LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11975, 26 May 1902, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

His Excellency the Governor (Lord Ranfurly), accompanied by General Babington, Captain Alexander, Captain Campbell, and Captain Boscawen, went down to Kawau Island in the Lady Roberts on Saturday, and returned to Auckland last night. The party were much interested in Sir George Grey's old home. On the way back they landed at Tiritiri Island. Tomorrow His Excellency pays a visit to the Roman Catholic Orphanage at Lake Takapuna. On Wednesday Lady Ranfurly attends a meeting of the Mother's Union in St. Mary's schoolroom, Parnell. The present is the last week of His Excellency's stay in Auckland, as he and Lady Ranfurly and suite leave on Monday next by the s.s. Tutanekai for Wellington. "

The excellent illustrations of Wellington in the current issue of the Auckland Weekly News attract considerable attention here (telegraphs our Wellington correspondent). Saturday's Post has the following on the subject: —"Wellington, the progressive capital city of New Zealand," occupies a prominent position in this week's Auckland Weekly News. Accompanying a short sketch of the progress of the Empire City and its present position is a series of really excellent photographs, giving panoramic views of Wellington and the harbour of a size and clearness which have rarely, if ever, been attained in similar productions. They constitute quite a feature in illustrated journalism, and are accompanied by several illustrations, showing our streets and wharves and other objects of interest. There is also an excellent portrait of the Mayor (Mr. Aitken).

Mr. H. W. Brabant, S.M., presided at a short sitting of the Police Court on Saturday. The only cases dealt with were charges of drunkenness. Two first offenders were fined 10s and 5s respectively, and a third was discharged. Francis McKenna, for a second offence, was fined 10s, or in default 48 hours. Mary Lewis, for a third offence, was fined 20s, or in default seven days., '■ •

The practice of 4LLI - ' i ~ =3 - at the Opera House 7"* g u perfoma occupants of the pit™ «J"» * ***'' ' to indulge, was agai !° , ■-.->■ ; day night. Two or fc^*^ Batwcame in for a share of Vt pe ! ,on of a large section of thl^f p 'rtfccisna . •"> cular being all but irPif' one m Parti- • rowdyism "which went ifc™^* the MM It is' quite evident th,£* "i 1 ? ' *«?-" wish their entertaimneS?! i"? J» übl » minority of ••ho, J d!unr ; . cti r fill measures will have B adopted t»'* turbances m theatres ar^^■ «»- formers nor to the resale J ]**• form the major audience. The Takapuna Jockey inau ' their winter meeting at ir pretty ban course at Devonpor Saturday aft ' . i noon The heavy she* that fell ' l ing the forenoon no do debarred i ! from attending the gathg, which, hS ever, passed off most «safulb TK principal event, the Bin, Handicap, J2 won by Mr A. Tdfcrtflbg &*&£* harakeke. who was ia\ed with t £. racing weight in the b| go ing m£ meeting will be brought a close on Weif net-day next. " The football competit: under the auspices of the Auckland ;Dy Union were continued on Saturday a D oon at Alexandra Park, when the thi&ies of match** M m the first round of th Jp fixtures. w«» I W i"i he th ; St r:ai ™ion Suburbs \ beat North Shore by 6 its to nil, New ton defeated Pain ell by point* to 5 and City and Ponsonby pla; a drawn game each side scoring o pour Full details of the matches in all era, together with other football news, licie matches, golf H etc., will be found en ge 3 of to-day'* issue. j : J . . There died at Rem eiyesterday, at the advanced age of B*l 31. Mary Hamer, the widow of the te.lev, T. .'.-.Homer' who was the minist othe first Ctmgre- ■■■ ; " gational Church in .lckmd. Mrs. Hamer was the mother of r. : 0 m Hamer, private secretary to t Pemier (Mr. Sed- ; don). ; . v An accident which ighj have had serious results occurred last jhtat the Devonport Ferry Company's tee As the ten minutes f past six ferry boat i a Devonport arrived ' at the wharf a young y named Miss Collas a resident of the mari suburb, in apparently attempting to step n the ferry boat on S to the wharf misse ler footing and fell ;C between the steamei id the wharf. Two young men (Messrs. . Stack, of Welling- . < ton, and Foster, Parnell)' promptly jumped in, and succ ed in securing Miss - - Collas, who was evi ltly none the worse 1 for her impromptu b; .;:■'■'. ■'■>.'.". A painful accident fell a member of th» if Newton junior footh team, named Gcorg« Walton, on Saturda; fternoon. He was getting into a brake the top of Symonds« street for the purpo of going to Alexan- / dra Park, when he fed his footing and •': slipped. The front aeel of the vehicle went over his right t, fracturing two of | '.■: the toes and severely -rising the great to* . ; and other parts of tl foot. Walton pro- V ceeded to the footbal. round, where the in* ! | jury was attended to Dr. Grant, ';;.; : Saturday being tli anniversary of Her late Majesty Queen \ .oria's Birthday, the occasion was marked Auckland as a holi- 1 day by the banks, laurance offices, and Stock Exchange. facial services to the memory of the late Quo. Victoria were he'd yesterday morning in i. George's Church, . Thames, and the Thaw Methodist Church, the Rev. Dr. O'Calla; :ti officiating at the former, and the Rev. , S. Smalley at the latter. There were 1 ;e congregations in ' * both churches, that a it. George's Church V being augmented by a presence of- the ~ Thames No. 1 Rifles with the battalion band, and that at the [tsthodist Church by " the Hauraki Rifles an tie Cadet corps be- - longing to the Tararu, aillie-street Kauaeranga, Sandes-street tauaeranga, pubho , schools, together witl fie Hauraki Baud. Apparently there ii feeling in London |( that Mr. Seddon is n ing himself a little " too conspicuous. Tin ton has the follow; ing : —" It is a relie to know that Mr. Seddon has -~ actually left New ' Zealand* . and that, for a week r two, we shall be spared his speeches. Ve have no doubt r that he is an excel it man, ; an ardent patriot, fired by the ve of country. But it is possible to have 00 much of a gt>od thing, and of late » have had jn«t,»' little too'much of M Seddon. New Zealand has sent out hei ons to fight for the i Old Country in a r lly wonderful way; m Having regard to he population, she has done more than any ther portion of the Empire. And this ■>. 1- on behalf of the Mother Country has een fanned by; ; Mr. Seddon, who has -dor much to keep alive || the martial enthusias of his fellow colo- • nists. But he is little too fond> of speeches in which ; tells the Mother Country what she ma and may not, do;-,'; a little too fond of ;olding us because, as he thinks, we fall lort of the colonial J] standard of patriotis ,'i Perhaps we do, but, after all, we are the senior partner,':.' Ave .have to pay most of the bill, and BQ; we have some claim call the tune.'Vjf.. Addressing his const nents at Kaiapoi the other evening, Mr. B. iddo, M.H.R., made.: passing reference to 1 recent visit to the North of Auckland,. ; narking that there were many thousands ' acres in the North I Island yet to be settle., especially ; north of ; Auckland. The nativ question tad yet'to.' be dealt with, but th would now be rendered easier by the Ltablishment . of the Maori Councils. The purchasing price of land was, he feared, jetting dangerously high, and there was i inclination on the I pan of the Arbitrati 1 Court to consider | loss of income of ow rs whose land was 7 taken. For instance, he offer of the Go-. vernment for the Foist Gate Estate M as | £3 18s 6d per acre, ts owner wanted 'Bit 10s, and the Court aw; ded £5 10s. There! was a considerable am nit of trafficking in the land for settlemer, When he-was in Auckland lately a prelinent business told him that he could ispose of any of the larger blocks in the K;/hiaTand, now open for settlement, at an Ivance of £500.vtfthis kind of thing was lllowed to continue, 1 all the benefit of the cheap land scheme would be done away vth. He would support an amendment the Act to provide that nc transfer should tike place except by' consent of the Land Bird, and the individual who sold his allcneiit should receive only compensation for what improvements he had made on the jlace. He quoted figures tc show tb-t ii the expenditure on lands for settlement, Janterbury had received double as mucl'as any other province.. - -- A few days ago it v,s mentioned in out telegraphic news from Wellington that the Bishop of Wellington ad declined to take part in a united servic on Coronation DayThe following is the 1 shop's letter on the subject j which was iddressed to fiabbi Van Staveren, who ,a,s convener of the meeting of clergymen —" My dear Mr,— have just received you kind letter. 0,! ? the announcement I re d in the papers that you were appointed envener by the committee who were to arange for the united religious service on tie Coronation Lay, 1 gather that it is interked that the service shall be of a religious bit not of a distinctly Christian character.. Ijcb not think it J« right to take part in such a service. P* Bas ® regard this decision as fina 1 . I am sure that, you will not think that am insensible to the kindly feeling which pompted your committee to ask me to join tiem, or that I do not appreciate the services you yourself rendered and are rendering I to our felloWcitizens.—l remain, deai sir, yours «er. : truly, Frederic Wellington." . ', A meeting of settlers wis held at Waione (Hawke's Bay) on April 28ind May 17, when the following resolutions were passed — " That this meeting placeson record its conj. demnation of the action rf the Government in lowering the wages o the co-operative labourers Is per day, and also in regard to shortening the time from eight months per year to two months : anc that this .resolution be made known 'to al co-operative set- ; tlements, calling upon them tt join with-V-------in our protest against the Government s «* tion." ■ '.* "•',>:! . ■ . ; c,vfe Mr. Frank Lawry, M.H.R. for the ParneU electorate, intends addresiing his eonstituents this week on an evening to be duttannounced. ) - t

ft, peace negotiations will, it is everybere believed, have a happy issue. They f" e been advanced a further stage. An ee»ent on the chief points has been * P 'ved at between the Boer., delegates in arn ri» and the British authorities. This lenient, which was submitted to the British .Cabinet, will now be referred to rt, conference of Boer representatives at * niging, and their decision is expected •» few days. Notwithstanding the.pre/"nc« at the conference of a considerable 'umber of Boers, principally Free Staters, ; w jj C stubbornly cling to independence, it believed 'that the conference will acjept the terras now offered. The nature . 0 f the terms has not transpired, but they will probably be iound to be practically identical wnu those offered in March last rear, which were both just and merciful. Lord Rpsebery is convinced that peace is : assured, and suspired paragraphs in ; ' t j,e Berlin press are equally san-':■■-guine. His Lordship is of opinion ' g, & the real pacification period •ill come after the formal declaration of I peace, and that it will call for patience and ' statesmanship. President Loubet's visit to tie Tsar has come to an end. lie received . a enthusiastic welcome everywhere in Rus- : sia and in St. Petersburg there were the \ asu'd scenes of delirious fraternisation between French and Russian-soldiers and jailors, which stike Englishmen as betraying ■ '.■ » certain femininity of character, but which on the Continent are regarded as natural and : fitting to such occasions. A state of great ■ alarm and panic still continues in Martinique, ■ »nd thousands are leaving the island. The ■/death is announced of Lord Pauncefote, Bri- [ tish Ambassador at Washington. He was 1 »n able man, and a safe and experienced diplomat, and during the time he was in America was highly popular with the Ameri- - can public. Great preparations are being made at Home for entertaining the colonial Stand Indian contingents attending the Coroxation. At the meeting of the Harbour Board tomorrow, Mr. Docre will move, " That tenders be called for the erection of powerhouse and light-keeper's cottage at Beacon, Rangitoto reef. - Tenders for additions to shed "H," and landing west of Breakwater Road, will also be opened and considered. A meeting of the Devonport Borough Council will be held to-morrow for the purpose of levying a general rate of six farthings in the pound (£) upon the- unimproved tallies of all ratable properties within the s trough, for the period of 12 months terminating March 31, 1903, the same to be payable in one sum on June 1, 1902. The Ventura, with British mails of May '10, left San Francisco on the 22nd inst. at eleven a.m., the time-table date. ■ Owing to the election of Mr. E. W. 'Alison as Mayor of Devonport, there'is a vacancy on the Devonport Borough Council. Nominations close on June 4, and it in election be necessary it will take place en June 11. ' ,' : There was in the lockup last night, in addition to some other offenders, a man named Henry Taylor, arrested by Acting-De-tective Kennedy, charged with theft from yachts and fishing boats, in the harbour.