LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1177, 12 July 1911, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The postal authorities advise Unit the I'liiiiaroii, which loft Sydney mi ha »r----diiy, July 8, has on hoard an Australian mail. She is duo hero this morning. Three hundred and sixty-two Georges in New Zealand have contributed JI7O in all to the George Fund, which has now been closed liv t.onl Islington. Auckland easily lops tlie list with 130 contributors (just on 3(i per cent, of the total). Clm*tcliurch comes next with 22. Then there is a drop to 10 (Tiniaru), which beats JJuiicdin (9) by one. Wellington , * Georges contributed' only eight. The vcmaimns tallies are: lm ; emirgill 3, llleiilipjm 2, Xapier II Hastings 2, Gis'uornc 2, Hlull 2, Oaniaru 3, New Plymouth 1. Jlaslerton 5 J'Vathor.slcn 2, Kelson 1, I.iiinsden 'J, CnrHoii 7, Toinuka 5, Stratford li, Sydenluiiu 2, Otautau 2, Tairu:; 4, 'iaihape 2, Pleasant I'oint 2, Hair Hill 2, Greendale .1, Haukiwi 3, Opotiki I, Wliangarci 3, liatanui 2. llatuiviii -'. OpmiiiKc 2, \\ a-n-iinui 2, Ohnkunp i, Akaroa 2. In addition to Nelson, about 'JO other places put only one George on the list. The above amount will lie forwarded at once to his Majesty King George. This morning at 11 o'clock the Hon. J. A. Millar (Minister for Labour) will receive a deputation which has a matter to bring to his notice regarding the closing hours lor grocers' shops and liow Chinese enterprise affects the present position. Coronation day on board the C'orinrhic was well celebrated. The vef.sel was then on the high sens, five days out from Capo Town to Hobart. At noon, a Royal salute was fired, and all the passengers and crow assembled <in the forward deck and sang the .National Anthem. During the afternoon a sports gathering was held on deck, and in the evening a very successful concert and fancy-drsss ball was given. The Charitable Aid Committee of the Wellington Hospital and Charitable Aid Board met yesterday, and dealt with a number of applications for relief. There were present Messrs. J. W. M'Ewan (chairman), D. Kobertsan, J. Smith, and liev. "W. A. Uvans, and Miss A. Richmond. "The council has been dealing with the Bank of New Zealand for a large number of years," said a councillor at the mooting of the liutt County Council yesterday, "and we should get a reduction ot the rate, of interest we arc paying on our overdraft." The rate the council is paying is 51 per cent., and the amount of the overdraft at the end of last year was .£2007. It was decided to make an apph-

cation for a reduction. • . The present is (ho Corinthic's fir.st voyage to Now Zealand with wireless equipment, and during the passage the instrument had plenty of work to do, no fewer than eight Homeward-bound steamers beiii? communicated with between, Plymouth and Cape Town. Cape Town' was "picked up" two days before arrival, and communication was established with Wellington yesterday morning. At the quarterly meeting of the Railways Superannuation Board, held on Jlomlny. retiring allowuncos amounting to J!l2lj were granted to .-ovonlcen contributors. Allowances to live widows and six children of deceased contributors worn approved, involving an annual charge of JJICB, and £V 1 13s. 7d. was ordered to be repaid to a member, representing the difference, between benefits received and his actual contributions. To 110 members of the service- who have resigned or havo retired from various causes, refunds of contributions wero authorised totalling «C30.i0 17s. 3d. There is one poem of Bracken's (says the Christchurch "Press") that should be quietly interred—for a time at least. "Not Understood" wears badly. It is not in any sense a great poem, and it is becoming soiled by ignoble use. It is in danger of becoming the favourite excuse for tho'e who have failed. Jho spectacle of the Acting-Prime Minister, with his hand on his heart, n tear in his eye, and a catch in his voice, reciting Not Understood" with a political application, is nut so impressive as it was meant to be This country is coming to understand Sir James Carroll only too well. What, it does not understand is why no should bo occupying his present position. A young woman arrived from Taihape in custody yesterday, and will appear at the Magistrate's Court this morning on a charge of abandoning a baby boy at j.-'and W on June 30 last, by leaving it in'the- vicinity of the Home of Compassion.

Having doubled its rolling stock within a comparatively short period, and being about to supplement the number by the addition of Iβ more cars, the A/'fkland Electric Tramways Company, Ltd., has been faced with the necessity for making further provision in the matter of shed accommodation. It has new been decided to effect this by enlarging tho Lpsom barn upon such a scale that the car-room here will be nearly trebled, making .tho depot easily the largest in the Dominion. It will cover 12 tram tracks, ha«"S a total length of 3900 ft., or 2400 ft. more than is provided to-day. Tho enlarged shed will be able to house over 80 large cars at the one time, and with the lonsonby barn should furnish all the accommodation required for tome time. _ It is estimated that the cost of the extension will be between £11,000 and ,£15,0(10. •Vt about 20 minutes I'o 10 o'clock last nitrlit. the Fire Brigade received a call to No. 5 College Terrace, a dwelling occupied by Mr. T. M, Woodcocks, lucre was a fire in a shed at tho near ot the building, and slight damage was dono bei'oro the- ltamcs were extinguished. • A unique souvenir reached Colonel Porter, CIS., on Coronation Day. When Colonel Porter was in South Africa in command of tho New Zealand contingent , , amongst a party of prisoners captured in Zululand for harbouring wounded Boers, and who were escorted by the New Zealanders to Newcastle, was a Dr. Eheford, a Belgian, with whom tho New Zeaiind leader became intimate, the doctor bivouacking with him. In remembrance of their associations on the field, l>. Kheford sent Colonel Porter a handsomely engraved watch, containing on one cover a relief portrait of King Kihvard, and on (he other a portrait oi King George in admiral's uniform. Inside the cover is another engraving of Britannia mourning the loss of the Peacemaker, and round the rim of the watch is inscribed "God Save the King."