LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14110, 12 July 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Auckland Golf Club's clubhouse at One-tree Hill was broken into on Friday night. On opening the premises on Saturday morning Mr. F. G. Hood, the club's professional, found that access had been gained by the window, and that his desk had been opened, between £3 and £4 in cash being stolen. So far as can be ascertained nothing else was taken. The matter has been reported to the police.

It. is usually the lot of those who undertake excavations in many parts of Rotorua to come in contact with hot or tepid water; in fact, it comes as no surprise, but while excavating in Haupapastreet, on Wednesday, the employees of the Tourist Department came upon a spring of pure cold water, at a depth of a little over sft. The formation of the earth was of a white clay (says the Hot Lakes Chronicle), and when mixed with the water made working very disagreeable and arduous.

A cablegram was received by the Mayor of Auckland (Mr. C. D. Grey) on- Saturday morning from Mr. Arthur M. Myers, in London, in which the latter stated that lie had conveyed the City Council's message of congratulation to Mr. Joseph Chamberlain on the occasion of his 73rd birthday. The greeting, Mr. Myers added, was much appreciated by Mr. Chamberlain.

An inquiry was opened by the Coroner (Mr. T. Gresham) at the hospital, on Saturday morning, into the circumstances attending the death of Samuel Gee, an elderly man, who was knocked down by a tramcar in Queenstreet on Wednesday evening. After evidence of identification had been given the Coroner adjourned the inquiry till the 20th inst.

The rainfall registered on the morning of Friday last was .10 and not .01, as erroneously reported. The amount registered at 9.30 on Saturday morning was .38, so that the total rainfall , for the two days was just under half an inch.

The case in , which J. N. Griffin, farmer, of Kaipara Flats, is suing Maseficld and Co., engineers, of Auckland, for £77 19s Bd, for hire paid for a steam engine, and damages resulting from the use of the engine, which, it is alleged, did not develop sufficient power for the work for which it was intended, was continued 'in the Magistrate's Court on Saturday morning. The case for the plaintiff was not finished when the Court rose till today. ' ' ' ' ' ~

The Waitara-owned steamer Pitoitoi, which recently met with a mishap on the West Coast, is now berthed at Onehunga, where che will undergo ail overhaul. This will not take long, and the. vessel is expected to leave within a few days for Waitara, where she will resume her old running l'

"r In three weeks from now it is anticipated by the Otira correspondent of the Lyttelton Times that the tunnel at the Olira end will ■ have a finished appearance. The resident sof the district have ■had- a■ month of exceptionally bad weather, nothing but incessant enow and rain. In. one day llin of rain fella record, and more than some parts of New Zealand get -. in two years. Three feet of rain fell■ during oune. " " One of its principal features will be the equipment of the better class of prisoners with a handicraft of some kind, so that on leaving gaol they may have a better chance of earning an honest living, ' said the Minister for Justice (Hon. Dr. Find lay) in discussing his prison reform scheme with a New Zealand Times representative. "The single cell system is being . established .at the tree-planting • prison camps, and other changes are being made by which it is hoped that better ruction may be given to the prisoners there. The reforms have to be made with due regard to economy, and some of them may be deferred until the Government can fie its way to incur the necessary expense, though this does not apply to the establishment of the reformatory farm, but rather to the extensive structural alterations which may be made in the gaols. In large measure the success of these modem reforms depends upon the efficiency and willing co-operation of the gaolers and warders, and for the future the extent to which this efficient and willing co-operation is afforded will be. made an important test when promotions are being considered." .

An extremely foolish piece of . news went the round of Lyttleton last, week (says the Press), to the effect that the steamer .Cornwall, ,now on the way to New Zealand, had been lost with all hands, including .200 passengers. At that stage the story was too foolish to be true but even the lack of official news in confirmation failed to kill the story, and by night time there were many added details, including the names of . some of the passengers. Despite many semi-official denials, which were freely circulated, the story lived several days.

A resident in Mayfield recently sent to Dr. Handcock, of Ashburton, a rabbit's leg which he had found to be infected with hydatids. Dr. Handcock opened the vesicle on the leg apd found hydatids in it, the growth on the leg being the size of a duck's egg. Dr. Handcock says that he has frequently seen: hydatids in sheep and cattle, ' but .he has never before known of the disease attacking a rabbit.

The Minister for Education (Hon. George Fowlds) returned to Auckland from Hamilton and Cambridge on Saturday afternoon, accompanied by Mrs. Fowlds. The Minister will visit the Jubilee Institute for the Blind early this afternoon. At 4.15 p.m. he will proceed to the Ministers' rooms to receive a deputation front.' the Auckland Kindergarten Association on the subject of the establishment of free kindergarten. At 4.45 p.m. the Minister will receive a deputation from the Avondale Road Board. Mr. Fowlds expects to return to Wellington at the end of the week. . The sawmilling industry in Otago and Southland at present. gives employment to about 1000 men. There are in all 70 mills in operation, 60 of these being located in Southland and the remainder in' the Catlins district. In Catlins the mills are working constantly, but in Southland there are 10 or 12 mills closed down for want of orders, while of the 60 that , are running a large number are only working' halftime—that is, , three days the mill' and three days in the "bush. " " T

After he had been awarded, the Nobel prize, the Canterbury. College . Graduates' Association forwarded a resolution'to Professor Ernest Rutherford, congratulating him on the distinction he had gained. 'Professor Rutherford ■ has acknowledged the resolution in a very interesting letter. "I | always look back with pleasure;" he writes, J to the happy, if somewhat strenuous, days I spent at Canterbury College. I thin!; my old college can well claim a fair share of whatever credit is due to the winning of a Nobel prize, for it was. there that I received my ' first instruction in science and mathematics, and: it was there I started my first researches. My experience of numerous universities has led me to the conclusion that New Zealanders nay look with pride on the excellent university teaching that is afforded them in the various colleges of the New Zealand -University. The Graduates' Association, was not founded before I left New Zealand, but I have often , heard of the excellent work it has done, and is .still doing. - In'my . time the need of such a central organisation was often felt." > • : '

An interesting set of figures indicative of the growth of the Union Steam Ship Company . during the past ,15 .years was given by Sir James Mills (managing director), at the Otago Dock luncheon last week. In 1893, said Sir James, the company's fleet totalled .52 vessels,' of a gross tonnage of 57,196; the present figures were 64 vessels, of a tonnage of 157,444. In 1893 the largest vessel was the Monowai, of 3433 tone; now the Makiira, with a tonnage of 8075, held that title. The average tonnage of the fleet was then 1100 tons, and was now 2460. Continuing, Sir James said that probably with' Government retrenchment in the air there would be fewer'inspectors, and he would say that inspectors' powers in inspecting a ship should be simply to see that the ships were efficient and safe—not to make it necessary, for the company to undergo more expense than was sufficient to secure that object. The tendency'with the multiplication of inspectors was the multiplication of exactions upon shipowners in the way of repairs and in connection with surveying. This latter was one hardship which the shipowners of New Zealand laboured under, in that .it cost more to get a ship surveyed in New Zealand than it did in Australia, and this not because it was a more efficient survey here than there, but because the surveyors on the other side exercised sound judgment- in seeing • that the ships were efficient and what the public had a right to expect.

The inspector of weights and measures has been visiting Christchurch bakers in order to ascertain whether they , have been selling standard weight loaves.- He called on about 40, and of that number about a dozen will probably have to explain to a magistrate why their bread was under weight (says'the Press).

When speaking about the heavy expenditure incurred ,by the County Council for jar rah timber for bridge works, Mr. Hugo Friedlander said (reports ' the Ashburton Guardian) 'that it would- be well to consider the advisableness of using local timber for bridge works. . It was a well-known fact 'that when birch was felled -at a certain period of. the year, it was equal to jarrah timber for bridge work. He -believed in patronising local industries as' far as "possible.

-There were again very heavy ' bookings on the Sydney boat on Friday (says the Dominion), practically all the' passenger accommodation on the Moana being occupied when she left port. ' : '