LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1239, 22 September 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The postal authorities advise that tho s.s. Mahe.no, which left 'Sydney at neon oa (he 20th instant for Auckland, has on board an Australian mail, also an English mail via Suez. The Wellington, portion is due to arrive hero by Mam 'Crunk on Monday next, the 25th instant.

A return presented to Parliament yesterday, on fhe motion of Mr. M'Laren, shows that 2482 persons were brought into tho Dominion during the year ended March 31, 1911, by means' of assisted passages. They included 498 farmers, 731 domestic servants, 31" wives nominated by husbands in the Dominion, one dressmaker, five miners, one horse-collar maker, and one fisherman. The remaining 927 persons had no occupations. They comprised wives coming out with their -husbands, and others not being adults, or dependent on their parents.

The City Council has decided to draw the attention of the I'olico Department to the fact that ladies have been molested in tho vicinity of Park Road at night time, and to request that they bo asked to take such steps as they consider necessary to prevent a recurrence of the annoyancos.

_ Statistics relating to suicide in Australia have boon compiled by the Commonwealth Statistician (Mr. ti. H. luiibbs). The data for Australia havo been examined from the year ISSS to 1910, and show that at present the frequency of suicide in Australia is on the decrease. It appears that the animal temperature fluctuation, or sorat unknown phenomenon associated with it, has a profound influence on the frequency of suicide. Though at present decreasing in Australia, suicido is on the' increase for the world gonerally, but in decreasing ratio. In Australia frequency ot suicide at first increases with age, attaining with men a maximum about the age of G2, after which it declines. With women it never attains in the western civilised world or in Australia a comparable magnitude to tho frequency with inon, but exhibits in a less marked way tho tendency to increase, with age to a limit, and then to decline. , The mode of suicido shows considerable constancy, and is apparently influenced by physical conditions.

The City Engineer has been instructed to report as to the advisability of the council setting apart a portion of tho Island Bay beach for the erection of boatsheds.

Instructions ..have been given by the City Council for the drainage of the upper levels of Eoseneath, to bo proceeded with at the earliest opportunity.

At a meeting of the executive committee, of the Harbours Association of N-ew Zealand, held yesterday, it was decided to hold the fifth conference in Wellington, on October i.

Mr. Jennings presented a petition to Parliament yesterday from G. J. Burney and 155 others, praying that tho area of the Borough of Taumarumii may bo excluded from the jurisdiction of the Wanganui Maori District, in order that Natives living within the borough may be brought under the scope of its bylaws. It is stated that in or about 1901 an area of laud forming the major portion of tho preiont borough was gazetted as a Maori kaiangn, and that, in the opinion of the petitioners, it is desirable that restrictions affecting Maori kaiangas should no longer apply to the Borough of Taumarunui.

Mr. J. E. Fitzgerald, liberal candidate, ivill address the electors in the . Town Hall, Pahautanui, this evening at 8 o'clock.

In tho last month permits have been issued for sis buildings, to cost ,£1379, in the borough of Onslow.

A donation of ten shillings has been received at The Dominion - Office from Dr. Couzens, of Brooklyn, towards the fund which is being raised in support of the widow and children of the Into Mr. W. Pearce, jeweller, of Brooklyn, whoso death a few days ago left his family destitute.

Now that tho winter season, and with it tho skating craze, is gone, Messrs. Fuller and SonG have decided to make their skating rink in Inßcstrb Street suitable for raovins-picture shows. Last night they obtained the necessary permission from tho City Council, witli tho proviso that the alterations should be made subject to tho approval of the City Engineer as to ventilation and minor dotails.

White sand—a few loads of it for Oriental Bay—is being asked for by Councillor Barber. Touching on this matter at tho City Council last evening, Councillor Barber stated that his object was to have somcthins done to restore tho beach to the condition in which it was before tho sea wall was erected. Councillor Fletcher pointed out that the cost would be considerable, and that the only vMto sand which the Harbour Board's dredge was digging up was mixed with evil-smelling mud. The Acting-Mayor nave it as his opinion also that the expenditure would be futile, for the scour of the lido would very quickly tako the sand away. All councillors were agreed, however, that Oriental Bay would bo the better for a litflo beautifying, and the question o£ how this micht l>e effected was referred to the City Engineer for report.

Councillor Fuller protesting, tho City Council last evening decided to act on the recommendation- of the City Engineer with respect to tho erection of a stable, tool-house room for workmen, etc., in tho Botanical' Gardens, at an estimated cost of .£SOO. ■

Two bathing sheds for children arc to bo erected at tho western end of Lyall Hay beach, at an estimated cost of X'lo each.

Swimmers will bp pleased to hear that Hie Thonidon and Te Aro baths will in future bo lecnt open till 12 o'clock (noon) on Sundays, instead of 11 o'clock, and that from September 30 tho To Aro baths will bp opened at 5.30 a.m. instead of 6 a.m., nud will abo be kept open between tho hours o{ 12 (noon) aud 2 j;,ui.

Authority was given by the City Council las-t pveninr for the purchase of tho materials necessary for the duplication of I lie tramway at Moxham Avenue, Kilbirnie. The. estimated cost of the work is .£l=so. .Vital statistics for August, as given in tho Gazette, still show Wellington to he the healthiest of the four centrrs. In this city during that month there were G2 deaths, a proportion of 0.98 per 1000 of population. Auckland ranks next, with 74 death.*, or O.flO per 1000. In Chrislehureli there were 82 death?, or 1.30 por 1000, and in Dunedin 70 deaths, or 1.13 per 1000. With tho exception of Taihnpe, Wellington, with 1.36 inche.=, had tho lowest rainfall recorded officially in llio North Island for tho month of ;ust. Taihapc, usually a wet spot, could only collect 1.02 inches' for the whole month—usually the wettest in tho year. Further proof of the extreme dryness of the winter conies from the south, where the records ware very low, as evidence.—llaunier, .CO inch; Christcliurch, .5; Lincoln, .46; Tiinnni, .25; Waimate, .50; Lcith Valley, .71; Gore, 1.73; Nelson, I.CC. The following new railways by-law is gazetted this iveok :—"Every person consigning goods for carriage upon a railway on behalf of two or more persons or firms shall make a separate consignment note in respect of the goods of each of those persons or firms, and shall disclose on every such consignment note the person or firm on whose behalf ho so consigns the said gods. , Any person who commit; a breach of-this ov-law shall be liable to n fine of ten pounds." The Onslow Borough Council met last night. There were present the Mayor (Mr. F. HoldswortlO, Councillors Darvall, Aplin, Dingwall, M'Arthur, Bowden, (Jnrdiner, Lymioborg, and Stafford. Tho ICarori Borough Council notified that it would take up the .CISOO loan for tho Khandallah Public Hall.