LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1941, 26 December 1913, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

■ The Riverina left Sydney for Welling- , ton at 3 p.m. on Wednesday with an ' English'and Australian mail for Wei- . lingfcoii. The Malieno left Sydney at noon on Wednesday for Auckland with } an English and Australian mail for j Auckland. The postal authorities advise that ow- ] ing to the s.s. Ulimaroa leaving Weilington for Svdnoy on Saturday, Janu- . arv 3, instead-of Friday, the 2nd, (ho , United Kingdom and Australian mails will close in accordance with. the date of departure of the steamer.*,' -■;'■ ' ■ The Telegraph Office has boon''advised' ! from Sydney that Victorian and inter- , ■Stato traffic is-delayed by storms and congestion on the Government lines. , .''■'■■ : Jnst about as cheeky a theft as jt is possible to conceive occurred i» Auckland on Tuesday afternoon, about half-past two, when a woman stole the .shoes off .1 yonng Maori who was Iving on one of t'ho grassy slopes in Albert Park, slceniua off the effects of drink, walked off coolly with the footgear, sold it to a second-hand dealer for 25., ■and started to spend the money m drink. The woman was sentenced to 30 tlavs' imrd labour for the theft, and. the Maori who lost his shoos, was: convicted and discharged for drunkenness. •V wanton act was committed at the Knmross Theatre, at about 9.30 on Wednesday night. Someone tock tho trouble to remove a, garbage bin to a small room adjoining the theatre, and set firo to the'paper in it . There was no great danger, aa the building is of concrete and steel, and tho flames were soon put out. The fire brigade was alarmed, but its services wore not required: , . ■■ The Central Fire Brigade received a rail. So Messrs. Slowart Dawton and s Co.'s big ievrellerv establishment at tho corner of" Quay and Wdns Street yesterday, but the alarm proved to be a fidse one. Special arrangements were made to take oliMv m-embers of tho Baptist ooiigromitioii to the Vivian Street Church for the Christmas Day service, and the ages of two who attended totalled 171" years. One was 86 and tho other So. Mr. T. E. Scikwiek, who was instrumental in bringing manv Homo citybred bovs to Now Zealand to work on farms, and who has recently brought a contingent of boys out from Ennlaml for tho West Australian and Victorian Governments, arrived here bv the Mannganui on Wed-, ne=dav afternoon. It is understood that Mr.'Sedgwick may make arrangements to 'bring"'a further Sot of boys out to New -Zealand. • Some vears ago the Gaelic Society_ of Dunedin' interested itself in collecting some' money to erect a. cairn to trie, memorv of Mr. M'KmnflU. the discoverer of M'Kimion's Pass on tho M-iliord-Te Aimu track. During his Premiership Mr. Mackenzie took the matter In hrnd and liad a granite slab suitably inscribed in Wellington for the purpose In Au'uist last the slab was forwarded to Tc°Anau, and subsequently trat's-noi-tel to the top of tlie pass. J lie matter is- in the hands of the Government, wliicb will employ n mason to erect the cairn, and place : the granite, *hh in situ. The cairn will he.erected on the .shoulder of Mount Balloon, at a suit overlooking tlie Clinton and Arthur canvons. Besides the cairn will he created a sod hut, wliere m future travellers may rest and boil the billy. Mr G. Frost, chairman of tho Reserves Committee of tho City Council, Hs received from a gentleman who v'|=bcs to be nameless, a donation of •CO to be added to tlie fund for the purchase of- more animals for the Zoo. Tli" name of R. W. Bothainley was ' inadvertently omitted by the University . •uitho'.-itics from the list of those who passed a section of tho law examination in three subjects. " \ row in a Tliorndon IwnrdinghoiiEc , yesterday resulted in a man having a ' "piece bitten off the top of his linger. ■ ■ About thirty arrests for inebriety xvere made'in the citv on Christmas I'.vo. ■V defendant in tlie Court, at Feiid- ' in-, on Tuesday had been found in a vard amongst some sheep, and had hold ' of a sheep 'when caught. He was pro--1 cccdcd against by the owner of tuc '' slincp. and deposed that he had been 1 reared on ewes' mills, and as lie innllfl ' nothing so rich, sweet, and nourishing, . nnd bavins; had a few drinks the other . day tho passion of his youth returned, 5 and' a craving for ewes' milk. Therei fen- lie went to tlie flock to get some. > "Did vou ever in all your cxnerienco, I asketl'Scracaiit Howden of tije Court,, i w>*th groat deliberation and solemnity, | 5 "hearof anvono getting ewe's milk from ' a ram?" The accused had forgotten the J 1 sex of the sheen lie had in his clutch ' ■' when caught, Ho had nothing further 1 to say. ' Many suggestions have been mtutc rc- ■ giirding tho handling of tho i'etono - ambulance wagon m an emergency, t The practice some tune ago was to keep t the van-shed in Hay Street locked, tlie ,'" key being at the residence of the driver . of'the wagon. Owing to some alleged - delays, the custom was altered to what - it now is—to leave the vau-slled tuit locked. This system acted well until -' on Tuesday night some peculiarly-con--5 <itituted person entered the premises, and- rather badly mutilated the van. " The vehicle has just been renovated ' and'revaruisbed (nesting £-1 18s.), and 1 a strong - feeling is shown by Pctoms 1 residents against tho culprit wiio de- * .lights in destroying public property. It ■ .iV'probably the work . of children, as V tho'namo oT one was written distinctly ,:;; on;tho back of tho van.