LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13729, 21 April 1908, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Mayoral elections in connection with the various cities and boroughs in the Dominion will take place on the 29th inst. Nominations of candidates for the. city of Auckland and the boroughs of Grey Lynn, Mount Eden, Newmarket, Devonport, and Birkenhead will close to-morrow, and for the borough of Parnell on Thursday. It is understood that the present Mayor of Auckland (Mr. A. M. Myers) will be reelected for the fourth term unopposed, and iii some of the suburban boroughs also there will be no contests. Rain set in early yesterday morning, and continued almost without intermit throughout the day and evening. All outdoor gatherings'were partly spoiled. A very strong north-easterly wind also sprang up, and the vessels along the east coast experienced a good deal of buffeting about. The Northern Company's steamer Chelmsford, which wiivs to have left for Mercury Bay yesterday, "was delayed owing to the weather, but she will probably leave today. The light of publicity was recently thrown upon the involved transactions of a. land dealer in Wellington, who foitawt himself in the Bankruptcy Court. The explanation submitted by him of the causes which led up to his financial embarrassment showed that for the last four years he had been operating more or less extensively upon a. system of land exchange. He acquired property after property by exchanges for other lands in which lie was interested, giving small monetary considerations and - completing the transactions by mortgages. While the price of laud remained high things went moderately well with him, but when values commenced to recede his one-time successes assumed another hue, and he was brought to the Bankruptcy Court by a pressing creditor, with liabilities amounting to over £400 and nothing to meet them with. Mr. A. Simpson, the official l assignee, remarking upon the position disclosed, said there were no doubt many others similarly dabbling in hind who would severely feel the pinch in times of depression.

The annual Bond Board elections, to (ill the vacancies caused by the retirement of sitting members, will be held during the first week of Ma; . A Large number of the elections in the Auckland district will take place on Saturday, May 2, including those at Arehhiil, One-tree Hill, Mount Albert, Mount Roskill, Point Chevalier, Panmure, Tanuiki West, Papatoitoi, Papalalia, Pukekohe East, and Pukekohe West. Other dates are as follows:—Pakuranga and Manurewa, May 4; Mangere and Eden Terrace, May 5 ; Epsom, Tamaki East, and Drury, May 6; Mount Wellington, May 7. The following are dates on which nominations close in various districts: — Eden Terrace, April 23; Archhill. Mount Albert,. One- Hill, Mount Roskill, Point- Chevalier, Papatoitoi, Tamaki West, Papakura, Pukekohe East, Pukekohe West, April 25; Mangere, East Tamaki, Manurewa and Drury, April 29; Epsom and Mount Wellington, April 30.

A projected fishing expedition in the harbour was brought to an abrupt conclusion yesterday. Two men put off from the breastwork in a. dinghy, and when just off the Railway Wharf the small craft was struck by a sudden squall and capsized. The occupants, who were thrown into the water, were rescued by the s.s. Kotiti, which was going out at the time with a. load of excursionists. The steamer put back and landed the men, who, beyond a thorough wetting, were none the worse lor their immersion. The annual meetings of householders in the various school districts, at which the election of school committees take place, will be held on Monday evening next. The nomination of candidates will be received by the chairmen of the present committees in the various districts up till eight o'clock this evening. Nominations may also be received at the meetings of householders.

; A unique series of pictures'dealing with the strange Maori prophet Rua and las remarkable settlement will appear in this week's issue of the .\ rest, ant* Wtittttot 2*sws, published to-morrow. Among them will be found striking; views of thus modern Maori Mecca, hidden away in the fts*t!!ics«es of the Ureweni Country, whilst portraits of the prophet, ft number of his wives*, and faithful long-haired disciples, together with views of the curiously-constructed temple and buildings forming his settlement, go to make up i series of absorbing interesli.

] An accident occurred at Ellen-lie rate- ! course yesterday afternoon, shortly before j the conclusion of the day's racing, which resulted in a lady visitor, Mrs. 8, A hock, of 16, Burgoyne-street, Newton, being slightly injured. A horse attached to a cart took fright at something, and backed suddenly, knocking over a .scat, on which } Mrs. Alcock was sitting, She was attended i'i by Dr. Shannon, and was then conveyed to her home in the ambulance. The horse and tail belonged to Mr. K. U. ('alien, of Mt. Eden, and Mrs. Culbm was iu I the tiaii when the horse began to play up. ! but escaped without injury. An exemplary punishment for maoism ; was meted out to a well-known offender j named Sydney Bishop, alias Bert Prior, j at the Otuhuhu Polite Court, on Saturday. ! The accused created a disturbance in the Criterion Hotel the previous night, in the course of which he used very had language and assaulted two men. Ho was arrested by Constable Boag. and the presiding magistrates (Messrs. Harris and MeDill) on Saturday awarded him six months' imprisonment without the option of a fine, for using obscene language. For committing the assault and behaving in a disorderly manner. Bishop was ordered to come up for sentence when called upon. Bluff fishermen in all branches of the pursuit are most anxious that the conditions of the trade as between New Zealand and Australia should be reconsidered. The tariff charges exacted by the latter stand nominally at l£d per lb. Exacted on the smoked article, of which the largest; proportion of New Zealand fish consists, tin* rate increases to something like 30 per ce it. on the market values. The result is that in. say, Melbourne. New Zealand fish is. comparatively speaking, an expensive luxury, which only the more' affluent can afford. What the fishermen say is that, it' the duty were remitted, the trade of the Australian States alone would double itself twice over, and that New Zealand waters are quite able to meet such an increased demand. The question is: Could New Zealand not find reciprocity that would counterbalance this exaction and assist a trade capable of such enormous expansion'.'

The following was the state of His Majesty's prison, Auckland, for the week ending April 18:—On remand. 7; awaiting trial. 16; sentenced 'o penal servitude for life, 1 ; sentenced to hard labour, 182 males, 29 females; sentenced to imprisonment, 1; default of bail, 2; debtors, 1; received during the week, 18 males, 2 fe.aale.s; discharged, 22 males, 2 females: total in prison, 210 males, 29 females.

The screams of a small child attracted attention in Newmarket shortly after six o'clock last evening, and as a number of tramcars were passing in the vicinity it was thought that a serious accident had happened. Investigation revealed that a light passing, vehicle had passed over the toes of the little one, but beyond a slight (lushing the injury was not serious.

A Waiinate beach ; fisherman, to overcome the difficulties of casting a lino far enough out, made a large kite, and alter .several experiments got it to work perfectly, carrying out a large number of bait. A few days ago (according to an exchange) he paid out no less than 850 yds of line, joining up line after line. Just one miscalculation was made, and that was in regard to the drag of the line in the water when it was desired to pull the kite down. When pressure -was applied the line parted at a knot. The curious part conies in -next. '■ Held by the line ■which trailed on the water, the kit?, kept steadily going, and at 300 yds in the air was visible for hours, and then it was lost to sight.

He came down the Avenue (the Wanganui Chronicle reports) riding an unusuaJy tall horse, and when opposite Lee and Ring's fruit shop turned his charger on to the footpath and rode into the shop. Evidently fruit was not the object, of his quest, for he backed his horse out of the building and rode along the footpath to the adjoining shop (Spurdle and Bond's), which he and his horse gravely entered. The proprietors' hair stood on end as the strange visitors made their way between glass cases and lows of ironmongery till they ranged alongside the counter, where the horseman ordered two pick handles. On supplying the desired articles the shopman opened the back door and suggested that the horseman might like to turn his horse round in the backyard. "Oh, no; it's all right, thanks," replied the customer, who wheeled his gigantic animal round and rode out or the shop and up the street.

A Dunedin resident has brought forward a, device to do away with the need I for nightly putting out a, jug or billy for the morning's milk. The idea is to have a. small hole cut in the back door. Just, below this, on the inside, is suspended a tin cylinder, flattened on one side to hug the door panel, and covered with a lid hinged to the door. The milkman comes round in the morning armed with a small funnel. He lifts n small slide covering the hole, inserts the funnel, and pours through it the desired quantity of milk. He withdraws the funnel, down falls the the lid side and the slide outside, and the milk in the tin cylinder is reasonably safe from the dust-born germ or the thirstimpelled cat. 'Hie inventor waited on the Minister for Public Health in Dunedin with a model showing his invention, which he has just patented throughout New Zealand. Mr. i-'owJds could not give him much encouragement in regard to a modest request that the use of the apparatus should be made compulsory on milk consumers, but advised him to forward his model to the Chief Health Officer at Wellington. The appointment of Albert George Hoiland as registrar of electors under the Electoral Act, 1905, for the electoral district of Auckland Central, vice Mr. W. 11. Blow, resigned, is gazetted, The. Government offices throughout the Dominion will be closed on Thursday next. St. George's Day. An interesting wager bet wen two prominent townsmen was decided at Gisborne the other day. One had purchased a newbicycle, and, never having seen his friend astride a pair of pneumatic tires, bet him the machine that he could not ride it around Lowe-street and along Gladstone Road. He was fortified in his judgment by the fact that the cycle in question was fitted with a free- wheel, that mysterious appendage that has spelt disaster to many a rider. It seemed, as the Americans put it, like "easy money," but his surprise was to come, as, amidst the laughter of a few onlookers, the other party to the wager mounted the cycle with the utmost nonchalance, and despite somewhat erratic steering, safely negotiated the journey, and rode off with his newly-acquired property, *

The Chines* enl.-m - ft,,, n,nnr.iov , .. y«>,r included 13, ":,«■ .-fmrns." all £ . and for Hi- 12 monln* ending ih- E k't,' ' • the revenue of the State has f^^Bk !«>•<» *tU'UjtU<'i,-\ ">,y £8,7|». XF ' ; sum collected for the pr--nnii« 12 m^W ' was £'j\l>-s for 01 t'i.ine-se. Po '♦[ ;■" fjtwrters comprising i},« v. Mr . t,> ".'* ! * : collected were as Mi"^:-.Ju^VSS^m , £4000, »* £2100 u, , ponding period ot the previous ,* m «**'■ /- .: , t ; w ,„,,.,.,. iim ;( M,,;s UecmubtT wMrlet. x < > jaw, .M'»u.,h „„..,; SbJ*; > against CtlOO. *.■•'< j One of"the *»«- ,V a tm... .a { i.. (."."..xil 1 ZcKdound ■ 1..„.,..„, ~ ,:. f '>>cVi Gardens ,: ihi ~,.„„ M.M ( p(.,W Sl ,>yfe IV,, ,01 the*,* are dunned in the r * j ! is no doubt that the >roM<k «;,;, j, ,'* fA L " r ! C ate round them »ward the £jZ& l ' * "»no*-*t*i»- ■; I -ah **■~ inserts; N*.•<!,. >;,. m^|s ' .r . . "" m «yu ■ ago he ~g,? , ,.helped • .....U,,, >»'• - ■-»■»:. Aerator. ~;, k . | the d,, r! .,„0„ ~ «„ rv .^"J ! car their kitten*, had t ; , ~.. ,-,,,„ ,* * :vf 1 J placed under Ihe ,„,,. cO , „.;,:,. <■■ * i mother. 1,-,- animal.. !Ui ,, , ;> .. h . 7 | ! sp.>-■»i.....,5. are mo, ; !...„, ,1 „,, m ,^-j . j open. At presi-nt !«..■.. ..,,. '~.,j;a . j; - ! tune-, and i.iit \*• bandied v.itU ,„..„ ■" i by tiios, to whom thev ;„,. -ir..■>•>>». f I !i,,,,, - : " ,{ !S *" >l *»« «« appro*:!, th TO u l meal tu-.e. As a matter of r.vt. „ a . ft{ j them ni sn.ej.'d to liee hnn-if, mrf <w . . .', " * w . found paving with one «>• the 5i..,.-.,, j ; rings which are .bailed ne.n them. I\ S ■ open-air treatment, mcording to them/* '■ ;iti»r, has a beneficial effect .<» th- ii ?a ltk I | of the animals, | „ j The Vtv**. remarking that a fHrf a«J i j has been heard lately about the hardship j of the Id.ickiwil miners being allowed m u. a-cpiaiter of an hour for their lunch, «a| V having to lake it in the mine, say s -__ There is a fairly numerous, and, on tin whole, deserving body of workers in the Government service who are allowed on ! T a-i]tiaitcr of an hour's "crib" time, are fiwd if they •• exceed it, and in busy seasons aij cut down to 10 minutes. The Chrr*fchttftb telegraph messengers, who take- t.i, c j shift of the day's work, namely, that |x- ftending from tour p.m. to 11 p.m., get only 10 minutes, or at 1110.4 a-qiuirter of a n hour, for food, in the course of their s-evea hours' duty, and they have- to take it in ' the despatch room, which can hartllv he | favourable either to appetite or g„nd di- - I gestion. We can hardly expert member*' g of Parliament or Labour leaders to can. |j eeru thtinselves about telegraph boys, who -*' have no " votes. The Postmaster-General however, bears the reputation of being a "'--A humane man, and now that his attention has been directed to the matter, we hope the boys may be allowed an extension of "crib"' time. '■ The new tepid baths building at Christ* church, is now practically finished. Last week (reports the Lyttelton Times) th* bath was tilled for the first time. About \ six hours were necessary to fill the hig | cement pool, which holds something like j 145,000 gallons of water, and the same time . will be necessary to empty it. Theater - ' was very riutky, due entirely to tho fact I that the first flow through the pipes car. i ried with it re quantity of rust and adi- 1 meni into the kith, in which there v,a* ' also a. goodly litter of foreign matter, la I the west end of the building, on the 1 ground Hour, are situated the plunge baths, '■ 12 in number,, six on each side of the office, j which is exactly facing the central en- i trance from Manchester-street. \ Imin«< ' diately inside the two entrances are th» j washing-rooms. Fifty-six dressing-mains, : 1 each fitted t, comfortably accommodate • | one person, are erected on both sidesof the main .pool. The lighting arrangement* in I the main bathroom will consist principally 1 of arc lamps, hung from the beams ov.-r | the water. A large- gallery circles HtejP*J room 011 the upper floor level, and should | provide seating for at least 500 persons, ; \ .■who -will have an excellent view of any j swimming in the main' bath. The tepid ■ baths will probably be opened officially on ] April 30. '

A member of a. firm of building eontnw< 1 tors stated, in the course of conversation. j with a reporter of the Otago Daily Timet, that the multiplicity of inspections and | demands for permits which Dunedin build- ] ers were subjected to at the present tia» " ! were matters of common complaint. A • coutrae:or was favoured with visits from j an inspector of factories, an inspector of awards, an inspector of machinery, ami an j inspector of .scaffolding. Then permit* j had to be obtained for all manner of : ' I things. The placing of a ladder or trestle - j on a footway, or/fin fact, any encroach- - I merit ah all, no matter how trilling, meant I obtaining a permit and a payment in \ each instance. All these, encroachment* j had now to lie provided for by builders, -; | and the natural result was that they tend- 1 ed to make buildings dearer. ~ "" \ ■ j A novel idea in the way of a collection* ' | box ban been adopted by the licensee of a ?| \ hotel just outside Gisborne. The Poverty '; Bay Herald states that a slit has been \ cut into a lemonade bottle, which is placed > in a handy position for receiving contribu- ftions for the hospital. The coins piaoed : in can be seen, but cannot he removed % until the bottle lias been broken. A bottle " J that has been filled with copper and silver f has been banded to the secretary of the hospital trustees. \ A striking commentary on the question | of teachers' salaries came before the Grey- | mouth School Committee meeting ier«nt- I ly. For years past complaint has been | made that it is a difficult matter to per- | suade youths to enter the teaching pro- I fession. This has been noticeable on the |: West Coast, and in Greymouth in parti- I cular. At the latter school there are now ' | 260 boys, and yet there is only one niatv {! assistant on the staff. No similar school I in the Dominion is so numerically weak 1 in male teachers. The position was intensi- f tied the other evening when the only male ii pupil-teacher tendered his resignation. It appeared that this gentleman had been in the Board's employ for over six years, f but his. salary had only reached £60 per . : | annum—an amount that an office boy can - j generally command within two year*. Such being the case, the teacher reluctant- \ ly resigned, and is about to enter a trad*; | where he will cam 8s per day from the t commencement. I ■'-•;■'.; I; The impairing and lightening of gold | coins has- become so-frequent in New .South I Wales that the Government now offers a .1 reward of £100 for information leading to | the apprehension and conviction of any 1 person or persons so offending against the I law. The offer of the reward will remain j in force for 12 months. Although the Commonwealth Post Offi<<? has never produced a balance-srevt, the Postmaster-General does, not hesitate to l claim that his Department last year mow I than paid its way. According to the j ' figure? supplied to him, the Post Office las'. 1 year had a surplus of revenue over rxpendi- . - ture sufficient to pay from 2% to 3 per cent. - interest on the £6,000,000 worth of trans- |? ferred properties. :;#KHThe German-Australian liner Oberbausen. which left Hobart recently, was the I3t|i : of the 24 steamers which will carry "fas- ' ( uumian apples to Europe this .season. I'N .''■■'.■■ jj Oberhausen took 10,500 cases, making th* ;•.">'J total shipments for the season 168,369 frcases. The Oberbaaeen goes direct to II Hamburg, which is proving a very prv&Vi' ".' 11 able market for Australian fruit. * ' ' M ;. e.;JH