LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 1, 1 July 1912, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The members of the Education Commission arrived from South yesterday, and left to-day for Wanganui. Where they sit until Friday. The- Wellington sittings begin on Monday next at the Education Board office. For the quarter ending 30th June the Customs revenue collected at this port totalled £194,017, as compared with £179,627 for the corresponding quarter last year. Beer duty for the same periods amounted to £2985 and £3206 respectively. For the half-year the figures are: — Customs,* half-year ending 30th June, 1912, £425.913 ; for the halfyear ending 30th June, 1911, £384,210. For the month of Juno this year Customs revenue received amounted to £65,256, and for the same month hsi, year £51,574. Beer duty for the same periods totalled £777 and £1100 respectively. Estimates of the Hutt River Board have been prepared, and will come up for consideration on Thursday evening next. It is understood that no new works of any magnitude are proposed, and that the rates will bo the same as those ruling last year. The complimentary social to be tendered to Mr. T. M. Wilford by Lower Hutt electors will take place on Monday, 15th July — not this evening, as previously announced. A very strong committee has the arrangements in hand, and the function promises to be highly successful. Mr. E. J. Hill ie attending to the concert portion of the programme. At Trontham camp tho boyt. >vho aro j to form the New Zoaland Cadet Contingent for Canada are making excellent progress with their drill, under th<j direction of Staff-Sergeant-Major P;U'k<"s. of the Grenadier Guards. The uniforms are being manufactured by Mr. A. Levy, of Wellington, and are to bo ready this week. The Cadets will leave Auckland for Vancouver by tho JMakura on 2nd ♦August, under th« command of Captain Fullarton, of Otago. Hough sketches of localities havo often been used by litigants to assist th© Magistrate in undemanding better the evidence placed before him, but on Friday, during the hearing of a case at Ashburton, arising out of a motor car accident, couneel placed before tho Court a painting representing t the artistic work of the plaintiff, in which streets, houses, hedges, motor cars, pedestrians, and a trap were all shown. The art critic would have found in the painting much faulty work, especially • with regard to perspective (saya the Guardian), but it served the purpose intended, and also helped to relieve the dulness of Court proceedings. Once during the hearing it went astray, and Ids Worship, ob» serving it on the Pieae table, where it had been kid, commented on til© aesthetic tastes of reporters and their evident lovo of art. Down quilts are wanted iix most homes, and those wanting really «ipo quilts would do well to sco the Beautiful abode now beiiiK oliowii by KirkpaJdifc ami

•To-dayi the offices of tho Official Ansigneo were removed from the Pahlia Trust Boildingis to the promises recently occupied by tho Wellington Moat Export Company on LambUm-quay. From the Baillie collection tim N«w [ Zoaland Post and Telegraph Officers Association is purchasing a picture att & cost of 100 guineas, for tho purpose of s ! presentation to Sir Joaoph Ward, late Postmaster-General. Sir Josoph Wavd will choose the picture when ho is in Christchurch. Between the period, Ist April and 30th Juno of this year permit* for building wore issued in the Onslow borough to the value of £29.097 10s. During the /whole of the financial year preceding (1911-12) the value of buildings for which permits were issued was £17,000. Tho erection at Kaiwarra of a new wool shed and flax store for Messrs Levin and Co. is the chief cause for the lai-ge increase in tho quarter's figures. Apropos of the coming of the fleet of Norwegian whalers to this port, it iis interesting to note that the "Spermacet" Whaling Company, of Larvik (from which port the whalersi now in New Zealand came), in its 'first working year, won 473 whales, 11,533 barrels ol oil, and about 25 tons of whalebone. This expedition, which worked with two whalers . and one floating boilory, operated off the West African coast and realised a net profit of 139,935 kroner (more than £5800). At the <• general meeting of shareholders in the "Viking" Whaling Company, of Sandefjord, it was resolved to transfer to the reserve fund the whole of last year's net profits, amounting to about 121,000 kroner (over £5000), and to erect a, new •station near the sphere of the company's operations on the West African coast. Practical sympathy has been shown by a large number of Wellington waterside workers with the pianiste who was recently dismissed from a picture show at Waihi. It will be remembered that' as she was the wife of a member the Waihi Engine-drivers' Union, a union which has incurred the displeasure of the Federation' of Labour, pressure was brought to bear upon her employers, and it is alleged that the pianiste was told she would have to leave in order to placate the strikers at Waihi. She accordingly lost her engagement. As soon as the nectary facts were ascertained, the waterside men referred to raised a subscription in small sumß on her behalf. The total was considerable, and was forwarded to the pianiste, and a letter of thanks has just been received in which tho thougbtfulness' and nympathy of the Wellington waterside workers are gratefully acknowledged. A Bluff syndicate has acquired 300 acres about two nilos from Wairio for the purpose of developing the icoal deposits therein (ropprte the lnvercargill News). Good reports' concerning the quality and the extent of tho coal have been received. Plan* for the shaft have been prepared and/ operations will be commenced as soon as the preliminary work has been c6mploted. The company, which is a private one, has been registered as tho Morlev Coal Company, Ltd. Tenders for th© shaft and other necessary development works will be issued within six weeks, and it is expected that everything will bo ready for making a start about March of next year. In tho ligni. of the present scarcity of coal the now company should have a prosperous career, and its formation will be received with a great deal of satisfaction by townspeople who have been greatly inconvenienced by tie recent shortage of supplies. With perhaps some idea of his Impending fate, a welUgrown bullock, weary of his stay at the Ngahauranga yards, journeyed into town fchis morning, and for af while blocked the thoroughfare in Vie-, toria-street. Soon a large crowd collected, but no member of "the Force" could have cleared the street to better effect than did this animal with one look over his shoulder. Tiring somewhat of pursuing common clerks, the bull turned hia attention to two lady typists who stood not upon the order of their going, but wont at once, doing good time for a hundred yards to tho nearest warehouse door. Then things looked serious, and the bull, with the idea of keeping U*> crqwd warm on such a chill morning, charged from first one Hdo of the street and then the other. Then came a« picador, in the guise of a mounted policeman, armed with a .45 Colt in default of the banderillos and lance. Three bullets from tho revolver failed to effect a oouiJ de graco, bat tho shots were Well placed. A rifle succeeded where the smaller w»n ft^ed, and the ' animal dropped in innlcareer, and then, and not till then, the ciowd gathered round, a few typwiea dame hesitatingly out from tho office doors, and message boys searched for tlw bullet holes with the air, of Nimiods. Particular attention was paid to an employee of E. W. Mills, and he and his bicycle camo in for some rough handling. Tho bull knocked him over, but luckily, however, the only damage donevvw to his clothing. This necessitated v, return home to cover contain deficiencies. During ' its stay in Christchurch the Education Commission has, states our Christchurch correspondent, met >vitii very little response to its questions regarding the advisability or othenvts© oi spelling reform. Every teacher has b«»>n questioned, but, •with the exception of Mr. C. E. Bevan Brown, principal ol! tho Boys' High School, Misa M. Gibson, principal of the Girls' High School, and Miss M. Olliver, of the Hokitika District High School, nouo of them expressed any opinion. The three replies> receive*! were unfavourable to the proposed reform. A lew days ago tho Press ui-2«i<d upon the Education- Commission the necessity of tilling members of the medical profession us witnesses, and romivrkod that, "amoug all the witnesses who have given evidence there has not been one doctor, and we regard this as a very soriouM omission," The members of the commission were defended by their ehuirmnu,. who said that the member* had beon assured that Dr. Truby King \\as> the accredited representative oi' tho Medical Association in Now Zoaland, and that in addition to the evidence given by him in Dimedin he would be granted an entire day in Wellington by the commission. The commission had also invited all teachers in tho Wellington dih* trict ' to attend and hear Dr. Troby King's remarks. Mr. J. R : . Kirk supplemented the chairman's l'etnnrljß vith the statement tha.t no special invitations had boen issued to any individuals, and that if the members of the medical profession had desired to refer to any lnju,lers they could have responded t<> tho general invitation advertised m the newspapers. , Travellers by train or boat can avoid oil discomfort by checking their baggage through tho New Zealand Express Company. Tek 92, 2410, 1333, 30(58.— Advt. Duriug this month wo siro holding one of the greatest stook : roducing sulos' ever attemptod in Wellington. It ie a \vi>llknown fact that C. Smith, Ltd., hold one, and one cale only, each season, tu>d him? a reputation for genuine reductions <!"Ving that period, and with this etM "f view we have gone carefully through eia department of the entire est&blithin v, and in every instance of eoeeon's stuc. the prices have beeu bo cut down that wu can assert that equal values have never before been offered. Do not fail to como to the great sale to-day. If out of town mail your orders. Freight paid on oil parcels -to tho Taluo of 20s a.nd upwards on all eale purchases, with exception of furmnlnugs, v&d all orders must bo aecoinpaniod by £.0. Note the addrtttf-g^SmiilUiW^.Cubfcirtr^-Arilsfc.

To connection with tho Lower Hufct waterworks, the new pomp which is benog procured ie do* by the lonic next week. " Arrangements are being made to install it immediately it comes fo hand. Xis installation should put the water jrapply of the borough on a much sounder footing than has hitherto been the case. "Patriot" writes to the Greymouth BUr, miggeeting a novel and ingenious method of punishing Territorials who refuse, to take up the gun under the compulsory training scheme. Briefly, the idea. \b that all lads refusing to put in parades should be barred from playing football, cricket, golf, hockey, oi auy ionn. of athletic sport. They should be refuted admianon to theatres or boxing n>aUh«* : and, in fact, should be ostraei*od from all social functions. If such a course were followed, he contends, it would do more to bring young fellowsinto lin© than all the fines inflicted by Magistrates. , It is understood that the levy made by 'the Federation of Labour on behali of the Waihi and Roefion miners on strike of 2s 6d per -rock per man is rather slow, in coming in. It should produce £180 per week, bat The Post vis informed that tho week before last £26 only was received. The matter wa» brought under the notice of Mr. Farland, the union secretary, who said he ■was unable to give any details for publication. The contribution of £26 above TeferTed to, however, was not correct. Much more than that was raised. The union, he added, did not concern itself with tlie merits of the Waihi or Reefton dispute*, but in helping the me& concerned was responding to an appeal for aid ; in short, to help the men in their distress. He declined to discuss the levy at all. Recently the secretary of the Invercargill Housewives' Union, a body which is taking an active interest in social questions, especially in relation to domestic economy, approached the District Health Inspector (Mr. R. Bleakeley) in regard to the ventilation and heating of factories and shops. At the last meeting a reply was lead, enclosing an opinion from Dr. Finch, District Health, Officer, stating that the Health Department had power to enforce a provision for proper ventilation. With regard to heating, the department had no power, but the factory inspector at Christchurch had informed him that, although they had no direct power to enforce heating, no, difficulty had been experienced in getting proper heating arrangements provided. Dr. Finch also added : — " An employer who did not provide proper heating would only injure himself, as he could not get satisfactory work done under such conditions."