NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, 23 January 1907, Page 1

NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

Miss Ethel Sealey, of this city-.is-teaching r music .at Petone. Fruiterers in Auckland have protested to the City Council against . the competition of street hawkers. ,' ,^ J James Stanbury, the sculler, who has . left Wanganui for Sydney, has expressed his intention of returning and taking up his residence, in Wanganui. A number of prominent- citizens -are desirous of entertaining Sir Joseph Ward at a banquet in Wellington be- [ fore his- departure for England. If the Premier can make arrangements, which will permit this being done, the function will be held on Friday. t Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, M.P., who recently ; visited Australia and New Zealand, interviewed by the "Daily Chronicle," declared that Australia is a much more real democracy . than the United States. He believed that ; the Labour Parties in Britain and the colonies would be able to come to a closer understanding, which . will have . a most revolutionary effect on the Imperial policy in 1 * democratising the_ vtfiole idea of the Empire ah'd in mak^ngy? the. Empire stand for the- -peace' -of- th£ world. ■:'.-" I ■•■■ " ""■ ■ .---iVV-. > v> &'■-.•>■■'-■:.■ '•■ ■ ; ••- Before. .the.>Wellinßtoa-.M^g!strate>ye-: cently a defendant,, pleaded guilty to two charges of having given a talse certificate- to obtain a reduction in passen- ; ger fare's on the Government - railways. _ It apepars'that defendant, while trav- ' elling on business, ran out. of signed: forms, by which tie could obtain tick-' ets at quarter .rates, and he signed I the necessary forms in - his employer's j name. His employer informed ■.'"•■" Hie ■ Court that defendant was entitled to the concession, but, of course, had no right to sign his name. Defendant said he signed the form thoughtlessly, but with no intent to commit a criminal act. He was fined £5, with 7s coEts. Mr Fowlds says : — "lt has been decided by the Government that all students who have gained -credit at university .examinations shall have their, fees paid at the University — thus enabling all bright boys to go right through from the primary schools to the TJniversity without payment of fees." r A contemporary says : — "On a population basis, Eltham has a licensed house for every 443 people. Stratford has one for every 425, and Hawera runs a hotel for every 308 people. But the West Coast mu3t be the haunt of millionaires (or it may be the opposite), for at Brunner it requires only 162 people to keep a hotel running, at Boss 82 can do it, ami at Kuraara there is a licensed house for each 82 of the population. Fancy a hotel . for every 82 of the population ! Deduct women and children, and what extraordinary -figures we get." 1 -The . difficulty of securing sufficient boy and girl labour at the Petone Woollen Mills is being keenly felt as "evef. It is reported (says a Wairoa wire to [the Taranaki "Herald") that an 'old chief named Whenuanui, who died re- | cently at Waimoko pah, was laid out on a sort of trestle. The natives built a sort of meat safe round him and solj dered him down, but the "casket" blew up the day after. The smell is awful | in the pah, but the natives are going to keep him until fit to scrape ,and *irt , the bnnes to Ruatahuana. They want to bury him in three different places. The body had magnificent and priceless mats round it, I 1 Commenting on the New Zealand shipping Company's new steamer Orari, an exchange says :— Some idea of her enormous capacity in the direction of wool and general produce can-vine may be gathered from the fact that she can stow no l es s than 16,000 hales of wool under her hatches, and then" [have room left over to stow away the ' in^RS? 1 "' 8^ triflin 8 number of£U&,UOO carcases of mutton in her refrigerating chambers. Assuming that 'fi^n dumped bale of wool represents 100 fleeces, it will be seen- that the new cargo vessel is capable of carryinu iway from our chores the produce of no less than 1,600,000 sheep in the shape of mutton and wool. As the practical utility and working economy if such large and comparatively fastvessels has been abundantly demonstrated already, we may confidently look forward to visits from vessels even. larger than the Orari at no very distant date— indeed, it may be said- ; that the size of vessel will only for. limited by the accommodation of "the I world's harbours. The theory that married couples tend as years pass to grow like one another was carried a step further by a woman who was a defendant' in a case heard by the Southwark County. Court. She urged that the handwriting of husband and wife often grew strikingly similar. By a document that she put in as "in her husband's writine" was so much like her own that the judge impounded it and immediately gave judgment against har. In a reminiscent chat with Mr T. W. McKenzie on Thursday morning, a. Wellington "Post" representative gleaned some interesting facts about journalistic ventures in 'the early days. Mr McKenzie was -the first apprentice iadenture'd to the "Gazette,"' Wellington's pioneer newspaper. He was afterwards asociated with the management of the "Independent;" - which journal has incorporated; -yrHh ihe"> "New Zealand .Times."" The chief difficulty those pioneer publishers had ."to . contend with was the regular Bupp]y'bf. printing paper. Sometimes- the demand exceeded the supply, aod . very infetior pancr had to be requistioned ; the. "Gazette" once suffcred-Hlre r ignominy " of being published on blotting-paper ! The first idea of a regular "Hansard" originated with Mr McKenzie, ,%ho; published the first seventeen numbets of the Parliamentary journal. Mr Mc- : Kenzie was the original proprietor , of the land upon which the promises, of the "Evening Post" now stand.