LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1224, 5 September 1911, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tho postal authorities 'advise that; the Warrimoo, which left Sydney at neon on September 2 has on board an Australian mail. She is due to arrive in Wellington next Wednesday, September G. Tenders close to-morrow for the construction of a steam tug for Hie Otago Harbour Hoard. The plans, which were drawn by Mr. 11. 31. Jl'ltao, of Duncdin, provide for a steol-luiilt tug, with two sets of triple expansion engines and twin screws, to bo fitted with multitubular boilers of the liirlis mnrino boiler type, si powerful salvage pump, and a Merrywoather fire pump. The tag is to bo I:2lft. (iin. in lenirHi. lift. beam, and I.lft. Bin. in depth. Tlie plans are on exhibition at tho Wellington Harbour Hoard's office.?. The members of the Enclish Pierrots and life Anderson Dramatic Company leave for Sydney by the Ulimaroa on Friday next. Tho fifth conference of tlie Xew Zealand TTarljours Association will be opened in Wellington on October G. Mr. ]!. Vletchr.r, chairman of the Wellington Harbour Hoard, will preside. Interviewed in Adelaide regarding tho Carnegie. Institute's magnetic survey <>f tli,? world, J)r. .Mawson "paid that it was a most valuable work, as at present little was known concerninj the magnetic survey •.<[' Hit? Comiiioiiweiillh, which was much behind oth.;r countries in that respect. When the InsUtutp ascertained that Dr. Jb.wson's expedition intended to make a special magnetic survey of the Antarctic Continent it arranged (o supply him with instruments for Ihe purpose, and Mr. Webb and possibly J| r . "KidAiu (who are worliin-; for the* in.stitute in Australia) would probably accompany the exueditioii to lllc south,

Th« final act which is tii shut off the waters ol the erstwhile dock .-itc at To Aro from the harbour is uhoiit to be consummated. Tenders are now being calkd by tho Wellington Harbour Hoard for the coiistnielion of a substantial concrete training wall ncrus* the gap which was to have been the. enlranie to tho dock. Tho work of constructing this wall has bcon made more costlv owing to the fact that at this point tha board's big dredg-a Whakarirc cut a dcey channel, through which the vessels were to pass into Iho dock enclosure. These dredging operalions necessitate Hie vrrcl Um of a wall ■l-'lt. in height. It will be 22ft. thick at. tho base, tapering to 4ft. at the toy. The length of tho section of wall to bo built is M.-|ft. Mr. (.'. V. Pulley has completed the work of drawing the piles which had been driven in connection with the erection of the dock, and the only section of trestle work left in position in the pool is that along which the tramway ran from the conerete-niixer to tho walor front, which will 1>« of assistance to the contractor for the wall abovementioned. Tenders for tho work close on September 27. A special meeting of tho City Council will bo held on Thursday evening to pass a special order making' By-law No. 11 (Abattoirs), of 1811. Tho secretary of the St. John Ambulance Society yesterday reported to the society upon steps that he had taken to obtain payments due for tho uso of the ambulance. This, of course, had only beeii dono in tho case of those who were able to pay. A member of the society remarked that .in impression was abroad that as so many subscriptions wore, given towards the Ambulance Society, tho use of the ambulance was free. It would 'bo as well, therefore, that the public should know that if those assisted were in a position to do so, they were expected to pay the comparatively small fee. Votes of thanks were passed to Drs. Mackin and Izard for l-lieir gratuitous services whenever requisitioned by Nurso Sexton, the society's district nurse. The chairman, Mr. C. P. Powlcs, said that this professional seivice had been given for a number of years, and it was right that public recognition should bo riven to tho fact. Tho re-erection of tho Queen's Statue in tho Kent Terrace reserve has been completed. The , general opinion seems to bo that tho change from its former site at tho entrance to the Queen's Wharf to the clean, open, grass-carpeted reserve is a great improvement. Mr. A. H. Herbert, Reform candidate for the Mastorton seat, addressed about 100 electors at l'ongaroa on Saturday evening. Mr. Murray, chairman of the Akilio County Council, r/resided. Tho candidate made a forceful fighting speech and received an excellent hearing. Tho Agricultural .Department, in tho opinion of Mr. Jos. Mosley, president of tho Chitlia branch of the Farmers' Union, is cifetc. Taken generally, ho said, in a rocent address, the farmers had not the slightest confidence in tho Department, which was under the coutrol of a draper, and staffed by many who had failed in other walks of life, and obtained their appointments by political influonco and wire-pulling. This was applicable to other branches under Sfato control. Tho constant changing of Ministers of Departments, with their different ideas, did not tend to promote conh'douco, or towards the most efficient working. Whilst the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie was a suitable man. as Minister for Commerce and Tourist Department, and would make an excellent nigh Commissioner, owing to his undoubted commercial ability, he was out of his element as Minister for Agriculture. How, ho asked, could a draper bo expected to make a successful Minister for Agriculture? Dr. Arnold Izard will address electors at tho Kilminster Hall to-night. Eotorua has been laughing audibly and irreverently over the wording of a notice that has been placed by tho Public Works Department on some of the electric wire posts on the road to Okere. Some time ago, a Maori youth, who seemed to have a misguided taste for experimenting, t'hrew a long piece of wire over tho electric wires that run to Kotorua from the power station at tho Okere Falls. The town was at once plunged in darkness for two or thrco hours until tho mischief had been located. The duskv and youthful experimenter was carpeted in the Court and lined for his scientific enthusiasm and the Department put up this notice:—"Any person climbing tho electric light poles or damaging the insulators are liable to a fatal shock and a penalty of .£10." There was a largo attendance at tho meeting of shareholders of tho Wellington Opera House Company held in tho foyer of the Opera House yesterday afternoon, Mr. W. U. Gascoigne in the, chair. Tho whole of tho resolutions submitted to tho meeting wore carried. These consisted of a proposal to alter the constitution of the company to permit of acquiring real estato other than the property nwo held, and further to raise a sum of money for the purpose of purchasing a block of land in Manners Street from Mr. T. G. Macarthy, and erecting thereon a now theatre of modern character. The idea of issuing preference shares was abandoned as it is possiblo that tho whole of tho new capital will be taken up by tho present shareholders. A confirmatory meeting will bo held on September 25. A correspondent writes pointing out that Sir Joseph Ward has surely made a mistake in stating that the wireless station on tho Tinakori Hills is to be "themost powerful in tho world." It had been stated alt along that the agreement provided big power stations at (or near) Doubtless Bay and tho Bluff, and lowpower stations at Wellington, Christchurch, and Gisborno. Low-power stations probably meant five kilowatt power station?, while, those of Doubtless Bay would mean stations with at , least four times that power, capable of sending messages over 1200 miles in the daylight. If our wireless stations at the extreme north nnd south of file Dominion aro anything like as powerful as some of thoso in England and America, New Zealand would bo doing very well.