LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12077, 22 September 1902, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

An' English mail which left London M August 15, arrived from Sydney by the s.ifcj' Mararoa yesterday. The Shaw, Sftvill, and Albion Company'* j steamer Kumara arrived from London yes- < terday morning, with a large cargo of general merchandise. During the voyage the steamer called at St. Helena, with general merchandise and 100 bullocks forthe British Government. When the Kumara arrived at the island, the Boer pri-. soners were being sent away to South' Africa in a- number of transports, and is consequence of all of the lighters being engaged in this Work, the Kumara. was de* tained for four days. The Union Company's steamer Waikare >; which arrived from the South yesterday^ brought up a large cargo of grain, produce,, and general merchandise, ami has a considerable quantity for Sydney. The Waikare will take a large cargo from this port to-day, consisting of about 2000 sack* maize, lines of kauri gum, flax, etc., besides sheep and cattle. While coming down Wellesley-strecfc at) half-past seven a.m. on Saturday, a fivehorse 'bus, owned by Messrs. Wise and Co., and driven by Albeit Miller, collided with a lamp-post at the comer of Lomestreet, and damaged it to some extent, ft appears that the brake refused to and the 'bus made a rapid descent of the hill, and the driver tried to guide th* vehicle off the main thoroughfare into Lome-street, so as avoid au accident, when the lamp-post was struck. Fortunately no one was hart.

In accordance with a request received from Mr. John Bollard, SfH.R., at the meeting of the Devonport Borough Council, held on, Tuesday last, the plans ot the proposed new pest office and" municipal buildings ati Devonport have been completed by Mr. Bartley after consulting with the chief postmaster,* Biss. The proposal is that, the building shall be erected by the Devon- ' pert Borough Council on the site of the present Council Chamber, and that the Co- . vernment shall give a subsidy or pay a ran- I tal. The whole structure will be a twostoreyed ornamental brick building, the floor. above the post office being that of th» Municipal Chamber, about 40ft by 55f'W The rooms at the rear on the ground floor will be offices for the town clerk, engineer,. and contractors, and a strongroom. A, library and readingrooin will ha arranged upstairs^

. ;•■ ■■••'.■•■-.- } The German Emperor is to visit King • ■ ' Edward in November, and the King of Por- < tugal in October. The German Crown Prince it expected to attend the Delhi 'Durbar. Lord Salisbury, who is suffering .;• from a chill, has arrived at Lucerne. He is H improving. The Que... of th« Belgians, ."while dining, was seized with syncope and expired. Her Majesty, who was a daughter .' of the late Archduke Joseph of Austria, was : 66 years of age. He Wet, in the course of a speech at Antwerp, said the Boers were willing to be led but would not be driven. If it was attempted to drive them the result Would be a catastrophe in South Africa. Mr. Spencer, in his airship, made the journey from London to Harrow, travelling 30 miles and making detours across the capital. Ilia machine attained a speed of 15 miles an hour. ; A railway collision occurred at Westboitrtte park, the Penzitace express colliding with ■an engine engaged in shunting. Many passingers had limbs broken. A panic oc- ■ curred among a negro audience in Alabama, which had been listening to an address by .Mr. Booker Washington 'in connection with tie Negro National Convention. A cry of , .fire was raised, and a stampede took place, , the result being that 115 lives were lost. ! La Sotifriere is again in activity. An earthquake shock has been experienced in 'San Francisco. Severe earthquake shucks were experienced in South Australia on Friday night. At Adelaide, the people were ! greatly alarmed, and rushed into the streets, j Buildings rocked and trembled, and chim- ' Beys were overthrown. The shock was the most severe ever experienced in the Slate. Madame Melba received a great ovation on her arrive.! in Melbourne. Unfortunately, the great songstress, on reaching Albury, received word that her aged father had been stricken with paralysis. The attack, however, is not severe. All the invalid troopers in the District Hospital are. reported to be doing very well, except Stanley Wilson, whose recovery from a serious attack of typhoid is very slow indeed. Trooper Stevens, who was suffering badly from rheumatism, will probably be discharged in a week or two. Vincent, who for some time past has been the only trooper at Motuihi seriously ill, from pneumonia, is now recovering rapidly. All the scarlet fever patients are nearly fit for discharge. A removal of the pneumonia cases to the Auckland Hospital shortly is contemplated, for greater convenience.

The Victoria College Council at its last meeting, on the motion of the Bishop of Wellington and Dr. Preudergast Knight, resolved, " That graduates of the New Zealand University resident in the provincial districts mentioned in the Victoria ' >Hege Act, 1897, clause 5, section 2, or representing electoral districts of those provincial districts in the House of Representatives, whether admitted to their degrees by examination or ad eundem gradum, shall be placed on tke books of the Victoria College on payment of £1 sterling.'' Then* are some 200 graduates affected by this resolution in the Middle District.

The death is announced of another of the fast disappearing early residents of our city, in the person of Mrs. Powley, widow of Mr. Thomas Powley. who expired at her residence. Burleigh-street, yesterday morning at the advanced age of 84 years. The deceased lady arrived in Auckland with her husband in 1848, and has continually resided here since. She leaves four "sons, two daughters, and numerous grandchildren to mourn their loss.

On Thursday last the prisoner McAuliiTe, ■who bolted away from the prison gang, but was recaptured, was charged before Mr. Haselden, S.M., at Wellington, with escaping from legal custody. The accused said 'be was " doing" two years, and this so preyed on his mind that lie was half mad when he ran away. The Magistrate said: "I am told you are an intelligent man, and you will understand what I am going to say. This is a very different kind of offence to that for which you are serving a sentence. That was for robbery with violence. This is only am offence against the law, and it does not involve any immoral action. But the way I look upon the offence is this : The desire of the authorities is to treat prisoners as humanely as possible, and to givo them as much liberty as circumstances will permit. If individual prisoners abuse this leniency ami run away whenever Opportunity offers, they act unfairly to all the other prisoners in confinement," because the simplest man can see that if escapes are frequent much more rigorous methods of keeping prisoners will have to be adopted, and we shall see the chain gang again and men in irons. Therefore, in order to prevent these abuses of the qualified liberty given a substantial penalty must be imposed. There is !'o feeling of indignation in my mind at your li-.tvi'-.g done wrong, but it is simply a question of preventing by sentences for escape, conduct which would otherwise have to be prevented by stone walls, irons, or other rigorous methods. Therefore lam going to impose a substantial penalty. The sentence is that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for six months, to commence at the end of your present sentence."

The larger of the two boats recently ! built by. Mr. Alf. Warbrick for service on I Tarawera Lake was taken to Te Wairoa on Friday. She will then be taken by the new road which has just been completed, down to the lake, where she will be ready to do the lake portion of the round trip by way of Rotomahana and the •Waimangu geyser. The other boat, intended for Rotomahana, will be taken out shortly by way of Tarawera, and will be dragged across the portage into Lake Roto- I ciahana. There was an eruption of mud and gravel from an old fumerolo at Whakarewarewa in the early part of last week. The mud was thrown to the height of about 30ft, but subsided immediately, and is now quiescent. A similar eruption took place in the same neighbourhood gome years ago, but on that occasion the ejecta was thrown over 100 ft in height, and in its descent bespattered with black mud a number of children who were playing in the vicinity. A 12-year-old girl, named Nereida Moses, residing with her parents in Collingwoodstreet, Ponsonby, was accidentally given on Saturday forenoon a powder, intended to be burnt in rooms occupied by asthmatic patients, the impression being at the time that it was a liquorice powder. The mistake was not noticed till a couple of hours after the powder was administered, when the child complained of feeling cold. Br. Moir was immediately summoned, and found the child in a precarious state. He administered emetics, antidotes, and used the stomach pump, and did all in his power for the. relief of the sufferer with satisfactory results. The drug taken by the child was very poisonous, and considering the period that bail elapsed before medical aid was applied, Dr. Moir is of opinion that the girl had a narrow escape. She is now reported to be out of danger. The death is announced from Awhitu Central of Airs. John Rosser, at the advanced age of 71 years. Mrs. Rosser was an old resident of Auckland, arriving here with her husband and family in the ship Queen Bee in the year 1872. On account of the failing health of her husband she in 1882 removed to Awhitu. Nearly two years ago Mrs. Rosser experienced a paralytic stroke, from which she' never recovered, but owing to a strong constitution she lingered till Friday last, when she passed away. Her husband still survives her, and she leaves two sous and a daughter. Mr. Arthur Rosser city councillor for South Ward, and Mr. Joseph Rosser. bathkeeper at Rotorua, are her sons, while Mr. William Rosser, builder of Rfnuera. is a stepson. Our Daunevirke correspondent writes:~ Mr. E. Keilseu, a member of the Salvation Army, who left here for the training home ia Melbourne, died there a few days ago, from pneumonia. Memorial services were conducted by Lieutenant Williams, at the Army Barracks. The deceased was highly respected. A large number of entries have been received locally for the annual examination ;• of the New Zealand Accountants and Auditors' Association, and the indications are v that the list of candidates will be materially increased when all the entries are m from ;-■ the South. The examination is to be held *a October 20,

»; ;■••■ ; ~~ ~— The illuminated letter paper and envelopes which are intended to be issued through the branch Tourist Departments, will .shortly' be on hand in Auckland. A sample- of the set of illuminated postcards Which are also to be issued has already been received by Mr. Montgomery. They are high-class productions, and will certainly do much to advertise the scenic features of New Zealand. They include the beauty spots of the colony, scenes in the Auckland Hot Lake region, Maori kaingas, geysers, etc. Views of the Wanganui Kiver, Olago lake scenes, Stewart Island harbours, and many others. The face of the card shows a margin of Maori carvings, and a coastal view in Which Maori war canoes are prominent. I . At a dinner at Barrow, when prizes were distributed for a shooting match between the Barrow Rifle Club and a team from H.M.B. Hazard, Mr. James Burns, of Wellington, New Zealand, responded to the toast of "The Visitors." Dp said that Britain's sons located in New Zealand often thought of dear eld England, and it was with unspeakable pleasure that, after 40 years' absence, he was able to return to , his native land once more, though only for I a holiday. lie had witnessed the beautiful scenes of Lakeland, and the great engineer- ; ing works in their midst, and he could only say they ought to feel proud of them. He spoke in favour of energetic voting men ' leaving crowded England and Seeking their I fortunes in the much wider field of New | Zealand, and vouched for any Who visited that vast country a. right cordial welcome. A Wellington resident has received a, letter from a miner who recently left the West Coast (South Island) for South Africa, which gives a very discouraging account of things there from a labour point of view. The writer was earning 7s a day at Durban repairing railway carriages and' trucks, but that wage was by no means genera!, the great majority of unskilled labourers in the railway service receiving 5s per day, although good carpenters and bricklayers receive 15s and 20.-*. The railway men had just been on strike for better pay. and after being " out" for eight days, went to work on receiving a promise of Is per day extra, pending arbitration. At the date of writing it was not possible for workmen to gat to Johannesburg, unless they produced a letter promising immediate employment, and signed by some military officer. Things are much worse at Johannesburg than in Durban, wages being only 5s per day. while board costs £7 10s" per'month, as'against £5 in the latter place. The.writer adds that new arrivals are streaming into the country from all parts of the world, and there are at least 59 applicants for any vacancy, no matter what the employment. ''The more references you bring the'better if you want to get oil." In conclusion. New Zealanders are warned not to tempt fortune in South Africa unless they have means.

On Friday evening Mr. Samuel Dickey died at his residence, Whangarei. Mr. Dickey's death was somewhat unexpected, although he had been suffering from an attack of pleurisy (which seems to have turned to inflammation of the lungs), for the past week or so being under the doctors fate. The wet, cold weather, so unusual here at this time of the year, seems to have materially increased his suffering, but his end was not expected so soon, even by those who were in the house with him and saw him a few minutes before his death. Mr. Dickey was well known and respected in Whangaiei, where ho has lived for many years. Mr. Dickey was a brother of Mr. 'Nat. Dickey, of' Paeroa. He was an old Thames master mason, and will be accorded a Masonic funeral. He leaves a large family of sons -and daughters to mourn their loss.

A Gisborne resident (Mr. A. J. Massey) is endeavouring to push a new game of table bowls which he has invented. The bowls are about the sk;e of a cricket ball, and biassed in the same way as ordinary bowls, and are made of ironbark, and then polished. The jack is about the size of a ping-pong ball. The table is about 16ft Jong, 46in wide, with a protected ditch at one end, and covered with a cloth resembling that of a billiard-table, the bowls running silently and smoothly. The ditch is constructed of a kind of netting, and the bottom of it is padded, so that a fairpaced drive may be made without injury to anything in a room, and us the bowls fall in a padded ditch, the noise which would be caused if the bowls dropped on the floor is thus avoided. On each "side of the table is a kind of light railway, along which the bowls run smoothly to the starting-base, thus doing away with the necessity of carrying them back to the starting place.

In addition to a number of persons charged with drunkenness, there were in the lockup last evening the following persons : —Frank O'Halloran, charged with assaulting a man named Win. Paterson, and Michael Tobin, charged with wife desertion.