LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14491, 4 October 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

An accident befel a man named Harry Clarke, a wharf labourer, who resides in Sale-street, Freeman's Bay, while engaged in loading operations. at the steamer'Wimmera yesterday afternoon. A quantity of luggage was being lifted on board, and dark© somehow got entangled in the net i which is used for the purpose. He was carried off his feet and lifted about 30ft, when he fell, his arm being broken as a result, while lid was also considerably bruised. He was conveyed to the hospital, where he is .progressing very favourably. ,

An old age pensioner ■ named Thomas William Mann was found dead in his bunk at Matakana yesterday (telegraphs our Warkworth correspondent). The deceased, who was nearly 80 years of age, had previously arranged all the details for his funeral, and had had his coffin specially made. An inquest was held, when & verdict of.death from natural causes was returned. The manager of oil well (Mr. A. Young) is (says our Gisborne correspondent) making excellent progress with bpring operations. All the 7in casing which came to hand recently has been sunk, reaching a depth of 1095 ft. Mr. Young is now putting down the 6in casing, and up to Friday night last had got down to 1166 ft. A strong complaint in regard to the stray cattle nuisance in the Mount Albert district was made in a letter . received by the Road Board last evening, by Mr. N. McDonald, of Morningside. He said owners of horses were in the habit of turning their animals looso on the streets by day as well as by night, and he complained of. the want of attention on the part of the ranger. The chairman (Mr. •M. J. Coyle) said that he had received several complaints from residents on the subject. The ranger (Mr. Turner) said that he had been out all hours of the night looking for stray cattle, but on. dark nights it was very difficult to see the animals on the road. On moonlight nights, when the cattle could be seen, the owners did not put them out. During the past three months he had impounded 115 horses and nearly 60 head of cattle. The opinion was expressed that the work was apparently becoming too great for one ranger, but it was agreed to defer further consideration of the matter until the next meeting.

The trustees of the Children's Home, Richmond Road, acknowledge with thanks the following donations —Amount previously acknowledged, £650 ss; Auckland Racing Club, £10 10s; Mr. George Niccoll, £10 10s; Messrs. Heather, Roberton, and Co., £5 ss; Mr. Walter King, £5; the employees of the Campbell and Ehrenfreid Company, Limited, £5; Mrs. G. S. Kissling, £2 2s; Messrs. W. S. Whitley and Sons, Limited, £2 2s; the employees of Messrs. R. H. Abbott and Co., Limited, £1 ss; "A Friend," £1; "A Sympathiser," £1; Rev. E. J. McFarland, £5 5s : total, £699 4s. The Hon. J. A. Millar informed the House of Representatives on Saturday morning that a tender for the new steamer for the Lake Wakatipu service had been accepted. The vessel would steam 15 knots and would carry 1000 passengers. She would be built in New Zealand, and would be as good, and probably better, than anything that could be imported. The lowest tender had been accepted, but he could not state the price, as the contract had not yet been signed. The High Commissioner is (says our London correspondent) already moving ,in the matter of the admission of New Zealand meat into Austria. On account of the high price of meat there, the Government has decided to admit certain foreign meats and to make a test of Argentine. Sir W. Hall-Jones and Mr. H. C. Cameron at once got into correspondence with the Austrian Consulate here, and every effort will be made to obtain recognition of New Zealand meat and inspection methods. The dispute between the Auckland Milkmen's Union and the Auckland Milk Vendors' Association, which has engaged the,, attention of the Conciliation Council for some days, was finally settled last evening, when the agreement arrived at was signed by the. employees' and employers' representatives. The terms of the agreement were such as have been reported from day to day during the sitting of the Council. The Commissioner, Mr. P. Hally, who presided, expressed pleasure that an amicable settlement had been arrived at, and congratulated the assessors on the way they had carried out their duties. For assistance rendered him he especially thanked Mr. C. Grosvenor, secretary of the Employers' Federation, and' Messrs. A. Rcisser and T. Long, representing the unionists. A vote of thanks was passed by the assessors to Mr. Hally, who remarked: "Never in my experience have I had such a pleasant dispute to decide."

Attention is being drawn by Mr. H. G. Ell, M.P., to the fact that there are numerous small areas of State-owned land of from one to 10 acres, scattered throughout the Dominion, a good many of which are returning no revenue. Mr. Ell suggests that in view of that fact they might be handed over to local authorities as endowments under the control of the local authorities. Mr. Ell thinks these lands might frequently be made more profitable than they are now. That there is at present a keen demand in Australia for draught horses was again demonstrated yesterday, when a consignment of 58 horses was despatched by the Wimmera for Sydney. The horses, which have been purchased for Mr. T. Bowra, of New South Wales, came from the Waikato and Motutapu Island. They are of a fin© stamp of medium draught, three to four years old, and in splendid condition. Dur.'ng the month of September the following cases of infectious diseases have been reported to the district health officer (Dr. Makgill) :Enteric fever: City, three cases ; suburbs, one case; country districts, three cases ; total, seven cases. Scarlet fever: City, 14 cases; suburbs, 15 cases ; country districts, 24 cases; total, 53 cases. Diphtheria : City, two cases ; suburbs, eight cases ; country districts, six cases; total, 16 cases. Tuberculosis : City, four cases ; I suburbs, two cases; country districts, sis cases ; total, 12 cases. Blood'-poisoning: Suburbs, one case. The fishing season in Wellington opened inauspiciously (telegraphs our special correspondent), the weather having" been of that depressing nature that precedes a north-west storm. Consequently the catches were small in number and light in weight. There is a good deal of sickness in Wellington at the present time, and many people, are down with influenza of a virulent type. Several members of the Government staff were seized with illness last week, , but are now convalescent. Their indisposition was ascribed to a defect in the drainage at Government House. An inquest was held yesterday by the Coroner (Mr. T. Gresham) on the body of Mr. Edmund Elliott's infant daughter, who was drowned in a ditch at Richmond on Monday. Dr. Boyd stated that death was due to asphyxia from drowning, and the jury returned a verdict to this effect. During the hearing of the Bank of Australasia compensation case at the Wanganui Supreme Court, the values of land in Wellington were often mentioned. On one occasion Mr. Justice Edwards said that he fully believed that property in Wellington was over-valued. ■ .He knew of a case where property sold at £1500 was valued at £2500 by an official valuer. This gentleman, however, conscientiously valued always at the top of the market, and apparently his valuations suited the ~ local bodies and tb# Ggyeuuu£2j4 k

The name' of th* man who was injured «|l- - Wharf on Saturday through be*|| ing jammed between a truck and a biacuEfr' crate is Thomas Strahan. He is a mar« • ried man, and had arrived) from the Old Country only a. few weeks ago. Strahan had started work on the day prior to thft . accident. He is now well on the road to recovery, and will probably be able t4 leave the hospital in a day or two. : The Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral ' Association's Metropolitan Spring Show is to be held at Alexandra Park, Epsom, ' on Friday and Saturday, November 25 and 26. The schedule, which has just been issued, gives details of a fine prize- V list— of the most liberal the associa- • ~ tion has ever offered. It is consequently confidently expected that the entries will constitute a record. ' The programme for . saddle horses, hunters, and light harness horses, is an exceptionally attractive one. Amongst the special prizes in this section is one of £10, presented by. the Auckland Racing Club, for the champion hack. The association is also offering v a gold cup, valued at 25 guineas, for the champion hunter. A 20-guinea cup is. offered in the draught section for the best • entire. This will be the deciding year for the points prize of £15 given by various city firms for competition in certain special draught classes. The association's 20-guinea challenge cup for the champion Shorthorn bull will again be competed for, also the 20-guinea cup for the cham- ;; pion Jersey bull. Special prizes are offered' for dairy cattle, and there is a valuable trophy for the exhibitor gaining moat! ppints in stud sheep. All the other de- y; partmente— produce, bread, and -»■ scones, etc.—are well 1 catered for. There : is also a fine programme of jumping, driving, and riding competitions arranged. A circular issued by the Valuer-Oeneral seeking information, with regard to the " effect of the system of rating on unim- V proved values from districts that have. adopted the system was received by the - ■ Grey Lynn Borough Council last night-. The information is desired by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The Coun- } cil's opinion was expressed in answers to ; questions, as follows :The system is de-. ■ terrent to the.holding of land for merely • speculative purposes. It tends to pro- . mote building. Its tendency is against S the maintenance of fictitious land values. It encourages the use and improvement of • land. It produces forced, sales of land. '? It attracts population. The general re- $ suits, of the system are "beneficial. The." :? ratepayers are satisfied with the system. y There is no difficulty in raising sufficient revenue under the system. All these . answers were unanimous, except that ihe v general results of the system are beneficial, to which Sir. C. J. Garland dissen-; ' ted. A question whether the system tended to reduce rents was left open, as it : was considered that rents are regulated ; by supply and demand. A meeting of ladies interested in lifesaving and swimming will be held in the ; City Council Room on Wednesday, at eight p.m. His Worship the Mayor (Mr. L. J. Bagnall) will resile. It is pro? -• posed to form a ladies' branch of the;; Royal Life-saving Society. It is also. proposed to approach the Council and s Harbour Board for the purpose of procur- . ing a site on one of the beaches to build a clubhouse for ladi93 oaly, and have the house fitted out conveniently with read- !• ing, dressing, and bath rooms. Classes j were started at the King's College yes-. ; terday, the hon. instructor being Mr. T„ . Wilkes. About 100 boys attended. They - will .be examined weekly by deputy-chief instructor Paul McNamee. The schools!, ; under instruction at present are the Train ing College (41 men and 61 ladies), Nor-* - mal £jchool (20 boys and 16 "girls), Pitt* street Marist Brothers (64), Dilworth 'I Ulster Institute (50), and other classes in • the city and suburbs aie held, men aniJ'it women to the number of 462 receiving in* 5 struction. ?! The following is the list of deceased persons' estates in Auckland (of £500 and ove»< < in value) which were certified to by ther: Commissioner of Stamps during the months of September:—John MoK. Geddes,.; £103,863; Richard A. Carr, £29,399 ; Mary ; T. Dumoulin, £23,085; Richard Hobbs* :5 £12,876; James Henderson, £7092; Johrt Plunkett, £6156 ; Percy C. Hardie, £2606 jjg Joseph Lidgard, £2420; Robert £1858; Joseph B. Williamson, £1649 q

William Smith, £1479 Harriett I. Morris, ' • £1129 ; Francis W. Boynton, £1099 ; Selina : Clarke, £1055; Matthew Woodward, ' £1053 ; William R. Bissett, £1006 ; Thomas. Roper, £961 ; William H. Wallis, £770 ; ■ Catherine Young, £723; and Archibald Ledette, £705. , - During his visit to Wellington, Mr. C. Holdsworth, general manager of the Union: Company, was questioned by a Times re-?;;! presentative concerning the company's re- : ported purchase of a new cargo steamer. :! Mr. Holdsworth stated that the company,-; had bought a -launched cargo ; steamer named the Hopeful, of 1150 tons-!, dead weight, not 115 tons, as was reported by the Press Association. The steamer has« been renamed the Kowhai, after the Maori j name of the New Zealand flower commonly ? known as the " parrot bill." She will join the company's " K" class of coal and cargo carriers. The Kowhai is to leave Home in. | about a fortnight's time for New Zealand.! • '«» It has been a contention among fishery men in other parts of the Dominion that;' the groper leave the coast in the winter,£ but this has not been the case at Timara| (says the Herald), for during the last few.-: months the hauls have been very satisfac% tory in comparison with the summer catches, taking into consideration the cold-J nees of the weather on numerous occasions./ It is suggested that the sea bottom has a.;.j good deal to do with the habits of the fishes Off Timaru it is a smooth, hard sand/: whilst in many other places—Moeraki, for ; - instance— is shingly and rough. t\ An interesting contention is put forwarip by a correspondent in a, letter to the Mana-« watu Standard, in regard to the proclivities of trout. " I see," he " by a local in your paper that the lakelet| in the Square was emptied, and six fish were killed, and that nobody krowß| what the disease is. I may state that iiis not a disease at all, but simply a funguss that grows on the fish through and if the fish are not strong every' bit<j| they receive becomes fungoid. In tirosp fungus grows all over them, and in the end,; kills them. I think trout are the greatesj|| fish in the world to fight. When a fish i|| seen with fungus it should be taken out| of the water at once, because if left all t&Sp other fish chase it, and that starts them $lfcj fighting. My idea is that the main cause of their fighting is through their not having enough shelter, and I should advise o®j council to erect more .shelter, and I thiwJ they will find that will overcome the dj«| ficulty." t.; During the hearing of a case recently i|| the Christchurch Magistrate's Coiir)® where it was alleged that a man. was || bookmaker, a witness said that t'ae was a loafer. Mr. Cassidy, who a -Pl )ea^fß for the defendant, contended at once that:® man could not be a loafer and a bookmakeg "The statutory definition of a hookuwkeg is 'a man- who earns his living wholly ; partly as a bookmaker.' If he earns J® living ha. ciumjat be a. fooler*", said ths *J!|| hji