LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12928, 26 July 1905, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A LETTER was read at the meeting of the Harbour Board yesterday with reference to the Harbour Boards' Association's letter regarding'a Superannuation Bill. The Finance Committee of the Board did not recommend the scheme as proposed. The chairman (the Hon. E. Mitohelson) said the matter was one requiring much consideration, for the scheme made it compulsory for boards to pay out of their finances towards its upkeep. If it were adopted there would be a considerable inroad 011 the Board's funds. Personally, he might say he was opposed to superannuation of any sort. It was quite sufficient, he held, that the boards were paying their servants higher salaries, and they enjoyed greater privileges" than persons in private employment, who did not get any pension, but provided for themselves. Again, if at any time the funds became depleted through an excess of deaths, the boards would be responsible. The Board should have all information before it before coming to a decision, and, therefore, consideration should be deferred. This was agreed to. _ The supplement published with to-day's issue contains, in addition to its usual features, letters to the editor, athletics, and agricultural articles. The colonial mails which left Auckland per R.M'.s. Sierra, via San Francisco, .on June 23, arrived in London on Saturday last, contract date. An interview, with Mr. E. W. Payton, director of the Elam School of Art, on the work of the school, appears in the Supplement to this issue. ' '

The Auckland Weekly News, issued to, day,, contains a remarkable variety of. striking illustrations dealing with subjects of wide interest. ■< Among the' current events will be found excellent pictures of the recent @1 fatal firo at Fcilding, the Agricultural Con- • ference at Wellington, the closing scenes at ir the great Maori tangi at Rotorua, and » flashlight view' of the guests at the St George's Rowing Club's annual dinner, to- '•'* gether with portraits of Stanbury ail( | Towns, who contested the world's Sculling championship at Sydney last Saturday. The ' - double-page of the number contains two fin® : panoramic views. One depicts the chief port of Canterbury, and shows all the principal features of the well-appointed Southern harbour. The other is a very com-' prehensive view of the Waihi Gold Mining • 1 Company's Victoria battery •at Waikino,: V and conveys an excellent idea of the extent ' and importance of one of the greatest goldmining plants in the world. Other subjects s dealt with include Moriori life at the Chatham Islands, Auckland Harbour improve, men Is, and some beautiful scenic views, to- I gether with portraits of a number of candi-' dates for Parliament at the coming election.

The Anglican Bishop of Auckland (Dr. Neligan) and Mrs. Neligan gave the third of a series of "At Homes" at Bishopscourt ' Parnell, last • evening. Although the weather was unfavourable there was a very large and representative gathering. Over 600 guests were present, including town and country clergy, representatives of the Ministers' Association, university professors, doctors, and leading business men. The Garrison Band, under Lieutenant Hunter, gave a musical programme in the hall. Another "At Home" will be given by Bishop and' Mrs. Neligan to-night.

At a silting in chambers yesterday morning, His Honor Mr. Justice Edwards grant-! Ed probate in the estate of Mary Coade deceased. On the application of Mr. McVcagh, letters of administration were granted in the estate of Wm. Henry Spanhake, deceased.

The following tenders were opened at the Harbour Board's meeting yesterday, for the erection of the hull and machinery of the new suction dredger: Eraser and Sons, £1491; Massey Brothers, £1480; Seager: V Brothers, £1443; Charles Judd (Thames), , \ £1050. Before the tenders were opened,' • the chairman (the Hon. E. Mitchelson) said' . Mr. Judd's tender was brought to the office by Mr. Jodd himself, one minute and a-half ' after the tenders had been closed." Mr. Judd l did not find the secretary until three minutes ':: after the tenders had closed. The question . was, Should the bender be received? The Board decided that it .be received. The • engineer's estimate for the work was between £800 and £900. The tenders were referred to the Works and Tariff Committee to report upon, in conjunction with the engineer.

Should the sky be clcar this evening, Mercury will be seen very close to the bright. . ■ star Alpha Leonis. or Cor Leo, as the planet : is in conjunction with it at seventeen ' minutes to' six o'clock. Both bodies will be seen in the western sky a little to the ' , north of the place where the sun has set, " and the least distance between them is only . twenty-seven minutes of arc, or' about the least diameter of the moon. "

■ The Mayor of Auckland (Mr. A. M.< Myers) Bent the following message to Mr. L. A. Bachelder, American Vice-Consul-General, yesterday forenoon:"The Mayor of Auckland desires to express on behalf of ' - its citizens the deepest sympathy with the : '", ■ people of. the .United; States on the- Bennington disaster and particularly with the'' K relatives of the victims, as well as the pride ' with which they have learnt of the heroic conduct of the crew." <

• •. » ... , * <r Sixty applications were received by the Harbour Board yesterday for the post of ' 7 signalman at Mount Victoria. The chairman (the Hon. E. Mitchelson) said there', were applications from all parts of _ the colony, and some of the candidates for the. '< , position (worth £150 per annum and house): V; were receiving £16 u month already, which . they were apparently willing to sacrifice. The applications were referred to the Works. - and Tariff Committee to be reduced to six.

About half-past six on Thursday morning , • an alarm of fire was sounded on the bella : at both sides of the river (writes our Hamil- 1 : ton correspondent). The fire brigade, on • turning out, found that the fire was in a 1 '■ two-storey building at the rear of Messrs. W. C. Davis ail 3: Co.'s premises, which was ■ used by the firm as a furniture factory. , • When first discovered, the fire had'a good hold'and the exertions of the brigade only resulted in confining the fire to .the building ; in which it originated. There was a considerable quantity of furniture stored in the building, which is a total loss. 1 ■>

Mr. McMahon, the contractor for the re* . moval of the rocks in the Manukau Channel,' reports further progress with the work. A , v diver has been engaged, in order to locate and assist in the removal of displaced stones. V These, when too large, are being furthe* broken up by explosives, so as not to ob- ;V; struct the passage of large vessels. • . 1

Our Drury correspondent states that, M regards egg-laying, the following'. will b« hard to beat: Last season, Mrs. John Blake had three ducks. They were liatched at lie latter end of November, 1903, and started laying about June, 1904. Up to the middle of March, 1905, those tluw ducks laid 508 eggs.

The directors of the Drury Coal Company, Limited, intend l to formally open the Drury coal mine and its two miles of railway on Saturday next, 29th inst., upon arrival o» the ten o'clock express train, from Auckland at Dniry. There will be no special ceremony, but shareholders who care to be present will be welcomed. ""

The coroner (Mr. T. Gresham) conducted an inquest yesterday upon the death of » man named James Joseph Miller, who died at his residence, Eden Terrace, rather suddenly on Monday last. The evidence showed that at- about two o'clock on Monday morning Mrs. Miller found her husband breathing with difficulty, and immediately sent for Dr. Grant. Before the doctor arrived, however, Mr. Miller expired. Dr. Grant stated that, as the result of. a 06 '" mortem examination, he found that death was due to rupture of the anterior wall of the heart, and a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony was returned.

Mr. G. F. Gray, the Liberal organiser* writes as follows Will you kindly allow me to supply an omission in your Waiuku correspondent's report of some remarks of mine at Mr. McCardle's ■ meeting? What I said was this: "In going through the constituency 1 had heard the names of Messrs. Ralph, Spragg, Kidd, and Cheal mentioned; but, so far as I knew, none of these were possible candidates, and Mr. McCardie was the only announced candidate at present in the Liberal interests.'"

The members of the Auckland Political Reform League are reminded that the annual meeting will be held in the Chamber of Commerce to-night, at eight o'clock.

Another whale has been captured by Messrs. E. F. Cook and Co., of the Whangamumu whaling station, making £ total of 19 for the present season.

. Our Cambridge correspondent writes; — j{ r F. O'Toole lias given notice of motion to move at tie next meeting of the borough council, to be held' on Thursday next, " That a respectful address be presented by the Cambridge Borough Council to His Excellency the Governor, requesting him to vest jhe management of the Cambridge East Jjuke reserve and endowment lands in the 6 aid borough council." I also understand that the Mayor (Mr. Buckland) intends giving notice to move, "That a vote of the ratepayers he taken on the question of. a proposal to borrow £12,500 for the purpose of establishing municipal gasworks, extending ilie waterworks, erecting a public hall and municipal buildings, sewerage scheme, etc."

i At a largely-attended public meeting held j u Hetit's Hall, To Kuiti, on July 24, the following resolutions were passed unanimously: "I 1 " That this meeting of the residents of the To Kuiti district is dissatisfied i(h the reply of the Minister for Railways re the by-law forbidding the carriage of alcoholic liquors on the railway, South To Awajnutu, and that ho has shown 110 reason hy this district should be singled out for exceptional treatment, and this meeting pledges itself to use all legitimate means to : (have the said by-law abolished." (2) " That this, meeting views with surprise and indignation the action of the Minister for Justice in introducing police espionage regarding an open and public meeting of the residents of the Te Kuiti district, and expresses on opinion that his action was uncalled for, nd'a blow aimed at publio liberty of speech." -Speaking at Malvern recently, Mr. Bent 'said the reason why the population of New South Wales had increased was that she had spent £5,000,000 of loan money during the past few years. Victoria, on the other hand,, had not been spending loan money, ; but lie. thought that, the land ' settlement policy she was adopting was a far . better policy . for attracting people to' her shores. New South Wales was as jealous of Victoria now as before federation. He had a brother who was Mayor of Hay, New South Wales, and he believed that his brother had such a feeling against Victoria that he carried it even down to him (the Premier). He was sorry such a feeling of jealousy should exist, between the two States. He bad gone to Tasmania with Mr. Carruthers, and they were " Oh, so friendly." (Laughter.) .They used the most endearing phrases to one another. (Renewed laughter.) He (Mr. Bent) would say, "Hallo, Joe! how are you this morning?" Joe would say, "Well, Tom, how goes it?" (Great laughter.) The English papers had been complimenting him (Mr. Bent) recently, so his friend, " Joe," had said, " I have a surplus, too," but "Joe" had not been able to get within £64,000 of him.- He wanted the "most kindly feeling to exist between " Joe" and himself. He wanted New South Wales to prosper, and all States to prosper. (Hear, tear.)

Recently it was decided to inaugurate technical classes at the Onehunga High School, and a commencement was made on Monday evening, when Miss Campbell, of the Auckland Technical School, to- chargi of a class for dressmaking. There were 15 present, a number which has since been, increased to 20. Last evening Mr. Payne, also of the Auckland Technical School, gave instruction in book-keeping to an enrolled class of 10. . This evening Mr. Fossey, of the Newmarket Manual School, will take over a class of 12 for trade drawing. On each evening, Mr. W. N. Mcintosh (headmaster), and Messrs. Geo. H. James, H. J. Blackwood, and S. Skinner (members of the School, Committee). .were present. Much, satisfaction is ■ felt at the successful start made, and a large enrolment is expected.

His Excellency'the Governor of Fiji left Suva for Tonga on July 18 in H.M.e. Torch, with Captain Montgomery, A.D.C;, and Mr. R. Rankine, acting-secrctarj to the High Commission. His Excellenoy anticipates being absent from Fiji for about six weeks, during which time he will visit Tonga, the Ellice and Gilbert Island protectorates, and from thence to Suva, via the British Solomon Islands.

K A few days ago the Sydney detectives became aware that counterfeit half-crowns f ', were in circulation in the city, and that, !■; with the exception of the "milling," they / were excellent imitations. It has now been

discovered that another set of counterfeits,

■, cast from the 1900 issue, are being passed, v One coin, which is in the hands of the police, is just as good looking as the genuine article. Tie " milling" is capitally executed, but di- ' < rectly it is tested for the "ring" it fails utterly.- The material of which it is composed is nearly nil tin, whereas in the other ■ sample nickel and silver predominated. .To 'show how easily these coins may deceive ' ■. any but experts, it should be stated that both were received in change from big commercial establishments. ■The attendance at the Auckland Society . , of Arts has been so large the hist few days '-hi fact', it has '' increased day by day— that the committee have decided not to close the exhibition this week as announced, tout • to keep open during the whole of next week. In consequence of this the drawing of the art. union, which was announced for this' I 1; evening," has been postponed till next. WedV", 'fiesday, August 2. A large number of art union tickets have been sold at the gallery : during the last ■'■ew days, and it is antici- " pated that the art union will be, like the daily attendance at the exhibition, larger , : than that of any preceding years.

V The Auckland Co-operative Terminating • -. Building Society held a meeting ,in St. ■y- James' Hall last evening. There was a good attendance of shareholders. Appropriations amounting to £2800 had been advertised, and seven, amounting to £3200, . were disposed of. In the first group. (by : sale), £400, the successful tenderer offered . £57 10s per £200, and he took the £400. : In the second group,- by ballot, No. 43 was • ■ drawn at the first' attempt, and the winner ■ took £400. The accepted tender in the > > third group was £61 10s, but as the ap.plicant only required £200, a tender at £58 12s 6d' was accepted for £400, making \ a total of £600 in that group. No. 213 was the successful number in group • four, hut as the holder only required £200, another draw was made for the second £200, and 598 was the number drawn. As .the holder , of the latter number held more than one share, he took £400. A tender ,oE £62 was accepted for £400 in group five, and £62 15s. for a similar sum m group six was accepted. In No. 7 group, , . which is one of the four new groups, No. 869 was successful, and took £400.

■ The Harbour Board, at its meeting yester day, decided to advertise for lease all avai able allotments, including sites at Freeman s % and Quay-street.'

Recently Mr. Edward Dunn, one of the oldest natives of the Murrum'burrah district (N.S.W.), had' ,a miraculous escape from death at Currawong Station. l ifi was a oU to oil the under-gear of a cultivator, when a : stick with which he had propped up the front of the machine, broke, and tie u ■top weight of the niacninc struck 11,11 0 - th» back of the neck, and pinned us ac ;to the iron frame below Fortunately e P Was at hand, and lie was at once release • Otherwise, within 10 minutes, death wou have been inevitable. Mr. Dunn sustained a : broken nose and other facial injuries.