Page 5 Advertisements Column 1

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1904, Page 5

In connaction with the request of the Harbour Board that the Customs staff on the Wellington Wharf should be strengthened, it is interesting to notice the great increase during the past ten years in the value of imports, the Customs revenue, and the cost^ of collecting tHe same. In 1894 the value of the imports was £1,709,055, and the revenue collected Totalled £548,571, while the cost of collection to value of imports was £0164. ' In 1898 the value of the imports had risen to £1,961,923, the revenue collected was £454,640, and the cbst of collection was £0626. For 1903 the valuo of imports was £3,707,200, the revenue collected amounted to £611,273, and the cost of collection was £6768. For the year ending 31st lviarch, 1904, the value of the imports was £3,930,417) the revenue collected totalled £672,677, and •the cost of collection was £7025. In other words, during the ten years the value of imports had increased by 130 per cent., the Customs revenue by 93 ocr cent., and the cost of collection by 36 per cent. An interesting swimming display will begili at Te Aro Baths next Saturday by the Swifts Amateur Swimming Club. Capital sport, good seatihg accommodation, a band to play selections of music, and afternoon tea should combine, with the assistance of fair weather, to make the event a great success. The committee of the club is determined to start each item punctually to programme time, thus avoiding those dreary .intervals which > sometimes go so fat to rob the sport of Us interest. At th© request of residents of Levin, tor. W. H. Field, M.H.R., has promised to bring under the- notice of the PoSt-master-Generfcl the question of the re-es-tablishmerit of the mail service between Levitt and FoXtoh. It is stated by the Manawatu Standard Shat although the demand £ot timber in the - Wellington Pro» incial District has greatly improved dtliihg the last three months, it is not equal tt> what it was nt tins' time last year. S'uwmille'rs are (still holding heavy stocks, the demand not being equal to the production. The chief improvement in the trade has taken place in Wellington ahd Palmerston, the demand in Mastertoii is fair, while in WaBganui and similar centres the trade is still somewhat dull. Some 8f the mills, especially iii the TaihapO district, are' busily engaged in cutting white pine for Australian orders. One fiim (Messrs. Pertain aud Larseii) has an order foV flye million feet, which is -to be delivered within two years, while orders aggregating two million feet j have been distributed amongst other millers. Messrs. Perham end Larsen have two mills running, and ure erecting a third in the" white pine bush, from which tlieir order is to be supplied. When it meets dn Thursday night the Jocal centre of the New Zealand Boxing Association will consider a comrfiu'iiicatioh from >the Council of the Association regarding the gloves to t?e used at future tournaments. Mr. W. G. Atack, the Secretary of the Council, has written to the local Centre stating that as the result of testa made with various kinds of gloves, it was decided that the ' American A. , J. Reach Company's glove was the most suitable, and a sub-committee recommended this company's No. 15 glove, a set of which (two pairs) ct>n be landed jtt about 27s 6d per set. It is made' of ■Napa kid, and has a patent perspirationproof, lining and adjustable palm-grip. This has been fixed upon as the standard giove for association tournaments. The New South. Wales Association got through fonr tournaments with only fdtir sets of these gloves. The Council has also pointed out that , under the Police Offences Amendment Act of last session iU. branches of the- Association wishing to hold a boxing exhibition or competition must Tejpster under the Unclassified Societies Registration Act or the Companies Acjfc. T8 this end the Council will submit to the Registrar a general code of rules, which will form the basis of each Centre's tides. The annual picnic of the Corporation employees is being held to-day on the Railway Grounds* Upper Hutt. A large party went out this morning, and the vreather was 111 every way suitable for the outing. Mr. F.^ Laishle.y, the New Zealand representative tennis player, has joined the Brtfagham Hill Club, and will represent that club »n the second round of the Shield ccatest. The Brougham Hill Committee decided not to play Laishley against the Wellington Club to-da^, as the regulations governing club contests state that a player cannot represent a club until he has been- a member for fourteen clear days, therefore the committee resolved to take no risks. Brooksj the Victorian champion, hafc again won the championship of Victoria. Rice, the New South Wales representative, was beaten in the eemi-final by B. Murphy (Victoria). The Socialist Party ih-eitefc th\ public to its meetings tnl Sunday evening, when Mr. Robinson will state fhe Socialists' attitude towards the land question. . There will also be an interesting subject — "Transitory Stages Towards Socialism 1 ' — dealt with by Mr. J. Hutcheson, in the Socialist Hall. We have received from the editor, Mr. A. Hamilton, the annual volume (xxxvi.) pf the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, representing the work of tlie Society for tite year 1903. • The book is of large site, containing 584 pages of printed matter and 44 plates. The miscellaneous papers include a notable article of over fifty pages on Maori marriage customs, by Mr. Elsdon Best, a leading authority,his investigations having special reference to the Tuhoe or Urewera people, who have more than any other tribe retained their ancient customs. "The Maoris," he says, "were ever a punctilious people, and ever adhered rigidly, tb ancient customs and forms, social and otherwise. No exception was made in regard to such of these as related to marriage.'' He proceeds to show first, that "there was a marriage-rite among the natives of New Zealand," and secondly, "a recognised and enforced mode of procedure obtained in regard to marriage, the arrangement of which was conducted By the elders of the interested couple." Professor Segar has an interesting article with striking diagrams, illustrating 'the loose way in which ages are r-eturned in census papers, as shown by the disproportionate excess of the figures 30, 40, 45, 50, and 60. "Certain Decimal and. Metrical. Fallacies" is_ the title of a paper by Mr. It. C. Harding, who maintains that apart from the coat and inconvenience of the proposed eompolsory adoption of the metric system, the change would be for the worse and not for the better. In zoology Dr. Fulton has a long paper, full of observation and much careful research, on the fcohoperoa or native long-tailed cuckoo, which, like its European congeners, deposits its eggs in the nests of other birds. The other zoological and botanicap papers are chiefly technical, that of most general interest being one of nearly eighty pages by Dr. Cockayne, fllnstrated with pnotograflis, on a botanical excursion to the outlying islands iade'f the jurisdiction of New Zealand. Valuable geological and chemical papers, and the proceedings and transactions of fclje various branches, complete a volume tfhich is in all respects a credit to the Institute and to the colony. Another successful, rehearsal of the ichool children's choir was held in tho Town Hall yesterday afternobn. _ The children's concerts in connection with the opening of the Town Hall are to be hold next Thursday and Saturday evenings.