LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 45, 21 August 1908, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

I The House of Representatives spent the greater portion of yesterday discussing the Estimates. In the afternoon a number of local Bills were put through their committee stages. The Council further debated a motion tabled by Mr. Barr regarding the cost of living. The postal authorities advise that the Wimmera, which left Sydney for Auck- ! land on the 19th instant, has on board I an English and Australian mail, which \ should, •in tho ordinary course, com« | through from New Plymouth by the exI press train on Monday evening next, the 24th. A sitting" in Chambers will be held by Mr. Justice XDooper at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning, to fix the order of civil business for next week. Wellington births during July, according to the Registrar-General, were 173. Christchurch recorded 124; Dunedin, 129; Auckland, 157. There has been 'an increase of over 30,000 passengers on the Wellington Napier-New Plymouth Railway section for the period ending 18th July last as compared with the corresponding period of 1907. The receipts have gone up in the same period from £17,677 to £22,488 for passenger traffic; and from £32,178 [ to £34,234 for other business. Vital statistics as they appear in the Gazette show that Wellington's deaths (for July) from epidemic diseases exceeded by one the deaths from such causes in the other three centres, the local figures being six, of which five were cases of scarlet fever and one of diphtheria. /Cancer claimed nineteen victims, distributed among the four centres. The highest death rate for any city and suburbs was that of Dnnedin, 1.21; tho lowest, Auckland, .74; and Wellington came next with 1.01 per 1000. Brief reference to the betterment proposals in the Wellington Harbour Board's Empowering Bill was made by the Mayor of Miramar (Mr. J. S. Crawford) at last night's meeting of his council. His Worship said that the special committees of the Borough Council and the Harbour Board had come to an agreement on the general principles, and it now remained for tho lawyers to put the matter in legal form. This would probably be done early next week, and the council would then have an opportunity of either accepting or rejecting tho proposals. Charged with the theft of a watch, valued at £6, the property of Michael Lally, Charles Smit^j to-day told the magistrate the very old story that he had bought it for £2 10s from a "man in tho street whom he had never seen before or since." A few days after, accused—who stated he had a bank balance — pawned the watch for 15s. The theft occurred at Siefert's flaxmill, where both accused and Lally had been employed. Accused was sent to gaol for three months. Wilhelm Richter, convicted on two charges of petty theft, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment on each charge, sentences to be concurrent. An old man named John Willis, convicted of being without lawful visible means of support, was committed to gaol for three months. A matter relating to the roading of the Crofton Downs Estate was mentioned by Councillor Morrah at the City Council's meeting last night. It was reported that a certain engineer did not desire to make a connection to the road leading to the Crofton railway station — at any rate until sucb_ time as the carrying out of the work might be convenient to the owners. The city engineer reported that if tbe connection was not made, the only approach to the estate would be over an unformed public road, which would cost the council a considerable sum of money in making it available for traffic. He, therofore, recommended that the council should require the connection to be made before taking the roads over. The recommendation was adopted on the motion of Councillor Morrah. Mr. H. E. Kerr, tlie New Zealand walking champion who went Home to compete at the Olympic games, writing to Mr. H. Henderson from London, under date Bth July, gives some facts about his effort in tho two miles championship of England, in which he was placed fourth. He mentions that his "heels were soft" inconsequence of the sea voyage, and that he had only seven walks before the big event was decided. A. E. M. Rowlands was placed seventh in the event in question. Lamer, the English walker, who defeated all competitors in the Olympic contests, is described by Kerr as "a terribly good man." "All the athletes in training here," he continues, "are in the pink of condition. I should have been in London two months earlier to get iuLo form, but, never mind, I will do my best at the stadium. I am stopping with Lynch (Australia), Murray, and George Smith, and training at tha stadium, which is only five minutes' walk from where I am living. I havo not seen much of London yet, but what I have seen does not suit me." The Sporting Times, in a reference to Kerr's performance at the English championship meeting, says that although de-