LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1535, 3 September 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It will probably be a month yet before the wireless station on the top of tho Imakori Hills will l> e opened for work. Uhe motor for charging tlie batteries has not arrived on time, and it will not bo installed for upwards of three weeks.

At yesterday's meeting of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce a letter wns read from llw secretary of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, thanking *tho local chamber for the action which it had taken in regard to tea tiade marks, and expressing appreciathn of the offer of tho Registrar. of Trade Marks to draw the attention of those applying for the registration of Ceylon estate names to the fact that their suggested trade mark is prohibited. Mention was iniido that the writer was forwarding to the Koristrar u list of the'names of Ceylon tea estates.

Tho sixth annual reunion of the West Coasters' Association took place at the Town Hall last evening. There was it record attendance at tho -function, which took the form of a "social' , and dance. Among those present were Sir Joseph and Latly Ward, ,Sir Arthur Guinness, Sir James Carroll, the Hon. J. A. Millar, nnd Mr. T. E. Y. Soddon, and the Mayor of Wellington (Mr. D. M'Lnren). Mr. J. Gnlrin and the Hon. H. M'Kenzio sent apologies for their absence. Mr. R. Vincent presided, and during a ■ lull in' , tho terpsichoTeaii festivities—which began early and vent on till the. "wob sma' 'oors—briefly welcomed the gathering, and referred with'pleasure to the manne'r'in which West Coasters and their friends hud risen to tho occasion. Several felicitous speeches—on a two-minute time limit —were deliver :d by various speakers. Mr. Frank M'Farknd (president of the association), in a congratulatory speech, said that it was the ambition of the association to have a bnJI of its own when the next annual reunion came round, a remark which' troked hearty applause. Short addresses, in convivial vein, were also delivered by tho Mayor (Mr. M'Laren), Sir Joseph Ward, Sir James Carroll,' Sir Arthur Guinness, and Mr. Seddon.

Tho closing hour of railway goods-sheds at 4.30 p.m. was the subject of a letter of protest received from the Wanganui Chamber of Commerce by the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce yesterday. It was suggested that an effort should lie made to hove the goods-sheds kept open to 5 p.m. The chairman (Mr. A. E. Mahin) said that he had sinco the receipt of the letter made inquiries among the merchants and carters, and while they did object to the regulation at first, they now liked it. It had a good moral effect on carters and storemen. Mr. Leigh Hunt disagreed with the chairman, and remarked that whilst it was all right for those firms who wero close to the station, it was a different matter altogether for those a mile and a half away. It practically meant that they had to get cloar at about a quarter to ior i p.m. Messrs. Dawson and Ballinger supported Mr. Hunt. Mr. C. .Tones suggested that tho railway authorities made thei regulation in order to get finished at 5 p.m., and so avoid overtime. The steamship companies had to make a similar provision. The chairman thought that no resolution should be passed until further inquiries were made among those members of tho chamber interested. This it was finally decided to do, on tho proposal of the chairman.

At tho last meeting of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. A. R. Diss referred to the inconvenience and nnnoynnce caused to (lie public through not buing able to purchase railway tickets at any other place than at the railway station a few minutes before the pnrticular train in.which one wished"io travel was to start. Jn the letter forwarded by the secretary to the Minister for Railways a"further disability born of the system wns mentioned. It was pointed out that the railway officials would not check luggage without the production of the ticket, and as the luggage has to bo checked some time before the train leaves delay in obtaining the railway tickets often meant that travellers lost the opportunity of having their luggage checked. The Minister replied that the matters touched upon would be considered.

Detective Bailey arrested a man named Walter Hasler yesterday, on a charge of having stolen a saddle and bridle, the property of Henry Bodley. '

Messrs. A. 13. Mabin (chairman), C. Jones, E. G. rilclier, Thos. Ballingcr, W. •I. Thompson, A. Loigli Hunt, A. S. Biss, F. \V. Mnnton, J. M'liitosli, T. C. Dawson, and K. W. Hunt, wore present at tlio montlily meeting of Die council of the Chamber of Commerce- yesterday. Accounts amounting to .£B7 Is. 2d. were passed for payment. The chairman intimaUsd that the secretory of the Post Office, had invited tho members of the council to inspect tlie new General Po?t Office, Jn about a fortnight's time. Matters of importance discussed appear elsewhere in this issue.

Matters connected with the campaign to ho initiated shortly in connection with tho proposal to build quarters for tlie Yoiin? Women's Christian Association in Christclrarnh were considerably advanced .is tlie result of the mooting held .yesterday afternoon of the citizens' committee (write-s our Christcliurcli correspondent). It was ex-plainc-d by the, chairnian (Mr., AVni. Go.ss) that the Y.W.C.A.. at present occupied premises in wjiich £ood work \vas ljemj carried on, but which ivere quite inadequate to cope with that work. As' the result of the visit of tho national secretary (Miss Barnes), tlw nucleus of a citizens' committee was formed, nnd the no.mcs of a large number of citizens have been lifted for the purpose of the campaign, which starts on September H. Personally, he did not favour starting the work handicapped with n, big debt. It was intended to start out with the purpose of collecting .£15,000 for a section of the building and Hie first twoi years' ospeiiws of runniii» the. association. It was intended to dispose of the premises at present occupied by the association, and devote the proceeds to the biiildin? fund. It is estimated that tho building will cost ,£IO,OOO, the section from -£2000 to ASflflO, and furniture in fir.st two years' v:ovking expenses will require .£IOOO.