LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10423, 22 April 1897, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Hon, Thomas Thompson, Minister of Justice and Defence, leaves for Welling ton to-day by the s.s, Gairloch. His son, Mr. Thoe. Thompson, jun., whose illness led to Mr. Thompson's visit to Auckland at the present juncture, is now in a fair tray of recovery. He has been suffering from congestion of the lungs, the result of a neglected cold.

It is stated that Mr. D. Whyte, of Taurito, the advocate of a light railway to open up the Poverty Bay district, declares that a railway from Napier to Rotorua would not cost over, say, £1000 per mile, and would give access to 5,000,000 aores of land that has been shut out for the last 15 years for jvant of railway communication, entailing hardships on settlers and a loss of millions of money to the Government. In the opinion of some competent authorities Mr. Wbyte under estimates the cost.

Yesterday evening about 8.30 smoke was discovered ascending from a cellar grating in premises adjoining the Imperial Hotel. A telephone message was dispatched from the hotel named and the brigade turned out. Bub directly afterwards, as they were at the point of starting, a second message was received that the cause of alarm had been discovered to be a smouldering sack in a w.c. at the Imperial Hotel, and that this had been removed. Superintendent Hughes, and Captain Field of the Salvage Corps, afterwards inspected the premises.

An interesting discovery was made yesterday in Shortland-street during the course of excavations for the Waihi Company's new offices. Some stones of a rubbly nature'was found containing quicksilver and samples of it were taken to the Chamber of Mines, where they attracted considerable attention. The find was made at a depth lower than the aotual line of the foundations' level and doubtless a full test will be made. The sample taken to the Chamber of Mines showed the quicksilver freely. The detailed report of the Art Society s Exhibition, including a notice of th'e Society's competitions, appears elsewhere. There will be an additional attraction for visitors at the Choral Hall this afternoon. In accordance with its usual custom, the Society of Arts have arranged for an "afternoon tea" to be given by their lady members. This social function has always been well patronised by the publio, and the hall crowded with ladies and gentlemen. The 1 gathering will be found to be an interesting affair, even by those who have already seen the works in the Exhibition.

A meeting of the Finance Committee of the City Council was held at the Municipal Chambers yesterday afternoon for the purpose of dealing with the accounts in connection with the recent lioensing elections for Auckland city (£lO9 12a 6(1), which were referred baok to that body by the Council at its last ordinary meeting, in order that they might at the next meeting be In a position to point out what they considered excessive charges. The Council has already authorised : the payment of £50 of the amount, and it was decided after discussion to recommend the Council to authorise the further sum of £25, making a total of £75. The question of the balance was deferred. A case of considerable importance to owners of vessels was heard before Mr. Brabant, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday morning. It would appear that the cutter Eleanor was anchored in the fairway off Hobson-street Wharf on the night of the '23rd March last, and did not exhibit any fight. Captain Michol, of the ferry boat Alexandra, gave evidence to the effect that the vessel was anchored in the fairway, and as no light was exhibited, the ferry boat .nearly ran into the cutter. Taking the serious nature of the offence into consideration, and seeing that the Order-in Council authorise* a penalty not exceeding £100 for offences of this nature, the Magistrate inflicted a penalty of £5 and costs. . The defendant in the case did not appear. ~'' v ~ .'V.'.'

The question as to the moat suitable way of . commemorating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee is being' considered in many other parte ot the colony besides Auckland, and now suggestions, are being pat forward almost) daily. For instance, at a recent meeting of the Napier School Committee, a letter was read from the-Mayor,"who laid before the committee proposols for procuring , bronze medals to distribute amongst the • school children to' commemorate • the record reign of the Queen, limilarto the medals presented to the children at the time of.Set Majesty's Jubilee. The member! ; heartily s concurred ?with the Mayor's 1 idea, and it was resolved to ask His Worship! to convene a public meeting of those interested, with the" view of i taking definite, steps in the direction indicated. : However,; it is possible. that) the deplorable disaster, which, has jost befallen the Hawke's Bay' district may interfere with the working oat! of the proposal, v ' .<■ : The audience, which greeted the , pen-; ultimate $ performance of the Greenwood' family at s the' City Hall : last evening; was i as large and a* enthusiastic as i ever. To-' night will; be the'last opportunity of wit- ' nesting the performance.

The following cable has been received W the Mayor from Sir Francis MacL&l® Calcutta, in acknowledgement of fi r^ : amount of £750 remitted on behalf ™2s| Indian famine : » Mayor of Auckland Zealand. On bahalf of committee, taVjirll and famine-strickpn 60 p1 9 of' India 'ifc our most grateful thanks for the marked generosity of Auckland wh'fivf warmly thanking all specially thank th scholars of your public schools " •• -V? Recent advices from Dr. Stuart, Bishop Of' Waiapu, who is at P re£„, engaged in missionary work in Persia?# state that he bad ten youth* who .proteuS Christianity, and whom he hoped to te '*' as missionaries to work among their own H .people. But an excited mob, lad WJ® Persian nullahs, or 'priests, surrounded the H house in which the youths ' lived I and '<1 demanded that they should be'given aiirs Dr. Stuart succeeded in gettiug seven £1 his own house, which he did not think the • priests would dare to attack. The other ; i three were oapturod and thrown . into ! prison. They wero brought before the : mollahs, but refused to abjuro their faith * and were sent back to prison. Everi-i effort was being made when the mail left t' J get possessioh of the other seven, and Dr. > Stuart feared that, despite the protection j < of the British Consul and the ruling Prince ■ the mollahs would be too powerful' for him i The Countess of Seafield wriWa thsbV/l have misrepresented the views she 'ex. pressed in a letter sent a few days ago. • Our excuse must) be that Her Ladyship ! wrote at suoh length, and that her.haliifc. I writing is so bad, that it is a difficult nut. ; to get through her letters. She now Says" Of all laws, this drink law Is thi 5 Worst regulated. If we women could agree : on this one subject to band together ic j ( sympathy and for humanity's sake, we} could do much more good than by isolated working here and there, I ask nob for law l" on the poor victim, but on the cause that 4 destroys and carries death iu its breath Would the law permit you to quietly tiki j poison and commit suicide? And yet it 1 calmly allows this tendenoy to suicide to b« > indulged in daily by irresponsible creatures f who labour under the alcoholic Infatuation, There is so much to be said on this subject its pros and cons,, its use and abuse, that r.v bridle my thoughts and curb my pen to suit the conservative limits that the HshAtij " f conscientiously allows," There seems every likelihood of i«vh« competition in the Hawke's Bay timber'• trade. A Danevirke correspondent writes': • —The Hawke's Bay Sawmillers' Co-oper». v tive Association met in Danevirke a fe* days ago to decide what line of action should be taken with regard to new mills starting in the district, and selling timber at prices lower than those quoted by the Association. A mill lately started there has; been offering timber at less than the As- ] sociation price, and is reported to have re- j ceived many orders in consequence. So far i the owners have refused to join the other' mills, and there is likely to be cheap timber, as the Association is said to have reduced its price 2s 0d per 100 feet, in hope'of cutting out opposition. This will, it it anticipated, probably cause a large increase in building, as those who have work of that kind to do will take advantage of the. present low prices.

A Maori has disappeared in the Whang?.poua district, who is supposed to be suffering from insanity. One of the constable! stationed at Coromandel has gone in ie&rct\ > of him. Yesterday forenoon a man named Parker,' 1 employed at Means. Jagger and Parker's new mill at Custom-street West, got badly 3 gashed in the arm. He was attending to a: . saw at the time he met with the accident. U; Parker lost a good deal of blood, and was conveyed to the Hospital for medical treat- A ment. \ A well-attended meeting of the commit 1 tee of the Auckland Poultry Association was held at the Metropolitan Hotel lastevening to consider matters relating to the 1 New Zoaland Championship Show to be held here in July. It was decided to make an effortt to obtain a competent judge from > Australia, and it was announced that a large J number of entries from the South had been = promised. The schedules for the Show,; —which gives promise of being one of the 1 most successful ever held in tlio province-); will be published in course of a few days, In addition to the ordinary prize money several valuable cups and trophies will be . offered for competition, and an art union ii - being arranged, the prizes in connection r! with which will be on exhibition in Queen' ■ street next week. A pigeon service has been established 1 between the Great Barrier and Auckland, by Mr. Walter Fricker, of Ponsonby, which '.; will be of the greatest service to the mining community on the island, and also in case of a marine casualty there, of which wi ■ have already had sad experience in the wreck of the Walrarapti. A depot for homing pigeons has been established on the Barrier. Yesterday Kir. Fricker despatched a batch of birds to the island to commence the service. Application has been made to the Government Co subsidise the service! owing to the public advantages likely to accrue. Mr. Flicker's enterprise will no doubt meet the support it merits. A young man named George Wark, son of R. Wark of Opawa, was found dead yesterday morning in his office at the warehouse of Messrs. £. Hayraan and Co., Christchurcb, in whoso employ deceased was. At the Police Court yesterday, a seaman named Robert Weddall was committed for trial upon a charge of having assaulted John Morton, on the e.s. Mnmari, on April 10,, by stabbing him in the face with a knife, and also upon a charge of having injured - John McAleer. It was stated in evidenc* that Morton and Weddall, who had been drinking, had a dispute 011 the boat, which ended in the former being stabbed. McAleer, it was alleged, prevented further' injuries being indicted, but in doing so sustained a cut 011 one of his fingers, and ' this was the subject of the second charge. Weddall said he remembered very little ,; about the affair, and could not say whether he stabbed the man Morton or not. ■] Our Thames correspondent states that two men named Oscar Cochrane and Wm. A, Rattray have been arrested oil a charge.. of having stolen from Robert Raw, of' Neavesville, on the 14th inst., the sum of: £25. Accused were brought up at the Police Court, and charged with the offence,'; but, owing to the absence of Mr. Raw, the; hearing of the charge was adjourned till Monday next. The 22nd anniversary of Court Pride ol ; Onehunga Ancient Order of Foresters was - celebrated last Monday night with a select ball. Fully 50 couples took part in the dancing and the gallery was crowded with spectators. Excellent music was provided by Meredith's String Band. Brother A.' Hughes, C.R., acted as M.U. There was another large attendance at the Opera House last night to witness the fourth performance of the Delroy Uompanjr. For to-night a change of programme if announced. Miss Delroy and Mr. Bell will appear in an entirely new musical melange; the sketches will be changed, Messrs. Ford and Bergin will also contribute items which are entirely new to an Auckland audience. By special request Miss Delroy will repeat her pretty cobra di capella dance. Mr. Bell will vary his Senegambian oddities, and Madame Bell will . appear in her " dream visions," An additional attraction is provided in the person of Ocha-Mab, 1 the Ashantee dwarf, 17 Inches high, whose performance is said to be very entertaining. 1 There was a very fair • attendance at the Easter Carnival last night, and a satisfactory amount of business appeared to be transacted at the respective stalls. Mrs. ' Jarley's Waxworks, for wnicli Mrs. Wil- > liamson and Mr. Leslie Dix deserve every . prrise, was the most attractive of the side shows, and those taking part are to be ' complimented upon the manner in which they carried out their respective parts, i The selections by Impey's band, Herr Zim--1 mermann, and the orchestra, were very much 1 enjoyed by those present. A welcome addiii tion to the stall presided over by. Mrs. 1!. Pritt was received last night, the' matron ; and nurses at the hospital forwarding a set i, of dolls appropriately dressed. _ The Car- ' nival has been so successful that it has been 1 decided.to continue it, and to-night, which j is designated "bargain night," a substan|'i tial reduction will be made in the price of ■' the . articles ' remaining unsold. Other j attraction! will bs provided, so thai thai ) should be a large attendance.. " r i >.v, • ?