LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11855, 6 January 1902, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The colonial mails which left Auckland per It.M.S. Sonoma oil November 30, reached London four days late. The Sonoma made a very rapid voyage to San 'Francisco on the occasion, landing her mails at that,port on December 16, nine hours ahead of contract time, so that the delay in . the mails reaching London must have been caused between San Francisco and New.York, or in crossing the Atlantic. The report and balance-sheet of the New Zealand Insurance. Company for the year ending. November 30 last are published in another column. The balance-sheet is a very satisfactory one, as the income from all sources is the. largest 011 record, and the profits are good. The dividend is increased, and is equal to 13| per cent, for the year. A sum of £20,000 is added to the reserves, and £10,000, is set aside for the investment fluctuation account. The funds of the company are very large and liquid. There is . a vacancy in the auditorship through the resignation of Mr. Holmes, who has accepted ' • the agenc3 r -of another insurance: company. Nomination of candidates may be made at the meeting 011 Wednesday next. The Arbitration Court resumes its sittings at the Supreme Court this morning, at eleven o'clock. The first dispute to be heard is that in the bakers' trade. At the ordinary meeting of the Auckland Harbour Board to-morrow afternoon, Mr. C. Dacre will move, " That the Board consider the advisability of providing a gridiron for small vessels." Mr. Charles Mossman, a very old resident of Rotorua, died at his residence at Ohinemutu on Tuesday last, aged about 79 years. He was one of the pioneers of the Coroman- - del goldfields in 1860, and remained there till the gold discovery on the west coast of the Middle Island", when he bought a vessel and loaded it up with timber and potatoes, and sailed for Hokitika. • Disposing of the vessel and cargo, he started for the diggings, where he went through all the vicissitudes of a' digger's life. He was a shipwright by profession and a native of Black wall, London. A full suit of clothes belonging to one of the marines of one of the warships now in port was found by Constable Cahill underneath Ilobson-street Wharf yesterday morning. The clothes were neatly folded, and were fastened round with a leather belt to which a stone had been, fastened, but it had evidently not been heavy enough to keep them under water, which was evidently the intention of the party who had thrown them into the water. It is surmised that the owner of the clothes has deserted from his ship, and the matter has been reported to the naval authorities. Detective Herbert, of Auckland, returned yesterday by the Elingamite from Sydney, bringing with him Thomas S. Day, .arrested in Queensland. on the charge of the alleged theft of certain moneys the property of Court Pride of ; Parnell, Ancient Order of Foresters (Thames). The theft is alleged to have been committed nearly two years ago, but until lately the police were unable to discover [the whereabouts of the • accused. Day will be charged .at . the Auckland ■ Police Court to-day, and will then be remanded to the Thames for trial there. : ■ During the present week an.;, endeavour will be made to discover the leakage in the Rotorua sewerage system. Work_will commence at the tank near, the powerhouse, where excavations have been made and a cofferdam erected. A pump capable of lifting 600 gallons a minute is in position, ■ which it ;is expected will be •: able to cope with the water and allow the defects to be repaired in ; sections and f the tank made "Watertight^ HI Ku -:. ■■ .. ; MMM • f ' J

The iVser lines Star of New . Zealand : arrived from London and Australia .yester-: day, J after a record passage of 57 days, which' time includes detentions of three days af Melbourne and fire days at Sydney.. The steamer made, the passage from London ft) Melbourne in the smart time of 41; day, l / 7 hours, which lowers her own record between those ports by one day. '"The , time of the steamer from London to Auckland, also beats her best previous performance by three days. . The - Star of New Zealand holds the record of steamers coming the'same route, and gives very strong evidence that she is thoroughly up-to-date in speed as well as in her cargo-carry capacity. Captain Hart, Mr. Silley, the chief engineer, and all on board are to be congratulated upon the splendid voyage made by the steamer, which will be a hard task for other steamers of the line to beat, if even equal. The "Star" brings 1700 tons of general merchandise for this port. The' Northern Company's steamer Ngapuhi lost a blade from one of her propellers on the trip up from New Plymouth a few days ago, and not, as stated in a telegram from the latter port, on the way to New. Plymouth last Thursday night. The steamer had,to slow down a little last Thursday night to prevent the propeller with the lost blade from racing. This caused the Ngapuhi to be about an hour longer on the trip. Notwithstanding this partial disablement the Ngapuhi made a splendid passage from New Plymouth to Onehunga on Friday night, she having negotiated the journey in 11 hours. The propeller was fitted with a new blade on Saturday, and the Ngapuhi left again for New Plymouth" yesterday morning, with over 200 passengers. At eleven a.m. to day the coroner, Mr. Gresham will hold an inquest on the .body, of a child named Harris, who was boarded out under the Infants Life Protection Act, and died on Saturday in Grey-street. During the afternoon an inquest, will be held on the body of the Austrian, Frame Unkovich, the victim of the recent shooting fatality at Pukekohe.

Seven parsons arrested in town on Friday night on charges of inebriety, were brought before Messrs. Clements and Cooper, J.P.'s, at the Police Court, on Saturday, and after receiving the customary admonition were discharged. At the same sitting of the Court Thomas McGarry and John Anderson, two young men, were found guilty of having, 011 the 23rd nit., stolen two dozen and a-half bottles of beer, valued at £1, from the yacht Boozer, belonging to John Wilson. McGarry, who, it was stated by Sub-Inspector Mitchell, had a bad record, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and on Anderson a sentence of one month was imposed. A Chinaman named Ah Chong, who, a few days back attempted to commit suicide at Parnell,. was remanded till this morning. Daniel O'KeefTe, who appeared in the dock in an exceptionally bad state, said to be brought on through excessive drinking, was ordered to be sent up to the gaol for, medical treatment. Two small boys named Hermann Hurey and Leslie Mumford, were charged that they did, on the 3rd of the present month, at Ponsonby, steal a quantity of apples the property of Bishop Lenihan. Sub-Inspector Mitchell detailed the circumstances of the case to be that the lads purloined the fruit from the Bishop's orchard. The Bench discharged the boys on their parents, who were in Court, promising for their future good conduct. . The remains of Mr. Wnh 11. Pearce, licensee of the Imperial Hotel, Fort-street, who died at his residence at eight o'clock on Friday morning last, were laid to rest in the Purewa cemetery yesterday afternoon. The funeral was a large and representative one, a number .of influential citizens attending to pay their last' respects to their old comrade. Several beautiful wreaths were laid 011 the coffin, and tue Rev. Canon Nelson, of St. Paul's Church, read the burial service. • Rene Beautrais, senior, a labourer at the Tererenga battery, met with a severe accident on Friday evening (writes our Coromandel correspondent). Going along one of the gangways he missed his footing and fell about 20ft, receiving a very nasty scalp wound. Dr. Lowe, of Mercury Bay, was fortunately at Opitonui, and he was soon in attendance, and stitched up the wound. A party of Beautrais' mates carried him over the range on Saturday morning to the Coromandel Hospital. The sufferer is doing fairly well, but it will be some weeks before lie is able to go to work. The chairman of the Ahuroa branch of the Railway League has written to Mr. R. R. Hunt, secretary of the league, drawing attention to the fact that men on the railway works in Ahuroa district are being discharged as they finish their sections, instead of being shifted further along, and asking the league to bring the matter before the Government. Another matter complained of by the Ahuroa branch is that the Government have in some cases proceeded with the railway without regard to the fences or the properties which they sever, and the branch wishes to know the legal aspect of the situation. The letter will be considered at a meeting of the council of , the league, to be held to-morrow.

Mr. M. Eitaki, Consul for Japan at Sydney, has been notified by his Imperial Japanese Majesty's Government that the Consulate in Sydney.has been raised to the rank of a Consulate-General in Australia. Mr. Eitaki has also been instructed to take the position of Acting Consul-General.

At the Thames Police Court on Saturday last, before Messrs. W. McC'nllough and Jas. Renshaw, J.P.'s, an old age pensioner named Matthew Kitt was fined 5s and costs for drunkenness, and the Beneh also ordered that for a period of six months his pension should be paid over to a clergyman", justice of the peace, or other reputable person, who shall use discretion, in spending it for the benefit of the pensioner. Miss Alice Hollander and her concert company arrive in Auckland by the Mararoa 011 Sunday next. The ladies of Auckland are arranging a reception to be held as a welcome to the young singer. Our Kawhia correspondent writes:—"On • Thursday evening Mr. Lang, M.H.R., met a large assemblage of the residents of this district, and discussed local politics. He made a note of their desires relative to the unsatisfactory land tenure obtaining at this place, also with regard to roads, endowments, etc." Country visitors who have been spending the holidays in the city are now returning to their homes, the steamers and trains leaving 011 Friday and Saturday all being crowded. A homing pigeon was picked up in an exhausted state alongside of H.M.s. Lizard, in the harbour, on Friday evening. The following message was attached to the bird : " This pigeon called here out of a.storm, will owner please write to me when it returns home '! Wm. Gordon, Awaawaroa P. 0., Waiheke Island." In addition to the uAial batch of drunks, there was in the lockup last evening a man named Joseph Albert Neary, arrested by Detective Maddern on the charge of an alleged assault on a woman named Annie Irwin. Accused will be charged at the Police Court this morning. A male inmate of the Avondale Asylum, aged 47 years, died at, that "institution on Saturday, afternoon, the causa of death being given as general paralysis. Deceased, who was committed to the asylum in 1898, was a married man, and leaves a wife in Canterbury. ' The usual coroner's will be held on the body. A man named Geo. Bersley was arrested at Whangamata on Friday by Constable Stevens, oil a charge of horse-stealing. The horse is alleged to have been stolen at Wan•ganui as far back as 1896. The children of the Parnell Orphan Home are at present in camp at Awaawaroa Bay, Waiheke, by the kind permission of Mr. Gordon. They will probably; remain in camp for about a month..