A SUGGESTION. TO THE EDITOR.

Evening Post, Volume LVII, Issue 23, 28 January 1899, Page 6

A SUGGESTION. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir — Seeing that the civic authorities in one of our small seaside towns are utilising some timbers obtained from one of the first ships that traded to these shores, by making therefrom a chair to be used, in his official capacity, by their Chief Magistrate, I was led to think that a very interesting and, in time to come, valuable relic might be kept for the citizens by the Wellington City Council. I refer, of course, to the old " Noah's Ark " thrown up on the beach in Wellington's' infant days, and which Aye have been led to believe played a most important part in the building up of Wellington's early commerce. A portion of the remains of this interesting cTaft are now visible above ground on the site of the new Bank of New Zealand, and the timbers, I believe, are still perfectly sound. I should like to suggest that a solid and handsome chair be made from these limbers, and be placed at the head of our Council' table for the use of the Mayor of the city for the time being. Such a relic, besides being both useful and drnamentalj would be a memento for all time of the energy and dogged perseverance of Wellington's "pushful" pioneers. — I am, etc., ■ Wellington" Well-wisiiek. Christchurch, 24th January.

Mr. Elsdon Best, Government agent in' Tuhoe-land (Urewera country), has made interesting researches into the ancient Maori | history of that district, and amongst other j work has collected a list of about 2000 Maori words from the Tuhoe natives which I are not to be found in any New Zealand dictionary. A young man in Timaru had the misfortune to imvtt a glass bottle burst in his hand some lime ago, making a nasty gash in the palm. No glass could be found in the wound, and it healed up without trouble. Lately, the hand became painful and a swelling appeared on the back of it. A " radiograph "of the hand was taken by Mr. Leslie, of the Telegraph De partment, Avith a first-rate Rontgen ray apparatus constructed by himself, and it shows very clearly a piece of glass among the bones of the hand. The removal of the piece of glass will now jjc an easy matter for the surgeon.

A decision recently delivered in an Knglish Court is of considerable importance 10 Now Zealand .shippers by refrigerating vessels. Som<! time ago tho New Zealand Shipping Company's cargo stoumer Waikato htowed wool received at Queensland ports in its refrigerated chambers, and oil arrival in London the wool Avas found to be damaged, because, as ii was alleged, the vessel was not in a proper condition to cany thu wool, owing to the heated air being unable to escape by reason of the insulation of the holds. The ship-owners (the New Zealand Shipping Company) says the Melbourne Argus, maintained that they wore protected by the bill of lading clau.se, relieving them of responsibility in case of loss or damage aribing from accidents to or defects latent on beginning of voyage or otherwise in hull, tackle, or boilers, or machinery, or their appurtenance.:!. . . . steam, heat, or lire on board. The case really turned, however, upon the question ot whether wool could be slowed in refrigerating chambers, under the bill of lading clause, at the risk of the shipper, and the Court of Appeal held that it could not. The decision is both common-sense and satisfactory. But it is still open to the ship-owners to introduce another clause into their bill of lading giving them the power to stow anything they please in the refrigerating chambers. The shipper will, however, possess his remedy in refusing to ship undr such condiuons. There are plenty of steamers that are not refrigerated. The alteration of the name of the Fowlers Telegraph Office, Raugitikei, to Kimbolton, will take effect from the 6th February. The arrival at Cej'lon of a steamer using the new liquid fuel substitute for coal is (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph) reported from Colombo. The steamer is the Sultan van Langkat, a vessel that was only launched last year, and which belongs to a Dutch line. She is a steel screw three-master, built for carrying petroleum in bulk, and has a registered tonnage of 1456, while her horse-power is 1800. The vessel has been using the " bunker oil," as they describe it on board, for four months, and the officers are loud in their praises of it. The advantages of the fuel over coal they give as one-third, and it would appear that for a speed of 11 knots an hour 20 tons of oil suffice, v,« against 30 tons of coal. The arrangement for burning the oil is entirely the invention of the company to which the ship belongs, and is very simple. The ship has two boilers below and one donkey boiler on top, and, working the latter, I lie first engineer only moved two screws to show one pipe sending the oil into the fireplace, while another brought in tht steam which produced a blazing fire. Tin advantage of burning liquid fuel, it is claimed, is that it can be done with everything kept quite clean. No smoke or filth arises, Avhile one of the chief points is that only one man is required to attend to the furnace. There is the advantage that the arrangement of burning the oil can be suited to burning < oat in the short space of an hour and a-half Avithout lessening the speed and Avithoul the knowledge of anyone on board. A young Taranaki native, who has been four years at Te Aute Native College, Hawkes Bay, lately paid a visit to his native place, and on his return to Te Aute (says an East Coast exchange) wrote an account of what he saAV. After an interesting description of Parihaka, the writer contiunes : " I Avould be heartily glad to stop here in my account of the Parihaka Maori's advance towards civilisation, but I cannot. lam sorry that they have imitated the vices of the Pakeha as well as his virtues. They have built two billiard-rooms, where the Maori youths may go and spend in foolishness their hard-earned money. These are owned, one by a Maori, the other by a half-caste. In the larger of the two there is a small sidechamber, Avhere Maoris may satisfy their love for gambling. Then there are two houses where intoxicating liquors are sold secretly, without license. One sells beer, the other spirits. The beer saloon keeper does the better business, for the Maoris like spirits less than beer. As soon as they hear that :i fresh supply of beer has arrived they flock to the saloon at night, and spend money lavishly to satisfy the craving of themselves and their moneyless friends, fn two or three nights the supply vims out. It is impossible for me to describe the scenes of drunkenness and immorality that are enacted in these two places at times. The liquor supplied is not, I am assured, of the best quality, and after it has passed Ihrough the hands of the Maori retailer it is little better than rank poison. I think that this state of things is well kuoAvn to the authorities, as the beer saloon-keeper has been summoned several times, but Avithout visible effect on his trade." Mrs. F. R. Simms, teacher of pianoforte, notifies that she will resuino teaching on Thursday next. Messrs. Jenkinson and Co. publish elsewhere an advertisement as to their famous Champion bicycles and the newly-arrived machines for boys and girls. Messrs. King; and Muir, tailors, of Lamb-ton-quay, intimate through our columns that during the building of their new premises they Avill occupy the shop next door to the Wairarapa Farmers' store— viz., 135, Lambton-quay. The attractions of Worser Bay as a seaside rpsort arq set forth in Mr. R. A. Hearn's advertisement in another column. The traffic to the Bay this season has been so large as to necessitate increase of brake accommodation, and there are no signs of it diminishing. A social gathering in aid of the Nowtown Brass Band: will be held in Thomas's Hall on Friday next. Messrs. Macdonald, Wilson and Co., advertise on page 8 particulars of a number of first-class properties for sale situated in the best parts of the city. They especially draw attention to the small deposit required — the balance can remain on mortgage at small interest. Further particulars will be given on application. The same firm advertises on our front page houses in all parts of the city, and it has a good butchering business in a country toAvn for private sale. ; What shall we do with our boys? Well, take them to C. Smith's if it is clothing they want, and if the men want clothing or you Avant blankets, sheets, or other household goods you Avould do well to have another look over the salvage stock. Tho Avhole lot is undoubtedly to be sold beforo tho arrival of the new goods, Avhich Arero cabled for directly after the fire. No portion of the salvage is to be rotained, and to ensure a clearance greater reductions are being made Avith the balance. A large portion of the stock that Avas only slightly damaged has been kept back so that it should bo thoroughly dried, and it is this that will noAV "be offered at mo&t startling reductions. — Advt.