LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11800, 1 November 1901, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

At last night's meeting of the City Council the Streets Committee reported that they had approved of the suggested terms of agreement with Mr. Goodman, of the Westinghousu Company of Australia, to report on electric lighting and that Mr. Goodman be informed that the Council desired r general specification of the city requirements in the matter of electric lighting. Mr. A. C. F. Webb, electrical engineer, Sydney, wrote complaining of the Council having appointed as advising engineer on electric lighting matters a°man who, though fully qualified, is attached to a manufacturing and contracting firm, and consequently not in the best position to give an unbiassed opinion. Messrs. Securer, Langguth and Co. wrote offering to communicate with Mi. A. H. Preese, of the firm of Preece and Cardew, London, asking him to visit Auckland to advise on electric lighting. The letters were received, the appointment having been made a month ago. „

The rain which began to fall on Wednesday evening continued steady till yesterday forenoon, when the weather cleared up with a brisk wind from the west. From the time the rain commenced till half-past nine a.m. yesterday 0.93 in had fallen, and it may be reckoned that before the rain stopped we had had fully one inch. As showing the exceptional dryness of this spring we may mention that the total rainfall during Septembei was only 0.85 in, which is the lowest fall for that month over the whole period for which the records have -been keptthirty-two years.. The next, lowest was in September 1888, when the rainfall was 0.91 in. The mean rainfall for September is 3.40 in. For Octobei the rainfall has been 3.11 in (including the. fall ot yesterday), the mean for tho month being 3.40 in

The Rev. W. E. GilJaß* and M? g Bart ley returned from the South by" th* s.s. Moura yesterday. They have beeT visiting Oama.ru and Dunedin in comn, with Mr. W. Thomas, an expert for the purpose of inspecting quarries ami gaining information as to the stone to k« used in the erection of the new Church « St. Matthew's, A very superior quality of stone has recently been discovered a f j miies out of Oamarti in what, are know"* ! as the •' 0.K." quarries, and it i* probabU | trie new chinch will be built of this material Dr. Dorm. D.St:., of Oamaru, and IW fessor Scott. of Christchureh ' University have tested the new stone, and high.lv com*" mend it for its strength and durability* It is said to {< • _ vastly superior 'to tha Oamaru stone, which lias been generally used in past years. ° ' •

The Union Company's steamer I'.otoiti was unable to leave One hung;: for the South yesterday owing to the heavy sea on tha Ma-nukau Bar. There was a strong jr ;i ] 9 blowing from the south-west. Should tha sea moderate sufficiently the Itotoiti will leave at eight o'clock this morning or New Plymouth. Wellington and Nelson. * '

The young man. Noel Farley, sou of Mr 1 Parley, of Mount Albert, who sustained a serious accident to his throat by the tuba, of a pea-shooter, as recorded in yesterday's issue, still remains at the hospital in" a low condition. No attempt has been made to effect an operation, and it is intended to wait for a day or two. The bleeding has stopped, and it is hoped that the wound may heal up. Farley doe.- not at» tribute blame to anyone for the accident

A lire occurred yesterday forenoon afi Archhill, a small cottage occupied by Mr* Frank Martin, and owned by Mr. Samuel Bony, carpenter, of Avondale, being de« - stroyed. It appears that Mr. Martin went! away to his work in the morning, leaving Mrs. Martin in the house. She had occasion t„ go into the yard, when the house took fire, having apparently originated in an open fireplace in the kitchen. None of the contents were saved. Mr. Martin had no insurance, and lost everything. Mr Berry had an insurance on the building oi £75 in the New Zealand Insurance Conn pany.

Speaking at the recent meeting at Go* vernment House, Wellington, the Rev. P., Bennett referred tc the great mortality; among Maori children. In one settlement in Taranaki he knew of two families, one* of which had lost every one of its twelve 1 children, and the other had only one alive at the present time out of thirteen. At* another district in Taranaki, there was a. population of 85 Maoris, and there were: only twelve children in existence. In a native village in the South Island, sevea children were born in one year; before the end of the third year every one had died.. The native doctor had told the mother?, to feed them on flow, and having no know* ledge of how to prepare it, they simply* mixed it with cold water and g&ve'it to thai children. The lack of any knowledge of dieting was no doubt responsible for thai excessive mortality. It was Hoped thafe by the education in such matters which, native girls would receive in the Victoria; School the necessary knowledge would be spread among the Maori people.

There is now on view in the window oft Messrs. Phillipps and Son, Queen-street, & large number of prizes that have been of-»\ fered for competition at the coming agrW cultural show, including a treadle sewing; machine (the champion prize for best butter) and a number of valuable marble clocks,,) cups, plate, watches, etc., which have been given by the supporters of the asso* caition. It will be seen by our advertising columns that to-day is the last day otf which entries can be made.

The term of office of two of the members* of the Court of Arbitration Messrs. Samuel Brown (employers' .representative) andi Robert Slater (workers' representative)—« expires on November 18, and in order th3fl> their successors may be appointed the fol-J lowing procedure is necessary:—Each in-* dustrial union may, before that date, re* commend the name of one person to thep' Governor, through the Registrar of .Industrial Unions, and from the names so recommended the two members will be select*' ed and appointed, one from the persons* recommended by the unions of employers*' and the other from the persons recommended! by the unions of workers. The recommendation in each case must be made in the name* and undei the seal of the union, by thai committee of management or other govern-" ing authority thereof. The members s<* appointed hold office for three years front; the date of the gazetting of their appoint*, ment. Under a provision of the Act ths before - mentioned gentlemen are eligible?for reappointment. ,

About fourteen of the students at thd Auckland University College have decided* to attend the 'varsity tournament at Christy church next Easter. Probably more than/ that number will go from Dunedin, from twenty to thirty will go from Victoria Colt lege, while Canterbury College will, of course, be very strongly represented. With so many competitors, the tournament should prove a most interesting and successful The debating contest, the tennis matches!*, And the sports meeting are entirely in-> dependent of each other. There will, in, fact, be three distinct branches in the' tournament. The debating contest ha been included because it was thought thati it would be impossible to bring together! representatives of the debating societies! of the various colleges at any other timej of the year, and advantage will be taken/' of the fact that such a large number of stu« dents will be attending other branches of thd tournament. The movement is receiving hearty support from the professors and friends of the colleges.

The steamship Yaralla, of the A.U.S.ftf«i Company's fleet, met with a rather sensfW; tional experience cm her trip from Bris-* bane to Maryborough recently. A fearful 5 , thunderstorm was raging as the vesseii was crossing Moreton Bay, the lightnings! which was very vivid, illuminating the' bay for miles around. At about hafi-pasC eight m. a terrific crash was heard oil board, which shook the vessel from stem* to stern, immediately followed by a tre-4 mendous flash of lightning. Sparks were; seen falling from the fore topmast head,and upon an examination being made, the spar was found to be charred and splintered. Fortunately no further damage was! done.

The settlers in South Canterbury dis'trict are awakening to tho importance of' the dairying movement, and are about tail establish a centra 1 co-operative butter fac-", tory at Timaru. Efforts are being made ta persuade settlers in outlying districts to take up shares in the company, and sc* enable the erection of creameries in theii localities. A speaker at a recent meeting at St. Andrew's, where the promoters were addressing a gathering of farmers called to consider the proposal, stated that if anything came to pass that would interfere with the sheep traffic they would be in " Queer-street" unless they had something such as dairying to fall back on,; especially as the grain market was, judging by the present price of cereals, hardly worth troubling about.

Dr. W. ]•]. Thomas, conductor of the? Choral Society ami lecturer on music ati the University College, is announced ta lecture this evening at the Y.M.C.A. oa the " Music of the Bible." The subject is one that is seldom or ever dealt with in local circles, and from its novelty and freshness should prove both attractive and instructing. Illustrations from old "Hebrew melodies will be given by Miss Boult-on and Dr. Thomas, who will sing and play speciai items prepared for the lecture. In addition the lecture will lx» further illustrated by a series of 60 lantern slides, exhibited by the oxyhydrogen light.

A man named Arthur Powell wa3 arrested by Constable Simpson at Eltham yesterday, on a charge or wife desertion a£ Auckland, and will arrive to-day by stejw mer from New Plymouth.

A Maori named Wi Ripa Hetaraka, con* victed on a charge of theft, is being brought up from the Bay of Islands, hav-. ing been sentenced to a term of imprison* > ment at Mount Eden gaol.

j FuiSar British successes in South Africa j sre nyortecl this morning, some 76 Boers I being Raptured, including two field-cornets. wo r&els have been executed, and 19 seni tencedio long terms of imprisonment. They i belonged to the Vryburg district. Accordi ing to* statement made by th?» lurkish Am- | bassador at St- Petersburg, Greece intends I immediately to annex Crete. Two deaths :j from ,pl a g ue have occurred at Liverpool, in ■i jjnglwd.

In our mining news in another column. ff ill be found a London cable message giving the quotations for Waihi and Grand Junction shares.

It will be seen from our obituary column that Major W. H. Fitzgerald, late H.M. 68lh Regiment, has passed away at his residence, Great North Road, at the ripe age of 16-

Ike secretary of the Kaikohe Branch Baiway League (Mr. George Dickeson) telejraphs as follows:—"At p. large and infliential meeting held at Kaikohe on Tuesday evening a unanimous protest was enterel against the smalluess of the grant for Auckland railway,"

A nan named Sutherbury, a painter, and ai inmate of the Costley Home, was a few days ago nurt through falling off a ladder. He broke his arm, sprained his ankle, md injured his spine. He was taken to the hospital, where he is now recovering-

A Wellington Press Association telegram states that owing to the Mokoia's mails for tlx United Kingdom having missel the Austin at Melbourne, they are being forwarde< by the Armand Behic, and slould reach London on December 2.