the fact that coal will be nt least 4s. per ton cheaper than at present— a. most important item in every household. The company would thus seem to have splendid prospects—it possesses the nearest field to a great market, and it can supply cheaply with profit alike to its customers and shareholders. Thus it is assured of an immediate and growing market, in fact its sales should be an index to the northern city's growth. On the figures supplied by Mr. Hayes, F.S.Sc., who is recognised as in the front rank of mining experts, there arc 150 yeare' working in the areas 'already under option or lease to tho company, so that there would be no necessity to purchase at the large prices which follow the Successful flotation of coal companies which commence with small areas. The headquarters of tho company liave been, for several reasons, established as at Wellington, and the directorate is competed of exceptionally able business men, whoso work on behalf of the proposed company has already placed it in.tho position of being able to start without delay immediately the shares necessary for flotation are subscribed. *