LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13278, 10 September 1906, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The wind, which, has been blowing from the north-east during the past few days, changed into the westward yesterday. Rain set in on Saturday afternoon, and continued almost without cessation until last evening. The weather in the Tasman Sea and along the coast has been bad fox more than a week past, the wind being from the eastward during that period, and masters of vessels approaching the coast have bad a somewhat anxious time, the thick and dirty weather conditions of the week making it a matter of difficulty to pick up the land. An English mail via Suez, which left London on .August 3, arrived by the Victoria from Sydney yesterday. Personal Iteians and other interesting news from our London correspondent will be found elsewhere in this issue. A serious accident occurred on Friday afternoon to Motor man John White, near the, terminus on the Heme Day line. In glancing behind his head hit one of the centre poles and he was rendered unconscious, and fell across the apron of the car, which being without a driver continued its course, until it jumped the rails at the terminus, and went across the read where its progress was checked by a ditch. Dr. Bedford, who witnessed the accident, attended the motorman, and subsequently he was removed to his home in Day-street. ■ On inquiry last evening, we ascertained that he was making good progress. Those who witnessed the accident, say that before falling unconscious on to the apron, he swayed with the car, and it appeared that he might at any Lime have fallen directly in front of it. In another column to-day we give the second instalment of A. W. Marchmont's striking new story, " In the Cause of Freedom." The story deals with the political troubles of Russia and with the action*, of a secret society known as the Polish Freedom Fraternity, the conditions of Russian life, politically and socially, forming a striking background to an interesting and skilfully constructed romance of love and adventure. The story will be continued by daily instalments in the columns of the New Zealand Herald. Through playing with a miniature rifle, a fourteen-year-old boy, named Herman Carter, received a bullet in his ankle, It appears that the boy got- possession of the weapon on Friday afternoon, and took it on to the beach near his parents' residence, Marine Parade, where the accident happened. The boy was quickly attended to and Dr. Piirchas. with a view of locating the bullet, used the X-rays. Dr. Bedford subsequently extracted the missile, and the. boy is now making satisfactory progress.

The. Tourist Department (says thaWatJpJwl Lakes Chronicle) missed a splendid opp<> r . : f .| f tunity on Wednesday last of directing *«. . < tcntion to the wonders of Rotoruaj by omit, ting to hav> the Wairoa geyser soaped ot I '' " the occasion of the visit to this town of the team of Auckland footballers. Applj. cation was made by telegram on Monday ' ; }■-> by the secretary of the Rugby Union that"',' ' the geyser give an exhibition on Weduct,. day, but to this there was no response. On Tuesday evening a second message was sent, repeating the request, but no lcplv was received. There may havo been good and valid reasons for not soaping the geyser, but surely the representative of a body - such as the Rugby Union is deserving of the ordinary courtesy. So far us the soap. . ■ ing of the geyser is concerned, this has been done heretofore for the benefit of one " individual only, and at a couple of hours notice; had the request been complied with, the eruption would have been witnessed by quite 200 people. On Friday A telegram was received by the chairman of the Rugby Union from the Superintendent of the Tourist Department, an follows: — "Am prepared play Wairoa Sundry, if •;. , suitable. General objection to geyser being played on week days." The examinations for the junior national ! scholarships and the Education Board scholarships, and also the examinations for '?' free places in secondary schools, district high schools, and technical schools take ' place on December 11 and 12 next. Entries for these examinations close on Sep. tember 50. The qualifications for the junior national scholarship provide that the. candidates must have been under regular instruction at public schools of New Zealand for three years immediately preceding the examinations, and the last si* months of the period they must have been under regular instruction in the subjects of the I sth or a higher standard 1 . Candidates must not be over 13 years of age. The scholarship cannot be held by any ]ierson if the ' total income of the parents is .jquivaient to £250 per annum. The junior national -\; scholarship carries with it £10, together , , with an additional allowance of £50 if the holder is required to live away from home. The Education Board scholarships are open . to all public school pupils within the Auckland education district who do not exceed I*l years of age on December 1. 1906. No . ■ limit of age is prescribed for the junior free places, but regulations provide that successful candidates who seek admission to tin secondary schools must not be more than 14 years of age on December 1. The scholarship is worth, £10 per year, with an .; additional £25 if the holder is required to -; : board away from home. ' It is staled that the record price or - hides is held by 'Auckland, not Dunedin \ (as stated in a Press Association telegram on Saturday), as Messrs. G. W. Binney and Sons .sold in March last one ox hide, which realised £3 9s 2d ; one ox hide, which realised £3 4s Id; and in May, 1903, one ox hide, which realised £3* 10s lOd. Messrs. A. Buckland and Sons also write as follows on this subject: , — In your issue of this morning we notice j i a. Press Association telegram from, Dunedin . ; | stating that '£3 3s 4d has been obtained for a single hide, which is a record for the jji colony.' On May 5, 1903, we sold one : * hide at B|d per lb, which realised £3 19." 6d, consequently tho price quoted froir >* Dunedin cannot be a record one." \ . ; The Petcne Chronicle says :—The frame." of a number of workmen's houses that are being erected in Petone are already in position, ami any person passing, who did not know what was going on, would take them for cowsheds. The houses are only about •-,-) ' Bft high, and the rooms pokey and squatty. The front room will be a very convenient room, as, being fitted with a, stave it-has " •" to serve as a kitchen, dining, and sittingroom in one. This is so that the occupier won't have much trouble in showing visitors over the house. The houses are mow , ■„ like the old shanties of the gold-digging days, and are a disgrace to modern sanitary methods of living, Half-a-crown's worth of meat was a subject of contention at the Wanganui S.M. Court the other morning. The Freezing ' Company recently took over two meat businesses in the; town, and with a view of clearing off the book debts sent out accounts to all debtors. One bill, amounting to half-a-crown, was sent to the local .|j librarian, who, having a receipt for tin amount in question, waxed wroth, and. in a note to the company, remarked that "if the blithering idiot who sent the bill said ho (the librarian) owed half-a-crown, ' he was a liar of the kind found in perdition." The company, convinced that the librarian was barking up the wrong tree, had a summons issued, and the alleged do faulter appeared before the magistrate. He duly produced the receipt, which he had told the company he possessed, and the company's representative, seeing no way , of getting round it, did the only thing ; ' possible, viz., withdrew the claim.

The following (says the Dunedin Star) has some bearing on the alleged "enorm- : , ous profits" of tl . Homo steam lines :—.■'. ■/•;!] A Home steamer has just visited this port and departed leaving a frightful "bill. of ■ costs" behind her. When,all charges were /•• added up it was found that the total pay-* - J ments attendant on entering, leaving, ' 1 berthage, stevedoring, etc., amounted t« ■ V no less than 75 per cent, of the vessel's 4 gross earnings for the port. And th's was , without counting in coal, wages, and pro vidoring. In a conversation recently, Mr. Drysdale. manager of tlio State Experimental ".Farm, told a Winton Record representative that \ they had one cow only in a herd of 158 cows ff which they milk at the farm, which gave , a milk test of 6.4 per cent, butter fat. Her breeding was first cross between the Ayrshire and the Hereford. On this farm ~£.'; every cow's milk is weighed daily and test- - :; I ed several times during the month. The / * variation in percentage of butter fat ruin ' : , from 3.0 to 6.4, and Mr. Drysdale is tirmlj , ' of opinion that a, large percentage of thedairy cows are unprofitable, and that complete knowledge of each individual cow in the herd is necessary to run the dairy farm profitably. It may take a little time and ;.., labour and expense, yet it pays well to do it. During a brisk discussion at the Arbitra- ' ' tion Court sitting at Christchurch, concerning the right of the Court to cover domestic . i groom-gardeners by the gardeners' award, Mr. Justice Chapman said that he would almost become an interested party to tha dispute. He had a very old man that worked in his garden and did odd jobs. He came and went when he liked, kept whatever hours he wished and whatever day* f!; ? He knew where the bulbs were, while an- l I other man would probably put his spade I through them. Tht union's representative said that the man could come under the incompetent workmen's clause. "On the coil- ■ trary," replied the Judge, "he is perfectly competent." ~'--.■". ''MM Eight persons occupied the police cclls|||£ last evening. ; 'Six have charges of druii; 1 keuness against them, and a man '. (ariested by Detective MeMahonl is .-lunged wl l h ,%l| indecent assault.. Another man is charg** with false pretences and diunkcnmss. \'^ In the cable message relating to the Bai^|| of Australasia, which was published -m M' / * unlay, the amount carried to u '*!sJf§i§ : should Lave read " £30,000.'' '*'Ss