LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12238, 6 April 1903, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Hon. Mr. McGowan, who arrived i£Onehunga from Wellington on Saturday morning, proceeded direct by train to Roto, rua. From there he proceeds to Taurangi, and then on to Thames, via Waihi, arriving •- at Thames either on Wednesday or Thurs. day. Amongst other matters that will oh | brought under his notice during his yjjiitV' to Thames, will be the proposed boring p;o. ■ posals for testing the low levels of the gota, . field, and the making available of the Thames School of Mines experimental plant foi tie assistance of prospectors, so that parcels of .'•■ ore from such individuals may be treated fa» of charge. ■ ' [•' . It has already been stated hi 08* columns that a committee has, been formed 1 * in Christchurch for the erection of a statue to the late Mr. Rolleston. The diceased gentleman was one of the ablest, most upright, and most unselfish polite | cians we ever had, and he had many.:; friends and admirers all over the colony, We understand that the Hon. Mr. Mit< .■ chelson will be glad to receive any; con., >, tributions for the statue, which any real.;' dents of this district may desire to send. M The sittings of the Electoral Commission were continued on Saturday, when i the evidence of Mr. John King, registrar ■ of electors, in defence of the charges made against him, was concluded, after an allday sitting. A great deal of Mr. King's evidence, as to his method of dealing with; claims for enrolment and transfers, etc.,-; was similar to statements previously made by him during the examination of witnesses' in.-' support of the charges. In crossexamination as to the time at which : he received the telegram announcing the issue of the writs, he said that to the best ol his belief it was at or about eleven a.m. on November 12. Mr. King was als« cross-examined by Mr. Reed as to whether he personally received any profit from th* sale of advance proof sheets of the printed' rolls. Mr. King said he might have got : the benefit of any discount that was allowed, but as he had not yet received one of the printers' accounts, he could not give a definite answer to the question. He added that he regarded the matter of these advance sheets as non-official, an! I lie did not think .the matter should have"""' been brought up in connection with the inquiry. The Commissioners, whilst allow-; : ing the cross-examination to proceed, said the matter did not appear to come within the scope of the Commission. The evidence being concluded, the Commission, which has V sat for 16 days, adjourned until to-morrow, - when the addresses of the parties will. be delivered.

It has been a matter of surprise that there has hot, during the existence of the Auckland Board of Education, been ,; a member resident in the Waikato. At the I ■ ribcoming election, however, opportunity ■" will be given for correcting this, as Mr. Geo. Edgecumbe, of Hamilton, will be a candidate. Mr. W. R. Walker, of Ellerslie, was walk- ' ing across the Ellerslie racecourse with Mr, R. 0. Jlendy, on Saturday evening, when he", suddenly stopped with an exclamation. Blood J; was seen coursing down one of his legs,'and, Mr. Hendy fearing that Mr. Walker ±»ad'_ burst a blood vessel at once procured a trap from Messrs. Pullan, Armitage, and Co.'s stabies, at Green Lane, and brought'him on; : to town to Mr. Ratjen's pharmacy. Medical' examination showed that Mr. Walker had burst an artery in one of his legs. He was rendered all possible aid and removed 'to his home, where he is progressing favourably.

The general conference of delegates from" the 24 Maori Councils of New Zealand, and Chatham Islands will assemble at Rotorua on the 17th inst. The conference has been ordered by His Excellency the Governor, for the purpose of considering all matters relating to the native race. The chairmen of the Maori Council has received instructions «to provide accommodation for a large number of the visiting, members of other Councils. The Hon. James Carroll and the presidents of th* different councils will also attend. On Saturday afternoon a deputation, consisting of Messrs. Pilkington, Potter, Blakie, and others, met Mr. F. Lawry, M.H.R., at Green Lane station, and pointed out the great want of station accommodation at that growing suburb. Mr. Lawry fully \ endorsed the views of the deputation, and promised to represent the matter strongly, to the Minister for Railways. At the Northern Amateur Swimming Club's Carnival, held on Saturday, partly at the Auckland Graving Dock and partly at Albert-street baths, three new records for the colony were put up. The 100 yds championship was won by H. Creaghe, of Dunedin, in two-fifths of a second less time than the previous best, Malcolm Champion's, lm. 6s. J. M. Hamilton put up the new record of 13m. 34 2-ss. for the half-mile, M. Champion's J4m. 17s. being the previous best;; whilst the standard time is given as 14m. 15s. The quarter-mile championship also fell to J. M. Hamilton, whose time, 6m. 23 2-s'-was 6 3-ss. under M. Champion's, the previous record.

Our Coromandel correspondent telegraphs that Mr. George Loram's sou Willie, about nine years old, when out riding along the Tiki Road on Saturday, met | with a bad accident. His horse shied when crossing the bridge near Mr. T. W. Rhodes' house, and threw the lad. Mr. Rhodes saw the accident, and went to the boy's assistance, and when he picked him up found the little fellow unconscious, Mr. E - Rhodes at once carried him to his father's, and Dr. Cheeseman was speedily in attend-. . ance. The little fellow is now progress- ; : ing favourably.

The shooting season, which opens OH May 1 for pheasants and ducks, promises J to give sportsmen more than ordinary #.. I satisfaction. A gentleman who has recently -K^ returned from the Taupo and Rotorua dis- ! tricts states that he saw more pheasant* I there than at any time for five years past. "gv |„™ is in other directions (notably the '"-. j Whangarei district), a scarcity of game, - and there is soma talk of shutting down j;:,?-: the shooting in that district, On tne whole, however, it is reported that there are mora birds about than usual In addition to a number of persons charged With drunkenness there were in the ]ock-uP last evening, the following prisoners:-^ * James French and Prank McCowan, arrested at St. Heliers Bay, on a charge of cruelly illtreating a horse by overdriving it, and t*° boys named William and Herbert Collins,, charged with the theft of a purse containing ? ; %Z 16s 6d, belonging to Herbert Davis, also » ' silver watch valued at £4 15s, the property of Ernest Harold Strong, of Remuera, and , a silver watch, a gold medal, and sovereign j case, of the total value of £3 10s 6d, the property. of William Oliphant The boy*'. ' j were arrested .at Onehunga by Constable. j . Tapp, and remanded to appear at Auckland*, j

The New Zealand Times says it is stated that the Wellington City Council is getting jjito the condition popularly known as •"hard-up." The street-widening improvement scheme, with the outlays to acquire properties for this purpose, has involved the Council in a cash expenditure which has led to a position of extreme embarrassment, jlow- to finance t»e position successfully is said to have been puzzling the Council fii some weeks past. Some honorary advisers have suggested to members of the Council that they should consult the Right Hon. (he Premier, who appears to be the only states - man in Australasia with an overflowing exchequer, as to the best way of facing their difficulties. Seriously (says oui contemporary), it is most deplorable, if the facts are as*stated, that the capital city of the colony, with its vast, potentialities in the way of income, should be embarrassed for want of funds, if its administrators have, any capacity to utilise available resources. .

The tender of Mr. Thos. Evans (£520) has been accepted for the erection of St. Peter's vicarage, Hamilton. A man named J. Windsor fell off the coach on Saturday, while on his way into Paeroa from Karangahake. The coach apparently gave a lurch, and Windsor fell off, his leg being severely fractured by the fall. After the injury had been at tended to by Dr. Buckby he was taken to the Thames Hospital. As the Tarawera was casting off from the Queen's Wharf, Wellington, the other afternoon, a well-dressed, gentlemanly-looking Maori, about 30 years of age, found himself Jeft Oil board. Unable to persuade the ship's officers to put back and allow him to regain the wharf, and averse to being carried on to I.yttelton, he made the best of a bad job by taking a header from the ship's side into the harbour, and swimming to the end of th 9 tee, where the wharf officials assisted •him ashore. Beyond the ducking, the loss of a bowler hat, and a certain amount of temper, no harm resulted. The milkmen of Christchuroh have decided to raise the price of milk during the winter months. This action is based on tho increased expenditure necessitated by compliance with the Dairy Industry Act, increased cost of cows (which are now fully 50 per cent, higher in price than they were a few years ago), and increased cost of labour. A most unusual sight was witnessed halftray across Tasman Bay recently (says a Nelson paper) by Mr. C. Y. Fell, who was out yachting. A great shoal of gannet, numbering hundreds of thousands, were observed disporting themselves on the crest of the waves, and as the yacht drew near they all took flight. Without exaggeration Mr, Pell is of opinion that the birds occupied about two acres of space.