LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14925, 24 February 1912, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

The hearing of the waterside workers' dispute was continued yesterday in committee, before the Conciliation. Commissioner (Mr. T. Harle Giles) and the assessors for the Waterside Workers' Union and shipping companies, and considerable progress was made. The case was adjourned until 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday, at the Commissioner's office, in Government Buildings.

The Devonport Ferry Company's new steamer Peregrine is now nearing completion, and will be handed over to the company by the builders in the course of a few days. The whole of the vessel's machinery has been installed, and she was docked on Thursday evening to have her propellers fitted. Steam was raised on the vessel for the first time yesterday, and the builders intend to hold a trial run this morning. . The official trial trip will take place after the Peregrine has been handed over to the company, and it is expected that she will be ready to enter the ferry service within a fortnight.

During the hearing of the waterside workers' dispute yesterday, Mr. T. Harle Giles, who has been reappointed for a further term of three years as Conciliation Commissioner, was heartily congratulated on the fact by all the assessors engaged in the dispute. A resolution was carried by tho assessors expressing their appreciation of the capable and impartial manner in which the Commissioner had carried out his onerous duties during the past three years. Mr. Giles, in reply, expressed his gratification, and said that ho hoped in the future, as in the past, to carry out tho duties of his office with a due "sense of the responsibility resting upon him.

A noticeable feature in connection with the cargo by the steamers engaged in the monthly service between San Francisco, Auckland and Sydney is the large number of motor cars being landed here. The Henrik Ibsen, at present discharging at Auckland, brought 46 motor cars for New Zealand. Over 30 of the cars are consigned to an Auckland firm, 10 being for Christchurch, and tho remainder for Wellington and Dunedin. The cases containing the cars are of very large dimensions, and have been mostly landed by the aid of the Harbour Board's electric cranes. In several instances the cases have been broken open on the wharf, and the cars put together there by a mechanic.

An unhappy and neglected-looking wharf-labourer named James Fowler, appeared at the Magistrate's Court yesterday and made the unusual application that he be granted a summary separation from his wife, on the ground of persistent cruelty and habitual drunkenness. This application was followed by the discovery that, to the court's knowledge, there was no legal provision for such an application, the sections having been repealed in 1910. The Act only applied to women. The husband said he would not press for a separation, if the court could give his wife a caution. Tho treatment she had given him had been awful. She stayed out late at night with neighbours, who supplied her with liquor, spent any money he gave her for liquor, pawned her clothes for liquor. . She neglected her home, and came home drunk and abusive. On one occasion she took an axe to him while he was in bed, and he had to struggle violently to get it from her. Tho wife said she did not drink much; and did not have more than a pint or so of beer in a day. She could not, she declared, do without it. Her husband was never drunk. The magistrate (Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M.) asked if she .would promise to give up drinking. This she refused to do; but she reluctantly consented to promise not to drink to excess. Mr. Kettle promptly made her swear a solemn oath to that effect, and sent her away, somewhat tearful, with her husband. The last she heard from the magistrate was that if she broke her promise she would go straight to Pakatoa.

The Harbour Board's new 80-ton floating crane is at present engaged in the work of demolishing the old Queen-street Wharf. The old wooden piles which have been in service for many years, are hauled out without any difficulty by the powerful crane. The piles are loosened by the big tackle, and when fairly started the smaller and much quicker tackle is used to lift them on to lighters. During the lunch hours large crowds watch the work.

When last before the Magistrate's Court, Joshua Morris swore to give up drinking. Ho failed to keep his promise, and the result was an application by his wife, heard at th© Magistrate's Court yesterday for a summary separation. Mr. Kettle, S.M., said that in such a case the only course was to give the man six months' in gaol, or a year or two at Rote' Roa. Mrs. Morris said her husband had told her that if a separation order was made he would work for as little as possible. Mr. Kettle said he might find that ho would have to work for • nothing. An order for summary separation, with custody of the children was granted, tho husband to pay 20s per week. The magistrate added that the husband must bo summoned to appear under section 62 of the Destitute Persons' Act, and if he did not appear, ho would bo given six monthes in prison. Heroic treatment was the only treatment he knew of for such cases.

The payments made by the New Zealand Dairy Association, Limited, on the 21st of tlie present month to their shareholders and suppliers, covering butter-fat supplied during January, reached the splendid total of £48,729 2s sd.

The labour unrest in New Zealand and the great problem of how it will all end, were commented on by Mr. James E. Liddiard, of the Royal Geographical Society, in an interview with a Heeald reporter last evening. The demands of the labour leaders, he said, were against the interests of working classes, and certainly against the interests of the country at large. Their attitude was extremely unreasonable and unfair. The general feeling among the employers was that if there was anything wrong in relation to the condition of the working classes it should be remedied. Some stand would have to be taken or the reaction would be disastrous to the men themselves.

" New Zealand is progressing all right," said Mr. James E. Liddiard, F.R.G.S., who is visiting Auckland, to a Herald reporter last evening, but your roads and your railways— well, I am surprised that the people put up with them. Right through the Dominion it, is the , same. On a 25-mile stretch of road between Pipjriki and Ohakune, that I came over the other day, there are great boulders that will see a hundred years out before they are broken. In the winter, I am told, it is mud, a sea of mud, up to the coach's axles. That is what tourists meet with; how bad the back blocks settlers must fare. Your railway services are dreadful. I came up by the Main Trunk express from Wellington, and quite a number of people were standing, while others siting s&, -iJia S&2r„i cl the

In the Supplement issued vrith th o Herald to-day will be found articles en titled " Getting at the Nerves" ' l, v Tohunga. " Sunday in Auckland" by Frank Morton, "Where the White Man ' Treads" by W. 8., " Continued Stories" ' : by Louise Eugenie Prickitt, and " Music ; V in New Zealand" by Philip Newbury > Mercutio'a column of "Local Gossip'* appears as usual, and an intresting photograph showing the works of the Wafti Gold Twining Company, Limited, at jj ora# bora Rapids, Waikato River, is also ineluded. ' When the service to San Francisco, via Rarotonga and Papeete, was first ina n « gurated, two steamers of comparatively small tonnage and moderate speed, were employed, and their sailings were at intervals of about five weeks. Now the service provides regular sailings every 28 days, and threo steamers are employed, two of which are the Tahiti and the Manuka,—tho latter well and favourably known to the New Zealand travelling public. The Tahiti is a new steamer of 7600 tons register, 9000 horse-power, and capable of a very high, rate of speed. Her accommodation is very luxurious, and every modem device for the comfort and well-being of her passengers has been utilised by her builders. Deck cabins and deck space are a. special feature of her equipment, and the arrangement ,of saloons, lounges, smoke-rooms, and cabin accommodation is such as to make use o! every available moans of ventilation* These two steamers will inaugurate tha passenger season this y<ar, the Tahiti leaving Wellington on March 8, and thja Manuka on March 29, and already a good deal of their accommodation is taken up,; Leaving for America or for Europe, via America, during March, the passenger passes through the United . States at a most favourable timo of the year, and reaches England or the Continent in time to take full advantage of the stunine* months there. The- new Freemasons' Hall, recenlty built in Upper Queen-street for the Eden Lodge, No. 1530 E.C., was consecrated on Thursday night, with great ceremony and decorum. Thero was a large gathering, the Masons present numbering about 3ouj, and the ceremony was arranged on 4 magnificent scale. The proceedings vera conducted by Rt. Wor. Pro. J. R. Reed, District Grand Master, who was assisted by Wor. Bro. A. S. Bankart, D.D.G.M.* Wor. Bro. Rev. Canon NelsonP.D.S.G.W. ; Wor. Bro. H. Robinson* P.D.S.G.W-; Wor. Bro. Rev. W. p; Conelly, D.G. Chaplain; Wor. Bro. ft, Gresbam,- P.B. of G.P.; Wor. Bro. W. Hi,'-";''' Hammond, D.G.D.C.; Wor. Bro. V* Sutherland. D.G. Sword Bearer; Wo&| Bro. D. McCarroll, D.G. Standard Bearer {; Wor. Bro. R. Leslie Hunt, D.G.O. Aftei! the ceremony, the brethren were enter* tained at a banquet. The foundation'' stone was laid on June 17, 1911, and tha y consecration ceremony was held on the C 38th anniversary of the meeting at which;.;>:' the lodge was formed. The hall was do* signed by Mr' B. C. Chilwell, and MM by Mr. J. E. Guthrie, and it cost- ore*'' £7000. , ,: A defendant who was giving evident on his own behalf in the Police Coutfl yesterday, was pulled up through tla astuteness of the chief-detective. The case was one of alleged racecourse " bet, | ting, and the witness proceeded to toll how he had put £4 on the totalisatoi on a certain horse in a recent trotting meeting. "Did you watch the horaa run," asked Mr. Martsack. "Y<.a." said the witness." "And where did ifs'fi finish." "Just next to last," was the ready reply. Then came the climax. The chief-detective produced the ' Earing Club's records, and showed that thong! the horse, had been entered in one race " it had never even left the saddling pad* •.'■ ■ dock. The magistrate, in entering a con- ' viction, said this palpable mistake had led him to disbelieve defendant's story of the day's events, "and the part played by himself on tha course,, It is proposed that the Tafcapuna trash . way system shall be sold by the Taken puna Tramway and Perry Company to ' the Waitemata County Council. The idea ' has been developed by Mr. IT, H. Adams, who sits in the Council as the representative of the Takapuna rick ■ ing. In order to discover the feeling or the ratepayers, circulars and ballot-papsnl. have been distributed,. and the ballotpapers, which are returnable on Febrm ary 28, will constitute a private trial ballot on the question. ~• The tramway has, during the past year, proved a greati y success, and the prospects of the suburb,. • which has grown with phenomenal :/ rapidity, are that within a few years it ■ will become one of the most populotsS suburbs of Auckland. The proposition to buy the tramways for the public has been arrived at by a large number of rate*; payers, who have come to the conclusion; that the people of the district should own and control so important and necessary a] factor in the progress of the suburb* .;', ''.', The cost of the system will, under tha < proposal, be the capital cost of tho plant and tramway to tho company, plus 5 pes , cent, as interest during the -time tha money has been in use. The Council will have to raise a loan to purchase tha ig property, and this would have to ba sanctioned by the ratepayers. The • idea of the trial ballot is to find out what the result of an official, poll would be; and it will bo conducted bo that no vote will bo identifiable. Mr. Adams has, in order ; ' to make the proposal feasible without <§§ "final hitch, taken an option over tha proj j|i perty, lasting for about two months foonUyj: the present time. In connection with the deadlock wMcn has arisen between the fishermen of Auclw land and the dealers, Mr. A. Sanfbfll stated last night that he had received a telegram from the manager of his Thames branch, stating that the Auckland and ' Kaipara fishermen had sent emissaries to. the Thames to try to influence the men there to join them in their opposition to. supplying the Auckland dealers. Ma Sanford said that as his firm employed $;':;; number of fishermen there, and as the; co-operative fishing at the Thames was directly interested in supplying ; thflr" : Auckland market, and was now supplying fe it, he did not think the mission war likely to succeed. Mr. Sanford said that if the fishermen in all quarters did unite, they would have sola control of tho prices to be charged* jwj That, ho said, would be disastrous* jr for the public would be certain t r : to suffer. He thought that the timo had '/ arrived when tho State should, on behalf || of the people, establish a trawling industry, and catch fish for tho benefit of tha people. The plant needed besides „th«|| trawlers would be comparatively small , and inexpensive; a shed, where the catcll;. could bo sold by auction, would be suffix cient. If trawlers and tenders were used,;.;, the scheme would pay "hands down," and ;#| the more trawlers employed the cheapen the fish could be sold, the prices being regulated solely by the supply and demand. • A special meeting of the Auckland Drivers' Union is to bo held on Monday, night to formally receive delegates from, the New Zealand Federation of Labour. || The union recently decided by ballot not to withdraw from tho jurisdiction of theArbitration Act. '"4 " ; .■'■■■::■-.%■■:_■■■■ •<■: ;■■:■ '■:'■;■■ ■;. £$$$ ■■■■ ' ■''■"-■; -U»Sf