LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15003, 27 May 1912, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The slot telephones which have been installed experimentally in the four cities nave proved so useful and convenient, that their use is to be extended. The Post-master-General explained last evening that these telephones are intended primarily for the convenience of people who cannot afford telephones in their own homes, and for that reason they are now to be placed in suitable positions in the suburbs. Several more machines are to be installed in Auckland suburbs. The Minister said that in order to meet the demand, the mechanical staff at Wellington has been largely, increased. ~.,[... ■

The value of wireless to shipping was again demonstrated yesterday, when . HJfiflsages were received „ by . ■ the Wellington land station and the steamer Victoria from the Wimmern advising that the latter vessel was meeting with, very rough, weather on the passage"from Sydney'" to Auckland, and cannot reach here until eight a-m. to-morrow. The Wimmera was delayed at the New South Wales port until. noon on Thursday last in consequence of being docked, and. it was naturally' looked upon in shipping circles that she would make a smart trip in consequence. As the vessel's arrival was being looked forward to to-day, owing to Major-General BadenPowell being on board, a large number of. people were considerably disappointed when the wireless news from the steamer was made known. • '"•

Commencing on Jane 1, the Postal "Department will inaugurate a new departure with respect to the issue :of money orders. A. domestic money order has been designed for those whose duties keep them at home. With the new order it will not be necessary to go to the post office to cash . it, as the letter-carrier who delivers it at the required address will be provided with advice regarding it, and sufficient money to redeem ik These domestic money orders will be issued by any money order office, but will only 1 be drawn on offices where there is a delivery by letter-carrier. Orders will be issued up to £5, and the fee charged will be four pence, in place of the charge -of threepence, as is the case with ordinary orders.

To mistake an earthquake for a burglar is an unusual blunder, but it was made yesterday. A clerk was sitting in one of the shipping offices in the city, diligently totting cash, when the preliminary tremors arrived. Some of the first quivers upset a delicately balanced ledger or something equally ponderous, and it came down with a solid and convincing bang. The clerk had had no experience of earthquakes, but he had a lively sense of the presence in the city of a gang of burglars, prone to the use of dynamite, and he left the premises as fast as he could and gave the alarm. " The safe's gone! The safe's gone!" he called out, and the immediate disturbance created by the remark put consideration of a mere earthquake out of the question. In no time there was a little crowd and a policeman; and the constable called, up others. The central station was rung up, and with all the speed of burglar-fighting organisation, at least fifteen constables and detectives, arrived, and formed an attacking party. They stormed the office, and searched it high and low; but by the time they got there the earthquake had gone. ' '"■' '" The guarantee and donations fund of the Exhibition to be held in Auckland next year now totals £16,280, arid it is expected that £20,000 will be reached before the list closes. The Epsom Road Board has donated £20, and the executive wo*id be glad if other local bodies who are considering the matter of donations would arrive at a decision. Among guarantees not previously acknowledged are the following Mr. W. F. Masaey, M.P., £100; New Zealand Portland Cement Company, £100 } the ' Huddart-Parker Company, Mr. A. S. Holmes (Onehunga), Auckland Glass Bevelling and Silvering Works, £60 each; Mr. R. W. White, £20. The Masonic Hall just erected in Bay Road, Northcote, by Lodge Oneway No. ; 182, N.Z.C., was officially, opened on Saturday afternoon in the presence of a large number of the members and visiting brethren, including Grand Lodge officers. The new hall, which embraces a social and lodge room, supper room, etc., and is an acquisition to the district, was; designed by Messrs. Wade and Wade, architects., and built by Mr. G. Polked, ' v

■ The large crowds who attend "mm* ' i day afternoon to: witness the departs » the Northern Company's popular stea'% > Rarawa from Onehunga, will have to •-'' , cover some other diversion from now i as the vessel will take up a now time ♦Lb' , after this week. In future the &1 i will leave Onehunga for New PlymmS? * 4 » Mondays and Thursdays, arriving "Vl » from the latter port on Wednesday' 'i i, Saturdays. ' ys ■■* [ The criminal sessions of the Bm, Court at Auckland will bo continS't* fore His Honor Judge Sim at 10.30 o'd^L ■ " this morning. The following case waft » heard :—Martin Morrissey (forgery) '■«?■■ Ham Hoggard (theft), William Ernest JJ tin (assault), Joseph Piaggj mi R£ V*J William Reeves (breaking, entering, J The annual festival of the Christcfcjtfl Competitions Society cam© to a concluS' on Friday evening before an imnS audience, many hundreds being unableT . gain admission. The competitions - hay* . been very successful, and the entries! I the elocutionary sections especially wei very large. Only two Auckland repre&S tatives appeared, Mr. Borradale and Ufa ! Zoe Bartley, but between them they m! counted for nearly every prize of import, > ance in the elocutionary sections, gaining » both championships, and a. great, mSS f of otheT prizes as well. Miss Bartley i»6a ■ ; seven firsts, two seconds, and on© third J and Mr. Borradale five firsts, two secede-* r and two thirds. The entries in all f2 I sections were very large, and the record • put up by these two Aucklandere ,'g', i remarkably good one. The presence of mind of a motornjjw . averted what might have been areerlwa :;i } accident in Queen-street on Saturday night J A motor car came down Queen-street, sci » the driver turned round towards Custom* , street in front of an inward-bound tftA, i car. He failed to notice the approach $1 : } an outward-bound tramcar, and though . the driver of the latter prevented a serum smash by promptly applying the blrakes , the motor car ran into the tramcar »nd \ broke the step off, whilst the axle of fe« ,- motor car was also broken Byrtoad.'s declare that occupants of the motor' at , had a narrow escape of being jammed % tween the tram and the tram-pole in jfe '. centre of the road, and that the ffiCx ," ' man of the tramcar deserves very jr^-■;.' praise for the way in which hi polled - ' .the tram. ■ ■...:' \* • > What is considered to be one of L ; largest cargoes brought by a passe; steamer from Southern ports was bro&& . by the Victoria, which arrived at &<$ , land last evening. The cargo cotej»r*j 1630 tons, about 900 tons being for Avdland, and the balance for Sydney. : jv, duce formed a greater part of the mp, the principal lines being 17,000 sacks ?, barley and several thousand sacks of .«&■.'■'; The vessel's holds were filled to the ht&i ■; combings, and when she steamed mfop«i| it was seen that she was deeply, ladsv The Victoria did not get away from borne till four p.m. on Saturday,' Uja &v i tention being largely due to all the cup for shipment by the steamer being stoindl • : in one lighter, the loading of whiA 55 consequence was very alow. The ofiku consider that if the cargo had- been $* tributed into- several lighters morexd : could have been worked, and ti» 1&3 could have been despatched two l •earlier. ; ' pfSiil '• " ■'■si^.':^! i :'- : The police,were out round -w'!iMp|!p yesterday {searching for the body oi Mb,' - - Maud Lynch, who disappeared froa tk home in Grey-street on Friday week, Jarring a note to the effect that iateco«J drowning herself in the harbour. : Hkkjs a systematic search was mad* of all lfi||'i. beaches of the harbour, no ,«gts *«| r '-:-- : found of the missing woman.. •',;. V v-s'sß "■ - '•' '■ ■ . • : The Auckland Acclimatisation ; Jjwß! is inviting applications from the** 1* sirous of obtaining supplies of ■. hi*'; bow yearling trout for district. ■ in the- various streams about tt»' society's district. Settlers should ; early application to the society's at Auckland, giving a clear descsijitioa •:, the stream in which it is proposed tolibw ate the fish. The cans, .which ,h# roughly, 60 ytearlings, and weigh ;#)»; 2cwfc each, should be met unmediatelj 01 arrival at their various destination wV there should bo no delay whatever in ji*» {', '■ ing the fish in running water. The criticism to which Minihtcrs tf-lfjlS Crown are occasionally subjected on *■ count of their practice of travelling » ,; tensively, is not endorsed by the Hon, ~?.; !| G. Ell, one of the honorary. member* <& the Government. To a reporter last ovw ; ; | ing, he remarked that he had never J* fore been 00 strongly convinced of 'J»|| value and of the necessity of Minuted ~ travelling throughout the Dominion tbtt since he assumed charge of a State..De),'; partment. A Minister could not adioiai* 1 1. ter his Departments satisfactorily or «**• v cessfully if he remained in his office iB Wellington. By visiting the various «fr tres he could obtain a knowledge of th* needs of the people, and an intimacy *i& the affairs of his Departments such a? 1» could never obtain from reports " of', if4V. officers. :..■■■ ■ '% At a meeting held in Christchurch t» cently, for the purpose of forming a B***" cal Political Association, the Hon. & Fowlds addressed the meeting on-thou*-cessity of united action on the part « those who desired progressive and hum'* I .* tarian legislation. He claimed that United Labour party had earned the riffi of the road, that it was the only ■ sive political party which had a definite political programme, and that, as.consU--tuted at the Easter Convention, there was room in it for all the useful people. Those present unanimDUsly agreed tothefonu* tion of an organisation, to be known si the Radical Political Association. The steamer Wimmera, due at Auckland to-morrow morning from Sydney, » bringing a European and Australian rual, consisting of 448 bags.. The Southern por- ' tion will be despatched by the MwATrffl* express to-morrow night. •] '''\?jf, A strong agitation has been started fe'Sydney to bring about an alteration of m Building Act in order to force people In put proper fire-escapea on the out£Jdo«* large buildings. The present afflW| ments are declared to be death, traps.; Mr. A. B. Piddington's report as Rop l . Commissioner of Labour laid stress on WJ necessity of better means of escape in the, factories he visited. Necessarily a union of the Methodist*,,. Congregational, and Presbyterian churcMS will involve some compromise in the niatkJ ;j of practice, if not of faith. "A report « the Presbyterian committee appointed -tp consider this matter, m conjunction mtt committees of the other churches nanw>. has been presented to the Victorian Pre **Jg terian General Assembly. The .<i^ 4 ! states" As a practical enterprise tlie I **; union can bo accomplished only by t«« gradual combination of first quo group a™ then of another. Some sacrifice of seiU- j ment and practice is called for from e«n | of the churches embraced in the present scheme if union is to be The scheme provides that ministers'6ha»i|:| not be understood to hold their charges fIWP life tenure, and that no minister shall btgleft without some charge. Xi also j ndad *s|| a proposed limitation of the " cali." |B