LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13874, 7 October 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Thb mails which were taken off the shipwrecked steamer Aeon arrived in Auckland yesterday morning from Fiji by the Indravelli. • A considerable portion of i the mail matter has been damaged by water. , The work ■' of drying the sodden letters and papers will necessitate a slight delay in the. delivery. The Indravelli also brought the Manuka's mails from Vancouver. ■>■• The Arbitration Court, which will open its Auckland sittings at the Supreme Court Buildings to-morrow morning, will have a formidable list to dispose of. Up to the present no : fewer than 17 industrial dis- ; putes, 11' compensation and 58 enforceI ment cases have been set down for hearing, besides , which three applications for the extension of as many awards, ■'■■■ and a further one for interpretation, will have to be considered. The sittings, if all the business is taken, will probably last a month., A suggestion 'was made by Mr. W. .1. Napier, in the course of a; political speech at Devonpurt, last evening, that an association should be formed at Devonport for j the beautifying of the suburb and its on- | virons. Nature had been very lavish in her gifts to Devonport, but the people had not seconded Nature's efforts as they should have done. In his tour round the | world he had seen only two spots to equal Devonport lor charm of situation and surI roundings, and these were Cdwes, in the Isle of Wight, and Oban, in the Highlands of Scotland. I The Eden Terrace Road Board, at i a meeting last night, passed the following motion:—"That considering, the dangerous nature of the single tramway line through Eden Terrace and Kingsland districts, the Government, be requested to take immediate action with a view to having the line in question duplicated as soon as possible." The motion will be submitted to the conference of local bodies to be held on I October, 14, at Newmarket. • : ■ Confusion has frequently arisen over the names of the siding and station "Glasgow!' at the Auckland Farmers' Freezing Works. When reference has been made' to the freezing works at Glasgow and Auckland, it Was ; supposed I by; many people: that the freezing company had works in Scotland. Th© Railway Department has now decided to chango, v th« aiamaof Glasgow, to, -V&iMith-: idoWEj.'-* *"" A "

' That the extensive harbour works now under construction at Auckland are not too far in advance of the tim.ee Will be readily seen from a glance at the busy, shipping panorama included on the. double-page oj the AucELAKfi Weekly News,' published to-day. This picture gives a very comprehensive idea of the appearance whicU the new wharves will present when com -pleted The source ,of Auckland's new water supply forms another of the subject* "dealt with, and some fine views are given of the construction work at the big Waitakerei reservoir, and the smaller lake, about a mile above the once beautiful tails. Other events included in the number are the wreck of the schooner Zior at Takatu Point, the most recent meeting between King 'Edward and the Kaiser at Kronberg, presentation to Sir Joseph Ward on the attainment of his political majority, grand Dominion Day celebrations at Wellington, including illuminations at night; New Zealand Amateur Golf Club's championship at Dunedih, : a 'castaway • on the Islands, a portrait of the late Sub-Inspec-tor Gordon of Auckland) and a J topical cartoon, entitled '"Die Plot That Failed. There is also a striking new panorama Of Rotoiua, which forms one of the best pictures yet published of this great centre of the thermal regions, arid a further cartoon of the series entitled "Unrecorded Incidents, in New Zealand's History."

. The first session of the 19th ( Diocesan Synod will be. commenced on Friday next. The opening service; will ; be held ; in St.; Paul's Church in the morning, the preacher being the Rev. W. E. S. Connolly, M.A., and in the afternoon the Bishop's commissary will deliver his charge. Notices of motion will then be taken, and sessional committees appointed. In the evening a missionary meeting, v over which , the Bjshop's commissary will preside, will be held in the Choral Hall. The speakers, in addition to the chairman, will be the Revs. M; Warner, H. A. Hawkins, -A. H. Colville, and Mr. Riapo Puhipi. On the 11th inst. special services will be held 'in, the city and suburban Anglican churches. On the* 12th, 13th»' and 14th the Synod will sit in session daily, from 2.30 to 5.30 p.m., arid from 7.30 to 10 p.m.

"When is that time-ball going■;' to operate?" asked an officer on an ocean-going steamer; which arrived in Auckland yesterday morning, at the 'same time indicating the apparatus which ornaments the roof of the Harbour Board Building, in Quaystreet. "We thinking,' continued with a slight American accent, "that we •were just in the right place for a-' view to adjust -the ship's chronometers, but it hasn't moved, yet and it's four o'clock. What is the good of it, anyway?" The officer went on to say that the last , timeball that had been ,of any practical use that- he knew Of was at "Newcastle,, at some indefinite period. Some time ago the question of adjusting; the time-ball was raised at a Harbour Board meeting/ but, so far, apparently nothing has been done. 'A New Zealander, who went to Canada -some time ago, with the object of settling there, has found , that Canadian lulls are ; not so green as ' they looked from. this country.. Writing to a friend here he states that-trade is very bad in Canada. Last winter Was a very severe one, and the writer of the letter was three months out of work. Those people who are used to nothing colder in the way of climate i than the mild Auckland--winter are not likely to emigrate to Canada when they learn that the .temperature in 'Toronto..this. year went down on occasions to twenty below "zero. The unemployed distress is keen. Industrially things are bad. "There is," it is added, ."a gigantic strike just ok (August 11) among the mechanics on the Canadian Pacific railway; and if it continues it will put things, completely in the rough.' The early colonist*' reunion, which willbe held on Saturday nest, promises to be a highly successful function. As in the past, a thanksgiving sen-ice will he held I in St. Andrew's Church, those assisting being the Revs. W. Gray Dixon, M.A., A. A. Murray, Knowles Keinpton/ H. Steele Craik, W. Gittos, A. Macaulay Caldwell, : and W. Beatty/M.A; ' A solo will be tendered by Mr.' W. Aspinall. "*< At the con--1 clusion of the.service an adjournment will i be made to : the Choral Hall, v where a social [ gathering will be held, and refreshments handed round to the old people. The j Mayor of Auckland (Mr. Arthur M. Myers) I will preside, ; supported; by the ■ Hod. E. j Mitchelson, president of/the Old Colonists'.'' I Reunion. ; The. musical part of the proI gramme ! will be supplied by the Misses j Hanncken (two), and Messrs. Hannckon and W. Steele, and a first-class choir, un- , der the . direction of Mr,; J. H. Phillpoi. Mr. J. :P. Hooton will be the organist. , A poem, entitled "The Pioneer's Story," will I be recited by Mrs. Pentreath. Two large whales caused considerable perturbation to a party fisthing from the launch . Awakino some miles out from the breakwater on Sunday morning (says the Taranaki Herald). While the party were leisurely fishing the Whales rose to the surface . about 100 yards away. After a* few, . moments they headed for the boat, and rose again almost alongside'of it. ' One, the larger, was only a few feet from the .launch's gunwale. Turning, it passed slowly under the launch. Its slow progress gave the party a great fright, each man expecting the : whale to rise and capsize the boat. The. mammal then got tangled up with one of the schnapper lines, and carried off most of it. The whales swam on about 100 yards. Suddenly tthey leapt half out of the water, and the sea was churned into a foaming whirlpool. The whales: had bean attacked by threshers. The battle. raged hotly for gome time. The partv in the launch watched the unique spectacle «pell-bound.' But. their feelings were quickly changed when the battle rapidly approached the boat. No time was lost in getting far away from the conflict. A meeting of creditors in the estate of Wm., Henshaw, last known to reside in Hastings,or Dannevirke, -was held before Mr. E. Gerard, official assignee, yesterday morning. Bankrupt did ,not appear, and the meeting was adjourned sine die in order to enable the assignee to ascertain whether notice had been served oil' bankrupt or not, it being doubtful if lie has had time to come to Auckland. Wingate and Co. and T.. and 8. Motrin, Limited, were the creditors represented. • A meeting was to., have been held in the afternoon in the estate of Patrick Moloughney, but through indisposition the bankrupt was unable to appear, and his affairs be investigated this morning. No creditors attended a third meeting in respect of the' bankrupt estate of Jure Jaksic, restarirantkeeper, for, whom Mr. Lundon appeared, and this meeting was also adjourned indefinitely....- " '.:■:. ' A fireman named Stewart Litchfield, of 20, Cobden-street, Newton, yesterday filed a petition to be adjudged a bankrupt, and the first meeting of creditors will be held on Tuesday, October 20; at 2.30 p.m. The general slackness of business in Wellington, is said to have thrown a number.■ of lady typists and shorthand writers out' of work. One house, which I formerlyem- ; ployed five of these, is now JT«BSactiOg jtfl Jiusiuess withj'oixl.g iwo, '-'".'."'." <' 7 V'l?