LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13498, 27 May 1907, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

« Mb. D. Ccinnxo, inspector of offices, arrived in Auckland by the TaL.. ' puna yesterday. His object is to report as to the- accommodation available at t!w> Auckland Post Office, and to arrange'!! possible and necessary for separate accom. modation, apart from the post office, for the money order and savings bank bra,i>4 or the parcel branch of that est*blishm«st ' He may be seen at the chief post office for the next few days. , A Suez mail, which left London on April 19. arrived from . Sydney-■ by the Mio-wcn yesterday. Personal items " and other in. teresting news from our London correspondent will bo found elsewhere in th-, issue. The s.s. Itarawa, which left On*. hunga yesterday afternoon, took on board 248 bags and 17 hampers as the Southern portion of the mail. Speaking at the inquest at Ghwson'j Hotel on Saturday morning on the boiy 0 { an unknown man, which was picked «& off the Victoria Wharf, Devonport, o* - Thursday night, Sergeant Hendry stated that the inquest should have been held »i Devonport, but after the lamentable! iajj dent in connection with the Calliope Decl accident, it was considered advisable it. bring the body over to the Auckland: morgue. The Coronet (Mr. T. Grcshim. referred to the delay which had occurred it the erection of the Devonport morgue. 'fh» money had been voted for the purpose, am the only question which remained st issm was that of selecting a site. , - The Railway Department announce that, in response to the desire of the resadents of Mount Albert, Avondale, and Bender-. son for increased train services, it has been Ps decided to commence running the motor' ' car service on that line on Saturday acit (June 1). On and after that date extra - trains will leave Auckland for Avondale at ' five minutes past eight a.m. and five minutes to four p.m., and Auckland for Henderson at nine a.m. and ten minutes to twelve a.m. Extra trains will, leave Avondale for Auckland at a-qnarter to nine * a.m., Henderson for Auckland at . half, past ten a.m. and five minutes to one p.m., • and Avondale for Newmarket at twenty' two. minutes to five p.m. Second-clasa accommodation ■ only will be provided oa these trains. ■ Interesting developments (particular* of which are given in another column) have taken place in connection with the pro- 'V jected tour of professional footballers to England from the colony. The twelve - Auckland players who were nominated for inclusion in -the North Island team ok Saturday declined! to sign the declaration required by tho New Zealand Rugby Union as to their amateur status, etc., and in consequence no Auckland players have been selected for the North Island team. Tele* grams from the South state that moat of the players there have signed tho declaration, though some have refused. A Wellington telegram states that players who do not, sign the declaration will not bo selected for the Australian, tour. Another message states that a number of players, and not a syndicate, are organising the tour to England, and that the team will probably leave, via Suez* lor England in July. The City Fire Brigade received two calls within an hour yesterday afternoon. The first summons was to the Fitzroy Hotel, in Wakefield-street, where a box of paper* had caught alight in a room behind the bar. The, outbreak was extinguished 1 before any /:: damage was done. The second call was to a house situated near the City Market, hi which one of the chimneys had oaus&l alight. . The services of the brigade, "Mw- < ever, were not required. I The Union Company's steamer Takapnna, I which is timed to leave Onehunga this after- » noon, will go on the patent slip, after reach- • ing Wellington, for general, examination and overhaul. During her retirement . the Takapunas running to the Manukau will be taken up by the s.s. Pateena. A young man named Hudson, from Auckland, who was visiting at Mr. Aricll's!, 'Pa.pa.roa, was seriously injured a few. days | ago by hie horse carrying him into the | branches of a tree. Dr. Mountaioe was called in, and later Drs. Horton and Gor- . don arrived for a consultation. The sufferer is progressing favourably. The steamer Fifesliire, which arrived from Liverpool on Friday night, brought another batch of immigrants, comprising 133, of whom 35 were for Auckland, 60 fox Wellington, 11 for Lyttelton, and 21 foi Dunedin. They consist generally of young . married couples and their families, who have come out with the intention of settling in the colony, and Captain Pilking- -. ton, the commander of the 6teamer, and his officers speak in high terms of them and their conduct during the long voyage. There are a number of tradesmen, but the majority are farmers and labourers. ' The application made by Mr. F. R. Bust to have that part of the slaughtermen's dispute dealing with the shop trade referred to a special Board of Conciliation has bean ' granted, and the Auckland branch of the Labour Department has been, instructed to tales the necessary steps, to facilitate 11k • setting up of the Board. A fine specimen) of rainbow trout was • forwarded from Kai Iwi Lake to the Hobson Acclimatisation Society, at DargavUle, last Thursday, and during the afternoon was exhibited by Mr. C. H. Gould to large numbers who had never previously seen a sample of the famed fish. Ths specimen in question measured 18in long, and weighed two and a-half pounds. . In j all probability the society will issue angling licenses towaafs the end of the year, and immense sport is in view for the dis- :•;: ciples of Izaak Walton. Our Paeroa correspondent writes:—Mr., George Forsyth, who was killed on the a ; Main Trunk line, was very well.known uJ;v '/>'■- Paeroa, having resided here for some years, while engaged as assistant-engineer "on the Paeroa-Wafhi railway. He was a member of the management committee of the■ r .■:.,--■: Paeroa Rugby Union and the Paeroa Re- _ - ferees' Association, and also an enthusiastic member of the local Oddfellows' lodge. Regarding a statement in a recent telegram from Dunedin, that judgment for a debt had been obtained against Madam* Blanche Arral, a Press Association mess- ; ;: age states that it is understood that the amount has been paid in full. ' It is five years since a sitting of the Native Lands Court was held- in Northern Wairoa. As an instance of the work awaiting the Court (says our correspondent) there is the Kaihu No. 1a Block, which contains 534 acres. This is Held, at present by 61 persons, and nothing useful is being dona with the fine property. The owners desire the land subdivided into at most »*. divisions, and then something could be done with it. . The firebell at Onehunga rang at.siX „ o'clock last evening, and the fire brigade, under Captain W. C. Hill, turned out, only to discover that the chimney of a house in Princes-street was on fire. • The volunteer parade which was fixed.to. be-held on the Domain": yesterday • «"«? ,;;=, noon was abandoued on account of its U"' favourable weather* '..' ,''-•■ ■" ■■ V,V ■■'.' ■'.'.■■■ ■'•■■. :V : ; -' v4?^'v-^ ■'>•■'-■■::.-"':-■■:,-::. >:>■■:• /■'/. ■:■-■'■•'■■.-, ;"■•'-■■ ■'.:;,■,■■:;.':■:■■':■ ■: ?i;#&K"3S3#

. A distressing accident occurred at To Teko (Whekatane) last Wednesday to Mas- '£, John ' Gow, " second ; son of Mr. J. B. & of Opotiki. Mr. W. Gow, John Gov, and Charlie Butt and three Maories ■tore out duck shooting, and about three pin the two boys and, a Maori'* who were together, were in the act of hauling a canoe on to the beach, the guns, which were • loaded, lying in the bottom of the ■boat. The anchor chain by which John flow was hauling the boat evidently caught on the hammer, which was down, with the result that the gun wont off, completely blowing the bone, and a large portion of the flesh out of the leg just above the ankle. The other members of the party were immediately summoned, and the injured youth was conveyed down the river to Mr. C. Beid's, while two others were cent for Dr. Stapley, of Whakatane, who arrived at three o'clock on Thursday morning, just twelve hours after the accident. ' (Dr. Stapley found it necessary to amputate the leg between the knee and the > ankle, which he did immediately on arrival. The lad bona up wonderfully throughout the trying ordeal, and appeared cheerful when tho doctor left at half-past ten on Thursday. ' • - There is no surprise in the United /States (says the, New, York correspondent v tof a London paper) that the defeat of the Ship Subsidy Bill in the late Congress should have caused the withdrawal of the Oceanic Steamship Company of its steamers now engaged in carrying mails by direct route from San Francisco to New . Zealand and Australia. It is expected that ihereafter the postal authorities of the United States will be forced to send mails to those countries by steamers sailing from Vancouver, and also by the more round- -." about route, via Liverpool and London. This announcement only accentuates the disappointment felt by; the Administration at the failure of the Bill, which was ex- • pected to stimulate through mail subsidies _ commerce between the United States and /, South America, as well as across the Paciv: fic- A determined effort will be made to ;f forward this legislation next winter, and it ■is possible that the proposition may bej come one of the issues in the Presidential campaign next year.

• .- For the year ended March 31, 1906, the revenue received by the Hobson County was £5652, made up by rates amounting to r . '£4399 '„, and licenses and tolls totalling 1253. The revenues of other Northern counties were: Mangonui, £1210 ';[ Bay of Islands, £1891; Hokianga, £1452 Whangaroa, £432; Whangarei,: £3964; Ota- .■. matea, . £2259; Rodney, £2512. The liabilities at the same date were: Hobson, £6854; Bay of Islands, £1673; Ota- . matea, £1114; Whangarei, £389; Rodney, £460; Hokianga, £100; Mangonui, £467; and Whangaroa, £228. It is plain from these figures (writes our Northern Wai;roa correspondent) that the Hobson County ratepayers are paying much heavier rates than other North of Auckland settlers. ! Something like a mild sensation was created at Bondi Beach (Sydney) recently. While a young man named Horace Dale was swimming in the breakers, he saw; ; what he thought to be a large fish passing him, and making a grab ha succeeded in. , , catching it in his hands by the tail. - He brought if to the shore, where he found to his astonishment that it was a shark of the .gray nurse species, 3ft l«ng. This unique s^rformance' (which surely .'equals that of a well-known cricketer, who caught a swal•low in mistake for the ball) can be authen- ,: ticated by a large number of the visitors • Jo the beach. -*:Pekipras" Jack'"" been 'caught 'in a 'new attitude by Captain Post, of- the Tutanekai. While he was piloting the : Government steamer through the Sound two or three months ago he lay in wait for the famous fish with the camera. The , monster, ' according to;a representative of ;. the Evening Post, who was present at the time, apparency divined that he was wanted to- sit, 'but was: a long time making up his mind about the pose that would best suit him. He wheeled around and under the steamer time and again, and finally leaped up beautifully in full view of the" lens. The photograph shows a clear outline of Jack's head and the body almost to '. the but*. of the ; tail. The left eye, the [ • mouth, the upper ventral fins, and the - dorsal fin are distinctly shown. ,' It is considered that this photograph,' which has been bought by the Tourist Department, will enable scientists to correctly give Jack his place in the animal kingdom. • "Not in my wildest stretch of imagination," writes. Mr. Baker, the Australian amateur boxing champion, from London (says the Sydney Morning" Herald), "did I believe the English people were so ignorant of our great southern continent and its people. The day after going to hospital a nurse in the scarlet fever ward was told she thad to change into the enteric ward. At the same time, the nurses had informed her an Australian had come in the night before, that he was a fighter, and. that he was delirious. She refused to enter the :;ward but was peremptorily ordered to do 80. "..-On coming in she at' once walked along in front of the beds, keeping some ' distance off, and looking for this terrible and wild savage of an Australian. After a search, she rushed to the nurses' quarters and said that ' there was. no Australian there at all, but only a fair She expected to see a black man, so she after- •. wards told me. One lady asked me if I ... learnt to speak such good English while .coining over.in the boat. Another nurse asked me if. I knew her cousin, who lived' , in Wellington, Not Zealand. She thought \'S :^[ , ; : New Zealand was a town in Australia. The doctor who attended me said, ' What ; " a pity you -have not rivers like there are in England, for then you would not have , bush fires and drought.' He beliaved it to be drought and bush fires all the year .round." ■ '

The inmates of the police ceils last night consisted, of four persons, arrested on charges of drunkenness, two on charges of using obscene language, one on a charge of theft, and one on a charge of creating a breach of the peace. '.

< The plant known as "deadly nightshade" « reported to be spreading rapidly over , properties at Gladstone, and the surrounding country. The weed has caused total ,x destruction to small crops of potatoes at ":■ Gladstone, choking the shaws while young, and also practically smothered a rape crop in the same district. The seeds of the plant are being carried from place to place .'"y* birds, which will mean a rapid spread w the weed unless preventive measures are Men.

That the potato blight is confined to wet seasons is a common belief, but a wrong °W, says the Southland News. Southland has experienced one of the driest seasons in its history, yet there have been, con- , siderable losses from this cause. A Waianiwa settler put 20 tons into pits, which V : have all collapsed, the loss being a total V n «- . A blight specific was used on the growing crops. As seed ruled at a very nigh price in the spring, the grower has - been out of pocket as well as getting no return or his labour. On lust year's market his- crop would have been worth fully £200, ISfK:''';"-?;S.v : : ::; . •■;■''■.'■ ■■'-.' ' '.-■' '■■ ' ' ■ ■ "."