LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11040, 18 April 1899, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Union Company's mail steamer Moana resumed her wage to Apia, Honolulu, and San Francisco yesterday afternoon. The steamer had a large number ot passengers in both classes from this port, amongst the number being a party of Mormons, who are reluming to Salt Lake City, accompanied by several Maori converts. The cargo of the steamer included considerable shipments of pelts, flax, potatoes, onions, etc. A large: crowd than usual assembled to witness the departure of the steamer. There was a large assemblage of persons on the Queen-street Wharf, yesterday, to see the Hon John McKenzie, Minister for Lands, and his family, off in the R M s Moana, for San Francisco, en route for the Mother Country. Among the members of the Legislature present were the Hon* W Swanson. Mct'ullough, Major Harris', Messrs. J, J. Holland. F. Lawn-, and J Bollard. The ex-Mayoress of Onehunga (Mrs. Yates), Hon. K. Mitchelson, Major Murray, and a numbei of leading citizens, were also present. Mona Mackay, the little daughter of Mr. J. \V. Mackay, very gracefully presented Mrs. McKenzie with a beautiful bouquet of white and gold chrysanthemums, bound with white and "old ribbons. As (he .Moana slowly steamed from the wharf, the crowd gave three hearty cheers for Mr. McKenzie and family, and sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." Mr, McKenzie bowed his acknowledgments. His private secretary (Mr. Mcwhinney) had a kodak on the deck, and was taking snapshots ol the huge crowd. The photographic sketches will form a pleasant souvenir to Mr. McKenzie of liis " farewelling'' from Auckland. The passenger who is usually a few minutes behind time was again in evidence at the mail steamer Moana yesterday. After the gangway had been hauled ashore, the after- cast off, and the engines going astern, a man. in a great state of agitation, rushed down the wharf, accompanied by several friends, and had it not been that the steamer's forward line was fast, so as to work her stem away from the- wharf, lie would have missed his passage. As it was. however, ho bad to make by no means a graceful entry on board, for'he had to be hauled up by some of the sailors, assisted by bis friends from the wharf. The various wharves and jetties in the harboui wore a very busy appearance yesterday, and one that is not often seen. ' At , the outward eastern tee of tile Queen-street Wharf the mail steamer Moana was engaged in taking in cargo for Apia, Honolulu, and San Francisco, whilst on the inside of the same tee the Huddart-Parker, steamer Weslralia was putting out her cargo j horn Sydney. At the eastern tee of the '< same wharf the Tyser liner Hawke's Bay , and the Huddart-l'urker steamer Klingamit'e ■ were discharging cargo all the day. At [ Quay-street Jetty the Shaw, Sav'ill, and : Albion Company's steamer Mamari was put- ' ting nut general cargo from London, whilst the Wakatipu at the Hobsou-street Wharf! Iras discharging grain and produce. In ! addition to the largo steamers the work of, the Northern Company's fleet and the small j coasting vessels helped to swell the amount of traffic, and tie harbour officials and others had their hands quite full in keep- I big affairs in order. A coroner's inquest was held yesterday afternoon at the Marine Hotel. Howick, by Captain Irvine, on the body of Hugh Kane", who was found on Sunday morning lying dead on the public road, a vehicle having apparently gone over him during the night. Evidence was given by Henry and W. Andrews as to finding the body. A. E. Bennett, licensee of the Marine Hotel, deposed to the deceased having had three glasses (if beer on the Saturday night, and also taking away with him a small flask of whisky at ten p.m. He was then perfectly sober. W. Keenan and John Gill gave corroborative evidence. Dr. Bcwes deposed that deceased had a wound on the head, several ribs broken, and his chest pressed inwards. Death was caused by a heavy weight having passed over the body, such as a vehicle. Mr. Crawford, driver 'of the 'bus, stated that he left Auckland for Howick, and that on the trip he felt no bumping of the v.,iicle. George Robinson, a passenger, gave corroborative evidence. The jury. after half-an-hour's consultation, brought in a verdict to the effect that deceased was apparently lying on the road when he was accidentally killed by a vehicle passing over his body, but whoso vehicle there was no evidence to show. The Railway Department have now completed a railway telegraph along the whole line from Auckland to Pacroa'aod thence to the Thames. They have a portable telephone on each train, from Morrinsville to Rotorua, so that in the event of any accident on the incline from Nga-tera to Puataniru telephone communication could be established, and similarly on the eastern side of the ridge. A telegraph line has also been carried along the North Auckland railway, from Auckland to Helensville, and a portable telephone by train for communication between Helensville and the Waitakerei tunnel. These steps will increase the safety of the working of the lines, and will be especially useful in the case of running night trains to Rotorua, as was suggested some time ago. _ Our Thames correspondent states that a joint meeting of the committee appointed by we Thames Hospital Trustees to carry out the arrangements for the railway excursion to Te Aroha and sports on Thursday, May 4, and the committee of the Thame's Amateur Athletic Association, was held yesterday. Mr. Menzies was elected chairman. Messrs. Brady, Ryan, Hetheringham, and Lloyd were appointed a committee to draw up the amateur running and cycling events on the programme. ,The matter of the professional running events was left in the hands of the Te Aroha committee. The necessary officials were appointed for the carrying out of the sports, and arrangements made in regard to the disposal of tickets for what promises to be a most successful excursion. An outbreak of fire took place last evening in Coombes' Arcade, in the the office of Mr. H. B. Massey, commission agent. It appears that Mr. F. G. Clayton, house and land agent, had occasion to return to his office (on the opposite side of the corridor to Mr. Massey's office), when he detected a strong smell 'of fire. On looking around be saw the smoke oozing out through the letter-box of Mr. Massey's office, and he and Dr. Orpen, who was in the building, at once gave the alarm. Mr. Lester, and one of his staff, Mr. Hume, ran down the corridor, burst in the door of Mr, Massey's office, and he and Mr. Lester pretty well had the fire out when Superintendent Hughes and the fire brigade, and Captain Field and the Salvage Corps arrived. A number of papers were destroyed in Mr. Massey's office. The flames had run up the wall, and but for the promptitude of those above referred to, would have in a few minutes developed into a serious and destructive fire, as the Arcade is all parcelled out in a series of offices, constructed of wood. Superintendent Hughes and Captain Field subsequently examined the office of Mr. Massey, and the fire appeared to have stated in an open shelf on the floor, but j whether a match had been carelessly thrown | down, or anyone had been smoking, there . was no evidence to show, The damage is, estimated at £2 or £3. 1

On inquiring at the hospital last night with ■ regard to the two wounded men, Corporal Poxworthy and Seaman Hunt, of H.Ms I orpoise, who were brought to Auckland bv the s.s. Alameda last week, they were stated to be progressing favourably. , Last evening, about eight o'clock, Constable Rock found a man named Daniels lying in Karangahape Road, near Mr. ' .Nathan residence. He apparently had teen drinking methylated spirits, as a'bottle , of it was found on him nearly empty. Sergeant Walkei came along, and Dr. Coo'm was called in, and administered emetics and other remedies to the man. Daniels was locked up, as the doctoi did not think he was bad enough to be sent to the hospital. , the lockupkeeper visited him every halfhour throughout the night, as a precautionary measure, but he seemed to be progressin/ favourably. Our Tauranga correspondent writes: Tho centenary of the Church Missionary Society was celebrated in Tauranga on the 12th inst. by holding divino service in Trinity Church, when the Rev. William Goodyear, one of the church missionaries, gave an interesting address. He said that this noble society had double claims on New Zealand, whose colonisation was so much smoothed and otherwise prepared by the early missionaries. And in this diocese of Waiapu we possessed the only na-tive-born bishop of New Zealand. ' Ten days ago that prelate had addressed the congregation in the same (Trinity) church. In 1825 two brothers had come to New Zealand as Missionaries of the Cross. They were the father and the uncle of the present bishop, whose father had been the first Bishop of Waiapu. These two brothers, Henry and William Williams, lived to see tho New Zealand Maoris all professing Christians, and, although much backsliding had taken place, the good seed sown was still alive, and God would bring it to fruition in due time. Notwithstanding tho many efforts of missionaries throughout tho world, it was calculated that, at the present day, one-half of tho human race had never seen a P>ilile. or even heard llio name of Christ. One millinn sterling was proposed to be raided at \ this 100 th anniversary of the society, for renewed efforts, and for opening up fre-di mission fields. i At the present time those interested in the beautiful chrysanthemums, which are now in full bloom, should have a peep into the window of Messrs. O'Leary Bros, and ■ Downs, when they will behold a splendid collection of prize chrysanthemums. For variety of colouring and beautiful formation ! of blooms an inspection of the collection will afford a real pleasure. That the presence of a policeman in a • community affords residents no immunity i from the incursions of thieves, goes without ' saving. An illustration of the fact was '■ afforded a resident of F.Uerslic last week, whose premises were raided by a thief or i thieves, and about 100 head of poultry ■ stolen. This, taking place the same week i in which the appointment of a constable to ; the district took effect, and almost next door to the latter, characterises the theft as an audacious one. It is hoped the perpetrators will be discovered, and their " foul" doings • suitably and justly rewarded. During the late hours of Saturday night, , or early on Sunday morning (writes our Cam- , bridge correspondent), some one entered the 1 gardens of Mr. Thns. Wells and totally de- \ stroyed every one of his chrysanthemum blooms, tearing the petals from each flower. ' No clue is to be found, but it seems to bo some one who knew the blooms well, as not one has escaped. This would mean a ' ' serious loss to the forthcoming show, only \ Mr. W. F. Tiuckland and Mr. M. MoDormott have duplicated all their entries, so that practically there will he as manv blooms as usual, though Mr. Wells will unfortn- ' nately not be able to exhibit this year. The ■ entries for the different competitions have all ■ ■ come in well, the ladies' division comprising - : table decorations, sprays, buttonholes, bouj qnets. baskets, etc.. being splendidly comI peted for. The usual school excursion (rain i from Auckland will run on the Saturday, I Rather a dramatic incident, occurred dtirI ing the hearing of the pocket-picking caso ; at the S.M. Court recently (says the Mann- : wnlll Standard). A witness went into the ' box to give evidence in favour of the aci rosed. He sworo his namo was Albert ■ Smith, and told a nice little fairy-tale of how he had seen tho whole incident on the ' racecourse, and he was quite sure there | was no attempt at theft. When he conj eluded his story, which was told with a j well-assumed appearance of disinterestedness, tho sub-inspector asked him to take. i his coat off and show his arm. This request rather surprised the witness, and after some hesitation he agreed to do as bid. when certain marks were found there which corresponded exactly with the records in the Police Gazette, opposite the. names of Albert Weeks, alias Benny, who had been convicted of larceny in Auckland. an identity which the witness was forced to admit, so that it was at once proved to the Court that instead of this gentleman being an independent witness, wlho onlv wished to see justice done to the accused, he was reallv his confederate, doing his best to jet his pal off. The police arc certainly to be congratulated on tho clever way in which they bowled him out. In continuing the excavations now being made for the foundations of Messrs. F. Lassetter and Co.'s new drapery' shop, in Sydnev, a number of relics have been discovered. Five old wells were recently found, extending to a depth varying from flO.'t to 60ft. and tho old wooden pumps and pipes were taken nut. On pumping out the water, several articles of an interestinc character were lying at the bottom of the wells, showing (hat the site must have been an old military camp. Amongst the articles discovered was an old sword scabbard, which, from its appearance, seems to have been used in the last century. Two mounted officers' bits were also found, of a very curious pattern, together with a pair of stirrups, an old folding bucket-handle, and the iron portion of a wooden patten shoe, which was greatly worn in the early days of tho colony. In 1896 the chip Lord Ripnn left Sydney fo» Europe, via Capo Horn, and when passing the most easterly point of the Falkland Islands the captain, on June 18, 1896, threw nyei a bottle containing one of Mr. Russell's current papers. The ship was in lat. 51.50 R., long. 51.23 W., when the bcttlo began its lone journey, and the next beard of it was that it was picked tin on shore near the southern noint of Cane York Peninsula, on or about March 18. 1899. having thus been two years and nine months, almost exactly 1000 days, on the long journey of 9560 miles, and it made easterly at the rate of 9} miles per day. The General Manager of Railways (Mr. T. Ronaync) has received news of the very naiTow escape of a train on one of the Government lines in the South Island the other day. While the train, running from Heriot to Waipahi, was between Kelso and Tapanui. a mass of rock, estimated to weigh about three tons, fell in front of the engine. The train was a beaw one. The speed at which it was travelling enabled it to smash up the rock, and the cowcatcher cast the greater part of the stone clear of the line. The cow-catcher was broken, and the train was delayed about three-quarters of an hour. Luckily no other damage was done. A number of sheep belonging to different settlers in the Carterton district (according to the Observer!, died throuuli some at present unexplained ailment. All of them were apparently perfectly healthy until seized with a kind of giddiness and an inclination to keep turning their heads round in one particular direction—to the right-hand sido —also apparently losing the power of their hindquarters. Death ensues in about 24 hours from the first seizure. All of them were in the very highest condition. One noticeable indication was as if the animals were in a kind of fit. there being also considerable frothing at the mouth. The Observer's informant says he opened the car-v cases of one or two which had died, and carefully examined the internal organs and the brain, but could not detect any trace of disease, He surmises that possibly the symptoms may be attributed to the 'existence of ergot of rye in the pastures, or perhaps rust in the grass. At the Thames Police Court, yesterday, a youth named Joseph Rodewald was charged with stealing the sum of £8 from W. ; Davies, of Paeroa. On the application of | Sergeant Brennan accused was remanded until to-morrow. A man named William . Twentyman. a prohibited person, was fined I £1 and costs on a charge of drunkenness.' i

I Some further particulars are to hand (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph) concerning the j mail contracts of the North German Lloyd i Company. The subsidies amount to j £280,000 per annum overhead, and the conj tract will run for 15 years from April 1. j There are to be several new steamers put on : the lines with all despatch—four for the Australian service, of 5300 tons each ; and four for the China and Japan service, of 6000 tons each. All these new boats must be delivered by October 31, 1900, and must be built in German yards, of German material, and be so constructed as to serve for Admiralty purposes when required, subject to special pay for such service. They are only ' to burn German coal, except with the special sanction of the Government, which will be necessary for filling bunkers in the China Sea. The Government may also forbid these : vessels from carrying as cargo foreign pro- ' duce which may come into competition with German products—the preference has always to be given to the goods of German ship- . pers, ' Another letter has been received in Albury from Mr. F. Kidd, late of Albury, who is now director of the "New Australia' colony in South America. After giving some . information respecting former Albury residents who were among the pioneers to New ' Australia. Mr. Kidd details at length the manI ner of life in the community in which he and j his comrades have settled. He writes : — i " On Christmas Day we bad sports, horse- ' racing, foot-racing, and tilting at the ring, and lit night a dance. Everything passed off well till about one o'clock in the morning, when some of the natives started fighting with knives, and one fellow got stabbed and cut about the face. The culprit was secured, and not having a gaol to put him in, I they tethered him to a log, and paid a man to watch him till daylight. In the morning he was tried, and fined 50 dollars. That is how they settle things. Tho same thing taking place in Australia would have filled j the papers for weeks, besides occupying the time of the police, judge, and jury. This is a very go-as-you-please sort of place. There is next to no justice. Everyone has to take care of himself. You never meet a man that is not armed ; but, after all. there is not so 1 much crime as you would think, the placo ; in this respect being a lung .way ahead of Buenos Ayres." Commenting upon a bankruptcy case before him at Palmerslon North a' few days ago, the District Judge made certain remarks | on the subject of bankruptcy. The Bankj ruptcy Court, His Honor pointed out, was not a whitewashing institution, where debtors could come with no assets and large [ liabilities and be relieved as a matter of course of their legal obligations to pay. While no doubt the Court had to protect unfortunate bankrupts against rapacious creditors, it must also protect tradesmen who conducted their business in a legitimate i manner against men who tendered for work | at a price (hey knew woidd not pay them, j and who afterwards made their creditors | bear the burden of their losses. If some . penalty were not imposed upon such men, i then tiie honest tradesman could not carry j on, because there was a point in trade com- ; petition beyond which the man who wished I to pay 20s in the £ felt he could not go if : he wished to maintain his financial integrity. j In therefore withholding a bankrupt's disi charge for six months, he wished it to bo ! understood that he did so simply to put a ! check upon reckless and thoughtless trading, and to let bankrupts understand that they could not incur liabilities with impunity, : and expect the people who trusted them to : bear the full brunt of the consequences. I A sad affair is mentioned in the China 1 Mail as having occurred during the recent , attack on lloilo:— private letter de- ' scribes the terrible death of a young Spanish • girl named Kmgraeia Diez, during the bom- ' bnrdment. One of the shells from the American ships struck the house whero she resided with her mother, and, penetrating the walls, cut off the girl's head clean from tho shoulders. On the following day the American soldiers buried tho body with full honours, and did what they could to assuago : the grief of her heartbroken mother. The : soldiers made the cotlin themselves, and car- ' ried it to the cemetery. The girl is said to . have been very handsome, and was only 18 ] years of age."