LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12522, 15 March 1904, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The 'Herald Summary, for transmission by the next' outward San Francisco mail, will be published to-morrow morning. Those desirous of forwarding the Sumnmrv to their friends in Europe, America, etc., will have ample time to do so. as-the newspaper mail closes on Friday next, ' at 12 noon, up to which hour papers for mailing may'be obtained of runners at the post office. : Tins mail will bs due in London on April 16. , '

The colonial mails which left Auckland, via San Francisco, on February 5, arrived in London on Thursday morning last, x'he mails left Auckland, via ' Vancouver, on February 2, reached London the same day as the San Francisco mail.

The Huddart-Parker steamer Westralia left for Sydney last evening, taking a number of passengers in both classes and a considerable quantity of ■■ cargo. Included in the shipments from Auckland were 20 bars of bullion, valued At £14,200, shipped by the Waihi Gold Mining. Company to London ; one box of gold, -valued at £7508, from the local branch of the Bank of New South Wales to .the Sydney' branch;: 32 cases of kauri gum, for London; and lines of flax, hides, " timber, ■ kegged beef, etc., for Australian ports.

The bathing facilities, or want of the same, which formed the subjects of a recent article in the New Zealand Herajj), will be considered at the meeting of the Devonport Borough Council this evening, Mr. Dacre having given notice to move, " That the Council erect suitable salt water baths for the district."

■ A number of the delegates to the' Methodist Conference, which has been sitting in Auckland since the 4th inst., left for their homes yesterday. A few remain in Auckland for a day or two ? while others have gone to Rotorua to spend a few days. . : ;

•■■..■'> The sale is announced of the Epsom Hotel (Mr. H. J, gyms) by the Great Northern Brewery Company to Mr. H. Lloyd, of the Kaino Hotel, for £4600. Mr. Lloyd, who was formerly licensee of the Epsom Hotel, was recently in possession of the Kanio Hotel, and sold out,at the beginning of the year to Mrs. Parker! late of the Central Dining Rooms in Auckland, There was ; a alight collision between a grocer's cart, owned by Mr. W W Dumper, grpcer, Grey Lynn, and a cab in Karangahape Road yesterday afternoon, The vehicles were locked together for a little time, but there was no damage beyond scratched paint. It has been decided to hold the next annual conference' of the Methodist Church in Taranaki-street Church, Wellington.

' . r ~ -'•' ' ' ' *-" . : Another growl at the burden on local bodies entailed. by the present cost of has-. pital and charitable aid administration was received by. the Auckland <Ho»piii,Bd'Boa*d ; at fts...'meeting it > ! >-;'< -The; Mangel* Read Board, from which a/letter was read,, stated that the- remark' made in the report of the recent Commission, to the Effect thai; the local bodies ■ were 'willing ■to ; a contribute a larger amoi nt towards the .maintenances of the Cost ley "Home, was not correct, btttj that on the contrary the constant'increase in the> demands made upon them, ; :for, such purposes V during _ the past ; few .;.years ' had; created, grave dissatisfaction amongst tin* country settlers. The 'letter; w&nt on to '■:'' say that the old age pension scheme had not ■ lessened , the burden, as was "remised,' and how. more than half the local /bodieS*' rates ■.: was absorbed by the' levies of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board , arid the' Healt h :. Department. The- letter said,'that ratepayers were' expressing the opinion that the country settlers were contributing 1 far mow than their share towards' the cost of maintaining the poor of the Auckland province. The' : tetter concluded ■by ; Stating: that i tit Health Department had refused to refund the 5 sum of £30 levied for the purpose of ,the in- j fectious diseases hospital, although this matter:" had how! been, transferred to'the Hos« j pital Board. The letter was received, '"' j The Thames district coroner (Mi : A. Bruce),; I accompanied by Detective Mailer and Coo- j" stable Butte*, proceeded to Table Mountainl yesterday, and held an inquest on the body! of the man John Gunny who was killed. inn that district on Friday last by a falling tree.l J The journey was made via Punga Flat, : ana; what ;is known as Cro&bie's settlement, and■;;' the track, after leaving the latter place, was found to be in a terrible state, being alums impassable even for pack horsesi. Porta .K' nately for the coroner's party they met th: y comrades of deceased, about' a mile, on th ~ Thames side oi Table Mountain, bringing W the body with them, consequently Mr. Bruc ■ decided to hold' the, inquest ia the. open ah ■ at the point where the two parties met. ~; Th " evidence taken revealed the fact that Gun was ■ employed on Friday list bushfailing > \ and that a tree in tailing lad struck kb and knocked him into a crek. ..Frdai th • condition of the body, however, it was genk ally believed that the blow to bad receive '•■:" killed him outright. No 013 saw the accS; dent, his nearest companion being about i; mile distant at the time.. J; A , verdict o.; "killed accidentally by.a fajing tree" wa returned. At the conclusion of th« in: o quest, the coroner gave the comrades of de ceased permission to bury th body under ::.' heath a beautiful punga tree which stow , near where the inquest was hid. The de ' : ceased was' about 60 years of age, and had been 37 yews in the Thames listrict. ■~ Si far as known he had no reltives in ,th 4; colony.' ;..'•■: .-"/,' \ - : k '\J-

In his speech at Kaitangat (Otago) os Thursday, the Premier denie the statement attributed to Mr. Masse that every institution lending money in sas over £54," had to make a return of the lioney they, lent, so that the Governmentiiould know: exactly who owed money to fese institutions. It appears that our ciidensed report of the Pukekohe speech 61 not accurately convey Mr. Massey's mejang on this point. He "was referring to th Land and Income Assessment Amendme:i Act, section 13 of which states:— banking, company, , and every other cowany, s firm* or person, who in the course?! business holds money by way of deposiitand allows interest thereon, shall furnishannual returns to the commissioner f all the amounts in excess of £50 pahfcr payable as interest oh such money for ie year or any part ; thereof, with the. antes, addresses, and occupations of the lepositors; and for the purposes of this Actfrery such banking or other company, firmer person shall be deemed to be the ag«miof all depositors mentioned in the return who aw outside New Zealand." ■ .-. ; ...

Ty&sterday the Mayor (the Hon E" Mit- , chelson) received a.. deputation, oniisting of the Hon. W. Beehan and Mr. M- Ihrahaa* with reference to lie; St. Patrick's iiaf" cele-.;' brations. His Worship was asked inta J mate to shopkeepers the desirability I clos- . ing on St. Patrick's Day, Thursday npfc,. instead of on Wednesday afternoon, th! usual day of closing.- The "Mayor promiseito do all he could to J induce shopkeepers J) observe the: afternoon of St. Patrick's By isstead of Wednesday. .'-■.-- , . V-, Our Paeroa correspondent writes :4M*. Nepean Kenny, honorary colonel of tfc.42ncl Battalion/ of Volunteers, has ' present!! a handsome silver claret jug for compet|ioa amongst the corps forming the batt»iMj. The jug is to be competed for annutdly.MV one team- of five men will - enter from 'i&h company. .The members of the Ohineifcuri No. 1 Rifles, who competedi at Trenthm, returned to Paeroa on > Saturday. The \ix :;' men all won prize money, Sergeant Shirs,; who secured over £10, Being the most sty cessful.. .• . >, ..-.•/.- ■•• ■-\ ' The trustees" of the Jubilee. Institute fdf the Blind desire ".,to publicly express : therj thanks to Messrs. L. A, Bachelder and % Morton,'trustees of , the gum-industry pienh fund, for the kind 'donation of £5, being thi ' surplus after paying all expenses in conned { tion with the recent gum-sorters' picnic; f also to Mr. W. H. Webbe, 'of the Londoij and Berlin Piano Company, for the gift 01; ; . | a model, showing the construction and action'': | of a pianoforte Key, which will he of ©4"; siderable use in instructing the men who wt i | learning piano-tuning. •■■/'■■- ■ _ ' :■/'. On.August 31 last : : a bottle was throw* ; overboard from the Union. ■ Compaoiy'e steamer Moana, employed in the" &riad»aAustralian mail sei-vice, when about : 100 .; miles from Vancouver (8.C.). '~ A paper :va3' enclosed in the bottle, stating the circranstances, arid asking the findeir of the bottle' to ; post .the contents to the London '~ ofico -of the Caspian-Australian line; mentioning the date arid place where found. ; The bottle was found by an Indian on December 26 on the shore "of the Pacific, about six miles south of Cape Flattery, at the entrance to Juan Fuca Strait. It was handed over to the superintendent of the United States' Inland Service, who forwarded the contents to the London office of the Canadian-Aus-tralian line. The bottle must have drifted exactly in the route of the steamer, as the Moana was then making for Vancouver, ana would pass close to Cape Flattery in entering Juan do Fuca Strait.

The death of Mr. John Waittinghaan,. which took place on March 3, at his residence, Kew, Melbourne, removes a figure, which had been -prominent for half-a-cea-. tury ; in the commercial, pastoral, and sporting life of Australia; as well as New Zealand. Mr. Whittingham, : ho' ; was in his - 74th year, and a native of Shropshire, England, came to Australia in 1852, and theu.. went to New ' Zealand, where he and his brother, Mr. George Whittingham, started - in business as general merchants. In 1861 , the brothers removed to Melbourne and _, commenced : business in Fliinders-street as | merchants;' which they ' carried on for >•, several years. V Subsequently the mime, off ■& Whittingham was prominently' associated;; with pastoral pursuits at Willundra, on the: ; Lachlan River, New South } . Wales, and at.Alice Downs, Queensland; also with the., sugar-growing industry in the latter State, 4 and with the jarrah timber trade in West Australia. 1 ' .;'■'■

!/: Mr. A. L. Foster, C.E., Khortlandi-street,,. ! has received the following tenders for road formation within the Three Kings Estate, ! the property of the Assets Realisation Board : — Woolley and Higgins, £J9OO K J; % Wren, £959 14s*; Billington and Hill, £9w 8s 6d (accepted). The work will cover the ;-formation of all the internal roads>of tw . i block, which has been subdivided into bunding allotments and suburban sections. The biennial conference of municipal, de- • I legates takes place at Wellington early in >July next, "shortly before the assembling of Parliament. The president is Mr. J. $> . W. Aitken, > Mayor of: Wellington- ; • -. j The Rev A. Mitchell, of Balelufcha, ocqa-: pied the Methodist pulpit at Coromandel. ! yesterday morning and evening. At bow*: services there were large congregations. *» . the evening service the Rev Mr. Mitchell sang two solos, - Mi. R Mcstayer, 0.K., of WoUlngt©*., - has sent in to the City. Council his report : the water supply scheme for Auckland, "w' B report will be presented lo the Council for ii» H consideration en Thursday next. : j?.\ : < ..yt?y.: ' ' v .-■hi

Inquiries made at the hospital last night show that the mac Sinclair, who was run oyer at ."top of Symonds-street on Friday, in makifflg very satisfactory progress. A snaa named Brennan," a fish carer, reI veling in -street, was admitted to the feaspital last evening suffering from iujuriea 'to the neck, caused, it is alleged, while he •' .was fighting in Grey-street. ' . It is stated in military circles that a rej gulation has' lately been issued by the Defence Minister prohibiting, to a certain extent, marriage among the members of the Permanent Force. By this injunction only .30 per cent, of the gunners and 40 per cent, of the -commissioned officers are allowed to enter into the bonds of matrimony, and this practically means that when the full per- ~ centage is made up, as it is said to be now, ■ that those who wish to participate in such joys have to wait until some of their luckier comrades pass over to the great majority, or are retired. Then again, each man who is s in future "permitted " 'to get married has , to first of all serve fire years in the force. It will be recollected that some time ago the Parnell Borough Council decided to ask the Tramways Company to run through cars to Onehunga, via Parnell, and to issue return tickets to Queen-street at the same price as on the present route. The company have now written to the Council saying that they cannot run the cars as requested, but would ' give the matter of issuing through return 1 tickets at 9d, with transfers at Newmarket, - a trial at an early date. The Council de- \ cided at last night's meeting to ask the company on what date they propose to commence the trial. ■ In accordance with notice of motion, Mr. Beale moved at last night's meeting of the \ Parnell Borough Council, " That delegates be appointed for the purpose of conferring with the City Council and obtaining information on the subject of a union of the city and suburban boroughs, and that the information asked for bv the City Council be furnished." He said that he only moved the motion because of the support he got at last 'meeting. If his motion was carried he would move a further resolution asking the Mayor to con- • vene a meeting of Parnell electors to discuss the question. The motion, which was seconded by Mr. Thomas,, was lost by five . votes to three. There were, four persons in the lockup last Bight, two charged with drunkenness, one vith theft, and one with assault: 1