LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Evening Star, Issue 13003, 24 December 1906, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tbo Government have decided to take the To £af Station, of 10,750 acres ,seated ei*htmiles from Gisborne, under the, Land fof Settlements Act. The estate, which is the property of Mr Randall Johnson, w an ideal X for closer settlement purposes. I deputation waited on the Hon. Sir J. O *Ward at Wellington on Saturday asking Bollevuo Gardens, Lower Hutt, "unicti tne prcscnTowner says be will cut «p for bu>dinc sites. Tho Premier said the Government had no power to purchase the gardens If the local bodies really des.red to purchase the property, he was prepared, wHhottt in any way committing the. Govern«un th c %ubjcct, to introduce legation next session empowering the acquisition of tho gardens by the local bodies intcrestod. " c Tho Rev. Andrew Cameron, convener of the Presbyterian Residential College Committee, reports having received durmg the past wee's th© following contributions for tho college fund:_Mr G. F. Bulla.t Raik«.cra, £500; Miss Kirldand Green Island, £200; Dr Church, £5; H.8.A., £ll*. Some i?mo ago Mr Bullcn promised £SOO provided tho Committee could get rune others to give each an equal amount. Though only three have responded to this challenge, Mr Bullcn has generously sent on his cheque. The total in hand amounts at this date to something over £15,200, and the Committee hope to raise £5.000 during tho coming year, so as to enable them to open tho first part of the college free oi debt. , 1 Mr Gifford Marshall has been appointed Crcwa Solicitor and Crown Prosecutor for the Wangamii district, vice Mr S. T. Fitzgerald, resigned. At an inquest touclnng tho death ot James Ferguson, who was killed by a fall of earth at Clarendon, tho jury returned a verdict of accidental death, adding a rider that everything that could be done for deceased was done by his fellow-workmen. The rector of the Palmerston North High School, in his speech at the presentation of prkes this week, opposed the popular idea on three subjects oennected with school work—-cram, examinations, and over-strain, lie said tliat it was all nonsense to talk about cram, and that he did not believe there was anything Kke tlie amount of it that they bad been led to th;nl;. The troublo -was t&at people confused hard work with cram, but his experience was that very little of the latter was dons. Then, as to examinations, people ran them down, but they were quite necessary. If there w«fi not eoroe incentive for pupils to work fhey would not get ou so well. It was not likely that many boys or girls would work hard for tho mere pleasure of acquiring knowledge, but they would if there waa an examination in sight. He did not believe in the fiction of over-strain, cither. Perhaps the 1 or 2 per cent. might suffer in this way, bnt_ the rest knew absolutely nothing about it. According to the 'Post,' a remarkable case of restitution of stolen property was experienced on Thursday roommg by Messrs Gordon and; Gotch, of Wellington. A quantity of fountain pens and cigarettes, aa well aa a number of post cards, to the value of some £l4, were stolen. On Thursday morning the manager (Mr W. E. Jackson) received through the Post Office three parcels, bearing postage to the value of 2s 6d, and the parcels contained' the whole of the missing property excepting two packers of cigarettes. The manager says he is prepared to present a gold-mounted fountain pen to the penson who caused the restitution, to be made.

Colonials are prone to believe, and apparently with a considerable amount of reason, that quantities of inferior English and Argentine xnntton are being palmed off on unsuspectinz wircbasera as w j>rime Canter^.

bury" or, other favorite Kew Zealand brands. This is hew i k» a. rocrat number, deals with the matter : —Old Lady: "Are you sure it is English mutton*?' Butcher: "Well—er —bom in Now Zealand, ma Aim ; but of English, parents." An interesting point to the grocery trade -was recently determined by tbe Court in Wellington. It is as follows: —Question : Can an employer employ an assistant for two or three days per week, and pay him for the actual tone worked at rate of £Z 5s per week, or must he pay hi™ f° r a full week, there being no, provision made in the award for casual labor? Answer: The latter part of clause 1 makes this qnito clear. The employment must bo a weekly employment. There is therefore so option but to pay a week's wages, though only two or three days have been worked, unless the time has been lost by worker's own fault.—Fredk. R. Chapman, President. Kanakas in ~ Queensland exempted from deportation arc forming a union for the protection of their own interests. In 1899 the number of trade unionJßte in Germany was 864,350; in 1905 the number had increased to 1,822,343.

Three hundred Fijians are employed as navries making a road at Navoa, in the Fiji islands. They are paid at the rate of 4s per year, with eight biscuits, a little rice, and a quarter tin of meat chucked in daily. There's not much opportunity of practising thrift there. Tbo Hon. J. A. Millar, Minister of labor, paid a visit on Tuesday to Mr J. N. Ormisron's saddlery and harness factory. Auckland. This factory is run on purely co-operative lines, and the workers —old members of the Saddlers" Union —are prDctioaHy their own employers. Mr Millar stated that he was entirely in sympathy with the co-operative movement, and expressed his surprise and gratification at the progress made by the firm.