LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14868, 20 December 1911, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A conference regarding the tramways dispute will be held to-day. Mr. W. Parry, of Waihi, vice-president of tho New Zealand Federation of Labour, will arrive in Auckland by the Main Trunk express this morning, and with the delegates appointed by the union will meet the delegates of the company in conference at 2.30 p.m. As the men have declared that they will go out on 'strike at midnight on Friday /unless their demands are granted, and as the meeting this afternoon will probably be the last opportunity the parties have of conferring together, the decision of the conference will be awaited with considerable interest. , .

The Canadian mail , steamer Marama, with the English I and American • mails, is due at Auckland about 11 a.m. . to-day from Vancouver and way ports. The vessel is running somewhat behind her time-table date owing to having been delayed on the passage by unfavourable weather. - She is to sail for Sydney direct this evening. On Friday morning the R.M.S. Zealandia arrives at Auckland from Sydney, and after taking on board passengers, mails, and general cargo, sails at two p.m. the same "day for Vancouver, via way ports. '

The charts of the Motuihi channel, recently made by Lieutenant Jackson, R.N., and Mr. Plummer, are to be forwarded to the Marine Department, with the request that they be sent on to the Admiralty with a view to their being adopted and t pub' lished as- official charts. The Harbour Board received a report yesterday from the harbourmaster, stating that the charts had been completed i arid l were ready *■ for J despatch. "The Board, not caring to take full responsibility for" the absolute accuracy of the charts; decided some time ago: not to issue the charts: itself, and'. -bar-; bourmaster recommended that they should be forwarded to the Admiralty. The chairman said' that as the charts- had been made with great care by Mr. Plummer, who had been with Lieut. Jackson, the officer who carried out the first part of the survey, the Admiralty- would probably be ready to accept the charts. If that were done, they would be issued as official documents, and the Board would be relieved of the responsibility for their, accuracy.

In a cablegram received from Sydney it. was stated that the steamer Zealandia had been quarantined, owing to an outbreak of diphtheria on board. In reply to a local inquiry, the following "was received in Auckland yesterday:—" Referring to your cable of 19th, Zealandia clean ship. Vessel referred to was Zealandic, a ShawSavill steamer .with immigrants aboard."

The business people of Auckland are anxiously awaiting' the berthing of the large cargo steamer Delphic, as that vessel has on board cargo consisting ; : ; of all, de Ascriptions of Christmas season goods. The Delphic has-been detained for a longer period than was anticipated in the powder ground, discharging explosives. It is expected that she will berth at the Railway Wharf to-day to commence the discharge of her large cargo.

A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of William Tenetahi Brown, a native, who has been carrying on business as a farmer and fisherman at Omaha, was held at the office of the official assignee (Mr. W.

S. Fisher) yesterday. In the course of his statement * bankrupt said he had occupied some 6000 acres owned by his mother, and he earned his living by grazing' cattle and selling fish He estimated his liabilities at £559 and his assets at about £65. He attributed his failure to • losses through the death of cattle, unsatisfactory sales, and ill-health. As there were only two or three creditors present the meeting was adjourned sine die. " '.' ' '■

An example of the way in which our railways are mismanaged was brought under the notice of a Herald representative yesterday: A settler decided to come to Auckland for the holiday season. His nearest point of departure for this city was Te Kuiti. Arriving at the railway station thero he booked for Auckland, expecting naturally to obtain the benefit of the reduced Christmas fares. Therein -he had, however, miscalculated, for he was denied any reduction and had to pay full fare. Now, • had tho settler in ■ question travelled hither from Tauinarunui, which is 49 miles further away than Te Kuiti, hewould have been granted a concession. As a matter of fact it would have cost him less to have paid full are from To Kuiti to Taumarunui and to have taken out an excursion ticket from the latter place than it actually cost him for the shorter journey.

A word of advice as to how the ruthless destroyers of public property should l be treated when caught red-handed was- given by the Mayor (Mr. C. J. Parr) to the schoolchildren assembled at,the, Town Hall yesterday morning. He asked the boys to assist him in preventing the beauty' of the park from being disfigured by larrikins. " If any of you boys," he said, " rind other boys destroying " trees or pulling up shrubs in tho parks you have the 'Mayor's, permission to hit them with both fists between the eyes. If you say ' we will not allow;,' anybody to destroy our own property, and we , will make an : example of anybody who does,' ypu will stop this sort of thing quicker than all the policemen in Auckland." • The Mayor's remarks were teemed vrith vigorous applause. . ~'. .

The special Christmas ..iiS;'''. ' :■;■ Weekly News i s «m !e I* day. A more artistic or interesting n Z faer it would be impossible to" find aa T % where in the colonies. \ The , UlustuS I ' ' supplement is enlarged "to 24 pages, Ji-j ~ ■ include a large number of I, ir ;;; , and holiday pictures from all parts of «,. Dominion. The double h particularly fine photograph of CbelL S ham Beach, Auckland, while there 2 numerous full-page and half-page picC " -. of well-known beauty spots. The f„,-,.. ' piece consists of an artistic study of old Maori woman, and amongst'the not- . ' ' able scenic pictures may be mentioned Views of Mount Egmont, the Waited ' Harbour at sunset, the Te Anau-Milforf' » and Wakatipu-Te Anau tracks, an old' water mill in the Taupo district and numerous others from all parts of the Do.' minion. The opening of the new Au'ck land Town Hall and of Point Erin Park are both fully illustrated, and there is a ' fine full page of snapshots of the American/, and Australasian lawn tennis player? engaged in practice for the forthcoming j Davis cup contest. The elections are well j represented, there being three pages of portraits of members of the new ParkV ment, and a full-page picture of the crowd which gathered to watch the result of the second ballot outside the Herald Office. A special feature is the full-page cartoon' " The Wreck," forming a sequel to the highly popular picture, "Will She Weather It?" published in September last. The issue carries with it a beautiful coloured presentation plate, showing a typical ploughing scene in the Waikato district. All these pictures, in conjunction with' a large selection of Christmas 'stories and other seasonable literary matter, make up - one of the best weekly papers ever issued. All those who were disappointed by being ' unable to secure a copy of the Weekly News Christmas Number should make a point of obtaining this week's issue. .... A resident of Mangawai, Richard Tantrum, 70 years of age, died at the hospital on Monday night, having been admitted to the institution on the afternoon of that day. The cause. of death, is unknown.. The Coroner will hold an inquest • this morning at 10 o'clock at the hospital. Or. the Hauraki Plains, in the Thames • Valley, near Auckland, the Government have put down five artesian wells to deaths of from 300 ft to 600 ft. A splendid supply of water has been met with in each case, the flow rising several feet above the surface, and yielding from 4000 gallons up to 115.200 gallons per day. But the water is warm soda-water, and the people who first drink at the crystal flow usual? get a taste which makes them look thoughtful ■ for awhile. As a matter of fact although this water can be ranked as a first-class corrective in cases of rheumatism or bladder troubles it t is not a pleasant beverage, and the settlers have not yet cultivated! a taste for it, so they depend on riufw Stock seem to like this drink even unadulterated and thrive on it, and there seems a likelihood now, that the district , is carrying so many cows that milk,and. ioda-water will become the general product of these newly-reclaimed fertile plains. .■ The Auckland Harbour Board has/re. solved that a breakwind 6ft high shall be erected on th* western side of. the em-t bankment leading to tho O'Neil's Point Wharf, to protect passengers from the high winds which frequently blow across? the much-frequented thoroughfare be- ; tween the steamer and the mainland. Experiments with lucerne have recently, been made by Mr. Earl© Vaile, of Broad-' lands, Waiotapu, who has done so much . to- test the quality of the North Island pumice foils. .He put in 201b.-of Hunter River seed to the acre about-October 1,. and inspito of the exceptionally cold spring the seed germinated well, and the plant* are now up several inches high. The inn portance of lucerne to the pumice country can scarcely be over-estimated, for this Xb -■ crop, . besides providing the maximum amount of nutritious fodder is" a nitrogen accumulator, and would do much to pre- : pare these soils for future crops. Mr. Vaiie states that the .lucerne crop is. looking ; ~ strong and vigorous, and that given * decent spell of warm weather should pro* ■ , vide quite a lot of feed during the summer. ;•'.' ; There are now 750,000 ; acres on Broad-* ■ ' lands under cultivation, besides a consider- ..' able area- surface sown in grass; whilst | 20,000 acres are fenced, so that this estate"&] is now showing extensive improvements, and Mr. Vaile is proving, his faith in tha . possibilities of pumice country in a.'WJSjlli practical manner.

practical manner. The volume of the shipping traffic at the port of Auckland during the past for** night, aggregated 108,920 tons gross regis-; ter inwards, and 102,805 tons gross register outwards. The arrivals consisted of five large cargo steamers, seven intercolonial or island traders, five coasters from Southern ports, one intercolonial sailer, and 270 local.coasters, an aggregate of 65,855 net. tons. The outward shipping numbered 16 vessels of the principal classes, and 262 . local coasters, an aggregate of 64,855 net' ■ ,■ .-,■■-, ■...■.-, ~■■■'..:■''-'.v■::..,,; ^.y:.iw^m tons. .' ■ ; " ' The first contract in connection with the city water supply improvement schema was let yesterday. At the meeting of the City Council on Thursday last four lenders were received for the supply of castiron pipes and valves for the laying down of new mains and renewing others whera > necessary, and were referred to the Mayor (Mr. C.J. Parr), with power to act. Th» quotations given were as follow :—Masonand Struthers, £56,976 8s 6d; Wingutoa»4 Co. £56,543 6s 4d; Briscoe and c*» £56.082 7s 7d; and John Burns and Co.. £55/777. The tenders were considered by the Mavor yesterday, and he decided to let the contract for the supply of pipe* etc., to John Burns and Co.. the loweil I tenderers, at £55,777. - :-""'f;j;pii \' : '"■ , I A representative meeting of potato ! growers'of Pukekoke was held on Monday evening, Mr. A.. Schmitt being pre"** on behalf of the Auckland Farmers Union. It was decided to take steps to Lave a central market, and to regulate as far >» possible the supplies coming forward, w> as to make the crops payable to growers.. It was estimated by one of the growers present, and accepted as correct by the meeting, that the cost of laying down an acre of land in potatoes was **•'*? , the average crop from an acre would not .. i be likely to exceed five tons, potatoes at j the prices riding at present entailed a IoJ on growers. . ..^ Probate has been granted by His Honor I Mr. Justice Edwards to the wills of tj following deceased persons :-*»?" I Alexander Munro (Mr. Shortland), Jjnj Holdsworth (Mr. Basley), Moss Kee»fflß (Mr. Clayton), Charles Henry Selbie (Mr. Eaddow)" Robert King (Mr. Htfjjj Walter Fricker (Mr. Williamson), than Fiupatrick (Mr. Armstrong), Afcjjg Whyte (Mr. Woodward), George Turn J (Mr. Thomson), Frederick Ebcaawr HeW ; ( (Mr. Byrne), liters of "* nl I Dutw *2 have been granted in respect or the ««* , cf William Findloy (Mr. Alexander) , , Marie Jeanie Young (Mr. Griobcn, , ■ The new Town Hall will bo thWJJ ■ open for inspection by the general,V, J on Saturday evening. Both the .gree. -and lesser halls are to bu lighteu iw , 7.30 to 10 p.m. .