LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12045, 15 August 1902, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The colonial mails which left Melbourne per R.M.s. Omrah, on July 9, arrived in London on Monday night last. v

The Acting-Primate (Bishop Nevill, of Dunedin) intimated at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Dunedin diocese, the other day, that he did not intend to call a * special 'meeting of the ; General Synod, as he did not consider there was any business requiring immediate attention, and one special session having already Been held, he did not wish to put the diocese to the expense of another without -there was great necessity. The committee passed a vote of ■ condolence and sympathy 'with the relatives of the late Bishop , Cowle, Primate of New Zealand, and the« secretary was" instructed to intimate the. same to the Rev. E. M. Cowie, on behalf of the diocese. ...

A six-roomed house at Mount ■ Wellington, owned by Mrs. Martha Ann Lindsay, '• and occupied by Messrs. James Wright and James Harrison, ; was destroyed. by . fire . on Wednesday evening. The fire is believed ! to have originated in some straw beneath a bed, which was j near ; the : fireplace, where earlier in the evening a fire had been left burning. Nothing was saved. The house was; insured, in , the Sun for '. £175,. but was valued at £250. U,' r i:'l -'},')j-

An;inquest was, held at Northcote yesterday, before Mr. ■ Gresham, district coroner, into the death of Mrs. Eliza Nixon, the- circumstances in connection with:the finding of whose body in her house 'at Gladstone Road were reported in yesterday's Herald. Dr. Laing, who made a post-mortem, ; stated that death 'was due to disease of the aortic valve of the heart, and the jury returned a verdict accordingly.

A presentation consisting of some 3000 volumes has been .. made to St. John's College by Dr. Kinder, an ex-warden. On a visit to the college made by the trustees on Wednesday, a site was selected for the erection of a library building, in view of this handsome donation, which comprises many choice and rare works. The trustees have instructed their * architect :to prepare plans and estimate of cost for the proposed library building.

On Tuesday, Mr. W. Oliver, of Devonport (recently presented with the Humane Society's certificate for saving life from drowning),, again made a plucky rescue by saving a young girl, aged 15 years,' from drowning on Cheltenham Beach. She was in for a swim, and got out of her depth and sank. There were some ladies and children on the beach watching her, and when she was drowning could not assist. Fortunately Mr. Oliver went on' to the beach to have his lunch, and two little girls ran up to him and told him that ft. girl was drowning. He rushed down and plunged into the sea, dived and picked up the body, and brought her ashore; The girl was very far gone, and Oliver skilfully and successfully tried artificial respiration, and so saved her life. - Dr. Laing was sent for, but on his arrival he found that all that was necessary had been done, and expressed ;. his • opinion that had Mr. Oliver not known the art of artificial respiration, there would have been little hope for;, the girl..

Our Paeroa correspondent writes:— Easton, who was appointed by the Govern- ■ ment to arbitrate between the Ohinemuri County and Wailii Borough in the ques- •> tion of financial adjustment, held a sitting yesterday, when the various "claims: ; made by the county were placed before him, and in some instances objected to by the' borough delegates, the Mayor (Mr* W. Phillips), Mr. Morpeth (town clerk), and : ; Mr. Corbett (engineer). Mr. Easton would ; ; not allow legal arguments. After the case had been fully discussed t the arbitrator reserved his decision.

The Kawera natives, whose canoe was accorded first prize in the Coronation procession at Napier on Saturday, along with j. that of the Moteo natives, have decided . to take it on an exhibition tour, commencing at Palmerston North ; and visiting; Wellington, New Plymouth, Wanganui, and Auckland. The canoe is of ancient origin —it is said to be 200 years old—is in a capital state of preservation, and on the tour it will be shown as it appeared in the procession, with the Maoris attired in their picturesque costumes, etc.

The examiner for the local examinations in music (Mr. Alfred Mistowski, Mus. Bac, Oxon.), under to auspices of Trinity College, London, will arrive in Auckland by the Sierra on September 1, and will how the examinations on September 3, ana three following days. Candidates will duly be apprised of hours and places of attendance. The first of the half-yearly examinations i in i the theory of music held on December 13i and entries close onSeptember 13.,

The enforcement of the associations law ill France, a measure directed against religious establishments, is meeting with strong opposition from the clerical party, and has led to serious disturbances at Finisterre, where troops have had to be sent to restore order. Some time 'ago it was ■ announced 'that the Tsar was personally inquiring into the grievances of the students and peasantry. It is now stated that all the .students who were imprisoned in connection -with the 1 Moscow;riots in 'i February last } have been released. The German lieutenant, who was sentenced •: to two years' imprisonBnent for killing ,a brother officer in a duel, and who was recently pardoned by the Kaiser on .the- ground that the military code /of honour justified his action, was accorded an enthusiastic •? reception by his comrades. The colonial Premiers will have an opnortrnitv of meeting the Boer leaders, as they will be guests, on the same steamer at the great naval review; at Spithead to-morrow. . The Kruger clique have abandoned their intention of forming an irreconcilable party, and are in hopes of being allowed to return to South Africa. ;: The Imperial Conference has not realised the expectations of /Seddon, who has expressed his disappointment at "the small Imperialistic outcome"! of the Conference. A .steamship service between Canada and South Africa has been arranged by the British Shipping Syndicated ) The local Coronation celebrations on Saturday last supplied the Weekly News' photographers and artists with a large number of attractive pictures, which have been reproduced in this week's issue of that journal. The public school functions, military ; display, and illuminations, "-■ and the A.ucklandWellington football match, are some of the main subjects illustrated in the present number. The News is now on sale,and may be obtained from runners and news--agents. , .; " : -j-."-. Referring to the death of the late Bishop j Cowie, the Rev. W. M. Futtock, of • St. Anne's, Hoxton, writes as follows to the Church Times (Loudon): —Will you allow j me the sad pleasure of saying a word about the late Primate of New Zealand? We saw a good ideal of him in 1897, and his son, John : Patteson Cowie, lived with me for six months at our Mission House, and did excellent work as curate. Both the Bishop and his- son are loved and respected by us all. He preached several times to our poor people, and said, as I heard, some kind and , undeserved things about us ;to Bishop Greighton. His teaching was manly, and simple, and dignified, and his manner charming. He struck me as differing in many respects from some of our English bishops, and was always approachable. He was kindness itself, and once, when I had a slight breakdown; he thoughtfully * offered i help so that I might get a quiet Sunday away. (His son was then a deacon). Although by no means , "ad-' vanced," he was the only bishop I ever saw wearing a "biretta." I have had several kind letters -and messages from His Lordship, and much sympathy is felt by us all at St. Anne's. " .'V V' I, -: ■ , ■ ' - The. following extract from a letter from Trooper J. A. Clark, of the Scottish Horse, just received by his parents in Tauranga, sounds a warning note to those impatient to rush off to South Africa: — " Johannesburg is crowded with troops /being disbanded, ' and I can see a very bad time ahead "for a lot of them, as the labour •market is glutted, ; and wages are already on the , down ; grade. Two thousand men 'were taken on at the mines last month, who were glad to work for 10s a day. It is very certain that outside of good tradesmen wages will never again be what they were under the Boer regime. > Most; of : the irregular I corps : are /being disbanded on the Rand, and I thinksthere is. at present in Johannesburg just as rough a crowd as: it is possible to rake up anywhere. "They are fairly quiet now, but as soon as they finish spending their money ;< and get hard up; there will bo, unless I am much mistaken, a reign "of terror here for a few months, and the police force, is totally inadequate ■: to cope /with the;; crowd that will be ; let loose." Already it " is not : very safe to get off the main streets if one is known to be in possession of money 'or valuables, as ,two chaps wore garotted the night/before last, and robbed, one of whom is not expected to live. ;,; ,;. Johannesburg, , and, . in fact, the Transvaal, will be no good for another six months, but the rowdy element will gradually be got rid*of, and'the mining areas will be thrown open to prospectors. .At present no licenses to prospect or peg out are \to ! be issued until after the ■ country :; is /properly settled. Thousands ■of irregulars : will be "discharged ' in the :, country, and there will be some very.hard times ahead for a'/good/ number. Last week I received two letters, but no papers, and you know how we look for the Auckland ; Weekly News. .. I took your 'last two letters to the postmaster and showed them to him, and wanted to know what had become of the papers, especially the Weekly News, and he said"he was; getting many complaints, of the same nature, and would try to find out how so many; papers miscarried. I expect the Coronation Number of the Weekly News / that you re sending will also go, but if it does I intend to kick up a fine-row, /as I am looking forward to it as a great treat, and so are a lot of my New/ Zealand friends here."

• We are in receipt of the July-August issue of the Journal of the Department of Labour. This has the following as to the Auckland labour market: —Building trades: Rather \ slack; tradesmen. not fully employed, ' probably owing to inclement weather. Sicns of revival as prospect of various jobs ; commencing. Engineering trades : Somewhat improved, . owing to shipping and work at. electric power-house. Boot trade: Rather' a falling-off on last month. Clothing trade: Some large factories -.very brisk. * Retail trade (general) : Drapers' winter sales appear very busy. yUnskilled labour: :;<: More than usual number of applications, owing to conclusion of local works. Referring to the men em- - ployed on co-operative works, the Journal says that there were, during' the month, .'.-.-'•under the /Department of Roads, 209 lais, bourers employed in the Auckland district, 44 in the Te "luiiti district, and 54 in the Rotorua district. i During the same period the : Department of Railways employed on the railways named the number of; men "following:—Kawakawa; southwards- v ; 22 labourers ;'; Grahamtov/n extension, 6 labourers; Helensville northwards, 1 artisan, 27 labourers; Paeroa-Waihi, 5 artisans, 24 labourers; Gisborne-Karaka, 1 artisan, 52 labourers ; , North Island Main • Trunk, 84" ' artisans, c>79 .abourers ; Stratford-Wanga-momona, 3 artisans, 31 labourers.: The number of unemployed assisted by the Department in July is given as 150 (labourers 141, printers 6, painters 3). The following is a copy of a loyal address forwarded tc His Majesty the King, through His Excellency the Governor, by the Protestant Alliance Society :—" To His Most Gracious Majesty King Edward VII. .This address .is from the Protestant Alli- [■ ance Friendly Society, Grand Council, New Zealand, whose emblems are ' the Bible' and 'the Crown.' We your Majesty's most faithful men, do thank the most high God that He has been pleased to restore your Majesty from your grievous sickness to good --; health again.. We pray God that He may be pleased to bless your Majesty with a long life,, and continued good health. We V congratulate your Majesty and our beloved v Queen -Alexandra on having •; been blessed .with strength to enable your Majesties to undergo the arduous duties attendant on ; your Coronation, and we shall ever pray, at. every meeting of every lodge of this Order, that your Majesties ay be blessed by the God of heaven with"every good gift -you may desire.—Signed for and at the desire of every member of this society, H. H. ~ Skabrook, . Grand -■ Master of the » Grand Council, P.A.F.5.0.A.,. New Zealand."