LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 77, 1 April 1914, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Plans are being prepared by the Government Architect's staff for a new central police _ Btation, to be erected on the vacant section, formerly occupied by the old Theatre Royal, running from Johnston-street to Waring Taylor-street. As soon as completed tenders will be called, and tho work of construction gone on with as expeditiotisly as pos> sible. A deputation of Northland residents is to wait upon the City Council to-mor* row evening to urge that the Moles-worth-street'Tinakori-road tramway, via Hill-street, be- included in the estimates of the council for the current year. An interesting experiment was recently made by a party of local yachtsmen. The result is just to hand. On 4th January last, while crossing Cook Strait' from the Sounds to Wellington, those on board the yacht Atalanta threw overboard a bottle, 'which contained a message asking the finder to return the contents to the address given. The bottle was found on Maunganui Beach, Chatham Islands, on 18th March, thus having drifted about 500 miles in a westerly direction. The Gisborne Harbour Board has been urged by the Chamber of Commerce of that town to have the wreck of the Star of Canada, in Kaiti Bay, destroyed by explosives or otherwise, &o that the precincts of the port should no longer be marred by an eyesore. There is at present only the funnel showing, and as the wreck 1161 16 not yet abandoned, it was decided to ask the local agent of the Salvage Association to try to have the visible parts of the wreck removed as eooii as possible. An interesting communication regarding moneylending has been received from a correspondent, who says :■— "l borrowed £10 from a moneylender, and have paid it back in six one>monthly payments of £2 12s. Now he says there is a balance of £1 6s owing, making, in all, £16 188 for six months. Do you think the interest charged is too much, and would I be justified in refusing the £1 6s balance he is now charging?" If the borrower refuses to pay and the moneylender sues for the £1 6s, the case will come under section 3 of tho Moneylenders Act, 1908, which says, in effect^ that if the Court considers that the interest charged is excessive, or that the transaction is "hard and unconscionable," the Court may reopen the transaction and take an account lietween _ the parties. Further, tho Court may, in such a case, order the creditor to repay any amount which it considers has been unreasonably charged by way of interest. It is also interesting to note that if any person carries on the business of moneylender without being registered under the Act he incurs very heavy penalties. Criminologiets have often asserted that crime in many cases is due to some disorder of the brain, and that that being the case certain criminals should be handed over to a specialist rather than to the gaol authorities. Colour was lent to this idea, by the statement of r. prisoner in the Magistrate's Court to-day. The man, in pleading guilty to a charge of petty theft, told the Magistrate that it was no use sending him to gaol. It only meant that immediately lie came out he would go and break the law again in the same way that he had broken it on many previous occasions. He a^sked i that he be sent to Roto Roa for treatment. He had had a knock on his head, and as soon, asi he got a drop of drink in him he could not control himself. "It is," he concluded, "useless sending mo to gaol." Inspector Ilendrey said that the man was not drunk when arrested ; whereat the prisoner replied that he had had eight drinks that day. Mr. W. G. Riddcll, S.M.. said that he could not send him to Roto Hoa Island on a charge of theft. The accused, who has a. long list of previous convictions, and only r<> cently came out of gaol, was fined 40s, with the alternative of fourteen days' imprisonment. Kirkcaldie and Stains beg to advise their customers, and the public generally, that they have just received a new shipment of Bultefick's Paper Patterns. LL — Ady> t

There appeals to be some misapprehension as to the date of the opening of the rock oyster season. The Auckland bivalves will not be available until after the Ist of May. Another direct shipment of coal from Greymouth to Petone has been arranged for. It will be brought by tho Anchor steamer- Alexander, due at the suburban wharf next" Saturday. The Anchor steamer Nikau will make another daylight, excursion from Motueka to Wellington on Monday next, with a fin ther batch of returning "hoppickers. The election of a member of the John* sonville Town" Board to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Mr. R, W. Lawrence took place yesterday, and resuited in the return of Mr. 11. C. Skinner, who secured 57 votes as compared with 19 polled by Mr. John Wheeler , At a meeting of the Northland Municipal Electors' Association last evening, complaints were made of the excessive speed at which motorists and motor* cyclists travel along the Main Karoiv . road. It was resolved to aomniunicate with the Commissioner of Police, with a. view to stopping the practice. Yesterday was the last day foe receiving applications for the New Zealand war modal from persons entitled to that honour who have not yet received it. Some hundreds of applications have \already been sent in: and those posted yesterday from any part of ■ the Do* minion will also be taken. Ownership ot the medal entitles the holder to a. pension of £36 a year. The lack of adequate shelter for pate sengete waiting for the Tinakori-road and Karon cars at the junction of Lambtotiquay and Charlotte-street was men* tioned at a meeting of the Northland Municipal Electors^ Association last evening, and it was decided to write to tha City Council, requesting that either a shelter shed be erected at a convenient place, or that the cais stop near? Quinton's Corner. A large copper tray was received 'by the Education Board yesterday from the British and Foreign Sailors' Society, who had awarded it to Agnes Burbidge, of Mount Cook School, for a patriotic essay. The copper, it was stated, came from Nelson s old flagship Victory, which led Mr. Hogg to remark: "That old ship has been a regular copper mine. I don't know when they are coming to the end of it, for fchey have been building copper mementoes from it for about fifteen years to my knowledge. " Various excuses were tendered, by & number of persona arraigned at tI«S Lower Hutt Magistrate's Court thiß morning on charges of being found on licensed premises when suck premises were required to be closed. Altogether eight cases came before the Magistrate, and, with two exceptions, fines were inflicted. Those penalised to the extent of 'ss, with 7s costs (the alternative being twenty-four hours" imprisonment) were: George King and J. Tannahill (found on Family Hotel), Thomas Henry Fit?,* maurice (Railway Hotel), William Black, Sydney Strattoit, antl William Kvett (Bellevue Gardens Hotel). The cases against James G. Roes (Railway Hotel) and Robert Manning (B&Uevue Hotel) were dismissed. _ Arising out of a recommendation earned at a meeting of the Lower Hutt Fire Brigade Motor Vehicle Committee, the local Borough Council last night decided to purchase an Argyll motor chassis for fire brigade purposes, at a cost of £420. In explaining that there would be no difficulty in financing the matter, the Mayor (Mr. E. P. Bunny) said that the council had in hand the sum of £100 which was subscribed by residents, and there was also an amount of £125 on the estimates. If another £125 was put on the estimates this year, this would leavo only the sum of £70 to be provided for. The motor under offer would be sold to the council on terms. The chassis would arrive in the Dominion in four months' time. , "A Dissatisfied Traveller "— a, man whose business necessitates has " travelling from one end of New Zealand to the other continuously "—writes to The Post, voicing a list of grievances connected with the railways. His complaints may be summarised as follow : —The delay on the express trains at some of the stopping places owing to insulb'cient number of porters ; the lack of assistance given to women with children, who have to shilt their own luggage. In tho latter connection, the correspondent suggests that " the Department should put on two or three porters to call out the number of checked luggage tickets or name, and let the goods' be claimed, as they' are removed from the guaid's van," The correspondent also thinks there is room for improvement in some Of the re* freshmeivfc rooms; he objects to the violent ringing of bells in the dead of night 'as the express trains Btop at different stations j and he is of opinion that special care should be taken not to run the trains at a reckless Bpeed round some of the awkward curves on the New Zealand linos. "Dissatisfied Traveller's" "little list" also includes a word of *v* proach regarding the condition of some of the carriages, which, he says, require to bo renovated or made moro dust-proof. One effect of tho disastrous fire at Upper Hutt was Been at last night's meeting of the Lower Hutt Borough Council, when Mr. H. Baldwin, secretary" of the Hutt Volunteer Fire Brigade, wrote stating that as there was a possibility of the explosion at Upper Hutt having been caused by carbide, lie would like to know if the council knew what firms kept calcium carbide in stocky and what amount they kept. In the opinion of Councillor Ptirdy, the- explosion could not have been caused by carbide, while the Town Clerk stated that carbide was not classed as an explosive. Councillor H. Baldwin pointed out that although carbide was not in itself an explosive, if it came in contact with water a highly explosive gas was given off. Some regulation should be brought down with regard to carbide. He and the captain of the brigade were responsible at a fire, and they were perfectly ih order trying to protect members of the brigade. It was pointed out by Councillor Purdy that a drum of carbide could only caime an explosion under "idiotic" conditions. The brigade certainly should be protected, remarked the Mayor. No attempt whatever was now made to regulate the storing of some explosives. After further discussion the council resolved to instruct tho inspector to make enquiries as to what explosives were stored in the borough, and in what quantities. A committee was also «et up *o report upon tha whole matter to the council. Value your furniture? Then get us to move it. Packing, handling, removing are an art with ut>. Our motor moves furniture into or out of town. N.Z. Express Co., Ltd., 87-91, Custom-house-quay.—Advt. Tho colossal task of taking a census of the stars by means of photography is almost completed, and by the time the linos arc rend a total of 53 millions will have boon reached, the coilht taking two years to complete. There were 206 negatives to bo dealt with, ench representing twenty -five region* of tho eky a.nd from 60 to 800 thousands of stare. The counting hns beeh enrviod out by a system of averages, as to count each star would take about one hundred years. Few persons «?t out to count oven thousands of stats, but to those people w<? give the following bit of good advice. I;— Got1 ;— Got ti real good wool scarf from C. Smith, Ltd., of Cubtn<lr*?el. They have them from 1« to 12* fed each.— Advt,

The work at the men teachers' physical instruction camp at the Hutt Park racecourse has now got a good start, and everything is going on satisfactorily. The earlier stages of the training are still being taken. There are between forty and fifty mon resident in the camp. The majority of the others, having to attend college lectures, come into town, returning each morning. A considerable amount of opposition is being shown among certain Harbour Board employees to the proposal to break away from the Wharf Labours' Union and register as a separate organisation. The- attitude taken is that the present .union covers all the workers along the waterfront, and there is no necessity to form another union. A petition to this effect is being circulated, and later will be sent in to the Harbour Board. The New Big River mine, situated eighteen miles fiom Reefton, has always been considered difficult of access. This has now (states the Reefton correspondent of The Post) been greatly done away with. Yesterday Mr. Newman's motorcar took a party consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Bidwell and Mr. Sime out there in two houro", returning in an hour and a half. The party inspected the mine, and were greatly* struck with the up-to-date plant and machinery. "While the personnel of tho applicants is ev&r changing," said the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) to-day, "I find, so far as my own experience as Mayor is concerned, that the unemployed difficulty is not abating. Many of the men who come to me aTe not physically capable of hard, manual work, and it is a problem to know -what to do with them along the / Tegular avenues* of employment. The financial year of the council closed yesterday, and it is hoped soon to have the estimates before Us, so that works may be continued out of revenue. But I cannot at present hold out hopes of finding employment for those in need of it." A new tramway time-table embodying several important alterations is in the course of preparation. It is understood that the through route of the Wadestown and Aro-street cars will be adopted, thus giving both localities full access to the centre of the city. It is also intended to do something in the way of late cars to- cope with the steadily growing demand for extensions of the service in that direction. The midnight car has always/ paid its way, and an effort will probably be, made to fill in the gap at least along the main tramway routes, so that the travefflfifg and theatre-going public will •be able to get home or to theiv destination, wherever it may be, with greater facility than hitherto. j