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Evening Star, Issue 18532, 15 January 1924, Page 4

The postal authorities advise that three of the ten bags constituting the Dunedin portion of the Australian mail which reached Auckland yesterday by the Niagara should come to hand to-morrow afternoon. The other seven bags, together with twenty-three parcel receptacles, are expected to arrive on Thursday afternoon. The Maheno, due at Auckland to-day from Sydney, has thirteen bags of Australian mail matter for Dunedin. The letter portion is expected to come to hand on Thursday.

A complete transformation has been made in the general appearance of a small steamer formerly known as the Viking. The vessel is now lying at the Rattray street wharf, where boilermakers and fitters are making preparations for the installation of the engines and boiler. The Viking was at one time employed in trawling at Greymouth and Timaru, and came to Port Chalmers about seven months ago. She was placed in thjf hands of Messrs Miller and Tunnage, who have altered and reconditioned the ship from stem to stern. New top-sides have been fitted, the engine room enlarged, the cabin altered and renovated, and a new keel installed. The new engine, which is to be fitted by Messrs J. M'Gregor and Co., will be of the triple-expansion type, and the boat is expected to, develop a speed of about nine knots. The after-hold is to be insulated. The boat, which is owned by Mr G. Tulloch, should be ready to undergo her trials in about two months’ time. She has been renamed Silver Crest, and will subsequently join Timaru’s trawling fleet.

Our Christchurch correspondent wires that at last night’s meeting of the South Island Motor Union tho Otago Motor Club sent for approval as a remit to the quarterly meeting a suggestion that the New Zealand and Australian Motor Associations should arrange for reciprocity in Customs rebates on cars belonging to touring members of the associations on tho lines of similar agreements between the Royal Automobile Club of England and Continental associations. It was decided to use the suggestion as a remit. It was agreed to write again to the New Zealand Motor Union Itho North Island body) to ask its confirmation or otherwise of a newspaper report that tho union contemplated affiliating with a trade organisation operating throughout New Zealand. The Peninsula Ferry Company's steamers are this season carrying numbers of holiday-makers to the Otago Heads. Our people seem to have newly discovered the attractions of the bush and the sandhills and the cliffs on the south side; they have also found that the north spit is a romantic locality for an outing;' and, having a choice of landing places, they can enjoy a day of varied experiences. Some of these times the increased patronage of excursionists to the Heads will warrant the building of tea rooms. Meantime there is good shelter on the south side, and visitors may also got to the vicinity d the Taiaroa lighthouse, tho Defence Department having withdrawn its restrictions.

"When a witness- was giving evidence in the Auckland Police Court he happened to remark 'that he had been “away in Franco fighting the Germans.” Mr Allan Moody, who appeared for a young man charged with using obscene language,. replied:. “Oh, don’t come the war stunt. We are sick of it hero, you know.” “ Oh, you use it yourself,” said Mr Poynton, S.M. “No, I do not, your Worship. I know.:what the court thinks of it,” said Mr Moody. The forty-fifth annual conference of the United Fire Brigades’ Association of New Zealand will open at Rotorua an February 11. Delegates will be in attendance from all parts of the dominion, and the necessary arrangements in connection with the conference ond the entertainment of the visitors will he in the bands of the Auckland Association. On account of the holiday season some difficulty is being experienced in finding accommodation for the delegates. An instance where clever cargo-pillagers had been at work was revealed the other day in Auckland (says the 1 Herald ’), when a case which should have contained spanners to the value of about £BO was found to be full of brides. The spanners were ordered from an American firm by Mr W. R. Tw.igg, engineer. The hoop iron binding appeared to bo intact before the case was opened in Auckland, and there was nothing to arouse suspicion. The neatly-packed bricks inside the ease were neitlier of Australian nor New Zealand mamr nature, and this leads to the conclusion that the case was interfered with before it was shipped at New York. Customs and other officials declare that the pillaging work was -about the neatest that had been discovered locally. At a meeting of the executive of the South Island Motor Union a letter was received from the Otago Motor Club stating that that body had discussed the recent proposals by the Hon. Mr Coates to levy a tax on petrol, and that it was opposed to such an action. After sumo discussion it was decided that the Minister be approached on the lines of the Otago Club’s letter, and asked to adhere to the tyre tax only on the, grounds that the netrol tax would constitute a breach of the agreements with g itoris-ts, _ and that the tyre tax was the most equitable system. It was further decided to send a copy of the letter to the New Zealand Motor Union (North Island) asking for an exchange of views on the subject.—Our Christchurch correspondent. ' “I cannot conceive a deportment dismissing a man because he has been convicted for being found pn licensed premises after hours,” observed Mr C. R. Orr-Walker, S.M., in the Wellington Magistrate’s Court, when dealing with a clerk from the Pensions Department, Rogei James Harris, who was charged with being found in the Britannia Hotel after closing time. Tho defence was that Harris had merely been standing Ln the recess of the hotel." but after hearing lengthy evidence His Worship held that, on the testimony of Sergeant O'Neill alone, a conviction must he recorded. “ There is nothing criminal about it,” added the magistrate in imposing a fine of £2 and costs.' “It is a simple offence, and I cannot imagine a man being ‘sacked’ for it. • The la.w says you must not visit hotels after certain hours, and if you break it you must pay the penality.” Brigadier-general Travers, who reached Wellington by the Rotorua last week from England, was very interested to_ gather news of the present political position in F.ngland, and inquired if the Baldwin Government had yet resigned. He thought the situation an exceedingly difficult one, and agreed that it looked very much like a Labor Government occupying tho Ministerial benches, for a short time at any rate. “The trouble with the Labor Party in the past,” he said, “is that the tail has been wagging the dog; the more extreme section of the party has been doing all the talking and making all the noise. The present position is certainly very interesting. If a Labor Government is formed it will mean a very big thing.” The unemployment position had been a serious one, and he was of opinion that 1 there were a good many men who did not want work.

At the Wanganui wool sale one German buyer alone took approximately 5,000 bales. This is an indication of a remarkable change that has come over the method of marketing the New Zealand clip (says a Wanganui paper). Prior to the war it was the custom of growers to send their wool to London for sale, and it is estimated that between 60 and 70 per cent, of the total was thus disposed of. To-day it is estimated that only about 10 per cent, of the dominion’s fleece will he shipped to the Homeland for sale. Horae and Continental buyers find it more profit able to buy in New Zealand and Australia. Storage and railage charges in England are avoided, and the expense of double handling is removed. Shipment can be made direct (Bom New Zealand to the Continent and Bradford through Hull. This is the reason why dominion values have been better than London by practic ally a penny a pound. Australia and New Zealand are now the main wool selling centres of the world, and Home wool brokers have bjen forced to consider whether it will be advisable for them to amalgamate and abandon their huge accommodation stores. One of the largest Wanganui wool broking firms states that this season they have not received instructions to consign a single bale to the London market.

Is the Kawarau River bed to bo drained and its gold picked up by the bucketful? The answer, as to the draining at any rate, will be known when Mr Cruickshank, the warden, gives his decision as to the application of the Kawarau Mining Company for a license. The warden is to sit at Queenstown on Friday of this week to hear what remains to bo said for and against, and then to utter the judgment on which great hopes depend. It is said that the Cromwell Development Company may be an objector, but nobody can say for certain what representations will be made when the court sits. The one com-monly-accepted statement is that the Crown will not have anything to say. Meanwhile all the available claims on the Kawarau have been applied for. Each has a frontage of a quarter of a mile to the Kawarau. Seven claims are reserved by the company, to be allotted later, after the time for disputing has expired. All the rest of the frontage of the river is taken up from the mouth of the Shotovor to Cromwell. This is the auriferous part of the river. The gold came into the Kawarau from the Arrow and the Shotover. Tho upper part of the Kawarau, from tho Frankton Falls to the Shotover, a stretch of three and a-half miles, is reckoned by the company as of no account, since gold did not come into the Kawarau from Lake Wakatipu. Mr E. J. lies, the company’s engineer, speaks confidently about handling tho lake water. If it rises high the gates will be opened and the water lowered. An important consideration as regards the scheme is that the interests of the company and the interests of the mine owners are identical—if the miners are not getting gold the company is not getting income.

After appearing before the Police Court and being fined 20s and costs yesterday for being found in an hotel while prohibited, James Benjamin Weir promptly endeavored to wipe out the effects of the ordeal by imbibing more liquor prior to wending his way home to Port Chalmers. Unfortunately for himself the first portion of his wend took him past the police station, and the unsteadiness of his gait was noticed by constable. Weir was subsequently arrested on the railway station, and morning with drunkenness and breach of a prohibition order. The magistrate (Mr Bundle) was in a quandary. Was the man all right physically and mentally? he asked. Weir said he was quite all right except for his wound "Aren’t you a fool to drink?” queried the magistrate, and Weir answerer! heartily “Yes, sir.” Defendant added that he "met a couple of fellows and they had a bottle of Avhisky.” Sergeant M‘Entee considered this “all moonshine”—the story, not the whisky—and the magistrate fined Weir 40s, in default forty-eight hours, for the breach of his order, and convicted and discharged him on the charge of drunkenness..

Fft-y-five cadets left by the second express this morning to join the n.c.o. camp at Burnham, where they _ will undergo a two-wceks’ Course of training. Altogether there will bo 230 cadets in camp.

The Hain steamer Trefusis, which has been discharging Canadian cargo at the Rattray street. wharf, has been delayed in port for several reasons. In the first place tho heavy rain yesterday interfered with discharging operations, but the last of her local cargo was landed this morning. When ‘ preparations _ were being made to send the vessel to sea it was found that several members of the crew had taken “ French leave.” These, however, were eventually located and later returned to the ship. The Trefusis was ready to sail this morning for Melbourne, but owing to the strong wind it was not thought advisable to oast off the lines. The vessel, therefore, is being held in port until tho weather is more favorable. An Auckland Press _ Association telegram states that what is believed to have been a case of attempted incendiarism occurred about 1 p.m. yesterday in the saddlery department of the Farmers’ Union Trading Company, an old wooden building at the corner of Nelson and Wyndham streets. _ A man passing saw smoke and flumes issuing from the bottom of tho buildings. Upon investigation it was found that cotton waste soaked with kerosene had been wedged under the weatherboards and ignited. The. man kicked the burning material clear and stamped out the flames. The damage was confined to the scorching of the weatherboards.

As related to the reminiscences in last night’s ‘ Star ’ about the old uses of the Dunedin foreshore and the land nearby, it may be of interest to record the history cf the quarter-acre section in Stuart street on which Messrs P. Hayman and Co.’s big building is erected. It was the quarter-acre that- the late Mr W. H. Gotten obtained by ballot upon arriving by the John Wickliff. An _ hotel was built upon it in the early sixties. Subsequently the corporation leased the old wooden building as water offices. Portion of those buildings was burned down, and the section thereupon lay idle till about 1875, when Messrs Paterson and M’Leod obtained a lease of it, but never used it, except the old buildings that remained standing. After Messrs Paterson and M’Leod abandoned the lease the quarteracre again became disused. Then portion of it was leased by Mr M’Kenzie. who put up a woodware factory. Finally the property was sold by the Cutten trust to Messrs P. Hayman and Co., the price feeing supposed to be £3,500. The section was never below the harbor water level, but it needed a lot of filling up from time to time, and Haymans had to dig out much of that filling-in in order to make their cellars.

Yea, wo have no bananas or drapery—tlenty Dolls, Teddies, Tea Sets.—Todds, to* specialists, George street.—[Advt.j

An advertisement appears in this issue re tho closing of the Brighton Domain on the neension of the drivers’ picnic on Saturday, January 26.

The Pacific Starr-Bowkv it Building Society invites application for membership in No. 5 Group. Call for booklet, Office, 86 King Edward street.—[Advt.]

There Ls on view at the store of Messrs A. and W. McCarthy a remarkable innovation in f-"e way of a breech-loading gun made by a French manufacturer, the peculiarity of ■’ liV' lira in the fact tint the gun does not break down to receive the cartridges, as with all others. This benuttfirily-finfehed gun does wt "-“nr at tho joint, because there is no joint.—[Advt.]

Girls! No need to hesitate; married life is one long holiday thanks to “No-rubbing” Laundry Help.—Star Stores, Ltd.—[Advt.]