LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10596, 10 November 1897, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

i The eighth General Conference of the sAustralasian Wesleyan Methodist Church- - opens at Pitt-street Wesleyan Church this J evening at seven tfclock, when the Rev. W. Morloy, the retiring; President, will deliver ; j,i3 address. ,v In this it is expected he will ; deal not only, with the growth of Wesleyan ' jlethodism .in.' these colonies and methods . for future work, bob with efforts made for : unity anil, the spread of later forms of • Christian endeavour. The meeting will bo open to the public. The delegates and friends who'spent yesterday at Rotorua will return to-day by special train, arriving in time to take part in the opening proceed' ings. '

t - The Auckland Racing Club held the second day's racing in connection with their Spring Meeting yesterday. There "was fin excellent attendance. The fields were large, mid speculation was very brisk throughout: the afternoon. The accommodation by

the early trains was severely taxed, and sis a large number that intended leaving • by the quarter to eleven train were crowded out, this gave rise to a slight • inconvenience. With the exception of this ' one complaint the train arrangements were •'in every way most satisfactory, : ?iA •. full '■ account of racing will be found in another column. * The? New Zealand Cup, whieli is the richest prize of the New Zealand turf, was decided s yesterday - at " the " Canterbury Jockey Club's Meeting. • The race was won r by the Taranaki-owned horse Waiuku, who defeated • the - Auckland-owned ' St. Paul by half a length. ( . Both horses are by ? the champion sire,, St. Leger, and were each bred in this district. *' ' ' For some time past the subscribers to the ; Thames Telephone Exchange have been greatly dissatisfied • with 1 the instruments placedat their disposal, owing to their very defective character, and as a result a petition . that a more modern class of instrument should be. supplied'to' them was recently presented to 1 the chief postmaster of flint district. A reply to that request has just been received by the petitioners, in which it is stated that the department 'regrets that it is unable to comply with r the same at present, as there are no instruments on hand for that purpose, bub when .a supply is received to renew old telephones, a fair share will be allotted to the Thames subscribers. This reply lias' caused eVeil more dissatisfaction to the subscribers, and a number of them (threaten to 1 do 'away , with the telephone altogether unless something is soon done to improve its efficiency. r " Those who have Jjjen attending the Native Land Court afc'ptprpha'nsra recently report that, providing a person is sufficiently well known, drink' can be obtained illicitly all over the district. , It has been, it is stated, no uncommon thing for witnesses to go into the box, asVariy as ten o'clock in the morning, the. worse for liquor, this applying to both women and men. Not only is the illegal trading dona directly demoralising, bub ib is said to have led to persons being less careful of speakihgastofacts, the whole > of the facts, and nothing but the facts. The leading chiefs, it is averred further, now tay tho only remedy is to license a house arid so get the traffic under control;' they recognise' the fault is not with the "pakeha," . but with the natives themselves, who will have the drink. /fi.T"*' ! U'l «■"!". q.'.', ' Yesterday a young lady named Miss Brown, belonging to Panmure, met with an accident. She was in a trap driven by her brothor, when the horse stumbled, and cut its near fetlock.,. Both occupants were thrown out, : Miss Brown getting slightly stunned. Mr. Robinson, photographer, who was near ab hand, assisted her to Selwood's hotel. With the exception of a good ' shaking Miss Brown received; no serious injury. Tho inquest on Grant, the clerk, who is lupposed to have taken "Rough on Rats" at his residence, Northcote, will be held today at ten a.m. The contract for the repairs to the lamaki Bridge has been accepted. The tender of Mr. R. B. Martin for £966 14s 7d has been accepted, and the time allowed for the completion of the contract is five months. —

iSf A number of visitors have already arrived I in Auckland in order to attend the show } of the Auckland Pastoral and Agricultural A Association," and "it is expected that the' attendance will bo a rccord one. / Early on a recent Sunday morning Coni / stable Woods, of Sydney, had an exciting • cliase tor a man in' Hyde Park. Ho was doing duty in tho. park, when his attention was arrested by hearing a scraping noise on 't the pavement near the entranoe to the park. Turning round, he saw a man in the act of ;' "going through" the pockets of another j" man who was lying on the ground under ! the influence of liquor. • The officer at once walked ovor to see how matters stood, but • he had no sooner done this than the pick- > pocket jumped up and started to run-across r the piwk. Instantly a smart chase onsued, hut the man, having had a start, had the beet of it for a time, and it appeared as though he were going to slip out of tho i leach of the officer', when the latter thought } it wise to pull out his revolver arid fire. He {!■ did so, bub it had no salutary effect, and I the man only ran and doubled the harder. Then Woods fired another shot, bub still the man continued" on his course. The revolver . shots. had ( been . heard :by several : other police officers on duty in tho vicinity, and these at once hurried across the park to join in the chase. Among them were Con- . stables Horsell and Lilley. Then a third shot rang out.; By this time the man. had succeeded in getting to the other side of - the park immediately opposite St. Mary's, I bub Woods was very close behind him, and, | no doubt, thinking discretion the bettor - ' pari) of valour, he here gave in and sub- • i mitted to the requirements of tho law. The V Ban Vas locked up and a formal charge of fj baing a suspected person found frequenting HydoPark, with intent to commit a felony, ■0 vis preferred against him. ( yf- The will of the" late. Mr. John Thomas j't:-' ; ■Scale, of Sydney, was lodged for probate a ':i tsw days ago.' The value of the estate is '■ i .\ sworn as under £805,000, bub there are corwin accumulations in interest which brought the. sum up to, £830,000. '. The testator devised his - residence, " Lugano," ... ,at Potts Point, the furniture and effects, a | shop in King-strcetjSydney, and £05 ; to ■\ ' his wife, the .sum .to 1 , bo paid within five years with five per, cent, interest. Among 9 • the other legacies are—£2o,ooo each to his brothers, Messrs.-Samuel, Alfred, George, v , and James Neale, and his sister, Mrs. Mary fe ,Morse, and '£00,000' to his sister, Mrs. £ Ellen Rahono. A large number of smaller • sums are .bequeathed to „his .relatives C and friends: To > Sir •' George Dibbs the sum of £5000 is* given; and to Mr. JUT,! A. Dibbs, manager of the Commercial j-ii; Banking Company, of Sydney, £6000, irre- : spective of his fee' as executor: to Mr. : James Groigg, of Messrs.' Richardson and v Wrench, Limited, £5000, also without > 'referenceto his office as executor; to Mr.' • H. S. Bull, of London, £10,000; to. Mr., jfi William Deane, solicitor, £5000 ; to Sir W. I';/ P. Manning,. £1000; and.to Mr. E. Lees, t, : M.L.C., £500, A largo number of bequests S are also made to charitable » institutions. H The principal ones arc : £3000 each to the || Sydney . Hospital, tho Prince Alfred Hoss pital, and the 'Randwick' Asylum;, " The whole of the legacies and bequests are to be f paid within , five years from the testator's <' ■/ death," and are to carry four per cent, into-, gs rest until they aro paid. The will appoints V' the widow executrix, and Messrs. T. A.' f ; ' Dibbs and James Greigg executors. • • fe;The German steamer Meissen, now loadv'. t: 'g at Sydney, will, before leaving Adsv ..'°alia, havo 20,000 bales of wool on board • ■mr Europe. This is riot. far short of as uch wool as the five sailing ships carried v; j! which left Sydney last month. ( Their total 'i ': for wool was bub 23,395 bales'., Tho effect > y 'of the visits of huge steamers on tho sailing | ships' business may be instanced also in I' Connection with the despatch' of sailers during tho} present wool season from Sydney. ».• Only last year tho number of !{£' sailers -which 'loaded during October was jfcj nearly double that of the present seasoij namely, 'nine i ships carrying 45,000 bales as against five 1 ships carrying 23,000 bales. II The Hagey Social Club will resume their |f scries of weekly socials at the new institute, f;• commencing ot) Friday evening next. ' :■ 'Admirers of tho horse turned, up in force feat the Agricultural Hall last, night .to see yK;Professor Norton B. Smith'!"educate" a, j V.- further draft of horses hitherto unbroken or i-r with some nervous defect. A fresh batch v .of hopes will be dealt with to-night. ;. There were six persons in the lock-up last p : y svening on charge; of drunkenness; Alfred i Evans, for wilful damage ,'to property ii'fji and assault; AiVnie Woods and John Her* rington, for assaulting one Wm. Shepherd. L'iK;:.."':,.'l^

The factory system has made wonderful strides in New Zealand from'lß9l to 1896. In 1891 the butter factories' prodduce ,1,969,7591b of butter, and the cheese factories 4,390,4001b of cheese. ' In 1896 the output rose t011,338, of butter, and 9,357,6001b of cheese.V.' 1 [IT"*]' *

The Sydney Morning Herald, of October. 30, says:—A 1 cargo iof Westport coal was brought across yesterday on • an order, from' the Admiralty, presumably for the use 'of the Naval Department. Some of the marine engineers of the warships have reported very favourably of 1 this ' particular New Zealand co»l as approximating the Welsh coal as to ' it?. steam-raising value. On enquiry it is stated that it , suits the furnaces of some of the ships better than the best steaming coal of /New South Wales. U i- : ,

A reunion of former teachers and scholars of the' Newton Congregational Church Sunday-school, Kdinburgh-straet, was hold last night in the church. An address of welcome was given by the Rev. Frederick Warner, and other speakers were Messrs, W. P, Baker, \V. Spragg, R. F. Webster, and Noah Wood. Music was.rendered by the choir and friends. The attendance was good, arid a pleasant evening was passed."' " ! " r 1 '

The ceremonies in connection with the | opening of St. Patrick's Roman ■ Catholic Cathedral, Melbourne, ' on October 31, appear to have been of a most imposing character. ' Archbishop Carr announced that their holy father, Leo, had ' sent a message of sympathy and felicitation. Be had also sent a, beautiful set of vestments, which he intended should be used that day, bub unfortunately they had not arrived. The message from his Holiness tho Pope, translated into English was as follows:—'" With sentiments of heartfelt pleasure we rejoice with you on the occasion of the completion of the magnificent cathedral erected in honor of St. Patrick, and as you are about to dedicate it to God with solemn ceremonial and exuberant joy, we impart most lovingly the Apostolic benediction to the Archbishop and to all the faithful of tho diocese, but more particularly to those who had aided in the completion of the magnificent cathedral. Given at Rome, 3rd Septembor, 1897.— XIII., Pope."