LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15235, 24 February 1913, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

The steamer Maheno, which, arrived it Auckland from Sydney yesterday afternoon, brought a large European and Australian mail, the Auckland —tion of which will be delivered in the city and suburbs this morning. The E.M.S. Aorangi is due at Wellington on Thursday morning from San Francisco, with European. American, and Canadian mails, the Auckland portion of which should arrive here on Friday morning.

The accommodation on the Main Trunk express last night was severely { taxedj there being some 250 passengers for southern stations. Three sleeping-cars were attached to the train— rather rare occurrence for this time of the year. The train conveyed south a large English and Australian mail.. ...... ......

The New Zealand Dairy Association, Limited, distributed amongst its; suppliers on February 21 last the sum of £57,280 16s 4d. This payment covered butter-fat supplied during the month of : January. The corresponding payment last year was £•48,729 2s sd; thus, the increase for the month a? compared with the same period of last year is £8551 13s lid.

A fire broke out at about 9.30 p.m. on Saturday in a wash-home at the rear of the residence of Sir. Perret, in Russell Street, Stanley Bay, the structure being considerably damaged before the -femes .were subdued. The fire had a good hold , when discovered by a passer-by, who ieaj mediately gave the alarm. The fee-bell it Stanley Bay was rang, and Caj; «sin J. Miller, of the Devouport Fire Brigade, was quickly on the scene. In the. meantime the hose, reel had been dragged to the scene o;- the fire by two or three willing har.Jv, The fire was extinguished in a few minutes. The wails and ceiling were considerably charred, and damage to the extent of about £10 was done. Brit for the timely warning given by the passer-by, and also to the prompt arrival of Captain Miller, more serious damage would probably have been done, as the wash-house was situated but a few feet from the house, which is owned by Mr. B. Yoelind. -

The Northern Company's steamer Sarawa did not reach Onehunga yesterday until-close upon 1 p.m., or about four hours late. The steamer was delayed somewhat at New Plymouth on the pre- 1 vious evening in order to take on board the members of a touring theatrical company. The Barawa met with heavy," squally weather on the coast, and this also accounted for her, late arrival. Some of the passengers state that this was the worst passage which, the Rarawa has ever experienced on the Onehunga-New Plymouth run, the weather making the trip very unpleasant. The passenger list totalled 114. The Birkenhead Borough Council, being desirous of a more vigorous prosecution of the work, has taken over the contract for the road reconstruction work in progress. This will now be carried on under the supervision of the borough foreman (Mr. J. Malcolm son}. An exceptionally slow trip of over ionr days was made by the Union Company's steamer Maheno from Sydney to Auckland, The vessel left- the New South Wales port shortly before 1 p.m. on Wednesday last, and reached Auckland at 4.30 p.m. yesterday. The alow trip of the Maheno is attributed to an inferior class of fioaj, which was taken on board at Sydney. The Maheno had been maintaining splendid time between Sydney • and Auckland prior to the trip completed yesterday, and when the wireless messages from te - steamer stated that she would not reac.'* Auckland until Sunday evening, it war thoiight. that she was meeting with bj-i we<j,th.*.T' in the Tatman Sea, but this does not appear to have been the The Maheno was floated into dock at Sydney last week for cleaning and painting, hut owing to a strike amongst the dock-worke'-s the vessel was not touched, but was undoeked without the accumulation of marine growth being removed from her hull, and minus the necessary new coat of paint, orderly boht.vicui* on the part of some cadets created a scene in a secondclass smoking compartment on the 2.10 p.m. train from Auckland to Onehunga on Saturday. During the passage through the Parnell tunnel a window of the carriage was broken, and a panel of a door was smashed.

_ Further details of the hurricane wh«& ' visited some of the Pacific Islands on Feb. ruary 9 and 10 were brought back by thu Atua, which arrived at Auckland la# | evening. In the Toucan Group, the storm j was particularly severe. The copra and ? 7 ' | fruit crops were very badly damaged, and | it is said that it will take two. and per. A V ! haps three years for the plantations to '' ! recover. The storm was also severs a* j Samoa, whera the wind raged for some j hours with terrific force. It was so bad-. .•& ! that ths vessels in harbour at tho time • ) had to put to sea to save being damaged. |at their mooring;;. The German warship I Uormoran. the Union Steam Ship Com- : ? j pany s Pukaki and Tofua, and- the ! schooners Alfrieda and Samoa were forcei !to take , thf ; rislty course of proceeding nut j of the harbour at the height of the "gale j but none of the vessels were damaged. ' ! The suggested formation of a new j Labour party by the union of the United j Labour Party with the Federation of" I Labour is to be further discussed at V ; conference to be held in Wellington early" lin July. It is anticipated that this gathering | ering will be the largest of its kind ever j held in New Zealand, as fully 300 dele- " " i gates aro expected to attend. ' Every in. ' : dustrial union in New Zealand is to be I invited to send delegates. All the unions i have also been written to by the Unity i Congress committee and invited to make : suggestions regarding the two constita- ; tions—political and industrial—which are ; to be drawn up. The draft constitutions- ■ will be sent out to the unions two months : . fore the big conference, to give ample ■ time for full.discussion upon them. i ! ,_f- fresh record for the distance between I Whangarei and Auckland was established I on Saturday last by the Northern Com." j panv's steamer Manaia |la£e Rotoiti). The -.. , MaiJ aia left the northern port at 12,30 | p.m. on Saturday, and arrived at Aucfc- - i land at 6.30 p.m. The vessel stopped for | nine minutes at Marsden Point to picfcVf! j up mails, ?o that, the actual steaming time | from Whangarei was five hours 51 minutes : j—a very creditable performance. The' I'/ ! Manaia broke the Ngapuhi's- record beI tween the two jx>rU several months ego when she out out. the distanco in five houra 55 minutes. The record trip of the Manaia on Saturday works out at an average 1 A : speed of 13), knots an hour. • - The Oddfellows' Premier Picnic, held '••• on Saturday, marked the 69th anniversaiy of the isstablishment of the Manchester ; Unity in Auckland, and during all those : i years, the lodge has been making steady : i progress The membership now exceeds '' *■ 4000, and the accumulated funds amount to over £100,000. The funds of the whole Manchester Unity exceed £15,000,000, and A the membership* is considerably over 1,000,000. As an indication of the good work done by the unity, it m?.? be stated § 'hat £11, Ills 5d has been paid ?«*• benefits to 29 members. One member of the Thames Lodge had Sve years ago' re-. .f' j ceived £1007 6s 8d in benefits, and he is V ; 1 : still living and deriving benefit as before." Thus iij will- be seen that the order ' ia ; ' doing philanthopic work. *- 'V 5 The weather on Saturday an;? Sunday ;;!: was very much cooler than was the case A during the earlier part of the week. I Slight showers fell at, intervals throughout Saturday. Yesterday morning there X: were also several showers, but later on the, sun came out, and although at times rain • i: threatened to fall, it held off until the evening, when there was a fairly heavy/, downpour. The rain of the past few days . has l"id a most beneficial affect on the land, and grass which a week ago brown and parched is now beginning ,to assume its natural tint. The householder, £ too, who hi- to rely on the rain for his S water supply.':has been greatly relieved'^ 1 of his anxiety by • the *• welcome shcrt*^i^ ; The rainfall for the 24 hours ending at'-:-5K 9.30 a.m. on Saturday 'was .38in. A fresh npr'-westerly breeze was blowing ester-/ ' day, and this caused a choppy sea in the ::A harbour. - . At

j A rowing party was capped in this : Barbour yesterday' morning. 2?cnr j&csg J roei'., with & youthful coxswain, who were.) : \i rowing in rn outrigger near the Railway Wharf. encountered' a choppy sea, with the result that the boat overturned. For- .J l tunately a motor launch was clows aS i : has' 5 , the ocrupants of which, ncceedsd vj"; in prilling the young xnec cc 'iwa-d,, dtosfa. '.Lsy ha'? Item fc.y some ♦».'* -sVi :a iba, | ceo. Beyond a grod drencKts£ :ir. Jtw -ay - | cold . wa»ter, ; fcb&' ""cappised *' oiWiSfa . • &&&%}% little inconvenienced by' their art Mis.p v <-V . .... -• Frequent complaints are raa«« to water police regarding the number, of vagrants found sleeping on'various vessel at night. : Although several offenders hatro %0 been caught re cently, and haled before J, v; the Police Court, the nuisance 'still exists.' ; JjJ During the f-arly hours of yesterday mora- > - i hi,," I'm? nr a tr«j» disct/ml by Mr. H. -£| Aiderton, rhe Northern' C'jtr>fjany"'s night- J-' watchman, huddled together amongst some canvas on the a*ter pai 1 of the old French '='■ gunboat E&ie, which is moored at No. 4 jetty, land is being dismantled for use a coal hulk. The men. were asleep in whafr used to be the officers' quarters, which, V- • though bare of their one-time cosy furnish- % / ings, still afforded a fairly comfortable ~\. 7 night's lodging. The watchman informed Constable Shaw, and three of the men V wero given in charge, and conveyed to the -M; watch-house. They will be charged at the ; ' Police Court this morning with being illegally on premises. While the watch' "A: man was absent searching for the ooa- ' stable, the fourth man awakened, and, . walked ashore, and as his identity could not be sworn to, he was allowed tc -f^;i; : -| free. ' . _' '• 'fl»*

There is absolutely nothing to warrant 1 the endeavour of the Federal Government;;*.., to boom the Northern Territory, in the, opinion, ox th?,. Hon. A. H. Barlow, .*• Leader of the Legislative. Council in tlia Queensland Government, who is on a holi- * day trip to the Dominion. It is, he de- > clared to a Herald representative. on Saturday, a desert land, whore white women could not live, and where white, •; men coold' beep their ha>'tb jr.* .* .-l short time. Tfx iJon-sy that- v. jS .h? spent on the various "projects in connection- v « with the opening up r.:' this pnit-o;;. Anfi« T . tralia was going to be wasted absolutely, • Abcut a dozen ohieirions have ■ bees made against the Birkenhead borough valuations. The Assessment Court will consider these at the Birkonhead Conn«! Chambers at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 19. The coast defence tit-ops left cam on Saturday morrrng, after undergoing -Jie - Beven days' p-riod of ar-.nuai trainingThe rr°n were rttk-.d at V: a.t. , vbc -v an hour aad a-hali later the Takapr«ii« detachirent. .v. <rched oat .A samp. T';? :': were followed by iha Fort ant-ley can at 11 f..m., and *.i .icon by the c-ompany ; \-jf. which, '--as starvened a- Fort . : -fissiioar-';. - This contingent, was brought up to Auckland by the steamer Lady Roberts. Al- ' together, the camp was a great success and ' Colonel Heard, director ni coast defence, •and Colonel Johnson, director of. ordnance,. spaa).-: very highly of the ap-v;|. peavance of the men, and of the ; splendid - v;: wor*. carried out dnrir.g the period spent V under canvas. "y > 'j The St. Helens Home inquiry was »| to have been resumed bofore the Commis- . y sioner (Mr. C. C. Kettle, 5.M.," this morn- ' J ing, bat in all probability it will have v, to be further adjourned- -