LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12759, 9 January 1905, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

His ■ ESCKI.I.EXCT the Oovr.itvou (Lord Plunket) visits the Colonial Ammunition Company--. wwks at Mount Eden to-day, To-morrow th« Governor will pay an official visit to Rotorua. On Saturday Lady Plunket visited the Young Women's Christian Association rooms, in Wclleslcy-street. \ 3 there will', be a conjunction of the moon and, Venus early 10-moirovr morning, those two luminaries will make a somewhat, near approach this evening. At eight p.m. Venus will bo to the south of the moon's centre, some two degrees, and to the cast) of it about four degrees, which is their nearest approach during the early part of the evening. Venus will set, at twenty minutes to ten, the moon somewhat sooner; at which time their distance from each other will be less than above given, but not noticeably so. A voting man named Elder had a nan.* escape from serious injury by attempting to board a car while in motion near Alexandra Park on Saturday evening. The Auckland Trotting Club's meeting was just over, and Eider, being anxious to secure a passage by one of the incoming cars front Onehunga. seized hold of the brass rod on the front platform, and in attempting to board the car before it had pulled up, lost his foothold. Fortunately he retained his' hold of the rod, and was draped for five or six yards with one foot, jammed against the front wheel. A turn or two move of the wheel, and his foot,, if not. his leg. would have been crushed, but the. car was rapidly brought to a standstill, and he was enabled to extricate himself none the worse but for the fright. The influx of population to Auckland continues to be evidenced by the arrival of almost every steamer. The Mokoia, width arrived from Sydney yesterday, had a heivr passenger list in the saloon, and 126 pas. sengers in the slew age, while the Manuka, from Southern end East Coast rots, brought 87 siee-age pissragers, and a ;avge number in the saloon. Mr. J. J. Craig, of J. J. Craig, Limited, write:; us with reference to the plans of harbour improvements adopted by the Auckland Harbour Board, which he lias just seen. He condemns the plans in vigorous terms, on the following grounds:—That the proposed wharves will take up too much of the water frontage, and will not provide snug berthage, owing to tidal influences; and that the deck portion of the wharf being raised, instead of level with the street, will make carting costly, carts and waggons being unable to get up to the goods - tl that the portions of the present wharves that are in good condition should be utilised in the scheme on the score of economy; and that the wharves are to go too far our, and into a recently-dredged area, with the result that 50ft piles will have to be used. Finally, he says, that the expenditure of the first £150.000 will give no more accommodation than now exists He could understand, he says, " the permanent erection of such part of Queen-street Wharf from the weighbridge to the new portion at the end of the narrow portion further down the wharf, including the widening of same to, say, 90ft, and going on to the new tees just lately erected." He urges further inquiry, and the taking of the evidence of those experienced, in handling cargo and controlling ships,. The Fire Brigade was called out shortly . after seven o'clock on Saturday morning, to a fire in the Gladstone Coffee Palace, at the foot, of Queen-street. The outbreak was in the' pantry, and the building was quickly filled with smoke, but the prompt arrival of the brigade enabled them to get the lire under control before much damagehad been done. A woman named Aley was partially overcome by the smoke, and had to be assisted out by Constable Murray and members of the Fire Brigade. The cause of the fire is unknown Mr. Frank Lawry, M.H.R.. who. accompanied by Mrs. and Miss Lawry. recently paid a visit, to the old and new caves at Waitomo, has communicated with .Sir Joseph Ward, the Minister in charge of Tourist Resorts, urging the lighting of the caves by means of electricity. Mr. Lawnregards the caves as a grand asset to the colony, and was much impressed with the beauty of the recently-discovered caves. The evidence at the inquest on the late Mrs. Dillon, which took place at Mercer on Saturday, appeared, at one stage of the proceedings to he taking a sensational turn. The account given by Dt. Dalzie l of his discovery of the prints of a man's hands on the arm of the deceased seemed to promise an important ••clue" for the basis of further investigations. The accused man Mutton was sitting in Court with his hands in front of him. and as the doctor proceeded to describe the size of the prints the eyes of all in Court naturally wandered in the direction of the prisoner. Mr. Baume (counsel for Murton) took a searching glance at the hands of his client, who was sitting on the opposite sick, of the room. The scrutiny was very satisfactory to the legal mind, and Mr. Baume at once rose, and, after drawing attention to the ample proportions of Murton's Hand, suggested that it should be measured. The examination by Dr. Dalziel of Mutton's hand showed that it was smaller than that which had made the marks, and the triumphant " there now- look which the learned counsel cast round the little Courtroom seemed to fully compensate him for any little vexation arising from his previous passage-of-arms with Detective Mellveuey as io his right of cross-examination of witnesses. When Mr. Gillies subsequently exhibited his hand for examination, and the doctor stated that such a hand could have made the prints, excitement naturally began to run high, but the expectation of a dramatic denouement was at once dispelled when Mr. Gillies gave his evidence, and stated how the marks had, as he believed, been cawed whilst he was performing the kindly offices of ministering to the wants ol the sick woman. The Union Company's fine steamer A pa* rima. arrived from Calcutta, Singapore, and Java early yesterday morning, after a vcrv good voyage. The usual medical and Customs inspection having been carried out, the steamer berthed at the Queen-street Wharf, her arrival, as usual, creating considerable interest. On tho present vovage the Apanma had a somewhat .sensational experience, as. while at Calcutta, a fire was discovered in the after hold, but was suppressed Without, much trouble, and with no damage to the steamer, and very little damage to the cargo, owing to the prompt measures taken by Captain McDonald and his officers and crew. The Aparima brings a very huge cargo of bonedust, gunnies. kapok, oil, etc., ot which over 4000 tons are ! for Auckland. Among the passengers are a . number of Indian, for Fiji. The steamer" has mi board some Indian cattle, one bull ' and three, cows, which are for Fiji, and will be transferred to the Mauapouri to-day. ! ■ Bathers in Auckland harbour would do j well to beware of sharks, which are said to be very numerous, particularly in the vicinity of Takapuu,. Beach. A shark bit . \ long was caught yesterday just off the Takapuna Wharf. • '&<

On Saturday evening a very enjoyable concert was held in tho saloon of the Mekoia, on her run across from Sydney, and the sunt of £5 was collected in aid of the Shipwreck Relief Society. Fine weather was experienced throughout the steamer's passage. S Mr. Mansfield, /who, it is understood, will receive the appointment of chief electoral officer for the colony, left Wellington for Auckland on Friday last. On his way north he will visit the electoral districts of Manawatu and Wairarapa, the object of the tour being to introduce a uniformity of system throughout the colony in conducting elections. The postage on newspapers to Gibraltar lias now been reduced to Id per paper, irrespective of weight. A horse bad to be shot in Onchunga on {Saturday afternoon, on account of injuries received through being run over by the '.tramway Company's freight car. A youth named Dean was riding a draught horse belonging to his father along Upper Queenstreet. Owing to his hat blowing off, when near the Foresters' Hall, he had to dismount. At this juncture the freight car came along, and the horse took fright, and, rearing up, fell across the tram line. The animal was caught by the car and carried about 10 yards along the road, When the car was stopped tho horse was lying on its side muter the platform and against the lifeguard, which was smashed up. There being no jacks on the car, some delay was caused in procuring a collide. Eventually the. car was lifted, and the horse drawn from under. Is was immediately seen that the off foreleg had been broken at the shoulder, besides which other injuries had been sustained. A idle was quickly requisitioned, and the animal shot through the head. The Northern Company's steamer Wakatere, which lost her rudder whilst on the passage from Auckland to the Thames on Friday evening last, was towed to Auckland by the s.s. Taniwha on Saturday morning, and will be floated into Calliope Dock today for the necessary repairs. ; There were 14 persons in the lock-up last night, nine of the number having been rested on the charge of drunkenness. Of the remaining five, two were charged with being stowaways, one with committing an indecent assault, one with theft, and one with failing to make provision for his unborn child. The new regulations under the Stock Act provide hat if any young cattle that have not, at least seven days previously, been vaccinated and branded as provided, are found in any yard, or on any land or other place at which stock are offered for .sale within the area described in the fourth schedule hereto, or if such young cattle are taken or allowed to pass out of the said area, the owner of such cattle shall be deemed to have committed a breach of these regulations. In every case where any stock has died within the said infected aic-a, or within any such infected place as aforesaid, the owner shall, unless otherwise directed by an inspector, at once ciL-.se the carcase of such stock to be destroyed by burning; or, in cases where burning would be unreasonably costly, or lire would be likely to cause damage by spreading, the proof of which shall in either case be upon the owner, the latter may cause tho carcase to be buried to a depth of not less than oft underground. Such burning or burying shall be done at, or as near as is practicable to, the spot where the stock died. With regard to the outbreak of plague at Clarence River, New South Wales, Sir Joseph says the Health Department is carefully watching all arrivals in the colony, but special precautions are not deemed necessary. The Department is well organised, and panic arrangements are not now required.