LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 142, 18 June 1913, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

The St. Mary's Football Club has decided to hold a concert on August 18th.

The secretary of the Captain Cook Memorial Committee acknowledges the receipt of a subscription of £1 from Mr E. Fairhall, senr.

Ladies are advised to keep an eye on the inset issued by Bert Tasker and Co. with this evening's paper. — Advt.

The day being favorable, about 10,000' young trout, which had been hatched in the Springlands hatcheries, were liberated in tne local streams this afternoon.

A meeting of the combined committees in connection with the officers' and non-commissioned officers' club-rooms will be held on Friday evening for the purpose of arranging for the opening of the rooms.

"An evening's enjoyment for young and old" is promised at. the Wairau Rowing Club's Social at Grovetown next Wednesday evening. The presentation of trophies will take place during the social.

There are at present 424 dogs registered in the borough of Blenheim, and the revenue received from their taxation amounts to £109 ss. Last year 440 dogs were registered in the borough., and the fees amounted to £113 ss.

Mrs Evatt, who is a pupil of Mr Axel Hcltz, of Wellington,, is commencing business in premises next The Express Office .as a medical masseuse. Mrs Evatt is a certificated masseuse, and patients may consult her from to-morrow morning.

Two truancy cases, both referring to the Grovetown School, were dealt with by Mr F. 08. Loughnan, S.M., this morning. William Brookes was fined 10s with 14s costs in respect to a number of absences, and J. C. Ross was fined 8s with 28s costs on three informations.

It is not sufficient for an employer, who keeps his employees at work on their half-holfday,. to pay them. He must notify the Labor Department. For failing to comply'with the provisions of the Shops and Offices Act in uhis respect, the licensee of a Wellington hotel was on Friday fined ]os. and ordered to pay cosfc. on three charges. N

The births registered in the four chief centres during the month of May totalled 621—Auckland 180, Wellington 163, Christchurch 149, and Dunedin 129. The deaths were 259—Auckland 90 5 or 1.03 per-1000; Wellington 44, or 0.61 per 1000; Christchurch, 56, or 0.81 per 1000; Dunedin 68, or 1.05 per 1000. There were 90 deaths of persons of 65 years of age and upwards.

An x>bject of amusement passing through town about noon was a spring dray from the i-ear of which wreaths of smoke were issuing forth. ( The driver, with sublime complacericyy was calmly smoking' as 'he drove hisl vehicle along High Street, and apparently did not notice the miniature conflagration behind him. He continued on his way, but as the smoke was increasing in volume as the western end of High Street was being approached, he noticed the outbreak and suppressed it at an opportune time. The fir© had apparently started through a lighted mateh^ igniting some inflammable material.

The circumstances under which Mr Cawthron, of Nelson, offered to defray the cost of the new solar observatory were related by Miss Proctor, in the course of a speech in Wellington the other evening. In describing: her tour of the Dominion, she mentioned that her lecture in Nelson, just before which Mr Cawthron promised his great gift, was delivered on the anniversary of the day when she set out from New York on her lecturing "tour. On that afternoon, she had gone to see Mr Cawthron to run through her lecture with him, and when she was gathering up her slides she heard him say to the president of the Nelson Institute: "How much do we require to establish an observatory?" He was told in a matter-of-fact tone: "About £10,000 or £12,000." To her great surprise, he said: "That is all right. I shall be glad to give it." That was how the great gift was made. Mr Cawthron's generosity, Miss Proctor said, would not only, enable Now Zealand to take a first place in the scientific world, but it woiild also forge, the final link in the ■chain of observations round , the .planet. ';

A Sydney cablegram advises a cable delay;, due to an interruption in the vicinity of Rodrigues Island.

The Blenheim deputations will meet the Hon. W. H. Herries, Minister for Railways, in the Town Clerk's office at eight o'clock to-night. The Minister, who will arrive in Pictom from Wellington to-day, will spend the night at Blenheim, and will travel to Ward by special train to-morrow, receiving deputations along the line. He will be accompanied by Mr R. McCallum, M.P.

Three inmates of the Roto Roa Inebriates' Home were charged at the Auckland Police Court with insubordinate conduct on the island on Wednesday last. A remand was granted until Friday. The question arose: What was to be done with accused in the meantime? The magistrate said that if allowed bail accused would have to go back to Roto Roa. In that case they would have a difficulty in. seeing their counsel. They were eventually remanded in custody.— Press Association.

The "Humberette," the miniature motor-oar which the Humber Company, of Coventry, have placed on the market, has made its advent into Blenheim. A representative of The Bxpbess was taken for a spin yesterday, and found the machine to be quite las comfortable as a large car. The engine is an 8-10 h.p. two-cylinder pattern, and is air cooledi by a special funnel device. A oono clutch with three speeds forward and reverse is fitted. The drive is transmitted by a Cardan shaft and differential gears. The car will run 100 miles on* one gallon of benzine. Hood, screen, headlights, and two generators go to complete a very fine little car. Messrs Levin and Co. have already disposed of several of these cars to Blenheim residents.

At one o'clock to-day 250 ratepayers had voted on the water-supply and sewerage question. There are 1300 voters on the roll, but a certain proportion are 'absentees or physically incapacitated, and it is estimated that the number of voters is about 1100. The opposing parties are displaying a good deal of organisation of. forces, and not a little activity is being displayed in bringing the voters to the poll. A considerable number of motor-cars are being employed. This morning the proceedings were of a quiet description; but it was expected that matters would become more lively this afternoon. The1 anticipation is that a popular vote will be recorded. The poll closes at 7 o'clock, and the result will be announced from the Market Place rotunda. As the process of counting will be simple, it is expected' that the public will be in possession of the important information as to the fate of the scheme before or about 8 o'clock.

It was reported the other day that the Mayor of Gisborne had discovered a new method of "raising the wind" by inviting the public to deposit their savings with the Council. Mr C. M. Gray, ex-Mayor of Christchurch, and) a former Member of Parliament, states that in 1900 he got a clause giving this power to boroughs embodied in the Municipal Corporations Act. and that acting on that authority the Ghristchurch City Council had practically wiped out its overdraft. The Council accepts money on deposit, and considerable sums are deposited with the Council at low interest while th 4 money is awaiting permanent investment. By this means the Council secures money at about half the rate of interest charged by banks on overdrafts, and as the money is available for , the depositors practically at call, the system has worked excellently, to the mutual advantage of the Council and the depositors.

The Pateena, on her run flrom Picton to Wellington on Saturday afternoon, arrived at the moutih of Tory Obannel in the nick of time to see- the capture of a fine big wha}e by a party from the well-known whaling station at Te Awaite. Whales are evidently fairly plentiful in the' Straits at the present time, for as the steamer passed Te Awaite the men were still trying-out one that had been caught three days earlier. As the steamer got into the last reach of the Channel a great commotion was seen to be taking place at the entrance. A whale, about 50 or 60 feet in length, had strayed in unwarily and had been promptly pursued by a.party under Mr Perano. The huge animal had been securely harpooned, and was rushing from side to side of the Channel, closely pursued' by Mr Perano's speedy launch. At times it came into close quarters with tEe Pateena, which was slowed down to allow the passengers a view of the unusual spectacle. The chase was still proceedings, but was evidently nearing its end, when the Pateena. steamed out into the Strait.

Cabs, cab-drivers, and cab-drivers* morals were interestingly discussed^ by the Wellington City Fathers at> their last meeting, over One or twoerrant Jehus, whether of horse or" motor vehicles. One driver who hadten convictions to his discredit .waslsome time ago granted a temporary three months' license to ply for hire. The police report on his character was entirely unfavorable, but several Councillors thought he ought to be civen another chance, as the cab was apparently his only means of livelihood. Then an older Councillor reminded his colleagues of the iniquities of the Jehu in days gone by and how the better men had come to the Council to ask the City Fathers to rid them of their unworthy comrades of the ribbons. This the Council had dione, and it decided to do the same with regard to the applicant in question, who had earlier in the evening been represented by his solicitor.

"When is a man drunk?" was a question which occupied the attention of the Auckland Magistrate's Court for a few minutes the other morning. Mr C. C. Kettle, S.M., considered that there were various stages. First a man was merry, then hilarious, and then he advanced by various stages until he "fell in a heap on the pavement." The witness in the box at the time professed himself unable to explain when a man was drunk or "tipsy," but Mr J. R. Reed, K.G. r ultimately came to the rescue with the definition once given by a learned judge. "His definition," said Mr Reed, "was that a man was druaik, not when he was what a prohibitionist would call drunk, or what a publican would call not drunk, but when he was in such a condition that the ordinary man in the street would cay that he had had enough."

From what occurred at a meeting of the creditors of a bankrupt Chinaman in Auckland this week, it vrould appear that to speak the Chinese language, and even ( to .write it, does not necessarily mean that the speaker, or writer, can read the language. An account book, written in Chinese, was produced at the meeting, but the interpreter, a fluent speaker, had to axlmit that he was quite unable to assist those who desired: it to be translated. Then a Chinaman who was in attendance produced an alleged translation, but right at the outset the bankrupt denied the accuracy of the rendering. The services of a well-educated countryman of the bankrupt were called into requisition, but he was afraid his powers of reading his language were small. He, however, was able to back the bankrupt up in his allegation that the translation was not correct in certain details. "I don't think," he added "that you will get a fair translation in Auckland, because neither side (referring to "the fact that the Chinese of Auckland were divided for and against the bankrupt) trusts the other." Later a Chinaman produced several letters, but each time he' gave a different version of what they contained- In. the end the Europeans present appeared to know less about the position than they did before the proceedings opened.

"You have four times been previously convicted in the last six months," said the Clerk of the Wellington Magistrate's Court on Friday morning in reading out a charge of insobriety to a liv-eJy-tempered woman. . "I've already paid for that," retorted the woman, "and I don't see why you should throw it up to me again."1 "Is the defendant prohibited?" asked the Magistrate (Mr W. G. Biddell). The answer was "No," but beforie the answer was delivered the woman shouted heatedry: "You will take no prohibition order out against me, for I will break it." With this she stamped out of the box with a fierce energy and an air which indicated that she thought sne had rather neatly bluffed* the Court. "Prohibition order toissue," jiuietfy observed the Magistrate. '

At the close of the Invercargill Town Council meeting last week, someof the me^nbers expressed indignation because the people of Southland' had not been better treated in connection with the visit of H.M.S. New Zealand. One of the speakers is reported* to have said that an apology should bo demanded from the captain of one of the Government steamers for turn~ ing the hose on the people anxious, to* go off to the warship. Seen by a Wellirigton Post reporter in relation to the incident, Captain Post, of the Tutanekai, said that there was nofoundation whatever for the statement that a hose from his vessel had! been used to keep back the crowd. He saw the incident, and was surprised' that such an expedient had been adopted to check the rush. Thehose was used by shore officials, and no one belonging to a Government steamer was in any may to blame for a very regrettable occurrence.,