LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10835, 19 August 1898, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The illustrations in this week's number of the Auckland Weekly News are varied and interesting. A splendid picture is given of the Taranaki football representatives, together with several interesting views of the match last Saturday. A series of Auckland hunters and other pictures of general interest also appear. The second edition of the News is now ready. It augurs well for the growing interest in the forthcoming City Council elections when a gentleman of the long and honourable standing in the city of Air. John Batger has expressed his willingness to come forward, and place bis services at the disposal of his fellow citizens. A requisition to Mr. Batger, asking him to allow himself to be placed in nomination for the Grafton Ward, is in course of signature, but it is understood, that in deference to the influence of those who have associated themselves to secure his return, Mr. Batger has already intimated his readiness to accept the requisition. Nominations must be lodged by noon of Friday, 26tn inst. —for the East Ward, at the City Council office; for the North Ward, at Messrs. Huffman and Sons' music warehouse. Queen-street; for the South Ward, at Mr. C. B. Thome's shop, Hewin's buildings, Wei-lesley-street; for I'onsonby Ward, at Mr. W. Lanibourne's, ironmonger, Ponsonby Road; for Karangahape Ward, at Mr. Jourdam's, chemjst, Upper Queen-street; for Grafton Ward, at Messrs. J. A. and R. Bell's, grocers, Upper Symonds-street. Several important questions were under discussion at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Auckland Industrial and Mining Exhibition yesterday. On the question of whether liquor should be sold in the Exhibition grounds the committee were evenly divided. The chairman (Mr. Ledingham) declined to give his casting vote, and the question was deferred. A proposal to enlarge the Choral Hall was brought forward, the cost mentioned being £400. Mr. S. 1. George suggested that a temporary wooden hall might be erected on the ground at similar cost. A committee was appointed to make inquiries and report on the whole question, it being agreed that something must be done to increase the accommodation for the public at the concerts to be held in connection with the Exhibition. Flans of an ornamental front for the Exhibition building were discussed and remitted back to the Buildings Committee for completion. The Onehunga municipal election, which takes place on September 8, is already arousing considerable interest. Several candidates are spoken of, among others being Messrs. J. Bradley, C. McLeod, Captain Yates, J. D. Jackson, and tho two retiring members, J. Nixon and W. Colledge. Yesterday afternoon a very respectablelooking woman named Mrs. Edith " al '" greaves, a widow, residing in Franklin Road, was arrested on a charge of theft of an English illustrated magazine from the Free Public Library. She was subsequently ieleased, last night, on her own recognisances of £10. It appears that within the last week or two magazines have gone amissing from the reading table, among them the Ludgate, Pall Mall Magazine, and the Woman at Home. About 10 dap ago- Ihe Idler was taken. Certain circumstances that then occurred aroused the suspicion of the assistant librarian, and she informed Mr. bliiiiington, the librarian. He set ft daily watch, and yesterday The Idler was returned to the table. The accused was in he library late in the afternoon, and Mr. Snillington, on her departure from the library, followed her out, and down Queen-sheet, till he met Constable Cahill, when he asked the constable to request tho lady to open out the cloak on her arm, and show what . was underneath 'it. She did so, and it disclosed an English illustrated magazine, . which on being examined was found to bear the Free Public Library stamp. Mrs. Hargreaves admitted taking The Idler, andl - turning it, and stated that she was g to do the same with the magazine in Her (possession, and had no felonious (in n . Constable Cahill arrested her on .a charge of theft, and she was taken to the police station, but released as above stated, a - icused is about 30 years of age. ..-.She is statca to have money in the bank, and that t was no reason of any kind why she should have acted in the manner charged, a cused arrived from Sydney., about six months ago. '■ . _ i - 1 An inquest was held on Wednesday by. r. Philson, coroner, on the body of an in an named Pearl Mellis, whose parents live m Abercrombie-street. • The child •, was r,™ dead in bed in the morning, lying on its lac. : The jury, after hearing the evidence adduce , ! returned a verdict to the effect that the child • •died of water on the brain (hydrocephalus). It had been in delicate health. j, ••

■ rillf! J* T °/ ", le man un d drowned on ■ jCheltenham Beach m identified yesterday iSpHif, L ITO J i° n as Mr - Alexander | McClintock . , He was formerly a schoolmaster, who had a private school in Symondsstreet, and subsequently got an educational appointment at Rarotonga, but, after a short visit to the Islands, returned to Auckland. JJotective McMahon ascertained thai McLlintock, with his wife, had been staying at the boarding-house of Mr. Kent, Grey-street, and he got Mr. Kent to go to the Morgue, who also identified the body as that of Alexander McClintock. It appears that McCHintock left the boarding-house on Wednesday morning, and never returned. Singular to say, Mrs. McClintock also left, it is stated, the same forenoon, and Detective McMahon says lias never returned, and inquiries are being made respecting her. It is possible that she may have gone on a visit to some ot her friends. An inquest on the body of McClmtock will bo held this forenoon, at ten clock, by Dr. Philson, coroner, at Gleeson s Hotel, Hobson-street. A robbery lias been reported to the police as having occurred at the residence, Pointstreet, Mount Eden, of Mr. W. J. Vaughan traveller for Mr. D. Arkell, brewer. While the inmates were away, between noon and five p.m., the premises were entered, and a gold watch and chain stolen, together with a "Jubilee " sovereign and a pair of earrings. ■No clue lias yet been obtained as to the perpetrators of the robbery. lie contractor for the Gas Company's reclamations has been considerably hindered by the recent wot weather. Some of the members of the Harbour Board have been over to inspect the reclamations, and see what arrangements can be made with regard to keeping the trench in line of the proposed sewer open, Mr. Fallon has now filled up to the line of the trench for some distance from the Patteson-street frontage, and is now engaged in filling up the vacant space to seaward. It will be necessary to give him facilities to work on the eastern side of the proposed lino of sewer by a flying bridge, or otherwise, so that the ballast trains and locomotive can cross the sewer line. The contractor has no desire to fill up the trench, as the earth would all have to be dug out again when the sewer is in process of construction, at a loss to both the City Council and the Harbour Board, but is willing to co-operate with the authorities, provided he is not put to personal loss in so doing. Doubtless the matter will be arranged at the next meeting of the Harbour Board. A consular report on the trade and commerce of Tahiti fo, the year 1897 has just been published, and is of considerable interest to Australasian mercantile houses. The imports amounted to £143,629, against £112,255 for the year 1896, an increase, of £31,374 being shown. Although Tahiti is a French possession, imports from France and her colonies in 1897 amounted to only £15,485, while those from Australia and New Zealand amounted to £26,363. A considerable portion of this sum represents provisions. Cattle were imported from New Zealand to the value of £2314. The consul writes that Australian and New Zealand tinned meats are rapidly superseding the American brands. Australian lowergrade soaps are losing the market on account of dearness and inferiority. Our Onehunga correspondent writes: — " The proposal to despatch steamers from Onehunga on Sundays (part of the arrangement for a more frequent mail service, which comes into operation in December) is viewed, with disfavour by a considerable portion of the residents. It is feared that if the system is inaugurated, it will necessitate the handling of cargo, as well as the running of special trains on Sundays. It is stated that the clergymen of Onehunga propose to petition against the Sunday steamers, on the grounds that it is an unnecessary infringement of the day of rest, and that it will deprive seamen and others of the privilege of spending their Sundays at home. At a recent meeting of the Wellington Trades Council, a letter was received from the Auckland Trades Council advocating the abolition of the Arbitration Court in favour of the Conciliation Board, as being the more representative body, and having a better knowledge of trade matters. This was apropos of the finding in the Christchurch engineers' dispute, and the fact that the Court declined to give a finding on the wages and apprentices question. The Wellington Council resolved to reply regretting that the Auckland Council had not adhered to the decisions arrived at by the recent conference as to proposed amendments of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, and pointing out that its action was likely to weaken the representations made to the Government oil the subject.

■A charge of carrying firearms without authority was preferred at the Melbourne City Court against Martin Simonsen, 68, once well-known as a violinist and public entertainer, who visited New Zealand on several occasions Constable Ballard informed the Court that a complaint having been made at the police barracks, lie was instructed to proceed to the residence of a gentleman named Golding. Whilst the constable was there accused approached him carrying in his hand a revolver loaded in five chambers, and said, "I live in a very queer house ; ever since I came into it I cannot get out of it. I never stop in a strange house without- a revolver." Accused was discharged, the orderly directing him to go to the watch-house and get the weapon, which had been taken from him by the police. A few minutes later Mr. Golding entered the Court and informed the Bench that lie was afraid of his life whilst Mr. Simonsen was at large. The latter had already threatened him 011 one occasion, lying for some time on the stairs presenting the revolver at the door of the room in which complainant was. Subsequently a warrant was issued, the purpose being to bind Mr. Simonsen over to keep the peace. A kiwi mat, which, beautiful in itself, was interesting also as a proof of the abundance of kiwis in the North Island, and of the retention by the natives of their knowledge of the art of making, »■:: (says the Ot;igo Daily Times) exhibited at a meeting of the Otago Institute by Mr. A. Hamilton, who expressed his indebtedness to Mrs. Matthews for affording him the opportunity to do so. The sight of the mat as Mr. Hamilton threw it across his shoulders elicited exclamations of admiration from the meeting. Very large and most beautifully made, the mat was, Sir. Hamilton said, the finest he had ever seen. It' was made at a small station called Upipi, near Taupo, and while containing an enormous number of feathers, represented a considerable number of the very rare form of white kiwi, the feathers of which worked in alternate stripes with the dark feathers of the less uncommon form, produced a splendid effect. The kiwis of the North Island, Mr. Hamilton remarked, | must be increasing somewhat rapidly, as, from what he had heard, two hunters, with one dog, had recently succeeded in obtaining 40 in a very small space of time. An examination in speed, at the rates of 80 and 100 words per minute, was conducted on Wednesday evening, at the rooms of the Auckland Shorthand Writers' Association, when the following members succeeded m passing the test. . At 80 words per minute : Misses Farrell, Holioway, Mill, and Entrican. At 100 words per minute ; Misses Lambert and Tiifncl! and Mr. C. L. Eastgate. At the last meeting of the Otago Institute there were exhibited a number of rare and curious Maori implements, among which were a war belt and instruments of warfare in greenstone, whalebone, blackstone, trachite, .and schist. The traclute implement, Dr; Hocken said, was probably unique, while the schist one was extremely old. Some implements of peace and very fine specimens of carving were shown, one being a carved pipe which had . belonged to the celebrated Hone Ileke, and another being the first Piece of Maori work given to him (Or. Hocken), and forming the nucleus of his collection. Three days after the. ship Eulomene left Newcastle on a recent voyage foi ban J! rancisco, a stowaway, made his appearance on board. He was baldly able to stand from hunger, having eaten nothing for three days. Questioned by the captain, he said ,1m a professional.; deadbeat. Ive beaten i J way over every railroad line in America; I've beaten my way on every steamship line that runs to and from Europe ; I ve beaten mv way to the Southern Seas, and from there to the Arctic ; and I beat my way to Aus-. tralia ; but I'll never do it again. No chance back there for a deadbeat to make an honest living." 1 "What are you going to do when you get to 'Frisco !" asked the captain, and the" answer came trippingly, Beat my way to the Klondike." Soon after the Eulomene anchored at San Franc.™ . the stowaway, was reported missing He had stolen a boat belonging to one of the, port officials, . and made bis escape.}. The boat was subse-, quently found adrift in the harbour. . i