LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13146, 7 April 1906, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

While engaged with other employees of the firm of Messrs. A. and T. Burt in fixing a new iron chimney to the laundry at the rear of the Waitemata. Hotel yesterday morning, a man named James Watson met with a painful accident. He and-another, named P. W'arbrick, were fixing the chimney in.position, Warwick being on the roof and Watson on a ladder, resting against the lower portion of the* new' chimney, and while the -upper portion of the chimney was being hauled into position the rope broke, and the section fell on Watson, throwing him to the pavement, about 30ft below. It was feared he had been killed., but examination showed that beyond a broken collarbone and severe bruises about the ribs he was not seriously injured, and lie was removed to the hospital. Warbrick was struck' on the leg by the falling section, and the muscles of the limb were somewhat strained, but he was able to proceed to his home. " ' '•' ' :

At a meeting of the shareholders of the New Zealand Accident Insurance Company, held yesterday, a resolution was passed to the effect that the company be wound up voluntarily," this step being rendered necessary by the recent amalgamation of the company with the New Zealand Insurance Company. The resolution will come up for confirmation at another meeting to be held on the 24 th inst. '■:■■

The Herald Summary, for transmission by the next outward San Francisco mail, will be published next. Wednesday morning. Those desirous of forwarding the Summary 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 th« post office. 'This mail will bo duo in Loudon on May 12.

An inquest touching the death of Charles Stokes, aged 56 years, a recent arrival from Sydney, who died at the Victoria Hotel on Thursday morning, was held at Gieeson's Hotel by Mr. T. Gresham, coroner, yesterday. Evidence was given by Roland A. Stanley, who occupied the same room as; deceased, ; to the effect that Stokes retired bed, apparently in good health, on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning witness called him, but Stokes asked that he might be railed again after breakfast, as he felt tired. About nine a.m. witness returned... to the room, and found Stokes breathing rather heavily. The licensee was called in, and gave ; deceased a glass of l'unri water, but deceased did not seem to tally, ami lapsed into unconsciousness. Dr. Brockway gave evidence to the : effect that death was caused by rupture of the basal meniugial artery, induced probably by mental excitement, and the jury returned .a verdict accordingly; ; The deceased, who arrived by the Manuka on Sunday, "was on his way to Christchurch,'' 1 where he was; to meet his two children, who have been spending ■■&': holiday there, it being his intention to return with them to Sydney shortly, To-day's Herald consist of «3 wages,.

- ■ -, -; j ; ■ The; long-deferred judging of the torn- * I petitive' essays in connection with the late , agricultural show, prizes for which were oral fered by the Agricultural and Pastoral ,W : ;| sociation to children attending ' primary? :' schools in the Auckland.provincial district M lias been concluded. Thy awards are 'mm follows: Girls: First, a, silver -watch, Miss j Mona Maekay, Grafton Road, Auckland : {motto, "Sperio Meliora") ; second, a, gold 4'; brooch, Miss Mary Ferguson, East Tarrnikr' ("Excelsior). Boys' section: First, silver ■$■■ watch, Master Wallace . Sumner, Papatoc- - toe ("Unity is Strength"); second, a. gold 1 medal, Master B. N. Baxter, Luoliiel, Ohaupo ("Never' Venture,"■Nov- "Win"). The paper in the girls 1 division bearing-' the motto, " Encourage Agricultural Indus'-- : r try," and that in the boys', -..with "Hope' of Gain Sweetens Labour," 'were highly commended. In a letter to Mr. E. Ball, - secretary of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, bearing on "the- competition'?, Mr. Ernest A. James, who" was entrusted, with the judging, remarks; "If anything, I fancy the essay* submitted by the girls v are in advance of those written by the boys, decidedly the best of the-series being that;;! of "Sperio Meliora-" -There is, however, a great similarity about many of the papers, ■ which is suggestive either of coaching en : r identical linesin itself quite permissible-.. '" or of a free use of the newspaper reports of | the" show. Some- of the papers are alto- ■ gether too long, but in the absence of any/; condition as to length they have to be treated on their merits., V! ,ln the. case of the,. boys, the longest paper of all. or nearly so— . that submitted by "Unity is Strength"—- •' evinces so much care and attention to de. . tail that it. could'hardly have been placed' . otherwise than in the first position. Might I suggest, in view of -similar competitions ; in the future, that a limit of, say, from 1500 - to '2000 words,- should be placed on such : essays."

The death by accident of Mrs. J. Bokow- | sky, «f Ohaupb, occurred yesterday (writes ' our HamiJlon correspondent). The deceased lady, who was about '70 years of ago. went outside the house to wash some vegetables. , About half-an-hour afterwards her body - was found by,one her daughters in the . well, which was close to the house. The body was at once got out, but life was; extinct. The deceased and her husband were very old residents of the district, ; their arrival dating 1865. Very great regret | is felt at the accident, and much sympathy with the relatives of the deceased is felt by | all

Our Coromandel correspondent writes:— ;J It is reported that upwards of 200 men are , ] now working on the new gumtield near Mercury Bay. Most of them ire stated to be making, good money. ;

At the Magistrate's Court yesterday the : -{jjs jury list was revised, and Mr. G. C. Kettle, 10 S.M., was in attendance for the purpose of $$ hearing objections. The only person pre- " |>| sent for, the purpose of objecting was in- S formed that his name was not on the list, £-'j and the list was then closed. i "* An inquest was held at Onewhero on p' Wednesday, before Mr. R. F. Webster, . ' M coroner, concerning the death of T. W. ; || Hector, who met with a fatal acefdett on|B Tuesday. After hearing the evidence, of l|;H Dr. Williams, .'and Messrs. ' H. Geraghly, j F. J. Box, and C. J. Harris, the jury If brought in a verdict that deceased was ac- y' cidentally killed by a fall of stone on April : ff 3 at Wairamarama, no blame being attach- !', ed to anyone. Constable Waterman con- « ducted the inquiry. The body was taken ; ' on Thursday morning to Cambridge foi in- |.j terment, the funeral leaving Onewhero at §j half-past seven. A large number of footballers s were in attendance, and they carried■•tJ&b.., « coffin, the last' quarter of a. mile, ."Hector .-11 • ; ' : r '-il having been a most enthusiastic footballer. - < || The weather continues most unseasonable si (writes our Onewhero correspondent). - Rain Jy has fallen nearly every day, and the roads . ||j are getting bad. Unless the weather clears ft up very soon they will be worse than ever j jj in some places this coming winter. There j ra is a considerable quantity of metal broken ' || ready for them, but it will take a week or j jj two of dry weather before it can be put on. . I t | Interviewed by a Wellington reporter. |ja with a request for particulars of the work L r $ already done by the recently appointed |Jji Aotea Maori Land Board, Mr. T. W. i -1 Fisher said that the Ohutu Block, which hi is vested in the Board and is situated on fe| the Wanganui River, containing • 80,000 ' 0j acres, was dealt with by the Board at its . i : Wunganui sittings, and applications for-vAg leases have now been accepted for over p| one-half of the area. In regard to the im- \ \ provements in the Act of last session, "as ; compared with the Act of 1900, Mr. ." Fisher said the greatest advantage is in " connection with the leasing. Applications j for leases can be much more promptly ; dealt with by the Board under the new. | Act. . Already greater activity is being I manifested in the taking up of Maori land l|| on lease, and the competition is keener. }'- \ There were four persons! in the police cells |L;j las* night, three charged with drunkenness, jf'j and the other with having committed an j indecent act. ,■'•.:.>.;:.,•• -.-.. :,,::: 'PI „- • ■"■ ''■■"■'' ; \ •'■ ■•■ ■■ " H New Zealand afford,', every facility for 'M the propagation of weeds, noxious and; 1 ] otherwise, but one of the worst is at pre-;;? I|| sent taken little notice of, says the North is\ [ Otago Times. .It is the clover bun', which [J [ a few years ago was detected in the rive: 1 I .j j sand ballast, discharged from a vessel- that I [|f | had arrived at Oamaru from a South Aineri-i f ] j can port. It has since then spread along some of the railway lines. It is as far south as Moeraki, and is carried by dog* "^1 and men in various directions for the burrs- * \ adhere firmly to the coat or to the rough '{ hair of a dog. When it bus gained an.:, | vextended hold in the country (he value of | ' _; wool will be considerably depreciated. It i ( v^ was stated by a gentleman who had expert % once of it in South America that it at first ~ depreciated the value of wool by 4d per lb, owing to the difficulty of extracting the '. ! burrs from the wool. The plant bears a ; beautiful crop of burrs each year, which are worse in their adhesive qualities than < .: the biddy-bid, which, however, dots not • 4* grow out in the open fields like the burr, j I J "i The Parnell Fire Brigade was called out Jm at a-quarter to nine last evening, the cause of the alarm being the burning of some >lh gorse below St. Stephen's Road. A few buckets of water sufficed to extinguish the: fire. v .:'" ;.'-■•':'■.■• l i Particulars regarding Holy Week ser- fl vices in the Anglican and Roman Catholic : i .Churches will be found in our advertising columns. The Anglican Bishop of Auckland [H (Dr. Neligan) has arranged to give a series of ) addresses to city and business men next Jj vi'eek, commencing on Monday. These a °* *!< dresses will be delivered at Hr. Matthew's Church, in connection with the Pussiontide services. Each service will commence at a-quarter-past one p.m., and will last jUSt j half-an-hour. These mid-day sendees are »-, : , jij new feature of church life in the colonies, ', but are familiar to those who have recently . i come from England. .Special vices .»«■' v also announced to take place at St. M.f> i , ~ Cathedral, St. Paul's, and All Saints'. At p the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Kin-* 1 Pass, at a-quarter past three te-n>orrt>w ar ternooii, Stainers cantata, ."The <-' t!t '' , lixiou'" will be icndu.'d Holy N«* • _ ceremonies, according to th- riles of >• Jl Roman Catholic Church, will be carried V; ph at St. Patrick's Cathedral. . ;,

A Suez mail which left London.on March 2 will arrive from Sydney by the Zeailandia to-morrow. The yirsfc Battalion- Band will perform ■■■■■ the (following/, programme in the Albert > Park to-morrow afternoon, commencing at three o'clock: — Quick march, " Washington Greys'' (Graffela); grand contest selection, "Halevy" ' (Halevy) ; melody, "Simple Avcu" (Thome): waltz, " Flowers. of Australia" (Laski) ; euphonium solo. .''The Village Blacksmith" ; intermezzo from "II Cavallem Rusticana," by special request (Mascagni); quick march, " 8.8. C.F." (Ord Hume. The Garrison Band will play in Western Park at. three p.m. the following programme :—March, "Rifle Camp," J. Ord Hume; operatic. fantasia, D. Jaxone; waltz, Sweetest of All," Hough; selection "Stephen Adam's Songs," J. Ord Hume; fantasia, "Popular Melodies," De Mprdli; march, "The Royal Monarch," J. Lewis.

The Rev. Father Maillard, Li Jerusalem, informs .the Wanganui Herald that amongst the sufferers by the potato blight along the Wanganuij River is the orphanage at that place, where there are 18 children from four to 12 years of age. The crops which the Sisters; who look after the children put in have been an almost complete failure, only six bags being got from 11 acres, -and these will last only a couple of weeks longer. The good Sisters who look after th» orphans receive rio support from the Government,) being dependent on their own exertions and such donations as may be made by the charitably disposed. They do not know bow they are going to keep their charges through the coming winter, and will be very thankful for anything in the way of food supply or assistance of any kind that may bo sent. We have no doubt that all who can help will willingly send what they can for the benefit of these poor orphans.

. A proposal by a member of the central executive of the Victorian Political Labour Council that the Countess of Warwick, a patroness of the Labour party in England, should be invited to visit Australia, was rejected at a meeting of that body. The principal grounds . urged against the proposal were that it was ridiculous, and that the party in Australia had nothing to learn from the party in England, seeing that the English Labour party had only achieved at the last elections what the Australian Labom party had accomplished in 1891, namely, the first general return of Labour representatives, to Parliament. It was pointed out that there was no freer Constitution in the world than that of the Federal Parliament of Australia, and that through it the workers had a means to achieve their desires, whereas a period of 50 years might yet. elapse before the Labour party in England reached a similar stage of progress in legislation. *

A runaway Reefton debtor shipped at Grey mouth under an assumed named by the Mapourika on April 5 (says the Grey River Argus), leaving a number of creditors in Reefton, from whom he hvd obtained supplies. Two of the creditors decided to intercept him, and to carry that into effect one of them, "Mr. John Dick, made a trip to Westport,- and boarded the Mapourika. After making a search at Westport, Mr. Dick had his suspicions aroused by a man lying in a, bunk with his back to the centre of the cabin, and pulling the blankets from the man he found the runaway, who was informed that the bailiff would arrest him unless he came to a settlement. The man was perfectly dumbfounded at being brought to book at Westport, having evidently congratulated himself on successfully eluding his creditors. He handed over what money was in his possession, was permitted to retain ss, and allowed: to proceed on his way.