LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 62, 11 September 1905, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A series of interesting addresses -is te be given in tho Concert Chamber of the Town Hall this evening under tho auspices of the Wellington Political Reform League. Sir Wm. Russell is to speak on the restoration of true Parliamentary Government; Mr. A. h. Herdman, member for I Mount Ida, will address himself to the need for Civil Service reform- Mr. W. F. iMassey, Leader of the Opposition, will urge reform of the- system of local government and land tenuxes; and Mr. Jas. Allen, member for Bruce, will devote his remarlffl to the subject of education. Messra. Duthie and Aitken, members for Wellington, are also to speak.s Ladjes are invited io he present. Shortly after 9 o'clock this morning tho discovery was made that a chest of drawers in a dressing-room in Mrs. Eb'zabeth Pearce's residence in Kensingtonstreet was on fire. Prompt steps were taken by the inmates, and before the Brigade could leach the house the fiTe had been suppressed. The room and its contents were slightly damaged [ by fire and water. Tho house is insured with the Royal Company for £750, and the furniture and effects are covered by the Standard Company for £540. Reform is still needed in the management of the tramway service on special occasions. There was a large crowd at Newtown Park yesterday afternoon, attracted by the first of the municipal concerts given by subsidised bands. The crowd came from all parts of the city, and at the conclusion of the concert there was a great demand for oars. Tte traffic was so great that the cars went away from Newtown packed to their utmost capacity, and even then from 700 to ! 1000 persons Who desired to ride had to walk, and there was much grunftling because of this inconvenience/ Yet whilst the cars were overcrowded at the Newtown terminus, the cars from Island Bay and Constable - street were returning empty. It would have been a simple matter for the cars from, other sections to be diverted to Newtown between 4 and 5 o'clock, as the management should have known that there was a crowd at Newtown Park to be handled. It was anticipated by the City Council that the band concert would be an asset for the tramway service, and therefore special and ample provision should be made for carrying the people who attend the concerts. "He is a waster of the worst kind, and I cannot commend him to clemency," said Sub-Inspector O'Donovan to Dr. A. M'Arthur, S.M., this_ morning of a young man" named Henry Edward Shine, who 'pleaded guilty to having broken a window, valued at £7, the property of Geo. Dison, a confectioner. The Sub-Inspector explained that accused, without the slightest provocation against the informant, picked up a- stone and deliberately hurled it through the window. Shine was only 21 years of age. He came to the colony about fifteen months ago from Sydney, and had done little or no work since he had been in Wellington. His Worship asked accused if he had anything to say, and the reply was : "1' was intoxicated." His Worship observed that it was 1 the o.d yarn again, and! sentenced accused to pis months' imprisonment with hard labour. Clara Brannigan was similarly dealt with on a charge of vagrancy. Two firstoffending inebriates were each fined 10s, in default 48 hours' imprisonment. Some interesting remarks regarding work and wages were made by Mr. Murdoch M'Lean, of the firm of John Miean and Sons, of Wellington and Auckland, in his address to the electors of Parnell last week. The candidate stated that his firm, during their career, had always endeai voured to pay, and had paid, the best wages. They recognised that by paying good wages they got the best service— (applause) — and in their contracts in other parts of the colony they had generally paid more than the ruling rate of wages in the particular district, and, as a result, they got better service, and were able to more than compete with the employers who paid small wages and ground their employees ( down. During the long career of John M'Lean and Sons, they had never had one single dispute in the shape of strikes or troubles with the j men— (applause) — and the men never had j any v hesitatior in mentioning anything | they did not agree with, and the grievance as a rulo was instantly set right. In the Legislative Council last week the Hon. J. Rigg brought under the notice of the Attorney-General the case of Mr. H. A. Campbell, who is alleged to have been dismissed from the co-operative works on the Mount Egmont railway line on account of his political opinions. (Mr. Campbell is the Political Labour League's Midhurst Secretary, and a probable candidate for the Egmont seat.) The Attorney-General replied that the Public Works Department knew nothing of Mr. Campbell's political views, and that his dismissal was in accordance with the policy of giving married men preferment over single men. A correspondent of the Stratford Post now alleges that while Mr. Campbell was dismissed other single men were retained, and that about two days after Mr. Campbell's dismissal four other single men were engaged on tho same line. He further states that a largo majority of the men employed on the StratfordWhangnmomona line are unmarried, and that none of them havo been dispensed with on that account. The Post's corrospondont continues that Mr. Campbell recently took exception to the average rate of wages on tho Mount Egmont lino being fixed at 7s 3d per day, and that it is generally believed that he has been dismissed on account of his plain-speaking, and to get him out of a district in which he wields considerable influence — an action that is very disquieting to other opponents of the present Government who are employed on co-operative works. The half-yearly dividend at the rate of 12 per cent, per annum on Bank of Australasia shares will be payable on 6th October. In our fancy department is displayed some choice ostrich and cogue feather boas and stoles. A special line in black and white, natural and white, at 12s 6d each; other qualities up to 5 guineas. Kirkcaldie sm St&iiw.-rAdvfc,

The Customs revenue collected last week totalled £8535 Is sd, and the beer duty £323 Is 6d. . The State schools in the Wellington district resumed work this morning after a week's vacation for the spring term holdays. Candidates for the coming Trinity College examinations are. notified that the piano to be used at the examination is now available for practice. A gang of men under the direction of an officer of the Public Works Department is engaged in getting the Trentham riflß range in order for the opening of the shooting season on the 30fch inst. The number of targets is to be increased. The following transfers in the lighthouse service have been decided upon : — Principal keepers Dow (Portland Island) and M'Leicb. (Nuggets) are to exchango positions. There is also ito be an exchange between Assistant-keepers Duthie (Cape Palliser), and Woodbury (Capo Maria Van Diemen). The Onslow Borough Council wishes to prosecute in connection with certain advertisements alleged to have been erected wrongfully and without authority in the borough. The Council's difficulty is that it cannot prosecute the firm advertised, unless dt can prove that the advertisement was erected with th© firm's authority. It lias decided to try and hunt up the necessary evidence. Among ihe items of business set down for hearing by the Arbitration Court at its coming sitting in Wellington is an addition to the drivers' award. It is asked that employers .shall be compelled to keep a time-book, setting down the •ordinary and overtime of each driver employed. The employers will consider the matter at a meeting jn the Employers' Association Rooms 10-morrow evening. A leading butcher in Wellington states that the wholesale pricei of mutton is higher now than at any time during the past twenty years, and at the ruling retail rates he is losing at least a shilling on every carcase he sells. He states that although the wholesale price of fure quarters of mutton has gone up to 3j}d per pound, the butchers are only charging their customers 3£d, hoping that before long the price of sheep will come down to such an extent as will enable j them to again make a profit. Ia moving a vote of than'p.s to Mr. H. Sanson for presiding at the "no-license" meeting in Sydney-street last Friday night, the Rev. Frank Isitt, of the New Zealand Alliance, stated that at his recent meeting at Taihape the chair was taken by Mr. Ellis, a leading storekeeper in the district. At the close of his (Mr. Isitt's) address Mr. Ellis said he had last year, as previously, written off hundreds of pounds of bad debts, and he was sure that 90 per cent, of that amount would not have been lost but for the fact that labourers spent their money in the public-houses, and left the storekeepers unpaid. The business men of the district were getting tired of this condition of things, and were determined I to\ protect themselves at the coming [poll. The University of New Zealand has cabled congratulations to the new University of Sheffield, which was recently opened by the King. The University is an expansion of the Sheffield University College, which had itself grown out of an amalgamation of the old Firth College with other institutions. The University as now constituted has a splendid pile of buildings, and is said to possess the most modern equipment an the world. The principal is Dr. W. M. Hicks, a Launceston man hy birth, who was a scholar and ' Fellow of St. John's College Cambridge. Ho is a distinguished physicist. Public appreciation of th« action of the City Council in arranging for brass band concerts in the various public resorts of the community was shown yesterday afternoon, when the initial perfoTmance was given in Newt-own Park by Jupp's Band. There was a muster of over two thousand people, and the park presented an animated appearance as the groups moved around the ■wallkept grounds, while the band discoursed sweet anusic. The greater part of the gathering was composed of tram passengers — for which reason the City Council is likely to receive a financial quid pro quo ior the money given in band subsidies. Rules and regulations for the guidance of telegraph officers were reissued on Friday evening as a supplement to the New Zealand Gazette. They comprise eighty-five printed pages and cover most things connected with telegraphy, from code prefixes to 'bichromate locals and cheap telegrams forwarded by members of the General Assembly. The concluding pages contain specimens of handwriting approved by the Department. The samples aro beautiful models of caligraphy, and the dnfoTm-ation vouchsafed therein is unexceptionaible, though obvious. For instance; "The most common way of employing animal power is dn drawing or carrying a load, and it is clear that if this load 'be increased the speed with -which it is carried onust be diminished." An application by the Onslow Borough ' Council to have .refuse from Kaiwarra treated at the destructor has been refused by the City Council, which, it is understood, pleads incapacity of the present plant. On Saturday night, tho Onslow Council, on Councillor Rounthwaite's motion, expressed regret at the I refusal. The opinion was expressed that it was as much in the interests of tlie city -residents to keep the environs of the city clean as to clean the city itself. The management of the" Auckland Electric Tramways Co. has arranged a more frequent car service into the suburbs, especially during the busiest parts of the day, and has published a return showing how the cars will be utilised. An increase in the number of cars has been made on all the suburban sections. The return shows that the company has fiftythree passenger cars in use, with seating accommodation for 2570 persons. Wellington has forty cars in use, and these have seating accommodation for 1699 persons. By striking an average of these figures it would appear that the Auckland cars seat 48.5 persons as against Wellington's 42.5. At a meeting of the Wairau Licensing Committee last week tho police reported that structural repairs to the Terminus Hotel, Picton, had not been carried out. On behalf of the owner (Mr. R. M'Carthy, of Wellington) it was stated that the lease to the present licensee would expire in November, and that the owner would then carry out all tho repaics recommended. The following resolution was passed : "This committee thinks that tho reasons assigned by the owner of the Terminus Hotel, Picton, for the delay in effecting the repairs ordered by the Committee in terms of the resolution passed at the last meeting are unsatisfactory, and that, under the circumstances, it is ordered that the license of the Terminus Hotel, Picton, be cancelled, such order to be suspended for the period of one month, to enable the owner to effect such repairs and to report, it being understood that in event, of the repairs being effected the license will not be cancelled." Ladies are urgently requested to TCmember that the colossal clearing-out drapery sale will be in full swing all this week at Pearson and Co.'s stores, Man-ners-street, when all the new and stjlish spring and summer goods will be iucluded to make a, clearance, which is absolutely uecessarj.— AdvV,

According to the new liberal paper at Whangarei the executive of the Liberal and Labour Federation has decided to support the following candidates in northern electorates : — Bay of Islands, Mr. R. M. Houston ; Kaipara, Mr. John Stallworthy; Mansden, Mr. B. Thompson; Grey Lynn, Mr. Geo. Fowlde; Parnell, Mr. F. Lawry; Franklin, Mt. AY. W. M'CaTdle; Thames, Hon. M'Gowan ; Ohinemuri, Mr. H. Poland ; Waikato, Mr. H. J. Greenslade; Bay o! Plenty, Mr. J. Foster; Auckland East, Mr. V. E. Baume. Candidates lor Auckland West and Eden have not yet been selected. Tha selections for Auckland Central, Waiteraata, and itfanakau wil> be announced later. For some time past about thirty members of the Railway Department I have heen undergoing systematic instruction in ambulance work at JPabnereton North under Dr. C. Peach, in connection with tho St. John Ambulance Association. A number of the men sat for examination on the 31st ult., Dr W. Graham acting as examiner. The candidates were submitted to written, practical, and viva voce tests, with very satisfactory results. Among those who have passed the examination are two e» ginemen, two clerks, two guaTds, itwo 6huntens, three porters, and one fireman. The following will be awarded certificates by the committee of the centre :— • Alfred Allsopp, Richard Dobson, Chaß. Downey, John %fe, Jame6 B. Grant, Leonard Grant, Edmond Osborne, Joseph Russell, Graham Strack, Jesse Stone, Allan Thompson, and Frank Woodcock. An interim return just issued shown that the number of sheep in the colony on 30th April last was 19,130,875 aa against 18,280,806 on the 6ame date last year. They are almost evenly divided between the North and South Islands, th« figures for which are respectively 9,388,605 and 9,742,270. The figures for tha provinces are: — Auckland, 1969 ownera and 619,337 sheep; Napier, 2043, and 4,684,165; Wellington-West Coast, 392?, and 4,185,103 ; Canterbury-Kaikoura, 4435 and 5,240,253; Marlborough-Nel-son, 1829 and 954,249; Otago, 4225 and 3.547,768. The total sheep rate for 1905 is estimated at £19,130. It would appear that the alarm over the depletion of our ewe flocks owing to the supposedly excessive exportation of ewe lambn has less warrant than is Sinngined-, since the totals for the past four years are :— 11,034,911, 10,502,314. 10,265,295, and 10,788,562 respectively. Te Whiti, the "prophet" of Parihaka, according to latest reports, has recovered his health, and is, in fact, said to bo renewing his youth, so hale and vigorous has the veteran become. He is bright and cheerful, and has taken up again hip role of prophet, a part he has not played for some years. Te \ybiti still retains his bitter feelings towards the Pakehai generally and the missionaries particularly. His latest prophecy, a gentleman who has just come down from the Paii haka district informed a Post representative, is to the effect that all Europeans and missionaries are blackberries, and within a short time they would all bo exterminated ! Evidently Te Whiti has been impressed with the agitation regarding noxious weeds, and has made a topical prophecy for the encouragement of his followers. A slight sensation was caused in tho Supreme Court at Napier on Friday through the sudden illness of Mr. Lusk, | counsel for A. A. George, printer, of Hastings, who is charged with a defamatory libel upon Police Inspector Mac Don. uell. In opening the case for the defence Mr. Lusk asked the jury to bear with, him, as he was not feeling as well as ho would like, and his words were confirmed soon afterwards. Hb was questioning hia firet witness, when the Chief Justico made an interjection, and while the witness was answering Mr. Lusk w»a seen to sway and collapse in a faintinp, condition into the arms of those sitting near. He soon came to, but it 'was considered advisable to adjourn the case. With regard to the operations of tha Victoria College "working bee," briefly reported on Saturday, it may 'be explained that the " bee," which con. sisted of about forty workers drafted ■from ths Victoria College Council, the professorial staff, and the students, eel. itself to remove a bank in order to square up the playing grounds. The sod that was left for the Premier to sever and turn was a particularly healthy slab pf earth, ana required quite a 'heave to get it into the barrow. "It is only reasonable," said the Premier, " that when thei-e is some digging to ■be done you should get an old digger to do it." Physical development, be added, was a source of mental ■improvement. On behalf of the Victoria College Council, Dr. Knight thanked the Premier, regretted the Premier's unfort'u- • nabs inability to attend the laying of the foundation stone, and expressed pleasure to 6ee him on the site, both as Minister for Education and as Minister io-r Labour. The Premier stated that the action of the students that day, also lliheir action in raising £200 among themselves to assist the College, showed that their heart -was ia their University, and that they possessed the same spirit as animated through all their Jives those who had been to Oxford or Cambridge. Provision would be made for the £6000 asked for to complete the fittings, etc., of the building. The committee that organised tho bee " was Messrß. E. P. Wilson, Delamare, and Beere. On a charge of theft of 106 from the •til of a shopkeeper in Adelaid«-Toad, named Win. F. Harding, Carf Yohansen was .this morning sentenced to three months' imprisonment. The accused declared that -he was innocent of the charge, but Dr. M'Arthur, S.M., who heard the information, sad he had no doubt that accused woa the man -whom one witness said she had seen robbing the till. The police explained .that accused had previously been convicted of an offence at Newcastle and another at Auckland. Wm. Skilling, a carpenter by occupation, -wa6 «>nvicted and discharged on a first offence of insobriety, and fined 10s, in default forty-eight hours' imprisonment, on a. chaTge of having resisted Constable Douglas whilst in the execution of his duty. A charge preferred against a young man named Ernest Osborne, of having wilfully damaged three panes of glass valued at £3, at a restaurant conducted by John •Thakis, was withdrawn. Sub-Inspector O'Ponovan stated that restitution had been made, and that >ho had no evidence to show that the damage had been wilfully don«. The New Zealand Express Company, Ltd., makes a specialty of handling furnituro locally, and also of packing and shipping same. Experienced and reliable ' men. Rates moderate. Telephone, No. 92.— Advt. Munt, Cottrell, and Co., general carriers, Customs and forwarding agents. Storage a speciality. Furniture packed and removed. Office : Queen's Chambers. Telephone No. 23,— Advt. Ladies' blouses will be in great demand during the summer season. We havo thereforo catered to supply every want in this department. In fact, every blouse w»s bought and selected under Mr. C. Smith's personal supervision. Mr. Smith's system of paying spot cash on »H purchase w> ables us to sell goods in every department al least 20 per cent, lower than the average prices asked for similar articles. Lovely designs in white embroidered linen blouses, embroidered muslin and silk blouses, in white or colours; also largo ' varieties in mousselaino do lainc, voiles, and mousselamo de toio. Inspection invited. 0. Smithy Cash. Draper,, Oub»-»t.-.