LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 13, 16 January 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

With next Thursday's issue of the Evening Post there will be published the Post sheet almanac for 1909. Next Tuesday is fixed as the date of the first London wool sale for 1909. The Department of Industries and Commerce has received from the Quar-termaster-General in India a form of tender calling f«r the supply of unsalted tinned beef and mutton likely to be required by the Supply and Transport Corps in India in 1908. These tenders are to be delivered at the office of the Quartermaster-General in India, Calcutta, not latei- than the 15th April, 1903. The condition of Walter Alexander Milne, who shot himself at his lodgings in Pirie-street last Sunday, is still unchanged, reports the hospital authorities. A credit balance of £15?. 4s 9d is shown in the annual report on tho transactions of the Wellington Typographical Union during the yeai now ended. This constitutes the best record in the society's history. There is a credit balance of £1149 8s 4d to start the year with, and a roll membership of 38? t

Stock Exchange business continues to keep within a narrow range. At to-day's meeting brokers reported sales of Wellington Woollen "at £3 Is 6d and Talisman scrip at £2 6s. Insurance issues are in good demand at steady rates. In the financial group Loan and Mercantile quotations are weaker. Quotations :: — • Bank of N.Z. £8 9s (buyers), Equitable Building £10 (seller), Loan and Mercantile 3s 9d (s), River Plate £1 11s 9d (b), Trust and Loan £7 7s (s), Feilding Gas 19s (b), £1 (s), National Insurance £1 7s 6d (b), N.Z. Insurance £3 16s (b) South British £2 7s 6d (b), £2 10s (s ! j Wellington Meat £5 (s) and £3 Is (s), Manawatu Bails £2 14s (b), Wellington Woollen £3 Is (b), £3 2s (s), Westport £6 13s (s), Leyland O'Brien £1 2s 9d (b), £1 3s (s), N.Z. Paper £1 2s 6d (s), Taranaki Petroleum 7s 6d (b), 8s 9d (s), Big River £1 16s 6d (b), N.Z. Crown 4s (b), 4s 4d (s), Talisman £2 5s (b), £2 5s 9d (s), Grand Junction £1 5s 3d (b), £1 6s 3d (s), Waihi £8 16s 6d (b), £8 19s (s). Following is a copy of a telegram received from the Talisman Consolidated by the Wellington Stock Exchange, dated 15lh inst. : — "The foL. lowing cable was sent yesterday to London office of Talisman Consolidated, Ltd. : — No. 12 level south, branch 'drive off main south drive at 1200 ft, progress 12ft width of reef 24 inches, average value of assays £6." A meeting has been convened for this" evening to consider a proposal to form a sub-union of the Wellington Rugby Union, to embrace Porirua, Paremata, Paekakariki, Pahautanui, and Upper Hutt. It is understood that the Management Committee of the Wellington Rugby Union approves the proposal. "We have magnificent crops on the Canterbury Plains," said the Hon. D. Buddo to a Post reporter yesterday, "and feed is in such abundance that most farmers could increase their flocks by 40 per cent. In fact, the agricultural industry is flourishing, and the only drawback is the erratic weather of the past six weeks." This week the steam trawler Nora Niven has completed three successful fishing cruises into Palliser Bay. Each trip has resulted in a large supply of fish for the Wellington market. The catches comprised such a varied assortment as trumpeter, moki, hapuku, snapper, terakihi, hake, gurnet, and a small quantity of soles and flounders. In answer to a letter from the Masterton Chamber of Commerce as to the amount paid in expenses to witnesses from Masterton at the last sitting of the Supreme Court in Wellington, the Registrar has replied that it totalled £84 11s Bd. Members of the chamber yesterday expressed the opinion that if a sitting of the Supreme Court were established at Masterton a substantial saving would be effected. Regarding the trouble between the Wangatiul Caledonian Society and the Athletic Union, it is stated authoritatively (says a Wanganui telegram) that the Feilding society has resigned from the latter as a protest against tho union's action in ignoring an amicable report of delegates concerning disqualification. All the principal competitors will be present at the Wanganui gathering on Friday, notwithstanding the union's threat of disqualification. Between 12 and 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon a young man named Harry Williams, with several aliases, was discovered in a bedroom of the Arcadia Hotel, apparently engaged in a diligent search for something or other. Failing to give a satisfactory account of his presence and intentions, Williams was handed over to the police, and to-day appeared before Messrs. G. Winder and J. Speed, J.P.'s., charged with breaking and entering by day with intent to commit a crime. Chief Detective M'Grath applied for a remand until Wednesday next, 20th January. Facing the world for the first time as an "eight-pager" on Monday, the Invercargill Davy News remarks that the expansion of the paper may be taken as evidence of Southland's great development in recent years. The journal's appearance is much improved by the recent change. It steps into line with others of the country towns which have multiplied their columns in deference to the increase of population and business in the community The Invercargill Times is also no longer content to go abroad as a modest four-pager. It has come out with eight, and so the honours between the two journals remain even. The annual horticultural show at Wellington South will be held on Wednesday and Thursday next, in St. Thomas's School Hall, Newtown. This is the only show in the city where fruit, vegetables, plants, etc., are exhibited with flowers, and the promoters have for years been making endeavours to induce the cultivation of even small strips of gardens. There are classes to suit all kinds of tastes, and small prizes ara given for children as well as adults. Special prizes are offered in one section for the produce of either flowers or vegetables from small gardens under 20ft ty 10ft. Entries closo on Monday evening. Though farmers are said to be rushing their potato crops on the market through fear of blight, there is really remarkably little blight about this year. The season up to a week or two ago has been, dry, and that does not encourage the advance of tho plague of tho tuber. Mr. R. C. Kirk, Government Biologist, assured a Post reporter that, if there was any blight at all, it was purely local. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture had been found an excellent policy of insurance, and, whether blight appeared or not, there was an improvement in the crop. Things are nothing like so bad as they were three or four years ago. -Fishermen resident at Island Bay say that the combination of tide and sea m the neighbouring Ohiro Bay during the last day or two has been of a nature not experienced for two or three years past. The waters have been driven far up the sandy bay and across the road in Us vicinity. It is here that the huge septic tank to be used in connection with the scheme for the drainage of Island Bay is being built. The excavations have been completed, and the concrete flooring has been put in, but work has been interrupted by, the sea already referred to. The waters have filled tha excavations, and swept into them a small pump thr.t has sufficed hitherto to keep down tho soakages. There are now over 100,000 gallons of water in the tank, and half-a-day's work for a steam engine and hose will be requisite before construction work can be resumed. At their camp, Prisoner's Bay, tomorrow afternoon, No. 3 Company, N.Z.G.A.V., will give an "At Home." Messolin>s, Louisine, and'Pailette silks in all wanted shades, for blouses and dresses, only Is lid a yard. Kirkcaldis and Stains,' Ltd. — Advt. The New Zealand Express Co., 89 Customhouse-quay, pack, store, and remove furniture at specially low rates. Only careful, competent men employed. Goods sent to any part of the world. Tel. 1333.— Advt. Ho who abets, assists, or creates a lock-out or strike is liable to be punished under the present arbitration system. Whether the Government will take a firm stand against the present lock-out on tho West Coast is a question we must leave to the heads of State. But what the ladies of Wellington ought to do and do on Saturday morning, at 9 o'clock, is to strike hard for the bargains that will be offered at C. Smith's, Ltd., Cuba, street, great summer sale. Everything throughout the entire store is to bo marked down to bedrock orices. — &.dvt.