LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 140, 11 December 1919, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

It -was made to appear by a paragraph in last night's issue of The Post that the half-yearly general meeting of shareholders in the Bank of New Zealand would be held this morning. As a matter of fact the meeting is to take place at 11 a.m. to-morrow.

The public schools in tho Wellington Education District will close on Tuesday next until 3rd February. The attendance officer (Mr. J. Laughton) states that it would be wis* for parents to refrain from taking their children away before the schools actually close.

The prices of oatmeal in Dunedin have been advanced £3 per ton, the current quotation now being £30. The increase is due to the firm tone in the oat market.

Sergeant J. Mathieson, of the Central Police Station, will leave Wellington on transfer to Invercargill at the end of the week. ■

The Director of the Petone Technical School, Mr. J. Lynskey, was last evening congratulated by the Board of Managers on having received a clean bal-ance-sheet from the Government Auditor.

At Messrs. Glendining's rooms recently a new British stamp, surcharged "C.R.1." on a Marshall Island stamp, was sold for £195, while a German New Guinea stamp, surcharged, realised £190.

The Rev. Jasper Calder has definitely decided not to remain curate of St. Matthew's, Auckland, the church to which the Board of Nominators appointed the Re*v. H. Grant Cowen,'" notwithstanding the petition from parishioners and others praying for the appointment of the curate to the vacancy. Instead, Mr. Calder will tour America with the Chautauqua Association as a lecturer. The association has made him an offer which he has decided to accept, and, he will leave Auckland in April.

One of the reasons advanced by Councillor E. Harrison, at the amalgamation meeting at Karori on Tuesday, against the proposal to link up with the city, was the cost of material, coupled with the labour diff"ulty. The time was inopportune, he said, and,' in view of the tremendous esroendituTe contemplated by the WellingtonYCity Council for the floating of huge loans to carry out the urgent needs of the city in connection with the Orongo-Orongo-Wainui water scheme, duplicating of tram lines, extensions of new lines to Kaiwarra and Northland, etc., any prospect of work at Karori, in tho way of water, drainage, and gas, was very minute. Any work could not possibly be undertaken within at least the next four or five years. The united areas, he contended, would be treated as one in the way) of taxation, to provide interest and sinking funds on capital required to carry out the urgent needs of the city.

It is reported on reliable authority (states the Taumarunui correspondent of the New Zealand Herald) that the Tongariro Sawmill Company is at last about to commence operations, and intends to build mills capable of cutting 40,000,000 feet of timber .a year. Tlie block in which the timber is situated is between Kakahi and Tokaanu. It comprises 68,000 acres of'bush with approximately 30,000 ft of timber per acre, and 20,000 acres of bush- with 26,000 ft pel acre. This timber will be brought to Kakahi for shipment on. a railway which the company anticipates building next year. Within a few years the line will have been extended 18 miles into the, block, where a centre will be established, and the remaining portions of the bush will be milled. Besides this enormous quantity of timber to be milled, the railway would mean access in future to some 250,000 acres of really good farming land, which is now partly cleared and ready for settlement.

Mr. Thomas J.- M'Mahon, P.R.G.S. (The Post's London correspondent writes), describes Nauru, "the little spot of earth, that nearly upEet the Peace Conference," a 6 "the treasure island Australia claims,' New Zealand wants, and Japan demanded as part of the Marshall, but to which Britain has established the most right. Before the war, Nauru was German territory and attached to the German group of islands, the Marshalls. Under German administration the natives were cruelly neglected and their number dwindled to a mere 2000. To-day under energetic and humane British administration the natives are one of the healthiest and most progressive races in the whole South Pacific. They have been weaned from their idle ways and encouraged to improve their villag«s, make and mend roads, and give up the insanitary practice of burying their dead in their houses or at the front or back doors."

A house in Evans Bay was sub-leased from May to October by Douglas Bostock Mackersey to a man named George Newman, alias George Neville. At the Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon Newman was charged before Messrs. I. Salek and E. J. Hill, J.P.s, with having stolen two revolvers, ' valued at £8. Mackersey stated that the revolvers were left with other articles in a securelyroped chest in a storeroom, but when he again took over the place the weapons were missing. The police were im--I'ormed, and when interviewed Newman admitted that he had the articles, but said that he had found them in some straw on the premises, and that Mrs. Mackersey had said that he could have anything he found lying about the place. The accused, who was represented by Mr C. B. O'Donnell, reserved his defence, and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial.

The quarterly meeting of the Petone Fire Board was held yesterday Messrs. J. W M'Ewan (chairman), Bews, Sutcliffe, Cook, and Bedingfield were present. The business transacted was of a formal nature. Motonnan Vercoe was granted an increase of salary of 5s per week. The superintendent, Mr. J. P. Gaynor, reported that the services of the brigade had only been required on one occasion during the quarter, the outbreak being of a minor nature. The work and conduct of the men still remained more than satisfactory, and drills had been held every week, having been attended and carried out by the men very creditably. The plant, appliances, and alarm system were in first-class order. Arrangements were now completed for tlie purchase of a magneto in connection with the dual ignition in.the motor, and he hoped to have same fitted up in the course of a week or two. He desired to thank the board for the consideration given to matters for the welfare of the brigade.