LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12624, 3 August 1904, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A srtfeuT, interview with Mr. Clement L, Wragge, on the peculiar physical features of the Auckland provincial district, and the theory of the existence of a great southern continent, appears in -the Supplement of this day's issue. The increase in the price of butter on the Home market, as cabled a couple ol days ago, represents a rise of 5s per cwt on the price ruling a week or two back, and the figure now obtaining is about B|d per lb f.o.b. It is anticipated that the present season will be a more profitable ono for butter-makers than last season. Just before five o'clock last evening the five trolley wire in connection with the electric tramways broke at one of the joints, almost in front of the Strand Arcade, and, with much vicious hissing, fell on to the asphalt roadway. The Electric Tramways Company's repairing staff were soon on the scene of the mishap, which occurred on the down track, but it was close upon half-an-hour before the wire was righted, during which time traffic was suspended. The shareholders of Messrs. T. aud S. Morrin, Limited, met at Dunedin on Monday, when it was decided to confirm the resolution that the company should be wouad-up voluntarily. Messrs. W. Colo and MoCutcheon were duly appointed the liquidators of the company.

His Honor Mr. Justice Edwards hold a, sitting in chambers yesterday at the Supreme Court', whan the following business was dealt with : Probate was granted in the estates of the following deceased persons:—Mary Fellows, Margaret Elizabeth Eaglesim, Adam Madill, Percy Walter Lambert, John Gardner, Noah Climo, Richleff Ferdinand Gerdes, Bartholomew Gill, James Abbott, John. Rich Martin, Susan, Jamie?on, Clara Jane Wood, Margaret Wood, William Vickery, Harriet. Susannah Hardwick, John Tooman, Thos. Webster. Dorothea Ilosie, William Aspinall, Thos. Smith, and Henry Seed. Letters of administration were granted in the estates of the following deceased persons: —Charles Coulton Lambert, William Henry Glanfield Young, "John White, and Alexander Eraser. His Honor also granted orders as prayed as follows: — Re estates of Mary Ann Wood and John Hall, leave to sell real estate; Adolph Frederick Johnson, petition for an allowance from the estate for maintenance and advancement of the children: order that until the children reach the age of 21 years 10s per week be taken from each child's share, with costs £3 os and disbursements in equal proportions. Re James Donaglioy (alias Donaghay or Donohay), order authorising Public Trustee to sell real estate. The Auckland Weekly News, issued to-day, contains a full-page picture showing a group of our New Zealand legislators in the lobby at Parliament Buildings. The photograph, which was taken specially for the News during the present session, is excellently reproduced, and shows the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition in the centre of a large group of members. This is the best Parliamentary lobby picture which has ever been published, and is bound to attract a large amount of interest. Two handsome double-page panoramics of Oamaru show the whole of the town and harbour from unrivalled points of vantage, and convey an excellent knowledge of the size and importance of one of Otago's principal seaports. Other subjects dealt with in the number include the Waitara Freezing Works fire, the Wellington football representatives who play Auckland on Saturday next, George Towns, the world's sculling champion, the New York river boat disaster, the County Councils' Conference, and the Acclimatisation Societies' Conference at Wellington, and- a fine series of war pictures, including views at; Port Arthur. Our Coromandel correspondent states that a considerable number of people, including many ladies, availed themselves of the invitation of the council of the Coromandel School of Mines to visit that institution last night and inspect the electric light which nad just been installed, this being the first of the kind in Coromandel. A good deal of interest was manifested, and all were unanimous in pronouncing the installation a complete success. The work was done by the students, under the supervision of the director (Mr. D. Valle), but special mention must be made of Mr. 0. F. Battson, for his gratuitous services in laying the wires and lamps, this being done in a workmanlike manner. The dynamo is a shunt wound machine, having an output of four amperes at 110 volts when running at 2300 revolutions per minute. It is driven by a. 12in pelton wheel, under a pressure of 851b per square inch. The water is taken from the county main. Nine lamps, each of 16 candlepower, were successfully lighted, four of these being placed in the lecture hall, the others distributed throughout the other rooms. Our Otorohanga correspondent writes: — The settlers who have just arrived to take up their sections on the Orahiri Block, lately balloted for, are experiencing great difficulty in getting timber and goods to their holdings. There are no roads. The wet winter has turned low-lying land into quagmires, and it is next to impossible to take a waggon over the hills in their slippery state. Moreover, this can only be attempted when the Waipa is not in flood, and this has been very rare for several months. There is no. bridge, and there seems to be no move to get one as yet. A punt ggves a means: of communication to pedestrians, but is of little value where goods have to be transported. One of the successful applicants lately came to see his section. He did not reach it—he had seen enough—and returned from whence he came, and has left the land for someone else to try to get to. One cannot but admire the pluck and energy of those who come and stick at no difficulty in order to make a home for themselves. The suggested railway route between Mamaku and Rangiuru (Te Puke), a distance of about 30 miles, and shortening the distance to be travelled between Te Puke and Auckland to about 190 miles, was recently traversed by Mr. G. E. Yickerman, district engineer, who, it is reported by the Bay of Plenty Times, was agreeably surprised at the extremely easy nature of the country, enabling a railway to he constructed cheaply. Mr. J. J. Hay, assistant district engineer, has lately been on a visit of inspection of the Waihi-Tauranga railway line, and offered a suggestion or two in order to secure a shorter route. It is stated that, providing .a better route .is not discovered, the present work has fullv proved the practicability of a line through the Hikurangi Gorge. Messrs. R. Fenwick, late managing director of Messrs. T. and S. Morrin, Limited, and Mr. Macfarlane (late secretary of the company! and Mr. C. M. Fenwick, have commenced business in temporary premises in Albert-street. Messrs. Fenwick and Macfarlane "nave purchased the freehold of Messrs. Young Bros.' property in Highstreet, next to the late premises of Messrs. T. and S. Morrin, Limited, and the buildings are advertised for sale and removal. This building is one of the old landmarks of Auckland, for it was the first Congregational Church in the city, in which the late Rev. A. McDonald officiated for many years. A friendly suit to secure the opinion of the Court in regard to the administration of the estate of the late Sir Frederick Sargood, who died in New Zealand about 18 months ago, was brought before Mr. Justice Hood at Melbourne on July 22. It was explained that the estate, roughly estimated at £600,000, was left to Lady Sargood and children. Two of their sons desired to secure then father's interest in the Australian business, and the trustees advanced them £50.uu0 each as part of the purchase money, and two others were to be similarly dealt with in connection with the New Zealand estate. The trustees, in these circumstances, requested a direction from the Court on the question whether the sons who had received advances were to be debited in, the books of the estate with these amounts, and were-to be called on to pay interest. They thought the sons should be so charged, and should pay interest at the rate of five per cent., to be adjusted from time to time as the state of the money market warranted. The matter was not concluded at the rising of the Court and it was adjourned. The casa of a New Zealand contingenter, who has had a singularly unfortunate experience, has just been brought under our notice. The young man in question, Patrick Lamb, of Herekino, left Wellington in charge of horses with one of the first batch of troopers to South Africa. He subsequently joined Brabant's Light Horse, and after a good deal of shifting about the country was* injured at the Vaal River. He was shot on throe occasions, the most serious being a bullet which went through the lower portion of his jaw. On returning to New Zealand cancer developed, and he had his tongue and other cancerous portions of his mouth removed in an operation at the Christchurch Hospital. Lamb recovered from the operation, and has been well ever since until a short time back, when cancer recurred, and he was a couple of days ago removed from Herekino to the Auckland Hospital, of which he is at present an inmate. Lamb has a child ana aged mother depending upon him, and some friends are interesting themselves on his family's behalf. Mr. H. C. Powell, a member of the Hokianga and Mungonui County Councils is proceeding to Wellington to place the case before the Premier, with a view to securing some assistance for Lamb's dependents. * Gas was recently laid on in Albert Park and lamps were erected. Last eveniug the lamps were lighted for the first time.

It. is reported that the freshes lately occurring in the earns running into Lakes Tarawera. and Tikitapu, bringing down much pumice, have been responsible for the death of thousands of trout in the two lakes mentioned. The pumice appears to lodge in the gills of the fish. In order to prevent such wholesale destruction 01 trout-, the Rod and Gun Club is taking steps to drive the fish from the streams, and stop their return up the streams by erecting netted wire. An accident, fortunately not attended by serious results, happened at the Hibernian Hotel. Onehunga, yesterday, when Mr. T. D. Watts, contracting plumber for alterations and improvemnets to the hotel, fell frcm the top storey to the ground owing to a sheet of galvanised iron sliding from under him. Although the fall was over 20ft. Mr. Watts escaped without serious injury. Ha received a shaking and a few bruises. The death is announced of Mr. Thos. Holmes, an old identity, who came out in the early forties on the Matilda, Wattenbach. He was messenger in the Bank of Australasia during the early part of his career, and latterly carried on business in Symonds-street. When age began to tell its tale he sold out and spent his remaining years with his daughter. Mi's. Tanfield, who resides at Devonport. She is the only member of the family left. At the meeting of the Thames Harbour Board yesterday a vote of condolence was passed, expressing sympathy with Sir. J. M. Loughlan, one of the members, in the bereavement he has recently sustained through the death of his mother, who had been a resident of Thames for a period of over 36 years. Lambing has commenced in Hawke's Bay. and some thousands of lambs have been sold at from 8s 6d to 9s each for delivery in January. There were three persons in the lockup last night, charged with theft, one with vagrancy, and one with abandoning a child.