LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11869, 22 January 1902, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Auckland Harbour Board yesterday agreed to the acceptance of 'Mr. Goodman's offer to supply a comprehensive report on electric lighting and power. Mr. Goodman is also reporting to the Auckland City Council on the question of electric lighting, but his work has been delayed on account of having to complete his reports to the Dunedin City Council, which has occupied a longer time than was expected.

The Auckland City Council will soon have to face the question of preparing the new Victoria Park, on the Freeman's Bay reclamation. At yesterday's meeting of the Harbour Board it was decided to approach the City Council with the view of getting the ground transferred to the municipality on as early a date as possible. Once the transfer is completed, the rent will, of course, be payable by the city to the Harbour Board.

It will be learned with . sincere regret by his many friends in Auckland and other parts of New Zealand that intelligence has been received by the representative of the Tyser line of the death of Captain John Simpson, late of the s.s. Star of Australia. The deceased gentleman has been connected with , the New Zealand trade ever since the Tyser line inaugurated the service, having supervised the building of several of the fine steamers now connected with the line. Captain Simpsou, who was well advanced in years, was of a genial, kindly nature, and was held in high esteem by his employers, in whose employ he had been for many years.

We understand that there is still a large demand for improved properties in the Auckland province. In the Waikato district: and . elsewhere many settlors are disposing of their farms to Southern buyers at prices greatly in excess of what could have been obtained . here two or three years ago. There is no doubt that the rapid growth now being made in the dairy industry is assisting : .greatly in the settlement and development of our lands. :

• A man named David Elder, coachsmith, of Kingsland, was taken to the hospital last night by some of his friends, who asked for his : admittance, stating that he was suffering from concussion of the brain. He was admitted, and. Dr. Collins, on examining him, found his face to be very much grazed. There were also two small cuts on his eyebrow and ear, and his nose was bleeding. There was, however, apparently no concussion. The man could give no account of how he came by his injuries.

Our Tokatoko, correspondent writes : — During the past week I am sorry to say one of our Rehia settlers passed away (Mr. Chas. E. Rogers). He was very much respected, and; will be greatly missed. He leaves a widow and several children, one of whom is a baby only a few days old. The interment was at Arapohue on January 19, and was largely attended by the Rehia. Tokatoka, and Arapohue settlers. The funeral service was conducted by Mi-. Taylor, who spoke a few suitable words at the graveside, and also held a short service afterwards at the church.

A young man named .Walter Rattliffe, employed by Messrs. L. D. Nathan and Co., yesterday mot with a painful accident, which necessitated his removal to the hospital. 1 It appears that whilst lifting a parcel of goods, weighing 901b, it began to fall over, and in trying to stop it Rattliffe strained his back.;

The Union Company's steamer Ovalau ar- 1 s rived from the Eastern Pacific last evening } with a cargo of fruit and Island products. The steamer's arrival was somewhat of a surprise, as,she was not expected to reach' Mi Auckland until Friday next. Meeting with' quick despatch in the Islands, however, and V having had fine weather, the Ovalau was enabled to pick up a. good deal of time, her, run up from the Island of Mangaia having . - been accomplished/in the smart time of six days 6£ hours.. The letter from our Cook Island correspondent, and other news of interest will be found in another part of this issue. ' * Our Wiiangaroi correspondent tele« l graphed ; yesterday: Mrs., Moon, wife '~ of Police-Sergeant Moon, Whangarei, died this morning, after, a long illness. The funeral -takes.place at the Church of England cemetery, . Kamo, on Thursday" afternoon, January 23. . , : Certain residents of the North Shore hava " lodged, a complaint with the Devonport Borough Council concerning what ■ • they ? describe as a. persistent practice of some :v persons in the vicinity of towing dead horses' ;V. ■:(%, some little distance out in the harbour with .. , the. object of getting rid of them, but the *' ?] dead animals, they state, were washed up on' ; : r the foreshore in a terrible state of dilapidation, and there they remained on the beach to ferment in the sun rays. The odour aris- ~""" ing from the • carcases is extremely unplea- .-v. • sant. It was also stated that sharks had ( - been enticed quite close to the shore through these horses lying iu the water close to the . beach. The Council decided to report, the matter to the Harbour Board. .* * ' A painful accident; happened ■. to a lad named Robert Martin, one of the crew of the Union Company's steamer ; Ovalau, yes- ; • .• ' terday, - whilst tho steamer was coming up j. - ■ towards 'Auckland. As the -lad was ; walk--. ~ j ing along the deck he slipped and fell, with *. the result that his shoulder was dislocated. > When coming up towards Tiritiri signals' were-hoisted, from the steamer . requesting ; medical assistance, but no notice was taken i - of them by the lightkeepers, nor was the* steamer's approach to Auckland or the signal for medical assistance announced from 1 £ ,-j the , signal' station at Mount Victoria, the ? first notification of her approach being when she rounded the North Head. Passing upthe harbour the signals on the steamer were : • >. . noticed from H.Mj.s ",Ringarooma, and a • boat's crew with the surgeon of the wardship at once-put.off to the Ovalau. The . surgeon was put on board, , and at once, ji. . rendered the necessary assistance to the in-; j\ ' jured lad. This is hot -the first 'occasion i / when signals of incoming vessels have been | disregarded by the lightkeeper at _ . and it is high time that the Marine Depart- W" ment should issue definite instructions that all signals from vessels passing the island should be acknowledged, and information sent to town as quickly as possible.. ; f : .- We learn from .1 the, British ' and South 1 ■ y African Export Gazette that the value of the shipments of British goods to; SouthAfrica in October far and away exceeded' ,i those for any single month hitherto chronicled. Is' doubt the presence of; the army; in South Africa is indirectly the cause of. -*< some of the increase in the exports, "but', it is expressly, stated that " the figures.. . , quoted refer to civilian merchandise alone, . and not to army supplies. On the other? hand, the value of the total German ship-., ments 'to South Africa was" only £701,300, <' :y , a falling off of £454,900 as compared with' ; \ £1,156,200 in 1899. It is a little signifi-'j . cant that £139,950, or nearly one-third -of . the decrease, represents" explosives and 1 ■.- weanons. 'iy- , - - I " -■ ' •- - 7- v ' • Our Hamilton correspondent writes:—At'' > ; a meeting of the Waikato Gun Club on Mon-J . day evening it was decided'to remain in the;., North Island Inanimate • Pigeon Association for the present. It was also decided that as the:: Eden Gun Club had evaded the chal- J -'V lenge of the Waikato Gun Club on a quibble, in the interests of sport they should reconsider their decision. It was also decided , s to pay the affiliation fees, and that in future they be prepaid in order to avoid complica- ; tion. ■ ' v • - "* ■ ,' : j A singular sight- was witnessed, during-. - , a thunderstorm at Chines, "Victoria, last' week. A resident observed a . luminous;- vr-s circle in the clouds, from the rim of which \ flashes of lightning shot out. He watched, the. sight for about five minutes, when he; was forced inside by the rain and wind, j . The Government Astronomer attributes the! phenomenon to globular lightning, a very: unusual and dangerous form of electrical!s discharge. The phenomenon is so. rare l ', j that very little is known about it, beyond! the fact that it appears as a luminous j sphere, sometimes stationary, sometimes! , moving slowly, and with a diameter vary- j . ing from a few inches up to 2ft or 3ft. 'It I - generally explodes with great violence. " ■ - The new settlement which, is to' be', opened by'the Government on part of the/ Lyndon Estate, Canterbury, purchased; from Mr. D. Macfarlane, is 18 miles from Culverden, and is suitable for agricultural ' and pastoral pursuits. - The area is (says . the Press) about 16,000 acres, which wills be divided - into six farms, ranging from; 500 acres to 900 acres in extent, and three! .-. runs of from 3500 to 5000 acres each. It is expected that the land will be placed on the market by the Department - about the middle of next March, tit a probable * r rental of , from 2s to 6s per acre, the average rental values of the whole being roughly estimated at 3s per acre. -

A smile was caused at the Timaru Magis*' trate's Court when, in the course of a civil case, reference was made to a burnt haystack. The plaintiff in the case, who was giving evidence, said that he and the defendant had both been smoking alongside the stack, and had. gone some distance away, when they discovered it was on fire. After rushing back and making futile endeavours to put the fire out, they both' threw their pipes into the fire and vowed never to smoke again. ; ,v

A Chinaman, aged 70, has, according tol the Sydney Daily Telegraph, been dis-i covered in New South Wales suffering, from 1 nerve leprosy. There are none of the usual! loathsome signs of the disease, but a; gradual wasting of the nerve centres is taking place. The chief symptom exhibited is a complete insensibility to pain. " The man, who to an ordinary observer ap- J pears to be perfectly healthy, has been removed to the Little Bay. Lazaret te.V

Of the 500,000 sock-eye salmon, ova from' Canada which reached New Zealand oil November 91,200 healthy fish have been turned out at Lake Ohau, and 28,000 are retained in the ponds at Hakataramea. It will be remembered that owing to the imperfect packing and long carriage' by rail (some 350 miles) before arrival at Vancouver, there was a very large percentage of mortality- in this consignment. The result? of the hatching-out ar6 therefore looked upon as very satisfactory.

The Newton Band will perform the following programme of music in the Albert Park to-night:— " The Deathless Army grand operatic selection, "Lucrezia Borgia" (Donizetti) ; waltz, " Karangahape" (C. Trussell); fantasia, " The Young Recruit" (Bulch) ; waltz, " Smiles and Tears" i (Round); march, " Takapuna" (C. Trussell) ; overture, "Iu the Twilight" (J. Ord Hume) ; march " High School Cadets" (Soma); "God Save the King.".,.

The Auckland Museum is closed for the annual cleaning and rearrangement'of ex-!; hibits, and is not expected to be reopened - until the middle of next week.

The concert arranged by Miss JuliW Moran, who is on a short visit to Auckland, takes place on Friday evening in - the . - Federal Hall, and a specially attractive pro-* :• gramme has been arranged, full particulars % of which will appear to-morrow. Among' those who will assist are Miss Violet Mount,: Miss Mary Laing, Messrs.. Arthur Ford,.> Rupert Mantel!, J. M. Clark (elocutionist)* - and the always welcome Waiata Quartette. :

Entries for. the Anniversary, Regatta,;which takes place on Wednesday next,! close at the Waitemata Hotel to-night. Everything in connection with the canying out of the regatta is proceeding satisfactorily, and the committee are anticipating large entries for the various events' on the t programme, which is a very good one* : . fS j'r;, f'|ss

A Prisoners recently captured state that the Boers recognise that their independence -is gone, and they say that they only contipue \, the war because their leaders insist. One % of the prisoners.. Commandant Wolmarans, expresses great contempt for the Boers "in I Europe, who are sending optimistic reports ■i \ knowing that they are false. It is stated : that Kruger still insists on independence. The Boers are said to be preparing for their last stand. Colonel Kekewich surprised a Boer laager and captured 11 men. The Boers surprised a patrol of Cradocktown Guards and most of them are missing. Six thousand seasoned troops are being sent from India to exchange places with young soldiers in South Africa. A desperate naval engagement has taken place in Panama Bay between the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary vessels. Three insurgent and two Government vessels were sunk, and Governor Alban was killed. A- member of the Chamber of Deputies is urging the French Minister for Foreign Affairs to obtain from the Powers an admission that Morocco is within the French sphere of influence. ■ By the collapse of, a flaxmill at Belfast 13 women and girls were killed and 50 injured. The second night gala held under the auspices of the Auckland Amateur Swimming Club will eventuate at the Albertstreet Baths to-night. An exceptionally : attractive programme of events has been ' selected, and some of Auckland's swimmers of repute have promised to participate in the gathering. A good attendance of the general public is assured.