LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12551, 19 April 1904, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

m* ■■■— Mb. • Justice Chapman .'v (president) and * Messrs. Samuel Brown and Robert Slater (representative of employers and employees respectively), members of the Arbitration' Court, are expected to arrive in Auckland: to-day. The Arbitration Court is to openon Wednesday morning, at half-past ten! o'clock. The tramways dispute is to .. be i taken first, and the following local disputes hied prior to December.3l will occupy the Court ' afterwards >. Briekworkers, cooks and waiters, gum-workers, house painters,. : - and cnguieers, - " * *.

"!■.■■■ .• ~ / ;\rv7 * r~" ' i' 4 ' i ■ The Auckland post-office is oHIt to fo provided with- mechanical da-stampers . ' similar to those-in use in Wlmgfcm, in order to facilitate the handling < the mails It is anticipated that the n:hine9 w «i -'>' expedite the despatch and di ribtiticE. of the big mails very considers!?, as they will leave free for sorting injr : offfeiak who are at present confined I .'the 'WotL ' of stamping. ' :■ -;■■■■ - : ' ■- ■■ ' •••■ ;■'.■' ••'■■ ' ' On Saturday afternoon SI , Wildmjr (deputy inspector) and Mi Ewiugtoa (official visitor) held an inq ry at the Avondale Asylum into some ■ a:gations by one of the male patients again; four of the attendant,-. It war alleged tit they*had been rough in their conduct towards a patient. Evidence Was taker upon oath and forwarded to the Governmrt, together with a report by the court of liquiry. The decision arrived at has not Inspired, but it is understood that Messrs. fading and Ewington are of opinion thattlie asylum is admirably managed, and tht the patients are well treated. y\ Our Cambridge correspondent Writes: — A destructive fire was narrowlypverted at Cambridge on Saturday nighi i between seven and eight o'clock. It a] tears that, some of Mr. Gallagher's childrenhere play- • ing in an. upstairs room in th .Criterion Hotel, when the curtains caugb* fire, and a big blaze was quickly visible tj the many - people in the streets at the tiin Mr. W. . Matheson rushed up the fire-esape, while Mr. J. Richards ran np the sufcase, procuring a jug of water on the wai between them they quickly pulled 'lie curtain* down, extinguishing, the flam.cj before anyserious damage was done. .. / -'■■ ;. :■ Flying sparks from a scrub je on the opposite side of the road wonldiiave resulted in the destruction of the Hobsiiville Presby- - terian Church on Saturday Fternoon last but for the timely discovery the outbreak by Messrs. Crow and Meckle, fro of the Waitemata County Council employes,, who hap* pened to be on the road nen 'the, church, i \ The sparks had set fire to ti shingle roof of the building, but with assistance raised through alarming the resident in the neigh- ': - : bourhood the workers menjoned got the '-'.-: inflames under control before t?y reached the ' . body of the building. The ro' was damaged - ' to the extent of about £15. -. The question 'as to whet >r a, publican should keep on supplying di ik to person* who are always appearing Uore the Court on charges of drunkenness vf's the subject of some comment by Mr. ,'. C. Kettle] S.M., at the Police Court yfterday morn- • ing. Mr. Kettle said he" id not think hotelkeepers should be allot ;d to do this at all, and he recommendedjSub-Inspector '; Black, who represented thopolice, to re- .\1 port such cases, when he cold find them," to the Licensing Committed - ... _ A huge glare lighted up he sky out- in .: the direction of St. John's College about eight o'clock last night, an continued for a, considerable time. Inquries, however, elicited the fact that it wa nothing more ':■■■■> -v serious than, fern burning! on the lands between St. .John's College aid Panmure. About mid-day yesterday, ,-hen one of the ;££ Onehunga ears was on its wjy to town, the arm became entangled with the overhead wires, and was wrenched on! of the socket. The car was, of course, temporarily disabled, but no other injuries a'ctendedjthe incident, A young miner named Sylney R. Fan- ' mond met with an accident wkile working : the Huntly Extended mine yesterday moriing. Through a shot exploding unexpected- ' ly Hammond was struck on the back will considerable force and knocked forward; Je was picked up in an unconscious conditio!, and taken by his mates to be examined W H Dr. Low. No bones were broken, aid though badly bruised and shaken Hammed jJ is expected to be all right in a few days. ; The treasurer of the Kinder library fiud (the Rev. E. J, McFarland, Mount Edei) Acknowledges. with many .thanks the receijt of the following additional subscriptions b the fund:— H. Hortou, £5 ss; J. Burtt £1; Rev. A. P. Gardiner, 10s. The fum now stands at £165 13s 5d in cash am promises. The Bishop of Waiapu am others have promised to double their origi ;S nal subscriptions if those who are interest ed in the college and it welfare, and wh- y'M have not yet subscribed, will subscribe a an early date, so that the £400 uecessar : to secure Archdeacon. Williams'. generou. 'i offer of £100 to the fund before June 3. next may be raised. The fund has for its object the erection of a brick or concreb •? building to contain the large library let \ ; ; to the college by a former warden, the lat< Rev. Dr. Kinder. Until the building is - ready the books cannot be removed to the college. There are now resident there the >" maximum number of students, and the possession of this library would be a great benefit to them and to all succeeding students. ,? Mr. Geo. Fowlds, M.H.K., left Onehunga yesterday afternoon for Kawhia t where he is to lay the foundation-stone of a new Congregational church, the first place of worship to be erected in the district. The Rev. Robert Mitchell, who was invited by • • -:' the Congregational "Union to undertake ' work at Kawhia, has been there for about ' eight months, and his ministrations are { M much appreciated. While shoeing a horse yesterday morning, a blacksmith named P. Purdie, in thj employ of Messrs. Pullan, Armitage and Co., livery-stable proprietors, had his left ' hand injured. He had lifted up the horse'« foot in order to prepare the hoof, when the ': animal moved, and the foot came down on the middle finger of Purdie's hand, -ipi crushing it to the top joint and injuring the second bone. Dr. Shaman dressed the wound, and the man was removed to the hospital, where the finger was amputated i at the second joint. k The successful tenders for the supply of lignite, or brown coal, for the New Zealand railways for 1904-5 are as under:—Hikurangi Coal Company, about 1000 tons at 8s 4d per ton; Taupiri Coal Mines, about 17,000 tons at 8s per ton; New Zealand • Coal and Oil Company, about 10,000 tons at 8s per con: and Nightcaps Coal Com- • s pany, about 12,000 tons at 7s 6d and & per ton. V, , Eleven keas consigned to the Tourist Department came up from South by the Mararoa yesterday. They will be placed in the sanatorium, grounds at Rotoroa, where a large number of other birds are already domiciled. * \% Our Waihi correspondent telegraphs: — Mr. Shannon, representing the Crown Lands Department, arrived in Waihi on Sunday, for the purpose ot investigating the posi-tion-of the licenses of agricultural leases as regards compliance with the Crown lands regulations, more particularly in regard to :.. whether holders are resident on their re- 8 spective holdings. ; i Speaking at the Education Conference in Sydney recently, Archbishop Kelly denied that he had ever said the New South Wales education system was a Godless one. Though they claimed that the system of ;V public education in New South Wale? was , not a Godless one, Catholics claimed that it J was not a system of education which sup- ;£ plied wha* they considered g vital want in ? • j the religious sense. Instead of saying the system was a Godless one, he rather thoughtthe State, as a State, bad done its best. But their best was uot enough in that respect, foi there would still be "failure. , However much they educated the mind without religion, their work would riot have its best results. Oui Waihi correspondent telegraphs that ', : W. Dunstau, a mirier working in the Waihi mine, had some of his ribs fractured by * ' '< fall of quartz in the scopes in which, h*. was working. • , There were only two persons in the police cells last night, one arrested on ths charge of drunkenness, and another on a charge •>'- false preteaces & '-ji '■'■■'■• ■„, ' ' -;■^■'^ ■■ ■■■ "'-'t . • ,\-