LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13701, 18 March 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Auckland Chamber of Commerce has received a telegram from Messrs. Anderson and Co.. contractors for the Makatote viaduct, with regard to the statement recently made to the effect that' delay in the completion of the viaduct was likely to delay the completion of the Main Trunk railway to such an extent that' the line would not be opened by the end of this year. The Chamber of Commerce at its last meeting referred to this statement, and asked the Railway Committee to report on it. Messrs. Anderson and Co., in their telegram, state that as far as they are concerned there should be no possibility of the viaduct delaying the completion of the line, and they believe that the railway should be opened within the specified time.

The advantages of fcrro-concrete as a wharf-building material were referred to by the chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board (Hon. E. Mitchelson) at yesterday's meeting of that body. He said that "he was now thoroughly satisfied that the Hoard should not employ any other material in its work. Members' had only to go down to the Queen-street Wharf to' see the great deterioration in wooden-wharf structures. Of course, he blamed the great extent of the deterioration to tho fact that the Board in the past confined itself to the use of kauri timber, which was unsuitable for wharves. It was a surprise to him that Queen-street Wharf had nut, collapsed, long ago, for the timbers in some places had rotted through. Last year the cost of maintenance ran into £1900, so that unless tho wooden structures were dono away with -expense of upkeep, would be very great.

The Auckland Weekly News, published to-day, contains a large number of interesting illustrations. A fine panorama of Petonc, a rapidly expanding suburb of the city of Wellington, and two selected views on the route of the North Island Main Trunk railway form the double-page of the issue. Among the numerous current events dealt with may he mentioned the recent collision in Auckland Harbour, opening of a new post office at Waipu, one of the strangest photographs of a railway accident ever taken, conclusion of the Now Zealand Rifle Association's championship meeting, Te Ante College conference, opening of a new Technical School at Feilding, and a record-breaking coaster. There are also pictures of the Auckland First Battalion. Band, winners of the Besson shield at New Plymouth contest, the Churton monument, which is to be re-erected at Auckland, four prominent suffragists who have just been released from gaol, His Majesty King Edward VII. in state, preparations for the great Franco-British Exhibition, New Zealanders in British. Guiana, interesting scenes in connection with the shipping of wool to the Home market, Britain's first sea lord, and a panorama of the vineyards at the Waerenga experimental farm.

The hilly thoroughfares of Auckland have long been looked upon by small boys as excellent for the practice of toboganning. That this method of amusement is not without its element of danger was, however, forcibly illustrated on Monday evening last. Some lade who were travelling at a rapid rate down the footpath in Upper-Queeii-street, on a diminutive trolley lost control of it, and collided with a little girl who was walking up the hill. She was knocked down and sustained a painful cut on the back of the head, which produced slight concussion of the brain. So pronounced was the impact that one of the child's boottf was wrenched off her foot. Some ladies went to her assistance and conveyed her to her home, where medical attendance was found necessary. Measures should be taken to guard against such accidents in future.

Reference was made by Mr. J. B. Macfarlano at the Harbour Board meeting yesterday to the fact that carters declined to buck their carts to the ships at the Railway Wharf, owing to there being no kerbing round the wharf edge. He thought the wharf iii its present state was dangerous i-,r carters, and for the ordinary pedestrian. The engineer said carls would not go anywhere near the edge of the wharf when the works were completed, but kerbing could be put on if required. Mr. J. K. Kneen said recently a man van injured through foiling back on a scow, he being unable to got, hold of (lie edge of the wharf. Ultimately Mr. Maefarlatie gave notice of motion to refer the matter to the Board's committee for report. ___

Mr. Raul Hansen, of Auckland, who is on a visit to Orisborne (telegraphs our correspondent), stated to an interviewer that he was having a good look round, but had at present- no scheme in mind for the running of electric trams. Anything of that kind weald require the formation of a local company. Gisborne was admirably adapted for an electric" tramway system. All round he could see evidences of substantial progress. Gladstone Road wan one of the finest streets he had seen in New Zealand, and for tramway construction purposes the long stretch of flat would be a great advantage. Another tramway scheme that is under consideration locally is a proposal for the Cook County Council to construct a line from I'ututahi to Gisborne. Tins, whilst available for passengers and goods, would be utilised lor the carriage of road metal, and it is estimated would mean a saving to the county of something like £23,000 per annum in the obtaining of its metal supplies.

A gruesome discovery was made by Mr. J. Walks, of Pukeatua, near Rivet-head, at the end of last Meek. While searching ; among some pines for a better site for his - house ha stumbled over a human skeleton. The matter was reported to the police, and from inquiries they concluded that the remain;! were those of a gumdigger named John Pollar, who was given a night's accommodation by Mr. Wilks in November, 1906, and who disappeared on the following morning. At the inquest an open verdict Mas returned. The New Zeahmder is apt to smile the j smile of superior knowledge when he hears the stronger within our gates pronounce Rotoiti as, if it is spelt " Roy-toy-ti," Onehunga as "Won-hunga," Peione as "Petwon," but is it justified? In casually glancing over the map of the North Island in a vain search for a block of laud to be bought at a reasonable price, a correspondent of the Wellington Dominion discovered the pretty name Tamataukakatangihangakoamur, a sea coast place not far distant, from Porangahau (Hawke's Bay). The interpretation (vide an inscription on the map) was " Sou of the sea playing upon a flute." It is sincerely to be hoped that when the time arrives for the establishment there of a post office no vandal -will be allowed to change the sweet-sounding native name of the spot. f Tenders Mere opened by the Harbour Board yesterday for contracts for supply and delivery of scoria and bluestone, for lb* facing of the reclamation at Calliope Dock, Freeman's Bay, etc., the estimate for which was £4300. There were onlytwo tenders, Mr. J. Endean for £5700, and Messrs. Trays Brothers for £3519 4s 3d. The latter tender was accepted. The inspectors attached to the Hawke's Bay Board of Education have asked for information as to the Board's intentions in respect to the -following matters relating to Bible-reading in schools :—" The teaching in schools shall be for five hours daily for five days in every week, except that in preparatory classes it shall be for four hours only. (1) Does teaching, cover secular instruction only, and in the subjects enumerated in sections 135 and 170 of the Education Act? (2) Would the regulation be met by the taking out of five hours on one day a week half an hour for religious instruction, say from 9 to 9.30 a.m.? (3) As the preparatory classes are limited to a school day of four hours, is it competent for the school committee to extend the school day for these classes for religious instruction, and would teachers be justified in telling their pupils to attend school for such instruction?" The Board after a lengthy discussion,- answered the first question in the affirmative, and the second and third in the negative. The triennial valuation of property in tho Onehunga borough, recently carried out by Mr. Joseph Gilmore, evidently has not satisfied a number of ratepayers, for no fewer than 122 objections have been lodged. These objections will bo considered by Mr. 11. W. Northcroft, S.M., at the Assessment Court. The numbers of men employed on the railways in the Auckland province, as given > in tho current issue of the Labour Journal, arc as follows:Kawakawa-Grahanitown ( 78, llclensviJle Northwards 209, GisborneRotorua 30, North Island Main Trunk 1161; total, 1478. i - A garden parly will lie given bv the'l a Mayor and Mrs. Myers at their residence, j \ "Ciutra," Symonds-street, this afternoon, j i A largo number of invitations have been I .1 issued. (_

_ Ihe scarcity of la hour in Carterton M m other country districts, prompts \" question, "Why do the labourers comW to hover around the big cities as the moth hovers .bout, a candle?" "If," fiays th WairaiapaNevvs, '•you go to Auckland or Wellington, you will find many men ami women idle, who evidently prefer idleness and its concomitants in the city to Wo -healthy work-anil the chance, amountmg almost to a certainty, of saving money as well, in the country. liven if work i« obtained in the city, we fail to understand why the city is preferred by any senile worker. The pleasures of town life quickly satiate, and when satiation sets in, theii farewell pleasure." The common sense view of the question was expressed bv\ young farmer a day or two since, when l l? said: " I know if 1 1,,,,! to earn my li v . ing as a wage earner, I would never "think of going into the town. 1 was brought up in a town, but though 1 was offered a job as a book keeper 1 would not take it. J would rather go and plough [ know two boys working in „ biscuitfaetorv in town. One, 17 years of age, is earning 17s 6d per week; the oilier, 15 years of age, gets 15s per week. Both have to find themselves. 1 employ a boy just 16 years of age, who is earning m per week and found, and lie is at a healthier occupation." Facts like these should convince; but—, thev don't

_ The katipo spider is receiving a good deal of attention just now. A writer i» the Otago Daily Times states that lea than « year ago, a little boy, at Seadilf near D modni, died from the bite of , katipo, (hough he had the benefit of care ful medical attendance. The writer sue gefctfi that the physiological action of the venom <u the spider should be thoroughly investigated. By injecting the poison into an artery of a rabbit, and noting the actual physiologic! cause of death—as, perhaps tor example, its inhibitory effect on some of the nerve centres in the brain, medulla or spinal cord—an indication, lie say,' might be obtained of the best antidote to use, probably one of the known vegetable alkaloid*, the physiological action of'whirli directly antagonises that of the ven 'J lie president of the Medical Congress at Dunedm last year has made an exhaustive investigation into -he causes of hydatids one of our New Zealand pests. An equals exhaustive investigation into the nature and treatment of the bite of the katipo *] mer, it is suggested, should also be undertaken.

The Railway Appeal Board, which i< elected for three years, has important functions to fulfil in connection with the classical ion scheme which rules in the De partment. Any railway servant who i s fined over £2. or suffers loss of status for an alleged misdemeanour, or any oft cer who thinks that he has been unjustly passed by m the matter of promotion, may take his case before the Board. The clerk, machinist, surfaceman, and others forming this tribunal are empowered to sit in judgment on the sins of- omission and commission imputed to the district officers or heads of branches. Evidence is taken, and their recommendations are forwarded to the Minister. The Board just elected, representing chiefly the lower branches of the Department, might be called upon at any time to judge whether a certain slationmasler was or was not competent for a charge to which he had not been promoted. In these matters, however, the tribunal's judgment is really made subordinate to that of 'he general manage]-, whom the Act constitutes the final court of appeal on questions of promotion. The Board's chief value probably lies in the safeguard which it anorak against the possible undue promotion of inexperienced favourites, who could scarcely be pushed up over other men without demands for an investigation. One would imagine that it must also tend to keep the Departmental officers well acquainted with their staffs, since preference given in promotion may always have to be justified before the Board.

j When, the Maori in the back block? sets his mind upon a thing, he is gene- " rally free from, many conventional considerations which trouble his European brother. There is an East Coast com ' numity very much interested in education, and the keenest enthusiast is chairman of the Maori school committee. Finding that the members who had boon > elected to help him were not up to the 5 same high-water-mark of enthusiasm as > himself, he coolly dismissed them, and - appointed another committee himself. - He did not wait for an Order-in-Council - or a Supreme Court injunction, but suml marily "sacked" the laggard committee. i His action was subsequently confirmed by ■ the community he had temporarily, disfranchised, for it elected the committee which had illegally clone the work for ' several months. A native school examination is an event of importance in the kainga. The Maori parents assemble at - the school, sitting inside if there is room, closely following the solemn process of - examination. If a child fails, states the Hon. George Fowlds, Minister for Education, the customary reproof is, "We have wasted a year's tucker on you." The Christchurch City Council had before it- the other night (telegraphs our correspondent) an oner from the Neuohatel Asphalt Company, to take over any of the .city streets as they stood at present, and to reconstruct them, including the necessary excavation, and laying of a bin Ded of concrete, with a surface of ljin of compressed asphalt, for an approximate sum of 20s per square yard. This estimate, it Mas stated, would naturally he influenced by the area to be reconstructed, and it •might vary to the extent of Is and 2s per square yard, either more or less, according to circumstance*:. When the reconstruction was completed the company would be prepared to undertake the maintenance ol the asphalted streets, and to guarantee to .keep them in order for a period of 20 years from the completion of the construction, at a given price per yard. This cost of maintenance was difficult to approximate without definite- figures to go upon, but in Queen-street, Auckland, which was reconstructed by the company, the cost of con struction, was 22s Ad per square yard, and this was followed by five yours' free main tenance and 15 years to follow at 3d -per square yard per annum. Queen-street was a particularly bad street to construct and to maintain, whereas in Christchurch the streets were in every way suitable for the purpose, and the cost would be considerably reduced on that account. The company guaranteed to hand over to the corporation at the end of the 20 year's' maintenance the roadway in a thoroughly fit and efficient state of repair, or they would enter into » fresh agreement as to further maintenance. In the ensuing discussion, it was stated that to do 10 miles of streets meant tin expenditure of a-quarter of a. < million <>! money. The- Mayor said he- thought it Mould bo enough to take the two principal streets. The big figures, however, evidently scared the Council, and in the end it was decided that tho Council could not see its way clear to nuclei the work. A confirmation service was held by Dr. Julius (Bishop of Ghristchurch) in 'St. Mary's Cathedral last, evening, there .-being a large congregation. Some 50 candidates wore presented, and after being confirmed were addressed by the Bishop. Bishop Julius leaves for the South by tho W#* Coast boat to-day.