LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14226, 24 November 1909, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The matter of berthage accommodation for the P. and O. steamers, which are to make Auckland a port of call, is to be gone into fully by the company's superintendent (Mr. Trelawny), who is expected to arrive at Auckland about the first week in December. The Harbour Board was notified to that effect yesterday by the local agents. : The dispute between the Auckland Fshermen-s -Union and the fish merchants has been settled on the' basis that 'the bundles (for which merchants pay 2s) shall consist of 241b. " The fishermen who are alleged to have been boycotted are at work again. '

The election of members of the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board by the different local authorities concerned will take place- to-day. ' The Auckland City Council will meet at noon, and representatives of - the s other local bodies will meet at the Charitable Aid Board office, as follows, to-day Rodney and Waitemata County Councils and Devonport Borough Council, 11 a.m., one member Parnell and Grey Lynn Borough Councils, 11.30, one member; . ' Mount Eden, Newmarket, and .Birkenhead Borough Councils, noon, one member; road boards in Eden, two members, 12.30 p.m. The representatives of the Onehunga Borough Council and of the various road boards in the Manukau County, who are to elect two members, will meet at noon, in the Otahuhu Public Hall.

The metropolitan spring show of the Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral Association, to be held at Alexandra Park on Friday and Saturday next, having attracted the largest number of entries on record, should be distinctly successful. The exhibition will be especially strong in pastoral exhibits, and a very large number of. competitors are coming forward for the military and horse jumping events. A further. attractive item has been arranged for the second day in the shape of a competition by several teams from No. 1 Field Ambulance Corps. It represents the work done in the rescuing of wounded under fire. Surgeon-Captain J. C. Purdy has consented to act as judge. The Railway Department and Tramways Company are making complete arrangements to cope with the expected heavy show traffic. . - , . . ■■ • • ;

The desirability of improved facilities for the shipping of sheep from the cattle and sheep race at Orakei was again brought under the notice of the Harbour Board yesterday by the Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral Association, the latter body forwarding a letter which had been received from the manager of - the Northern Steamship Company (Mr. Charles: Ranson). - It was requested that .there should be two sheep chutes on the wharf, one 22ft long and the other 12ft in length. The request was referred to the Board in committee.

An inquest was held at Ahikiwi yesterday (telegraphs our Dargaville correspondent) on the body of Ripeka Katiti, a Maori, aged seven years. The. evidence showed that , early on Saturday morning deceased; who had evidently been playing at the fireside, rushed from the . house with her clothes ablaze. The parents, who were close at hand, speedily extinguished the flames, but the child's body, arms, and legs were badly burnt. She was treated immediately, but slowly sank, and expired on Sunday. A verdict of accidental death was returned:

A Gazette notice exempts all that piece or parcel of land, situate in the Coromandel survey district, containing 47 acres, more or less, known as Pukemaukuuku, and being the whole of the land comprised in an order" of the Native Land Court, on investigation of title, dated December . 9, 1908, from the operation of section 117 of the Native Land Court Act, 1894. 1 " .V';":

: The great : coal strike in Austral' '* the most serious ■ blow to trade that- /".l State of New • South Wales has e X pe $ : i J meed; for many years, and some ideVrf 1 "<] the present proceedings at Newcastle ms I be gained from . the -highlylm&tJ'lp 1 series of pictures appearing in this week' ■ ' i issue of the Auckland Weekly News'' l ! os. published to-day. Among these will be!" ■ found scenes at the collieries 'as th / miners ceased work, a typical miner on! ? strike, and some of the men ■ waiting to)V''' draw their last pay after going out.' In!' addition there is a fine full-page view of' " ' the city of. Newcastle,- the centre of the' disturbance. Among the numerous other l &&' current events dealt with in the number' will bo found- pictures of the Waikato A t and P. Show at- Hamilton, the new' dredge for the port of; Auckland, the! Devonport Yacht Club's cruising race, and; ' an encampment of mounted rifles on th e j Waimarino Plains. A splendid catch of '' rainbow trout at Lake Taupo shows the' " sport that awaits the angler in this foj ! V cality, while a-group taken at the seventh!' 1 annual conference of the New Zealand | I Employers' Federation forms an interest- 1 ing record of the recent gathering. Other' ' events illustrated include the opening offS .J the new naval harbour under the cliff" Q j /. Dover, the formation of the first ladies' cricket team at Auckland, together with' 1 J some snapshots of life on the Auckland S goldfields. ••. ■ > ■ The upkeep of the Orakei bridge is 1 , exercising the minds of Remnera Road Board members. The control and manage- > ' ment of 'the structure was recently vested,l in the latter- body, .but a request was v ' made to the Harbour : Board - yesterday'«»■ that a conference should be held, with' a>" ' view ■to arranging for maintenance. If • this could not be done satisfactorily between the local bodies concerned, the Re-' " ■ muera Board ' intimated its; intention to I apply for the setting up of a -Royal Com.j • - mission to apportion the cost of upkeep, The chairman characterised the letter as) ' an extraordinary proposal, to ' shift the! V.'responsibility of the upkeep of the bridge' upon a body which was in no way concerned. It was resolved to reply that the Board did not in any way recognise re- 1 "' 5 sponsibility. |! \ • c I.: ... ;• It is understood that the report furnish-' •ed by Mr. Stuart Richardson, Wellington t city engineer, on the' Auckland electrical* scheme; bears out the proposals made* by'' the electrical engineer to the Auckland City Council (Mr. Wylie) in his report, almost in their entirety. Both reports will ' • ■ be laid before the next meeting of the; : Council. ■ ;, ' 1 v'fjv.

" The successful tenderers for contracts Nos. 2,, 3, and 4 of the Auckland drainage system, are making active preparetions to commence work. Mr. J. Griffin, who has the contract for the second' sec-', tion of the main intercepting, sewer £26,408), is getting pi ant on the ground,: and will make a start near Wilson's Point, at the foot of Victoria Avenue. Contract No. 3 (section 1 of the Archhill Gully sewer) is let to Messrs. Forrest |';'and|l§l Lovett, at £7043 Bs. They will start jiltllp off the Great North' Road, near Western . Springs,. and . are getting plant. ready, v.,i Similar preparations, are being made by-l i Mr. G. Knight, who will commence the • fourth contract. £2315 lis 6d) • for - the second section of the Archhill Gully sewer from Commercial Road to city . boun-, dary. The / contractors . for the first' section ;of the main sewer (Messrs Jl. ■Mays and. - , Gordon) . ; have f .„ worked about . 180 ft into the heading on thJ/-" Orakei side, and have started on the Hob* son Bay side, of the tunnel. ; '• i -.-> . . ■ s« jv : The manhole which :is being constructed' *Jp outside, the h Post Office, in Shortlandstreet, to permit of the- underground Hel&ffi; phone cables being gathered into . the of- . fice, is now nearing completion, and will /,< probably be finished next week. The work has proved a somewhat tedious one, owing to such obstacles as sewers and pipes ;;.' having been encountered in the course of j?§§ I excavation. Conduits to carry the under*! ground telephone cables have been . laid inj S Shortland, Princes, and High Streets, 5 andig> are being carried up Swanson-street. As 1 breaking the surface of Queen-street ; 'U}"»S somewhat expensive item, a tunnel for; the ducts, was driven under the street from . Shortland-street to Swanson-street.|fi; In the progress of the "drive" ; the 1 Queen-V street sewer was encountered, and the top; of this had. to be .removed,;and was after*' 1 '> wards built up. . The work under Queen** g| street- was performed mostly at night and the' surface was broken only in one or two' places.' At this point there are ten "ducts," six" of which are I being carried .up Swans<ffl»||f| street to serve Newton and PonsOnby. In Queen-street only the "wires necessary for the premises in She street are being' placed,. and thus only one duct will be laid' under ' each footpath and the street will! not be broken. The cables will not be,in-; troduced till the laying of the ■ "ducts" is; further advanced, but wires are - being in-t troduced for cleaning purposes. The system is designed to carry 16,000.wires atj present there are some 5000 subscribers to I the exchange. Each cable running from I the exchange will carry 1200 wires. j ■ ; •/; '/• ' , _ A special meeting of the Auckland I liar. bour Board is to be held on: next to consider the alteration of the by-;', laws, and to receive a deputation on ilw . matter. - 4fl§l In the . Supreme Court yesterday, in & gard :to the remarks made by His' Honor' Mr. Justice Cooper about counsel"keep*, ing the Court waiting, Mr. J. R: Lundoaj said that if he had been responsible. f° r i - causing delay to the Court, and more ar *|j|l ticularly . His Honor, he was very j;. a and sincerely apologised, but so f|Bl as he could see he was blameless in the matter. He; also>ir«|®iMl red to the great difficulty which existed with reference to the order of cases, &J'' ing that members of the Bar j found i ■--- very difficult to get any idea of the.or e^.^B in which the cases would come ' on. - Honor said . that so far as he was cofc cerned, he was - quite satisfied that I £ , Lundon was free from blame : in the. ffl® rf te'r. In regard to a remedy, he said!^,|^J judges had no control over the;oid«A®| which the cases were brought on, bnfc 9 > suggested " that a list' of, say, six tshould be posted in the library the. Dl fe|| before, and the business of the Co® ■ should be confined to these cases, an i counsel engaged in them should be rea , * to go on at any time during the. day- ®fj| ■ The jockey J. Pinker, who met with a serious accident at Ellerslie on t c , inst., and was taken to Woodside^Ho^^|||B tal, is now reported to be progress! 11 favourably. Workmen were engaged yest«rday. c^ ing out the fountain in Albert ' the water : was run off, the -^'I^Jp|g|: were thick in the mud at: ; the. 0 ' were' netted and thrown into a pia« d which was improvised ;as a cistern, a J| ' there they remained - till they could . turned to their usuaLhauntaa