LOCAL AND. GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1074, 13 March 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND. GENERAL.

Tho Maheno, with an English (via Suez) and Australian mail, arrived in Auckland from Sydney between 11 a.m. and noon yesterday. The Wellington and southern portions of tho mail will arrive here by this afternoon's main trunk express. • . ■ •

The mails which were to have been dispatched by the Aorangi from San Francisco on Wednesday last, March 8, are being sent on by the Mariposa, which was scheduled to leave the American port on Saturday last. At Papoete they will lie transhipped. to the Union Company's steamer Talune, which is due at Auckland on April 5. On Saturday., his Excellency the Governor, the' Acting-Prime Minister (the Hon. J. Carroll), and the Acting-Minister for Defence (tho Hon. G. Fowlds) visited the training camp at Tauherinikau. During the day his Excellency gave a short' address to the men. A march past was executed by those under 1 canvas, and form and proficiency were shown in all movements. Tho viistors returned to town in the evening.

Through the ag-cney of Air. R. A. Wright, M.P., a pair of young ostriches have been procured for the Newtown Zoological Gardens. The birds aro presented by the company which owns the ostrich farm at Pukekohe, near Auckland. Mr. Wright mado application for the birds to Mr. W. F. Massey, who is a shareholder in the company," with the result that they were readily donated to the "zoo." Tho young ostriches arrived by train on Saturday in charge of an employe© at the farm, and on being taken to Newtown Park were placed iu an enclosure prepared for, their reception. They each stand at present about three feet high, and their appearance suggests that'they'will develop into very fino specimens of their species.

The remarks of tho Hon. J. T. Paul, M.L.C., with reference to the unsettled state -of Labour organisation in Auckland are, in the opinion of local Labour leaders, incorrect (writes our Auckland correspondent). There has been a division in the Socialist party, but. this body does not Tcpresent Labour, and although Labour organisation liar- not been particularly active of late, there is no disunion. When Mr. Paul's remarks were referred to one Labour leader by a reporter, be said that he would not reply to "such a monument of knowledge as Mr. Paul."

A meeting of the University Senate will bo held at the Colonial Museum, Wellington, on Saturday, April ).._ The business will include tho consideration o£ the applications received for the position of as-sistant-registrar; the consideration of tho reports of the examiners in England on the examinations of November, 1910; lo record candidates as having passed sections of degree examinations; to record candidates as having passed examinations qualifying llietu tor receiving degrees; and the consideration of the annual report to the Governor.

■ A telephone exchange- is now open at Uppov wutt ( "'Tlw hours uro from 0 a.tu, to 5 p.,m.

The suggestion which emanated at Stirling that the Miutlu'in portion of the Bruce electoral* should be cut out and added lo Clutha has (says the Bruce "Herald") given rise to a fear that if it were carried into eli'ect the Bruce electorate would be wijicd out. Whether the originators at Stirling intend to take steps to approach the Boundary Commissioners, as has been stated, is at present an unknown quanlily. but electors require lo be on the alert lest at the eleventh hour the Stirling surprise pocket is sprung upon them, and the commissioners are not made cognisant of tho serious objections the electors have to Bruce ceasing to exist as an electorate. The Bruce electorate lias been in existence since 1860—or four years after a Constitution was granted to New Zealand and it ceased to be a Crown colony. In fact, Bruce and Wallace have the honour of being amongst the oldest electorates in New Zealand, and arc the oldest in Otogo; others have eonio and cone, and while they have passed into oblivion Bruce and Wallace have remained in existence, notwithstanding aill thk> evervarying changes of electoral boundaries. Naturally, therefore, even the suggestion of the wiping out of Bruce is strongly resented by its electors, who take a pride in the fact' that it has always preserved its identity.

At about half-past nine o'clock on Saturday morning" the Fire Brigade was called out to extinguish a firo on the roof of the engine-hou.se at the Prousc Lumber Company's factory in Tarannki Street. The fire originated in a peculiar way. Wood-smoke, in its continuous passage through tho iron chimney had coated its interior with a deposit of gum. On Saturday this ignited, and so heated the iron chimney that the adjacent rooftimbers were set ablaze. The fire had obtained no great hold when the brigade arrived, and was easily extinguished. The value of the damage done is assessed at less than JE2O.

The application for the position of As-sistant-Registrar to the New Zealand University, rendered vacant by Mr. Hector's promotion to tho Registrarship, in succession to Mr. J. W. .Toynt, will be considered nt a meeting of the Senate to bo held on Anril 1.

On the motion of Mr. ,T. W. Macdonald, solicitor to the Public Trust Office, the Arbitration Court on Saturday made orders apportioning compensation money in respect of the estates of tho following deceased persons:—Reginald Adolphina Watts, late of Reef ton, miner; Andrew Riddell, late of Petone, greaser; John Henry Walters, late of Wellington, married, engineer; AVillinm James, late of Mnrton, settler; Alexander Seal, late of Christciiurch, bootmaker; Harry Butcher, late of AVcllington, hotolkeopcr; William Clements, late of Wellington, enginedriver; James Allsop Baker, late of Runanga, miner.