LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1360, 10 February 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

During the passage of Hie Moana from Dimedin to Lyttelton this trip, wireless communication was maintained with Sydney and (ho s.s. Manuka, outwards from the Blufl' to llobart. 'lTie distances wore approximately 1500 miles. .An infant three weeks of age was committed to the Wellington Receiving Home yesterday, the parents being in indigent circumstances. .During the rocent tram strike a Wellington employer provided a youth in his employ wi'ili a bicycle to ride, to and from his home at Scatoun. The boy did not procure a lamp, and yesterday inorniii? lie irns Wore Mr. W. G. Riddcll, S.M., in the Juvenile Court, charged with cycling without a light. The boy was ordered to pay costs ("«.). The annual retreat of tho Roman Catholic priests of the archdiocese of Wellinjrion, which hns boon held at St. Patrick's College during tho past week, terminated at noon yesterday. Owing to the unfavourable weather yesterday, the annual picnic arranged to l>e held at Khandallali to-day by the children of St. Paul's Parish Sunday School will not take place. In place thereof there will be given them an nftevnonn lea in Sydney Street Hall at 4 o'clock. Very few members of Parliament have as yet arrived in readiness for the short session which commences on Thursday, but from to-morrow onwards thpy are expected to arrive in a steady stream. A number of .southern members, on both sides of the Ilonsc, have arranged to leave for Wellington by Saturday night's steamer, and most of the northern members, it is Anticipated, will have arrived by noon on Tuesday. It is reported that a caucus of the Government members will be held on the following day. In the Supreme Court yesterday Mr. Justice Chapman drew attention to a troublesome clause in the Public Works Act. ""Under the Act," he said, "once a .fudge has appointed a date provisionally fov a otvse, ivo other Judge can take that fixture. The Court is crystallised." The Solicitor-General, who was present in Court, said lie would bear this in mind when next tho Public Works Act was being amended.

JFi's Excellency (lie Governor will bo initialed into the Loyal Kilbirnie Lodge, Manchester Unity of Oddfellows, on Tuesdav, February 20. The ceremony will bo performed by the Grand Master, assisted by brethren from all parts of the Dominion, in the Concert Chamber of tho Town Uall. All members of the Order are requested to attend in regalia.

Tho first training camp to be held in the Wellington Military District in connection with the compulsory training scheme will commeuce to-day, at Oringi, a few miles from Dannevirke, when the field artillery batteries from Napier, Palmerston North, and Wellington will go under canvas for a week. . Lient.Colonel G. N. Johnston, E.G.A., Director of Ordnance at general headquarters, will attend the camp, assisted by Captain Maidlow, Assistant Director of, Ordnance. The gunneTs will also be joined by tho Wclliinrton Engineers, and altogether, it in expected that some 500 men will bo m the ground. Tho men will do six hours drill each da), and have the evenings to themselves for recreation and amusement. Shell practice wijl bo carvied out towards the latter end of next week.

Two young men went out flat fishing on Wednesday night in tho Mnnukau harbour above the Jlangere bridge, and ot low water, about 8 o'clock, got on to a small island in tho centre of the harbour. They became so interested in catching fish (fays the Auckland "Star") that they did not observe tho rise of tho tide until about 10 o'clock, when they suddenly discovered they were surrounded. 'Both young fellows attempted to wade ashore, but the water was too deep and (hey yiiickly found themselves up to the neck in n rising tide. They immediately cried out for help, and were heard by Hγ. Saunders, manngcr of the Union S.S. Co., at Onehunga, who obtained the assistance of two brothers named Recce. All the men ran down to tho water's edge, where- they obtained a boat, and putting out with all haste succeeded in rescuing the young fellows from their perilous position. Credit is <lue to the rocugvs tor their prompt action, otherwise tho fishermen must havo !x?eu drowned, as the island is alwavs covered by tho tido before it is half flood. Tho names of the young men could not bo ascertained,, for as soon as they got ashore thiy cleared off without as much as thanking Mr. Snundors and his fellowhelpers for rescuing them.

At tho conclusion of tho recent conference of representative workers employed in freezing works, held in Wellington, tho following resolution was carried: — "That this conference o£ delegates representing the New Zealand freezing works and allied trades is of the opinion that the policy of tho New Zealand Federation of Labour is on tho right lines, and the time lias arrived when the workers of thoso' industries should unite with the Federation of Labour in its efforts to organiso the workers industrially."

It will be welcome news to tho 400 odd men of tlio ordnance division of the Territorials who ro into camp at Oriußi to-day to loam that tho Post and Telegraph Department intend to run a special wire on to tho field. At Oringi tho men would otherwise bo rather out of touch with "the world, as most of them would think twice before trudging the five miles into Pannevirke, but with a field telegraph office in camp it will bo possible to 'swul and receive telegraph messages "with convenience mill dispatch" throughout tho period the men are to bo under canvas.

Yesterday's weather was a decided throw back to the <|iieei- condition's of six nocks aj;o. Drizzling rain drove up from tho leaden-coloured pall of poked clouds to Urn south, mil, us the day wore on. the rain increased in volume until it came down heavily and persistently, whi st the wind developed an edge that would not disgrace a mid-winter's day. It is hoped that tin- conditions will improve to-day in view of the nianv outdoor fixtures, which include the W.A.A.A. sport? at the li.i Mil Uescrve, the Old Boys' swimmi n» "inrte at the Te Aro Bath=, and (lie departure nl' tin- T) Battery for Oringi.

■V candid criticism of Australians is offered by Mr. A. V. D. l>dford. a Manila merchant, who has been violin;: Australia, and is now in New Zealand. "01 (tiur-T ( am only in a i>»-i(iim to speak inim what is a superlii'ial knowledge (if Australia," he said, "but Ihe intprc-sion 1 have gathered thai nio-t of yiiu arc tired—always tired, and wmiting to lean ii]i aßninst a post. 1 nnlicod that particularly on tho wharves nl and Sy'Jdcx. Many "f Hie yo'inp; Wln«-p I see Htinul lire util n|ily "Iniilrd in bpilr, but teem .'J.auxcil iu uuuiL loo.''

The "Daily Mail" Cups won by a learn of (lie Wellfngtwi Suburbs Defence Hiflo Club, arc to lie pre-jenlcd at a social gathering which is to be held on Tuesday evening- next in Ihe Tillin Rooms, Jliinner.-! SI reel. The Governor has iutiniiited that he will attend, mid the piesentiilion-: are to be inaclo by Sir Joseph Ward. There were two very disappointed would-be on board the. Aoraiiiri, jii-t |.rior to the vessel leaving Wellington lor San .Francisco last evening. Soon alter she had left the wharf two stowaways were discovered. Both were young men, and both appeared to Im> "hiird up." One said that ho was an .American cilizcil, and the other was a New Xenlumlcr. It was unfortunate for them that the pilot had not left Die Aorangi before they were discovered, otherwise they might have reached San Francisco. As it was, they were transferred to the pilot boat, and landed on the wharf—a rather .sorry pair. ■ Dr. Ernest Frizzi has arrived in Sydney from German New Guinea, wliere, under the auspices of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Science, he has spent nearly a year collecting specimens for the anthropological collection at the Royal Bavarian Museum. Dr. Frizzi spent most of his time in the islands of Buka and Bougainville, the portions of the Solomon group that belong to Germany, and (ravelled into the interior of both islands, coming across two tribes in Bougainville that had never before seen a white man. These people lived in the mountains, at an altitude of about -1000 ft., and he was inclined to think were the remnants of the real aboriginal population. In the German Solomons and many parts of the Bismarck Archipelago and Gorman NewGuinea large tracts of country awaited tho scientific explorer, and there still remained numerous tribes that had not so far come in contact with Europeans.