LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14359, 2 May 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

; A final test of the hand brake in use on the Auckland tramways and of the air brake was made at six.a.m. yesterday on the College Hill line in the presence of the commissioners appointed to conduct the inquiry into > the efficiency .of the braking system. ' It, is understood that, the tests were entirely satisfactory.* The commissioners (Professor R..' J. ■. Scott, of Canter- l bury College) and Mr. A. L. Beattie (of the Railway ; Department) left by- the Main : Trunk train last night for Wellington, where the taking.of. evidence is to be commenced to-morrow. ,This should be finished, • in a couple of days, and the commissioners intend to sit one day in Christchurch. Their * report will be presented to the Government by, the l6th'"insfc. ' ,' Sunday afternoon walks across the Grafton bridge were indulged :r in by a large ! number i of ; pedestrians yesterday, this t being the first r ' Sunday : after the ? completion and official opening of the. structure. The bridge is ; especially ; appreciated ;by ' visitors to the hospital and to the Domain. ; .The steamer, Claymore, which left Onehunga for Hokianga on Thursday, will come.on to Auckland .to be lengthened, as at present she is not equal to the demands made >on her in the west coast trade. The Waitangi will take up the running while the 'necessary improvements are being ; effected' to the Claymore. It is nearly a-quarter of a century; now since Mr. Alfred : Saunders's. famous '* 10; per' cent, .retrenchment scheme was put into operation in the Government service, and the episode is almost'forgotten. But the memory of it is kept green by at least one institution (says t'i\e Lyttelton Times). Mr. Saunders was at the time a member of the North Canterbury Education Board. As retrenchment , was "to be ' the rule in the public service, he suggested to the members of the Board- that they should apply the pruning ; knife •to their own administrative expenses. The suggestion was agreed to, 'arid; the travelling. expenses of the members were, of course, affected. The dockets for these allowances were made out for the customary amounts and a 10 per cent, reduction was then made. To this day the Education Board's office follows the old practice, and if,a member's nominal allowance is 10s his clocket shows the 10 per cent, reduction and he receives only 9s. >

"""''' .... . ...... I-.-A meeting; of : creditors in the eskti o| ; = ■ W. F. Darby, merchant, of Auckland %■ II will be held at the Chamber of Commerce H Buildings to-day, at 2.30' : p.m., the room i in which such meetings are , usually held ; ; i i being too small to accommodate all the I creditors. ' ' * **£$ld -. The steamer Corinna, which arrived at L Onehunga on Saturday with a. general cargo from the South, -loaded 2100 boxes ; ; '.|x of butter and ,104 crates of cheese, : for'■' * transhipment at Wellington for "Home. 'P-: S'fc' .. • '■-.'; : XT; An : . instance.;- of the -;: inconvenience f that- I school teachers on the Main Trunk-line,. \ have to suffer was brought under I • the notice of the Wanganui Education j Board last week The Rangitaua school.? 1 :: ! master; his wife and child, it was stated ; are ;compelled to live in a tent in t he 1 rigorous- climate of that region because • f\ there was not a i house available in the If '" township. The Department had r: beet L written to •,;'• three ; months ■ back '. on'!3th§fi§ ! | matter, ■•". but; had taken no ~ notice ;of HheSfca letter. The r members 'of Board ' con- ' sidered that the state of : affairs and the § Departmental neglect were disgraceful. . . "There is a good deal of red tape about the Education Department," «aid Mr. C.. I A. C. Hardy, M.P., at the meeting of tha%*;?| North Canterbury. Education Board lVstjKf i week (says the Press),- ''and some day it * will get in-the throats of -; the officials and ! j choke them. It' is present in almost every pfc instruction that comes to the Board, and in I every, regulation that is issued by the De- : § partment. The Department is continually . \ hunting round for red tape, and I think I | can speak for the members of this Board .:.- M when I; : say that ;' they ; are ,; disgusted *- with I the Department's ■ red tapism, as well as" its continual changes of front. We really'\ hardly ,; know how,; it : stands on any-> : question. , . }; The propriety or otherwise of playing bowls on Sunday was a point vpon which ; the council of the New, Zealiii'd Bowling Association (Dunedin) was called upon to t express an opinion last week. A letter - was read from: a bowler in Akaroa, stating - that he had been studying the males of the local club upon the question of Sunday ; bowling. No mention was made in the '■ i rules of Sunday v playing, and he asked,ifl|| •. the - question. had been officially pronounced § upon by the association. . Mr. Galhnvaj remarked that it was a : well-known historical fact that Calvin . had played bowls 68M Sunday, „Jt was-, decided to inform ';thffg? writer that it was not a practice to playbowls/ in Dunedin on Sunday, and that the council did not see fit to initiate the move-'.-.' ment at present. . .'■■•'h--v- : " -•■■(■yy In to-day's issue appears the second instalment of the story of international $ mystery, entitled "The Prime Minister's Secret," . the opening chapters of which were* published in Saturday's supplement.. A* comprehensive • synopsis •; accompanies fch|l|f§ instalment in to-day's issue, so that :V. I readers who may have missed the commencement , will'be. able to. pick ;up the thread of what is undoubtedly one of the. :'. best of the late English novels. '"'?• In appearing in support of some prose*. jutions regarding the evasion of payment of {',& tramway fares at tht< Christcuurch Court v. r;last week, Mr. T. G. Russell remarked that •' it was necessary that people who would not -;- pay their fare should be brought before the :I! magistrate. A considerable • section of tS.aijfl public thought that if they held a penny in*)?? their hand, and succeeded in evading the - conductor it was all right, but there was a- m legal as well as ■■> moral" obligation on them ,' to tender their fare. Tho' magistrate said that ho knew the tramway officials had some' 1 trouble in collecting fares, and the loss of ; ' r !' revenue was considerable. The public ; j' ; ; would have to understand that, there was &-& duty.:- cast on --them to --.pay; their fare and --' : -- : - % i i i * not ' let the conductor go past them. ■ An incident occurred at the nan ing of the children's creche at Gisborne_ the v . other day, which .proved, that even a Prime Minister may make.mistakes- Sir • Joseph -;" Ward had to make a presentation of an-:-j umbrella to Mrs. Carroll, after whom the.:4 creche was named, as a souvenir of the:.-.'•* occasion. The handle consisted of a gold- ■ mounted boar's tooth. Holding tha * umbrella aloft, the Prime Minister said: "This umbrella, ladies and gentlemen, as : . is -: only fitting- (as showing that New :; Zea»« and is surrounded by waters teeming with, .'r*. fish.). is surmounted by a shark's to3th." : 'A pig's tooth. corrected a schoolgirl of -* iboufc 12 years of age, who was evidently "; better up in the natural history of her own ;V, country than the Prime Minister. A roar of laughter greeted the mistake made | by» ••.; the head of the Cabinet. . .■-., - ,v :? Ladies, possibly perturbed by diatribes of igainst their .deference'■• to fashion's die- '■ :ates, may (says ' the Wellington Post) take some comfort' from a quaint Maori ' orna-,'-, ment : just' added 'to the collection of the ;, Dominion Museum. It' is a sperm whale's ;ooth—a large relic—once proudly worn 'by ;''";> i 1 Maori "■ chief in' the Bay of Plenty,"dife|£P trict. The point is shaped -'to ' resemble i , * »" , . >•''.•„ the head of : some animal, and : the 5 upper -.. - - , , " . ~ n , i portion is trimmed down and .pierced with three holes to enable the tooth to be suspended from the happy owner's neck. Til , ' These ornaments are now very rare, except in the older museums, says Mr. Hamilton-'./.' Director of the Museum. The one in his : ; possession has actually been imported >: from England, whither it went from the Bay of Plenty many years, ago. It seems >-7"ji that ! these tooth pendants were fashionable:;~\yhen Captain Cook visited these islands,(but they were eventually superseded by the tiki and other comparatively ;.'■' ne'w-fangled ornaments. The tooth pen- A j, jants went totally out of fashion. Another■•;: interesting specimen; of Maori art is an ' :' slaborately-carved feeding tube. This ';. article was once used to convey liquid::.; lourishment to« persons undergoing the tattooing process, who were therefore in i very' tapu condition, and debarred from handling food. „ ''---..' r The work of altering the Manawatu ine in'various 'directions necessitated by <..;'• the increased traffic since th** property ivas acquired by the Government is (says' he Wellington Post) rapidly approaching -. completion. The line has been relaid .. with 701b instead of 531b rails, from Pa*-' -~; kakariki to within about 12 miles of .■ Palmerston, and the remainder will, it is ;. anticipated, be,completed in four months. Ballasting is. being ; carried out as fast as possible, the material being obtained from the Otaki and Manawatu rivers, but it be some six months before this portion-;;-: of the work is finished- The railway station at Levin, which was destroyed. by ,v tire some time ago, has been rebuilt in a, more commodious and up-to-date form, :;; and will, it is anticipated, afford all the : necessary facilities for many years '™/:-% come. The sidings and cattle yards *.;.; been' rearranged and extended, • new v road has been constructed outside "? • the permanent way. Most of the other stations have had to he ' altered to meet • the exigencies of the increased traffic, and . a new station, has been built at Paekaka- ■' riki, with increased siding accommodation, ■ - and the interlocking system has been ; in*.;;;.; stalled. The cost of tha various altera-,v ; lions has not been disclosed, but it »'»» j form an interesting feature of the annual * ""ill"! report of the Department to , to Parliament 1 next. session. .: -~ iZ4^§Um^ j 1 - i < «3JSk§#f