LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13487, 14 May 1907, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The . work of relaying j the Queen-street tramway, which has been in progress for upwards of four months, is nearing completion. Mr. P. Hansen, managing director of the Tramways Company, informed a ;. Herald reporter yesterday that the company hoped to be running the cars down Queen-street some time next week, but that this would depend upon the weather in the interim. The pile-driving has been completed, upwards of a thousand having been sunk. The only work remaining to be done, and which is now in progress, is that of putting down ferro-concrete at the corners of Custom and Queen Street* and the corner of Wellesley " and Queen Streets. No piles are to be driven at these junctions, while the extreme lower end of •" Queenstreet will not be piled, as it has not been affected by the traffic like the remainder of the street. The Union Company's steamerJMiowera, which left for Sydney last night, had a large: number of passengers, there being 123 in the saloon and 120 in the steerage. The steamer also took a.large and valuable cargo from Auckland, including 12 ; boxes gold, valued at £50,304, shipped by "the Bank of New.; Zealand; boxes of gold,; valued at £7194, and 12 bars bullion, valued at ; £9300, shipped by the National Bank of .New. Zealand. Other items of the steamer's cargo included flax,i concentrates, hemp, fish, ; and timber for Australian ports, and fungus, etc., for China. r

The flagship Powerful unci IT.M, Kr.. counter, Prometheus, • and Pioneer, which ' ''"' :: left Wellington on Saturday moraine last called off Napier on Sunday, and left or - Auckland the same evening. The w.ir»Lir>'a passed the East Cape' at half-pin ten *' yesterday, and are expected to make port ' " this morning. '"'''"•■"'■■. '■■ : ". - : / '..-!'''».'■;." , v. , ' ; . •'■:'• ''■''■V ; .^^>'vß ; fi|s|l The decision of Mr. Justice Cooper on ■ the appeal of (4. p. Priestly. hoteike«-per at Waeraiga, near Gisborne, against a too- ' viction on a charge of exposing liquor for sale on a Sunday, bus been received bv the registrar (Mr. R. G. Thomas). Ah« ' | reviewing the facts as contained m. the ! magistrate's notes, and as accepted by th* I 'appellant and the Crown, His Honor jwvj that he is not satisfied that the four men - V * | who were in the hotel at the time wc r .> the guests of the appellant, as was claim ed. He could not ignore, the fact that the magistrate, having had the opportunity' oJ ' observing the demeanour of the witnesses for the defence, disbelieved them, and there being also uncontradicted circumstances which tended to throw suspicion on the bona-fides of , the defence, he could not hold that the appellant bad succeeded. The appeal was dismissed, with £7 % costs. When releasing the ratchet-brake of * tramcar at the top of College Hill, -on the Heme Bay " run" "on Sunday afternoon, a motorman was heavily struck on the body by the quickly revolving handle, with the ' i result that he was temporarily disabled. ' The car gradually increased in speed, and I when some would-be -passengers were pa». Ed by the half-empty tramcar, the atten-• tion of Mr. Lysaght, traffic manager, and an inspector who were standing at the rear, -\ of the car, was attracted. They noticed' the motorman lying helpless across the apron, and hurrying through the car, which fortunately was not of the lockeddoor type, they applied the brakes and assisted the unfortunate man to a. seatwhen he soon recovered. '' ir o. The funeral of the late Cecil A. Daw- ' son, fourth son ; of the late Captain Daw- '. ' son, of Mount Albert, took place yesterday. Mr. Dawson first entered the .services of W. McArthur and Co., and at the closing of their Auckland business entered into the service of Messrs. A. Clark and • Sons, Limited, with Whom he stayed man-.' ' years. His next position was that of travelling representative "for. the National Mutual Life. Insurance Company. The deceased was one of the original founders of * tho Auckland Warehousemen and Commercial Travellers' Club, and was for' many f years on the committee of that institution.. Messrs. Squirrell, Pullen, Alexander, F. ]•;, Jackson and many others belonging to tliii club attended the funeral. Wreaths wen - received from all parts, a large numbej coming from the Bay of Plenty. The miners of Waihi (writes our c'orres pendent) generally appear to 'be disap, . pointed with the award of the Arbitration '*'■, Court, as under it they'remain in much the ■ same position as hitherto as far as wages arc- concerned. ' The bulk of the men whose wages are raised by the award are ; working for contractors* and they already receive more than. the amount fixed by the , Court. Is the domestic servant problem acute in New Zealand?, (asks our Sydney correspondent). It is certainly giving a great deal of trouble here, where a-good servant is a gem of priceless value. Now '. I there is an unexpected phase of the dim'- i' I culty, to bring terror to the hearts of the -I housewives, already sick to .death of the ' | drudgery of preparing meals and cleanup furniture. , In view of the scarcity «t ' CAustralian girls for domestic service, high";".' hopes were centred, upon, the prospect ofobtaining a supply from the other side of the world; but here comes the new trou- ; ble': A young woman who landed, with other.? immigrants from England on, Saturday, intent upon gaining employment as a domestic servant, brings the refreshing information that on '.the voyage out she received seven offers of marriage. She ii puzzled to know how to reply, and hai - ' appealed to Mr. H. C. L. Anderson, ol v the Intelligence Department, for advice in .'- her dilemma. Thus is quite a new and unlooked-for duty cast upon this useful State Department; but if Mr.; Anderson is not prepared to face the anger and fury of thousands of householders in this ooun- '-} try, he will strongly advise that girl, to create a Bad precedent for other domestic servants who will come to this country, but instead to set them a noble example by remaining single. • At the annual meeting of the St. John Ambulance Association, at Dunedin, Dr. * ! Barnett paid a high tribute to the excellent I work performed by Nurse Barclay on behalf ■- of the i association during the year, in the;' course of which she had paid no less than;, 2000 visits. The speaker went on to ex- ~ press the opinion that it would jbc a scandal if the Government did not subsidiseoontributions to the association to the full amount. The .work of the association xii&sM£ of considerable extent, and it relieved **■"'■ rates considerably. A second district nurse ';?> was really, necessary, one who would devote herself* to a special branch of work and in- j struct the people in, the laws of health. Al- ; i though New Zealand had perhaps the : lowest death-rate in the world!, there was. still a large amount of sickness which would. be obviated if "a proper knowledge of the - elementary rules of health and treatment of disease in its earliest stages were disseminated amongst the people. If sufficient funds were available to provide the salary > for a nurse who would make a special study of the points he had referred to and teach mothers the proper way to feed and clot!* their babies, then the association could '&R-'t'--\ brace a much wider and more important work. : ' ' P'-'i i The New Zealand Shipping Company, ■ Limited, announce in our advertising - | column that their Kaikoura will carry ; i passengers for London this voyage, the rates being considerably below those charg- jj ed by the time-table steamers. The ves- :-1 sel is timed to leave Lyttelton on the 30th inst., and has still a few vacant berths available at 45 guineas each. j

_.. ,„„ _.„ & _„„ _ ; A rather pitiable case came before th? . Gisborne Police Court the other day- - An orphan waif, from Sydney, a smart, j intelligent little lad, was charged in the Juvenile Court with having neither ! home nor lawful means of support* \ Constable Irwin deposed that the child, 1 Stanley Jones by name, was brought to jj the police station by a resident of Orniond, 1 who informed witness that the boy had | been sleeping about in paddocks for save- 1 ral days. He had told witness that fc« r J had ,no home, and nowhere to go. His o r .]J parents were dead, and he was brought,, ■■~ over from Sydney by some man about three * J weeks ago. The boy asked the police to | find a home for him. He could neither „ 1 read nor write. His Worship ordered him : . }\ to be sent to the Burnham Industrie School. . , : ;'''V''i| It, is .seldom one hears of mushrooms **-'* • J ing grown by culture (says the Marlborough'-.-, I Herald), but such is the experience of Mr. •.'■ J. T. Ball. He has followed the practice -* 1 of throwing the skins and stems of w»' r | useful plant into a rubbish heap, and the ; I result, after this heap was spread over -» I, certain portion of the garden, is a fine Mv'| of mushrooms, which have been continually; j:I cut throughout the present season.' ' * ' i