LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 113, 27 April 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The twenty-seventh annual meeting of the Hastings Building Society will be held in the Society’s offi?? Hastings, on Tuesday next at 8 p.m.

The new campanile of St. Mary’s Venice, was inaugurated by a procession of gondoliers headed by the Duke of Genoa.

Inspector Hill, in his report to the Education Board, says: “Writing continues to be well taught in the majority of schools.” It may be, but the majority of the f cMr( b—‘o satisfied with the position.

The Hon. H. G. Ell, PostmasterGeneral, has written to Mr. G. Witty, M.P., stating that it has been decided to consider proposal to erect a new post office at Upper Riccarton when the Estimates are being prepared for the current year.

Copies of the May issue of “Life” are now procurable at local book shops. The number is well up to the high standard of this popular Australian magazine. The news of the month is placed before its readers in concise form and the fiction portion provides healthy literature for the leisure hour.

For the Four Peaks settlement 140 applications have so far been received, and many more are anticipated. The settlement is situated about 12 miles from the Orari railway station and 9 miles from Geraldine. The total area is 12,692 acres, divided into 8 sections, varying in size from 730 to 3820 acres.

At the new Auckland post office three public telephone booths are io be provided. Plans for these have just been prepared by the District Telegraph Engineer. Probably one of the booths will be devoted to a twcpence-in-the-slot machine, while the other two telephones will be for long distance communications.

Following the successful sale of t!.< A’-apata estate, Waitrna, Mi-. Err cst Short, the well-known Romney breeder, has decided to cut up 433? acres of the Parorangi estate, into fifteen small farms for immediate : election. Possession to be given of the dairying land in October next, and of the sheep land in Marc!- next \ car.

Patrons of lending libraries know that Marie Corelli’s books arc constantly in demand. llcr latest work Iris provoked an interest quite equal to that called forth by any previous work. The special series of addresses based on this last romance being siicn by the Rev. IT. B. Hughes, \I.A.. should tin i-cfore pi-..ve < f more tl'.au usual interest.

Before Mr. S. McLernon, J.P., this morning at Napier, two first offending “drunks” were convicted and fined 10/- or 24 hours’ imprisonment.

The Hawke’s Bay County Council has received from Wellington a copy of the general labourers’ demands. The council will not, however, take any action in the matter of an award.

The alterations to the platform at the Napier railway station were commenced yesterday. The platform is to be extended by 100 feet and other improvements in the yard are also being undertaken.

The New Plymouth Advisory Board of the Taranaki Oil Wells. Ltd., have received a cable from the London board authorising them to proceed to allotment to-day. No further information is available, but Mr. 1 Brown expressed himself quite but the hand writing of the average office boy does not lead commercial men to hold that opinion.

Messrs. Murray, Roberts and Co., Ltd., announce in this issue that they will hold a sale in their old stores at Port Ahuriri on Friday next, 3rd May, when they will offer one 16-h.p. Otto gas engine, 1 set hydraulic press pumps, agricultural implements, fencing wire, and acressorics, besides a large assortmgnt of ironwork and other goods. The sale commences at 10.30 a.m.

Mr. M. J. Reardon, secretary of the General Labourers! Union, leaves Wellington foi- Hawke’s Bay on Saturday. Fie is to meet employers in private conference, at Napier, on Monday, at Hastings on Tuesday, and at 'Wanganui on Wednesday, with a view to arriving at an agreement to replace the award, now expired, which covered general labourers in the Wellington country district.

The Napier Municipal Theatre is well oa the way to completion. The necessary gear for the sliding roof has now arrived and the building will be pushed on with all possible despatch. With reference to compiaintSj as to the spoiling of the building by a cheap iron roof, we understand that the typo of roof put on is similar to those on the latest theatres in Australia. A slate roof would mean an extra expenditure of £5OO.

A meeting of chairmen of local bodies, held at Oamaru yesterday, discussed the basis of representation at the conference of local bodies next month as set out in a circular issued by the Minister. It was decided to send a telegram protesting that all local bodies in the area coterminous with the Waitaki Charitable Aid Board district should bo represented by only one delegate, and respectfully requested that at least two be allowed.

A Danish settler in the Waikato, who has learned to write English by means of a Danish-English dictionary and copies of a weekly paper, in a letter to the editor of that paper, says:---“I think a man that will not serve and fight for bis own count) y. or the country that gives him shelter and his living, should be exiled or sent to gaol for a long period. L for my part, will gladly join in and take my training, and be ready, if necessary, to fight for the defence of New Zealand.

Within three weeks of taking office, and within two days after visiting Auckland, says a Press telegram from that city, the Minister of Internal Affairs has practically settled the vexed question of overcrowding at the Avondale Mental Hospital. The building on the female side will be raised to two storeys, with accommodation for 40 extra patients, and at the rear a new ward will be built for 70 or 80 patients. Another building to be erected will accommodate at least 70 patients.

A meeting of the Clive Grange Improvement Committee was held at Hastings last evening, Mr. James Garnett presiding it was decided to forward a letter of thanks to Mr. C. Bennett for his generous gift of a section at the beach for the erection of a social hall, and to ask him to allow the new hall to be called the “Bennett Hall.” Messrs. Garnett and Blake were appointed trustees for the section. The matter of the public telephone which the Telegraph Dcnartmcnt has agreed to erect at the beach provisional on a guarantee of £3O for five years being given was left in the hands of Mr. Garnett.

The youngest member of the new Reichstag is M. Hermann Wendel, who is 28 years of age. That is not a record for youth in the ages of members of Parliament, for in the British House of Commons at least two members had not reached the age of 23 years when they were elected last, January 12 months. One, the Hon. C. T. Mills, who sits for the Uxbridge Division of Middlesex, was, in fact, but 23 years of age nt the time. Herr Wendel is prominently associated with a Socialist newspaper, and defeated a Conservative opponent at the election. He is said to be a nephew of a French officer who is decorated with the Legion d’Hcnncur. That is a personal touch of some piquancy.

The District Telegraph Engineer, Mr. Baird, has just returned to Auckland from a visit to the north, where he has been attending to matters in connection with the establishment of the wireless station near Awanui. Good progress is being made with the preliminary work. The Public Works Department have completed the foundations for the masts. The foundations for the operating room fire all down. The cartage of the various instruments, the dynamo and wireless apparatus to the ground will not be done until means have been arranged for protecting them. Everything being now in readiness, it is expected that wireless experts, who have been engaged, will arrive from Sydney shortly, and will at once proceed with the erection of the tower. When this v.ork is completed Awamii will have the first wireless station of the first class creeled ;n New Zealand.

The Napier Borough Council will meet on Wednesday next. May Ist.

The District Health Officer has condemned two houses in Hastings as insanitary.

The Wellington General Labourers Union have forwarded a list of their demands to the Hastings Borough Council.

A girl named Esther Grace Stretch has been committed for trial at Gisborne on a charge of false declaration of birth.

Commercial news is published on page 2of this issue. Education Board reports, the prize list of the Amateur Horticultural Society, and various New Zealand telegrams appear on page 3. Messrs. R. B. Ross and J. H. Sheath have been nominated for the vacancy on the H.B. Land Board caused by the retirement of Mr. Eustace Lane, the Crown tenants’ representative. The election takes place on May 27th. Pending the erection of their own buildings, the Hastings Y.M.C.A. have secured commodious rooms above the Tourist Motor Company’s garage in Station street. These will be furnished and thrown open at an early date.

Cr. George has given not lee ic move at the next meeting’ of the Hastings Borough Council that the engineer be instructed to report ci all roads that have been broken up by the .water and sewage works and the cost of putting them in proper order.

Pians are being prepared by Mr. A. Garnett for a new grain store in brick at the corner of Nelson and Heretaunga streets, for Mr. T. Clarkson. Tenders for the erection of the structure will be called in about a week’s time, and it is expected that the store will be completed ‘early in July. Pending the application for a new school in Hastings South being dealt with, the secretary of the Education Board is making enquiries regarding the conveyance of children to the main school. If a sufficient number of scholars live outside the three? mile radius it is thought arrangements can be made to bring them

At the special meeting of the Hastings Borough Council on Thursday evening, Cr. Hart, in congratulating the owners of property in Quarry road who, free of cost, had given the land necessary to make the read its proper width, said be hoped their public spiritcdnesß would be followed by owners of land fronting other narrow streets.

In Mr. A. Gregoryl's letter, pub lished yesterday, concerning . the Hastings luhbish pit nuisance, r typographical e- : -or occurred in presenting in print the word “architcc tomes” instead of “architectonics.’ : Of course there is no such word at ".architectomes'’ in the? lexicon c the English language. The only war we can account for the mistake i: that the printer read the, word a: archistome. meaning the primitive elongated blastopore of Bilatei alia.

Demands for a new award have been received by the employers oi general labourers. The demands include a 44-hour week ; 1/3 per houi wages for weekly men and 1/4 for casuals; seven holidays in the yeai to-be paid for; compulsory preference, etc. A meeting of the employers interested is called for Monday at 4 p.m. at the offices of the Employers’ Association, Napier.

As a result of the visit to Hastings of Mr. J. E. Bosken, of 'Buenos Ayres, for the purpose of buying apples, the Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association will ship 500 cases o’ apples by the Rcmuera, leading Wei-' lington on May 14. The fruit will be packed and graded in the company’s shed under the supervision of the Government officer. This is a sample shipment, and it is pro-, bable that there will be a large ex port to the same market next season.