LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Evening Star, Issue 12881, 2 August 1906, Page 7

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Rev. James Morland, of Palmerston, has been appointed by the Bishop’s Commissary (Dean Fitchett) to the curacy of Riverton and Otautau, and will take up his duties early in September. His Exceffcmcy the Governor will rttend the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Grand National meeting, which commences on tie 14th inst.

Mr Walter C. M'Allister, of the Blenheim branch of the Lands and Survey Department, has received through the High Commissioner of the Federated Malay States an offer of the position of surveyor, and it is his intention to accept. The position carries a salary of £415 a year, and Mr M'Allister wilt be stationed principally at Selangor, not far from Singapore. Tna Rev. E. G. Qange, F.R.A.S., and Mrs Gange, of England, who are paying a visit to Australia and New’ Zealand at the invitation pf the Baptist Churches in the various States, were welcomed on their arrival in Melbourne from England pn the 23rd of last month. . A number of gentlemen representing the Bar, justices of the peace, and citizens of Port Chalmers on Tuesday evening presented Sergeant Geerin, on the occasion of his retirement from the police force, with a gold repeating watch.. Mr E. G. Allen, M.H.R., made ithe presentation, and also Handed the sergeant a gold jewelled brooch as a gift for Miss Geerin. Mr Platts proposed the health of the- guest, which was drunk with musical honors, cheers being given for the recipient and his family. Captain M'Callum iharbor-master), Messrs John Mill, Monson, A. Thomson, Dc Mans, Rolfs, M'Lachlan (on behalf of the Union Company and heads of departments), J. Rennie, W. Sutton, J. D. Warden, R. Bauchop, J. Cook, J. Miller, E. Godfred, Knewstubb, J. B. Shanks, W. F. Bastings, F. Dorrington, and C. Stevenson also expressed their personal appreciation of Sergeant Geerin’s many excellent qualities. The recipient, in returning thanks, also thanked the members of the Bench and Bar for their courtesy and assistance. Mr J. C. Gilchrist, an old identity and first mayor of Oamam in 1866, died suddenly on Tuesday night from heart failure, aged seventy-si?:. He bad been successfully engaged in farming pursuit® ip North Otago since hie arrival in 1860. Mr Charles Palmer, livery stable-keeper, one of tha earliest Hawke’s Bay settlers, ■ died suddenly at his residence at Napier on Tuesday evening- So had been about during the day working as usual, but at lunchtime complained of feeling slightly unwell. Heart faßure is supposed to bo the cause of 'death- . The report of the Victorian Police Commission has at last beep completed. The report recommends changes throughout the whole service. It will advise the retention of the office of chief commissioner, but the abolition-of the present method of filling that office from the senior members of the service. Future chief commissioners should be appointed from outside .’the service. The whole system of promotion by, seniority alone is condemned, and a method of promotion is set out in which merit and good conduct have equal weight with seniority. The Commission are of opinion that the age of retirement should ho the same for both

otiicsj:a mpn, jthpy thgi, this ago sh'pulc} hph?ed at sjjcty jn, dealing. wi|b t-ho work of the force, the Commission recommend that an alteration should i>s made in the method pf W9riapg l^eats. ; requiring of constables .to be at certain points at certain tp meet thpir. sub-officers is regarded as militating against the efficiency of the workthey,-might do. Important recommendations' are made with regard tp the suppression of gambling In this the report suppprte the'evidence °f the police witnesses, and advises the Passage pf a drastic Suppression Rill. > The somewhat unusual sight of an inmate of a lunatic asylum giving evidence }n a court of justice occuijed the other day in Melbourne, during’the hearing of 4 case—a dispute between two neighboring land-owners as to wfip is the rightful possessor*of a strip of - land pome threequarters of an inch in width. Dr MulHn (the superintendent of the asylum) was examined as to his patient’s capacity to give the evidence desired. • He stated that the proposed witness was detained ip the asylnju through enfeebled intellect ; that he had a good memory of things which had happened years ago, but not of present-day matters. He had tested him by Upkihg him about matters which had occurred about the time of the survey, such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s visit and the coming of the second All-England Eleven, in which E. M. Grace was a Player, to Australia. The witness was then sworn, and gave his evidence as to his survey of the allotment in question W .forty years ago in a lucid and intelligible manner. ' , • A good deal of misapprehension exists' in certaui quarters (says -the ‘Southland , i a e (° the effect which the Joss of the hotel license fees will .have on the finances of the boron<?h. The amount received by the Corporation last year was, in round figures, J3ROO, there being .sixteen hotel licenses issued at a fee of £4O each', seven wholesale licenses at £2O each, and about £2o.was received for conditional licenses. With the institution of the Nohcense regime this amount is, of course, lost to the Corporation. The deficiency, however, null be more than' made up this year, as the unimproved value of town propeifty was materially increased at last valuat'on, and the revenue increases correspondingly. Though the Council actually reduced the general rate by l-l6th of a penny, tbc revenue from that rate will be fully £1,300 more during the current year than wa° produced annually on the previous valuation. The contract time for the construction- of the new Town Hall and theatre at Invercargill expired on Tuesday, the contractor having put in two yearn pn the wprk. He is, however, still entitled to several months to finish, owing to “extras.” The Chinese people of Melbourne are organised in a remarkable degree for the protection of their gambling institutions (says the ‘ Argus There is, it is alleged, a society ip Little Bourke street whose sole object is, to fight the law in this regard. The funds of tjie society are said to amount to £B.OOO at the present time. This fund is sustained by charging Id for every 6d taken in tho pak-a-pu, while a percentage pf all the prize money is devoted to the same purpose. Fan-tan also supports the fund, as charged with id oji every Is won* ! ■ . ' The quarterly meeting pf the Welling--ton Chamber of Commerce yesterdav passed resolutions—(l) in' favor of the establishment pf an experimental and research station; (2) to. get aside 24gs per annum to ‘provide prizes’ in' the State schools bf Wellington for temipprcial arithmetic, English composition, and handwriting ; (3) declaring that the observance of so many holidays bv banks is productiveof logs and inconvenience.. At a mepting of the Auckland Seddon Memorial General Committee last night an executive committee was appointed tp carry but the prpnbsal to establish a technical college as a memorial of'the late Premier. It was pesoj-yed that the, nier morial include the erection of. a statue.' Rua’s f,o]lowers now number about sixty, including women and children'. The interest ip the Hamiltpn-Hastip-Gnr-morig Mission is"still being maintained. A large number of people were present at tjip Tabernacle Jagt evening, wlipn 'Mr O' E. Hamilton’s address,-•! was oh • ‘ Why Must Christ Die? ’ The choir ably assisted in the singing. Mr G'anuong gaye two 'solos.’