LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11198, 19 October 1899, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

An English mail which left London on September 15 will arrive by the s.s. Talunc from Sydney on Sunday night next. The Auckland portion of the Vancouver mail will also arrive by the same steamer. The question of granting the voting pom to women at parish meetings was made the subject of a motion at the Anglican Synod yesteiday. Several members spoke to the motion, and after a good deal of discusskn, mostly irrelevant, the debate was adjourned till four p.m. to-day. n „4. the Paeroa Police Court yesterday, two .cyclists were charged with' riding on the footpath, one being fined 12s 6d and costs, and . the other 17s and costs, ' On Tuesday evening Mr. H. D. M. Uasznrd, district surveyor, left the Thames With a party of men, in the steamer Comet. lor Manaia, in order to lay off the unsurveyed portion of the Thames-Coromandel Koiulr. k ; v ; v.'

iifi Hi _ .... 1 1 —— hjjW aVflg A sudden death occurred at the a few miles from Paeroa, yesterday. M r .@ Samuel Driver, of the Thames, has been|| suffering from heart disease, and having been recommended a change, decided to live (£ with one ot his relations at the Waihou f«?|? a short time. He arrived a few days ago, Vand yesterday died very suddenly. Mr;|f; Driver was well-known at the where bis demise will be deeply regretted. M At yesterday's meeting the Education® j Board a communication from the Inspector- j) General of Schools, was read, with regard'' { to the establishment of a Habens scholar- p g ship. The letter stated that the teachers of v 3 the district had been communicated with on 1 1 tile subject. It was resolved that the secre- ■' tary be authorised to open a subscription's list to further the object. • At the Supreme Court yesterday, in bant if niptcy, before Mr. H. C. Brewer, registrar, it lin the matter of Alfred Henry White, lafo' i of Auckland, clerk, a debtor. Mr. C. jjsjl Parr acting for certain creditors of the i>M I-J Alfred Henry White, presented a petition || to have him'adjudicated a bankrupt on the'Sp I ground that he had departed from the || colony. The registrar, after reading tkS'|| | petition and affidavits in support, made io'ho I] order as prayed, and the debtor was there. 8 upon adjudicated a bankrupt. j i A correspondent states that the Registrar I of Electors is sending out notices to elec- I tors who have recently sent in their claims,vp'i 1 asking them if any c'-.ange has occurred m|f | ■ their address to- occupation. The Act re- | . quires the registrar to notify claimants tliabUji. | ' their application lias been received, but tkp| I 1 procedure is extraneous to the Act. He.:J | thinks the registrar would be doing a greater"' 6 public service by issuing the supplementary;-. 5 rolls, so that the electors would know their , 1 position, and have the opportunity both to|| | register and object to names if necessary. |j£ | Our Cambridge correspondent states that ; I Mr. H. Ken- has sold out his interest in the.' . § Criterion Hotel to Mr. Jack Gallagher, for- p merly of the Metropolitan Hotel, Auckland.?' | A Dunedin correspondent, writing on the J g dredging industry, says:— wonder some" | of the Auckland firms do not have a shot at!.?; I building mining dredges. The manufac-jp- I hirers are refusing orders in Dunedin, and - . I there are hundreds coming on. This dredg-ft;-: I ing industry, in connection with gold min> i ing, looks as if it were likely to be a big in. if 1 dustiy in the future." • || | It- is stated that Captain L. Simpson, Slip | veyor, of Maketu, has received instructions % I to proceed to the Urewera country, to cany (i $ on a topographical survey of one of the'Cf 1 sections of that country. ;| ; | A great Maori gathering will shortly take If I place at Maungatapu, near Tauranga, the % occasion being (be opening of 11 new carved Js $ runanga meeting-house. About three huh- % § died Waikatos leave to-morrow for the first- $ named settlement-. Preparations are being | | made for their welcome and reception. 1 Si i The Government have made a start with 1 the work of constructing the telegraph line | to connect Cabbage Bay with Tokatea, and s? fk within the next month or so the line should ® be completed. | Six young men were brought before Mr,. j| | Thomas Hutchison, S.M., at the Police | Court yesterday, and charged with cycling -i| I at a furious rate along Karangahape Road:® | Four of them admitted the offence, but the | other two stated that they were not going.- & at more than seven miles an hour. There' £ were a number of people about at the time, • If and one of the men knocked over a little I! boy, who was rather badly hurt. One - jffi of the witnesses, in his evidence, said that- I two of the defendants were on a tandem and | were " going all out." His Worship con- ;;;{§ victed all the defendants, remarking that $ their behaviour might have caused the death - % of the boy. The two who admitted the!||ffi offence were fined £2 and costs each, while--;! g the others were each fined £3 and costs."|Sß The severity of the fine will probably act aS:%; | a deterrent to othei " scorchers." • $ Ji • lis ;{' Messrs. L. D. Nathan and Co., the local . d agents of the China Traders' Insurance Com<|£ | pany (Limited), are advised that at tha' |j annual meeting of the company, held this, pimonth at Hongkong, it- was decided to payj|S |j a bonus of 15 per cent, on premium amounts % to contributors of business. As the result 'v fi of prudent and careful management a sub- ! stantial sum is also carried forward to next /fell year's account. f/fe With reference to the little boy, Reginald i" Parsons, reported in yesterday's issue as ['• having been knocked down by a 'bus and'?|p bruised, it appears that- Dr. Lindsay was §j subsequently called in, and on examining ( the boy found that two of the bones of one « K of the boy's legs were broken. He wai p consequently sent- to the hospital for further ft: treatment. fg A fire took place at the residence of Mr. jffi | Wm. Leighton, farmer, Henderson, on the "it, | 15th inst., by which a five-roomed house and iV J contents, valued at £360, was destroyed. It I appears that Mr. and Mrs. Leighton, who have been recently married, lived with Mr. fj? !i 'llios. Hudson (Mrs. Leighton's uncle). On the date abovementioned Mr. Thos. Hudson | left the house at two p.m. to spend an after- f| i noon with a neighbour named Averill. Mr. s| I and Mrs. Leighton left at twenty-five v I minutes to five to visit Mrs. Hewston (Mrs. ¥ 1 Leighton s' mother). There was then no S sign of fire about, and the fire in the kitchen S,| had been allowed to die out after lunch afc'fi j one p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Leighton returned *i| i home at half-past eight p.m., and found SI the house in flames. Mr. Leighton hurst Ml 111 the bedroom window and succeeded in 'ivji; § getting out some clothing, furniture, and a m ? lady g gold watch. Mrs. Leighton's uncle ■%'; and Mr. Averill had seen the glare from the 1 .atter s boils';, lialf-a-mile distant, and came fel over to assist. Mr. Leighton is a consider-'vfi'l able loser having recently furnished the || ■louse, ant. all his wedding presents wero 'Yi destroyed. The dwelling 'was insured in w' ! tno New Zealand for £100, but the contents it were uninsured. Constable Crean, of Avon- ; dale police station, went out- to make the % necessary inquiries. Mr. Leighton expressed Ins opinion that the fire arose in the inside, '''M as there was no sign outside when lie ar-lfl rived He does not think that strangersM could have entered as there were two dogs .'f. loose, one of them being very savage. Mr.- 'Sf Leighton states that he has no idea as to %' the origin of the fire. Everything appeared safe when he left the premises. ffi, lie penny in the slot gas meter, intro« 5| ducccl into London by the South Metropoli- -|| tan Gas Company three or four years ago, IS; has been an astonishing success, and a if further development of the idea is now be- r ing tried. The penny customers bring >#' into the company's exchequer somewhere Jit about £200,000 a year, so that this develop- $§ ment has done much to neutralise any in«'"\l' jury the electric light may have inflicted. « So satisfied are the company with the result 0 of their niw departure that ihev arc now £ getting out "shilling in the slot" and half* 'M crown in the slot" meters for customers, a £5; . cut or two above the penny people. One fip , great advantage the company have in this «| j stem is, of course, that there is no trouble [and no difficulty in getting in money. "No •;?£ j penny, no gas," is the principle, and it wili be the same with the shillings and the halfcrowns, though these, at- present, are only M in the experimental stage. ' A representative commercial man front'® •jew Zealand, when it Colombo lately, took jp the opportunity of making some investiga- v$ tions as to the likelihood of a market for {®- New Zealand produce being opened up in that- island. He formed the opinion that i;;|a very good cpeuing existed, and found that J a Air. Thomas, from Australia, had already started Australasian stores at Colombo, and appeared to have every prospect. .«? of doing very well with Australian and New 'fl: Zealand produce. On his return voyage;;® to New Zealand he purposed visiting Japan,:'''® Manila, and other places, also with the ob- ■~»«. ject of ascertaining whether a possibility ||[ does not exist of opening up a lucrative ® trade between New Zealand and these coun- M tries. 'M '• : S The cruel and brutal attacks made upon .M the young lady teacher, end which culnii- filiated in the schoolhouse being burned down ,|i at Rongahere, Otago, will be fresh in tbo-;.»ti memories of most people. We regret, says ■ the Dunedin Star, that we have reason to % believe that the wretched conduct andj® threats against the teacher still continue -Jjfi so much so, in fact, that she has asked 'M? to be relieved fr:,m hei position—a request S that we think the Board will unanimously jft agree to. We are also justified in saying ''M that the author of this reign of terror at. Jij| Rongahere is known both to the police and.feg the residents thr re. The former have not, # up to the present, deemed it advisable to 0 arrest him, and the latter, through a P ar :>||§ donable fear—for one bully in a small com*;Mfr munity can terrify every householderdo, not care to say- what they think. We hops?M that something prompt, sharp, and effective will be done without unnecessary delay. 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