LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14301, 22 February 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

An improvement has been effected in the alarm equipment at the fire brigade station, which will prevent the whole of the alarms in the city being cut off from the station by the fusing of one wire, as recently happened. The wires are now arranged in nine circuits, with a fuse on each circuit. In the event of any circuit fusing, only eight alarms are cut off till repairs are effected.

Oases of typhoid fever are still occurring in the city, but the number cannot be considered abnormal for the summer months. During the fortnight ending February 19, six fresh cases were admitted to tlio Auckland Hospital, and the total number of such cases in the institution was 17. ;

An inquest was held at Kaukapakapa yesterday into the circumstances surrounding the death of a man named Charles Gilbert, a storekeeper, of Union-street, Auckland, whose body was found in a itch in the vicinity of the township, on Sunday. The medical evidence showed that death was due to heart failure, and a verdict was returned accordingly.

A small steam launch, owned by the Government, and used for towing mud punts at the drainage works at Piako, grounded on a reef near the Bean Rock lighthouse on Sunday morning, and was floated off again in the afternoon.

The West Tamaki Road Board was recently authorised by the ratepayers to raiso a loan of £50,000 to provide for a tramway from the boundary of the Renin era road district to St. lieliers. Before anything can be done to further the project it is necessary that the lino to Remuora should be extended from its present terminus to the boundary of the district, and the West Tamaki Road Board is'urging the Reniuera Board to conclude ail agreement with the Auckland Tramways Company to have this done as soon' as possible. Till these negotiations .are concluded no progress can be made by the West Tamaki Road Board with the St. Heliers, scheme. v.:

Some caustic criticism was passed by -Mr. Justice Edwards at the Supreme Court yesterday on the action of two detectives in spending some time with a girl who was seriously ill, for the purpose of obtaining certain particulars from her. "Had you the■ permission of the doctor who was attending the case to see the girl?" His Honor inquired of one of the detectives, who was giving evidence. The witness replied that he did not know that any permission had been obtained. "Do you think, detective," ' said His Honor, "that you had any right to spend over an hour badgering this woman whom you believed to be dying, to get a statement from hor? From what I know of you, detective, you are a decent man, and I believe you meant well, But I cannot too strongly deprecate such. a course. It is absolutely inhuman to spend ail hour with her getting her to make a statement. I cannot too strongly condemn it." His Honor added that he would make some representations on the subjoct, with a view that instructions might be issued to police officers as to what they should do, and what they ought not to do.

At a meeting of the Kaipara Chamber of Commerce, held at Dargaville on February 14, the following resolution was passed :—"That this Chamber records its protest against an organisation under the name of the North Auckland Railway League professing to express the public feeling of the North of Auckland generally, whereas its actions .are devoted to the interests of Whangarei and district, and are in many instances inimical to the whole of the North, and of the Do-

minion."

The butchers of Auckland recently expressed disapproval of the facilities afforded for railing moat from the abattoirs to the city, the gravamen of their complaint being that meat was loaded at the abattoirs in the evening and did not reach town till next morning, and on Monday morning almost too late to be sold that day. The butchers approached the Department to put on a special train, but the Department refused to do this unless a guarantee of £5 per train were given. Fearing that the meat would deteriorate in the trucks during the hot nights of summer, the butchers agreed to find the guarantee, and meat is now loaded at the abattoirs in the early morning, and immediately despatched to the city. An additional firm is now slaughtering at Westfield, and the deficit to be made up on the freight charges to meet the guarantee is proving very small, and will probably be extinguished, with a margin to spare, when another firm commences to slaughter at Westfield:

Commander Home, of H.M.S. Pegasus, visited the Taranaki . Petroleum Company's No. 2 bore during the vessel's stay in .New Plymouth. Drilling was in progress at the time. Tho great attraction for Commander Home was (says our correspondent), the boiler-house, where waste petroleum was being used as fuel. A small jet of the petroleum was caught up by a jet of steam, and converted by the fierce heat of the furnace into vapour, which burned fiercely, giving off great heat. There was no labour or supervision required, the supply of oil being continuous, and no smoke was emitted from the smoke-stack. "Stoking made easy," remarked Commander Home, at the conclusion'of his inspection. He subsequently arranged with Mr. Carter, chairman of directors, to supply him with full information concerning the company's operations, with a view of his reporting to the Admiralty. At the citizens' reception to the Pegasus' officers, on Monday afternoon, the Mayor of New -Plymouth complained that warships' visits to New Plymouth were few and " far between. Commander Home replied that one of the greatest inducements that could be offered to the Admiralty to send warships, both ; regularly and frequently to the port, would bo the development of the oil -.veils, which he. had been glad to see spouting so well that- afternoon. For naval purposes oil was a most important factor, and if the Admiralty could only rely on a constant supply from within the Empire, at a -reasonable price, then it could do with anything up to a million tons a year.

The delegates to the Chambers of Commerce Congress, at Sydney, who recently visited Auckland, have evidently not entirely forgotten the city on the Waitomata. The president of the Auckland Chamber has received a' letter signed by the chairman of : the council of the London Chamber of Commerce, and the chairman and secretary of the Congress, Organising Committee, in the following terms : "We are desired by the council of the Chamber to tender to your Chamber their best thanks for the cordial manner in which those delegates to the seventh Congress of Chambers of Commerce, of the Empire who visited your city were received and entertained, and to express their appreciation of > the admirable arrangements made for their comfort and enjoyment. The Congress Organising Committee also desire to thank you for the valuable aid contributed by your Chamber in connection with the conference. itself and the tours of the delegates, who are impressed to a remarkable degree with the resources of the Dominion and the possibilities of the urther expansion of Imperial commercial relations."

The annual meeting of members of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce will bo held on Friday next. The council, in its annual report, states that in spite of an exceptional expenditure in connection with the Wellington and Sydney conferences, a credit balance of £34 had been carried forward to capital account, and that during the year a further £100 had been paid off the loan against the Chamber's freehold property. The report records tho business transacted during the year, and the council expresses the hope that the annual dinner will bo held this year prior to tho next sitting of Parliament. • Blue papers were being; endorsed and stamped in quick succession at the Magistrate's Court, Wellington, the other day, when there came a moment of relaxation for the officials. Even the magistrate and the score of solicitors forgot the solemnity of tho proceedings, and joined in the general laugh. The crier had called out, as a civil case, "His Majesty the King versus John Bellingham and 11. W. Earp-Thomas." There was a silence, and then Mr. Neave rose. "I appear for the plaintiff. Your Worship," lie said, "but my client is not His Majesty; he is an electrical ■ engineer. It became apparent then that the crier was in error, having read the plaint note as "H. M. King" instead of "H. S. King" (Hugh Sebastian). Before the Court resumed its sombre course, the magistrate, Mr. Haselden, remarked : "His Majesty has a more summary way of putting his subjects in prison than by proceeding on a judgment summons."*'

The annual meeting of the An ~ ' Harbour Board will be held at two 'J"? ' this afternoon, the principal busing °1 down for consideration being the Zr ' of a chairman for the ensuing 2.15 p.m., a meeting of the. Board • committee will be held, for the n , of considering the' qo * - pointmont of a committee of exper » '"f*v investigate the cause of the coll, to ' the portion of the north wall of the ° f man's Bay reclamation. When this ***' \ lion has been disposed of a special TT' ing of the Board will be held to r m IW »dvi S nb„i ly „ ni, "„ (bo wall until the caiuo of the mishap ha, been investigated, and the discharge o the men employed thereon in t], o ° ' time. '' le ean-

The condemned stock fund recently in rated by the Auckland pS J Master Butchers' Association, in coniu' lion with the graziers and cattle denier' is operating very satisfactorily. The centage of animals condemned since T abattoirs were opened has been about -l"' 6 which is considered to be a very 1 figure. Under the system of. indemnify cation adopted buyer and seller pay • equal proportions on the basis of h « equal proportions on the basis of Is Gd per head for bullocks, Is 2d or heifers and 2s for bulls, cows, and stags and the buyer is completely covered from loss in the event of an animal not coming UD to the inspector's standard.-

A nautical inquiry will probably be he'd into the grounding of the auxiliary ketch Vesper at the southern point of' Maori Bay, Whangaparaoa, some ,throe weeks ago. The vessel at the time vof the mi*, hap was proceeding out to sea'to jettison a cargo of frozen meat from the s.s. Kaipara. Captain Peterson,. the master of the ketch, had been at the wheel for a lengthy period, and at 3.30 on' the morning in question went below to get a cigarette, considering it quite safe to leave the wheel for a minute or two, as the vessel was becalmed. According to his own statement, lie fell asleep through exhaustion, and was suddenly awakened by hearing a resounding crash. Rushing on deck he found that the ketch was on"the rocks. When the tide went out it was discovered that the vessel had not sustained much damage, and she was temporarily repaired, floated off, and brought to Auckland. On arrival here she was placed in the Auckland Graving -Dock and repaired. The Collector of Customs' l (Mr. J. P. Ridings) held an inquiry into the circumstances of the casualty on Saturday, and has since sent the evidence on to the Minister for Marine, recommending that a nautical inquiry be held."

The state of His Majesty's prison, Auckland, for the week ending February 19, was as follows : —On remand, 13 males 1 female; awaiting trial, 7 males; sentenced to life imprisonment, 1 male; sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour, 240 males, 16 females sentenced to ordinary imprisonment, 2 males ; received during the week, 40 males, 6 females; discharged, 30 males, 7 females. Total ir prison, 263 males, 17 females.

It is estimated that the new tailing machine which the Wellington City Council has ordered,' on the recommendation of the city engineer, will tar any ordinary road, from pavement to pavement, at the rate of 220 yds per day. It is hoped to tar from 15 to 20 miles of the city roadways next spring, and- by this means to do a great deal to minimise the ' * -V' # * * I » v ;** * '•* t'f * 1 : dust nuisance which affects Wellington under present conditions. As water sprinkling is not necessary on tarred streets, the tarring process is likely to prove an eventual source of saving to the city, especially as the tarred surfaces add materially to the life of the roadways. The cost of the machine was £200.

• Ail .erstwhile resident of Master ton has written to the secretary of the Welling- ; ton Farmers' Meat Company, applying for the position of manager, or, failing that, the position of foreman batcher, . • says a Wairarapa paper. With becom- - •ing modesty, he states that, in the event of these two positions not being available, he : would take a position as slaughterman, or 'even cook. As an afterthought he states that should he be deemed unsuitable! for. any of these positions l: hi might favourably consider the question. of acting as cook's assistant. \" cl

On the petition of Messrs. Briscoe and Co., Limited, o.' E. Mortinson (othsrwisij .

0. J. Mortinson), builder, of Taumarunui, has been adjudicated a bankrupt. The first meeting of creditors will- be held at the official assignee's office, Auckland, on the 2nd prox.

, An itinerant evangelist, who has preached in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, lately, was rudely received one evening this week (reports the Press). " In accordance with his creed, the man lias allowed his hair to grow long, and this or some other causa raised hostile demonstrations from a crowd of fully 200 people. He had 'set. up bis " stump" opposite the entrance to the State Savings Bank, in the Post Office buildings, and when the crowd that gat' l * ered round him had become so large that the tramway traffic was impeded, two police constables moved him on. The preacher then went- to the north-west coiner of , the Square, and was followed by a jeering crowd, but lie shortly afterwaids surrendered to the opposition and mo\e away. The crowd, however, followed him, with derisive remarks, down • Colombostreet, as far as Lichfield-street. It seemed that the man would be subjected to. WU l handling, and three constables had great, difficulty in getting close enough to pro tect him. At Lichfield-street, however, they rescued him, and escorted him io safety. ;

It. is understood (states the 0 "'' I,,0 " that the re-amended railway time-tab e be put into operation cany in March.-,., is said that the change in the VI e . lUng ■ Napier express service will be almo- ' - to the old conditions obtaining prior ° — present much-abused scheme. 1 ' . lieved on good authority that the - P train will leave Wellington, »'■ the. lington train leave Napier, about nine a j arriving at their respective, c e.sin a ton--6.50 p.m. and six p.m. The Well = ■ Wairarapa morning train will connec . . , the Wellington-Napier express at _ ville. The Napier and New Plymouth service will revert to the old time-table.

Bunker coal is still in great demand u» New Zealand, and is likely. to be in imaud so long as the Newcastle m ' nerb J ' main on strike. As an instance. of 10 . - amount- of work thrown on W" 10 0 shipping companies, it is mentioned that from Friday, February 4. till ; Friday, February 11, the Wellington agents f • Tvser line had to find over 5200 ton. oi bunker coal for their steamers, lomci/ such an amount would have sufiice several months, because the steamers o this lino used to coal at Sydney on the voyage out, and merely supplement their supplies in the Dominion. ■ _