NEAR AND FAR.

Evening Star, Issue 14634, 2 August 1911, Page 3

NEAR AND FAR.

Tbo Minister of Railways (the Hon. J. A Millar) has received the following letter from Mi- XV. A Redmond, M.P. :"I desire, on beha'f of my colleagues and myself, to personally tender, your oar most grateful thanks "for the kindness and thoughtfulnesx which prompted you to grant us free parses over your railways. J I can assure you we thoroughly appreciate the compliment. If we might venture an opinion, on the management and conduct of your State railway;:, we would at once be compelled-to .state that the whole sjSicm reflects the greatest credit on the management. Wo nave experienced at the hands of the ofiicialrt oi your dt-partment nothing but the most extreme kindness and courtesy. Wo should he obliged if you would tender our congratulations to Mr T. Ronay ne, General Manager. I may add that one of the first reforms we hope to bring j about under Home Rule will be the nationalisation of the Irish -railway* l ." A deputation representing the Plumbers' Federation of New Zealand yeste.rday wanted upon the Minister of Internal Affairs and asked that he should bring a Plumbers' Registration Rill before Parliament during the present session. A draft Bill had been considered by the conference of plumbers held at Easter time, and it wat; hoped tin.-; Bill would be adopted by j tho Government. Mr Buddo gave the } deputation a satisfactory assurance in reI g-ai'd to the matter. ■ " The following letter fiom Dr Harries to ! Mr Charles Coombs was read after the Choral Society's practice last night: —"I am writing to offer you niy veiy beet thanks and heartiest appreciation for all your admirable help anil service in making memorable the ' Klijah' performance in Duiiedin. Will you kindly convey to the me rubers of the festival chorus in association with the Sheffield Choir my fond remembrances, and that I consider the work done by them under your able guidance exceeded my expectations. This, I think, is the greatest tribute I can pay_them, and they have but, to go on aiming at high-water mark to attain to the best in choral singing. You have all taken part officially in an event historical in the an rials of musical history, and I believe it will leave its mark for good on all of us and all of you. : ' Certain areas in the Dominion are specified in the 'Gazette' as being exempt from the provisions of the Defence Act in regard to military training. They are in the northern part of the" Auckland district, the back-block* of Hawke's Bay. where they abut on the Auckland and Wellington i boundaries, parts of the Nelson. Marlborough, Canterbury, Southland, and Westland districts, and the outlying islands of the Dominion, including the Cook Group. The hopeful note which characterises the annual report of the Wellington Wharf Laborers' Union practically throughout takes on a more subdued tone at its con chi-t-ion. The report in the end makes mention of this: "There is at the present time a. period of unrest amongst somo of the waterside unions of ho Dominion, and thero is no reason to suppose that we shall not have the problem of industrial unionism ' before us. Members would be well advised to keep a clear mind on the subject, and to place before anything else the welfare of iboir own union." A sad story of how a mother gave her life for her son' was told by a sobbing lad in the casualty ward of 'the Melbourne Hospital one night last week. Kneeling by tlio crushed, unconscious body of his mother, the little fellow, who was barely 15 years of age, bravely faced the constable staiidiug over him with note book in hand. Dazed with the sudden, dramatic happenings, ho was trying to picture the story to his questioner. * His mother, he said, was Mrs Amelia Hook, and lived alone with him at 10. King William street, .Fitzroy, "and not with father-," ho added. Ho went on to say that at a few minutes to 7 p.m. he stood with his mother at the intersection of Brunswick street with King William street. Tliey were nearly home, and his mother was waiting to cioas. She held him by the hand, but he saw a motor car coming down Brunswick street, and cried a warning to his mother, who was looking at a tram that had stopped to let down some passengers. The car came down on them, and his mother jumped back screaming, but was too. late. As the car neared her she swung him out of the way with all her strength, while she herself went down beneath it. The motor struck her with great force and passed over her chest. The boy escaped unhurt.. (