LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 216, 30 August 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The mail v m San Irancisco which left Hawke’s Bay on 19th July arrived. at London on 28tli inst.

ibirt.v willows have been planted for scenic purposes in Farndon Park l>y the County Council overseer.

A man reputed m be nf unsound mind was, on the certificate of- Dr. T. Moore, sent from Napier yesterday to a mental I:<>:pi 1 al.

A reminder is given of the zoc’al and dance to be held in the Drill Hall this evening in aid of the Mahora School funds. Tombs’ band will be in altenil.anec. Th's will be the last, occasion on wb'eh the Drill Hall will be available for dancing.

Adv ice sheets comprising Part IJ. of the. New Zealand Official Year Book for the current year are to hand from the Registrar-General’s office. They contain statistical sections concerning local governing bodies, licenses and local option, manufactories and works, and representation.

It has been found (says a Wellington correspondent) that the petition which was presented to tlie House .a few days ago asking for the release of Lionel Terry from the Sunnyside Mental Hospital is addrcssccd to the Governor and the Executive. The Speaker has therefore d’rcctcd that it should be returned to Sir James Carroll, who presented it to the House.

The Boundaiy Commissioners, said Mr. Herdman, M.P., at Northland, on Monday night, had been fairly kind to him in regard to his electorate (Wellington North). They had extended the electorate nearer to Porirua, and on the west had brought it closer to the cemetery. (Laughter.) At the southern extremity, also, he still had the gaol. (Laughter.)

The number of liquor licenses granted in 1909-10 was 1988, or one to every 732 persons, compared with one to 687 persons in the previous year. The capital value of all licensed houses is estimated at just under four million pounds. A summary of the new licensing law, under which the issues at local option polls are altered by eliminating reduction and including that of national prohibitic,n. is given, and, as usual, the results of polling in past years are included.

It is seeen by the advance sheets of the Year Book that in the financial year 1909-10 local bodies levied rates totalling £1,526.307, of wliicluSO per cent, was on Hie unimproved value and 70 per cent, on the capital or annual value of ratable properties. The total receipts of the local bodies amounted to £5,822,522. being made up of rates to the extent of -11 per cent, licenses, rents, etc., 50 per cent., and Government: grants 6 per cent. The total net indebtedness of local bodies in March. 1910, was £15,691,408, more than half of which was raised in New Zealand.

Grain shippers in Duncdm have been complaining bitterly this week of the inadequate shipping fac’.iiti< s for getting grain away to the North Island. One firm reports that cut. i f toon kings offered for shipment only 100 were taken. The bulk of the stuff offered is chaft. which is freely coming into the local market. It appears to kic thought m commercial circles that the coastal service ’s

not big enough for the trade offering at present. According to information given, there is a large quantity of chaff in sti-rc jus! now winch should have been ni the Nortn.

There was a clean sheet at the Napier Magistrate’s Court this morning. The annual meeting .-ff (he Edu cation Board taker, place at 2.3«» •,>- morrow 7 . The Count.y Council intends to eicct. a finger-post al the Pukctapu bridge. This should be useful to travellers strange to the locality. Tn another column notice is given of the intention of the Hastings Council to borrow the sum nf .£7OOO in connection with the drainage, sanitation and water supply of premises in the borough. Mr. James McArley. of Masterton, has been appointed instructor to the sheep-shearing classes which are to be held in connection with the Technical College at Twvford, Hastings. The class commences on September 25 th.

Great enthusiasm is being shown by the students of the engineering classes at the Napier Technical C’ollegt. They have petitioned Mr. TV. Fossey, the Director, to rim the classes three hours nightly, instead of two as at present.

At the Dannevirkc Magistrate’s Court to-day a case was heard in which John Laidlan was charged with betting in a publichouse. Inspector Dwyer and Dctective-Sergt. Cassells left for Dannevirkc this morning on business connected with the case.

Members of the Hawke’s Bay Motor Cycling Club and their friends are .requested to assemble opposite the Grand Hotel. Hastings, on Sunday next at (>.3(.) a.m. to take part in a run. to Patangata. The roads arc reported to be in good condition.

Mr. Baylis, Field Instructor of the Agricultural Departmeut, ha.'; written to the A. and P. Association, offering to conduct experiments n pi'a growing in Hawke’s Ray if he can get a sutliv'cnt number of farriers interested in the work. He also suggests the growing of a speeia' variety of niii'Zi’ for seed purposes. Mi-, (’giviis will .visit the district by a'Y;ujg?b'"i“ -f wanted.

A gjea». t i:n;>:evcjncnt is r-iing nisdc in tln- •n.-truction of cubicles at the ?■'q ci jMiiiticqiai Bai ); ~ One side the back passage has been removed and every three small cubicles has been converted into a sm.'iU room. By this means a larger number of bathers will be able to dress .and undress, each room probably i’oldiiig from IS to 2o people. The work will cost very little and will be coiimlcLcd by the end ■.!’ 'he week.

A petition is being circulated throughout Marlborough urging the Government, to acquire, the IFilersden Estate for closer settlement. It is pointed out that, this estate, which comprises 176,000 acres, is bequeathed to forty seven beneficiaries, m 0.4 ('f whom reside outside of the Dominion, that the profit from tins huge area is thus spent outside of New Zealand, and that if the land vveie subdivided it would provide comfortable homstcads for hundreds of landless people.

Local bandsmen, •.-.■;ys the Auckland Star, view with satisfaction the announcement by the Minister of Defence that the var'ous regiments and battalions are to be encouraged to cstabPsh bands. Th’s w ; ll probably mt an that bandsmen will have to re ma ; n tn eamm luring the whole course of training, instead of attending cere mon.'-.il i ::.d?s cv.-ly. In the past officers ~f tlm Uln'rcni units have taken great intoisl ’n the welfare of the bands, f they continue to do so niitlcr Nbo n- .v system there should be no danger of martial music becoming a thing of the past in the New'Zealand forces.

A bibulous individual waving a bottle of beer contrived to make himself the central feature of ' Saturday night’s no-license open-air meeting in the Octagon. Dunedin. His continual cry was “I want my corkscrew,” and it was raised at most appropriate and inappropriate points in Mr. G. B. NiclioH’a speech as lie emphasised the evils of intemperance by reference to insurance statistics and tables in which concessions arc hi ado to abstainers. Later on the Rev. P. AV. Fairclough and Mr. Jackson (the wcll-nown labour organiser) gave short addresses under difficulties.

Fanners in. Canterbury are complaining at present of the absence of much-needed rain, and a comparison of the rainfall recorded so far this month with the rainfall in the month of August for the past live or ~ -ix years shows that their complaint is well-founded. July this year lias been a very dry month comparatively speaking. Rain fell on seventeen days last month, the total being 3,143 inches as compared with 3.395 in ISOS, 1.722 in 1907, 7.881 in 1908, J. 730 in 1909, and 6.003 in 1910. On lour days only-has rd’in been experienced during the present month from the Ist to the 29th inclusive, the total fall being 0.97‘J inches. In August, 190(5, rain fell on 11 davs, the total fall being 1.582 inches ; in 1907, 14 days and 2.883 inches ; in 1908 8 days and 0.713 inches ; in 1909, 11 days and 2.405 inches ; and in 1910, 12 days and 1.891 inches.

The Gisborne Chamber of Commerce recently communicated with other Chambers in regard to the registration of land agents, with the result that 15 replies were received from other Chambers, all of which we re favourable. It; is consult red that one or two clauses in the bill now before Parliament require amending, and the Gisborne Chamber lias carried the following resolutions, which vv ; 11 be recommended to the Government : (a) ' That wherever the words 'local authority’ occur in the bill the words shall be deleted and the words ‘registrar of joint stock company upon the report of the stipendiary magistrate for the district ire tnlvstitnleel : (b) that section 9 of the bill be deleted as unworkable, 'ts objects being sufficiently covered by the provisions of th.e bill as to a trust account ; (c) that sccticn 13 be amended so as to read after th.e word ■fine’ 'not loss than £23 nor exceeding £2<i<>’ in place <d ri i ' • ' • ; - • ::Ug

Eighty one thousand trout fry from the Mastcrton fish hatcheries arc to liberated in the streams of Hawke's Bay this season.

The laying down of a new four inch extension of the fire main m Scapoint road, Napier, was completed to day. It now extends from Mr M ebcr’s residence down as far as Captain Rainey's residence.

The I nion Co's Haupiri easilv berthed at the town wharf at Gisborne to-day, opening direct Conner tion between the Gisborne wharf and East Coast, Bays. A ferrv service between Napier and Gisborne is promised to be instituted at an early date.

The Napier High School bo.vr, who have been away on tour to New Plymouth where they played the High School and also the Palmerston High School for the Polson football banner and the secondary schools cup return by the express train this evening.

Tht plans which have been prepare by Mr, E. A. Williams of the Borough Engineer staff for the removal of the Napier Fire Station to the comer of Dalton and Vautier streets have now been completed. The building will be extensively altered and added to. The work will bo started after the plans, have been .submitted at the next meeting of the Borough Council.

At the Dunedin Police Court this morning Alexander Gillandcrs, mine manager of Freeman’s coal mine, was fine Fa and costs for permitting men to work in the mine without an undecviewer or deputy being present. The occasion was that on which the man Walker lost his life on July 30th through a hidden fault. The statement showed that it was misapprehension rather than a wilful act on the manager’s part.