LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15236, 25 February 1913, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

A collision between two tramcars occurred in Wellesley Street East at about 10.30 a.m. yesterday. Both cars were slightly damaged, but none of the passengers sustained any injuries. Car No. 83, from Onehunga, in charge of Motorman J. Murray, was being driven down Weilesley Street East when it came to a sudden stop between the Princes Street and Queen Street stopping-places. Car No. 120, from Kingsland, driven by Motorman J. darken, was following close behind, and before the brakes could be applied the moving car crashed into the stationary one. The screens of both cars were smashed, and one apron bent. When the collision \ occurred the stationary car moved forward slightly, so that the force of the impact was relieved. A large number of passengers occupied both cars and most of ■ them were unseated by the collision. Both cars were subsequently driven away to the Ponsonby depot.

The St. Helens Home inquiry, which was to have been resumed yesterday, has 'been further adjourned until Monday next, as Mr. Selwyn Mays, counsel" for the Health Department, will be engaged at the Supreme Court during the present week. Mr. "C. C. Kettle, S.M., who is conducting the inquiry, sat yesterday morning, and with the consent of both sides, adjourned the commission for a week.

Three men, John O'Sullivan, Alexander Forrester, and Adam Grieve, were found by the nightwatchman, one night recently, drunk and asleep on board the Eure, an old French gunboat, now the property of the Northern Steamship Company. On their appearance in the Police Court yesterday they put forward the plea that they were too drunk to know what they were doing. ' It was stated that this type of offence was far from rare on the waterfront. A sentence of one month's hard labour was imposed upon each of the accused. y'

The following telegram was received by Mr. J. S. Dickson, M.P., in : connection with Newmarket's difficulty in respect to the issue of the balance of its loan of £33,000 by the State Advances Department —"Your telegram received, but it is impossible for mo to fix dates when money will be available. I will be better able to judge after my return to Wellington on March (Signed) W. Feasee, Acting-Minister for Finance."

The rentals "of. sis leaseholds in the Whakatano district comprised in the endowments of the Auckland University College were reviewed by a special meeting of the College Council yesterday. The present leases will expire on February 28, 1914, and. their ' terms provide that the tenants are to receive an option of renewing their leases on terms of ; which a year's : notice has to be given. The council resolved to offer the tenants of th<ȣ holdings new leases at a rental equivalent to 5 per cent, of the unimproved value. 7

It has often been represented to the "museum authorities that" there', has never Been, in the local museum an exhibit dealing sufficiently with the famous moa, the now , extinct bird • which once roamed in large numbers over New Zealand. With a view to removing all; cause lor such reproaches, the authorities. .have . arranged for the construction of an exceptionally large and fine exhibit, showing a skeleton of one of the largest species of moa known, standing almost lift in height. Arrangements have also been made to prepare an actual restoration of a moa, which, when complete, will give a very accurate idea of the appearance of the bird., This restoration will be made in full size, and the body, when completed, will be covered with emu feathers, which are almost the same os those of the moa. The head, feet, and toes will be carefully modelled, so that there is ■< little doubt that ■ a very faithful representation of the bird will be obtained. Further, with the idea of showing how the moa compared with its nearest-living-.allies, a full-sized ostrich specimen, and • the skeleton of an ostrich, an emu, a young emu, and a cassowary will be included in the exhibit, which should form a very fine group! The whole group will be protected by a > plateglass show-case, 16ft long, lift wideband; 13ft high, which will probably be the largest | show-case in any museum in Australasia.' Although the work of modelling this group! is already considerably advanced, • it is \ still far from finished, and as several months will elapse before it is completed, the group will probably not be placed on exhibition until after the winter,.

"It is pretty plain what a racecourse guesser is," remarked Mr. Justice Edwards at the Supreme Court yesterday. " I don't know many racing men, but a guesser, in my opinion, is a man who goes to John Smith and tells him that a certain horse is sure to win, and then goes to other men and tells them that other horses are bound to get home first. Having exhausted the whole of the horses in thb race, one of his tips is bound to be right, and, therefore, at least one man feels grateful to him. The gu&ser approaches the man to whom he has given the correct tip, and usually secures some remuneration for his kindness in placing his valuable information at a friend's &&- posal." -

The services of a Japanese interpreter were required in the Police Court yesterday, when Jack Soito, from the Land of the Rising Sun, was charged with breaking and entering, and with doing wilful damage to the extent of £6 13s 3d. The interpreter, when asked to put a single question to the accused, invariably found it necessary to spend several minutes in a long conversation—in Japanese— -much to the amusement of the court. A remand was anted, in order to give the accused time to communicate with the Japanese Consul, and to obtain counsel.

Two small boys, made their appearance in the Juvenile Court yesterday morning to answer 12 charges of theft from auctioneers in the city market. Most of the stolen property consisted of fruit, although at one time the boys managed to steal some money as well. One of the lads was sent to an industrial school while the other was handed over to his father, who promised to look after him, and keep him along the right path in the future , i.

No time has yet been fixed for the erection of a post office building at Mount Albert (states a letter from the Post and Telegraph Department, read at a meeting of the Mount Albert Borough Council last night). The letter added that the matter would bo considered during the year, along with other similar requests,

Even at the present early stag© th» intj, cations point to a good oyster season. The " season opens on May I, and continues fop ' six months. The principal beds are,l' as 13 well known, at Rangitcto, Waiheke, the i; Barrier, and Russell. Last year the principal beds were not touched, and consequently the present season should be & very good one, quite up to the standard of previous years. v . v Bearing outward and visible signs of a ' ; conflict, . three men—Dermis McSweeijey; Edmund Downing, and William. Thomas - Doyle— their appearance in the Police Court yesterday, charged with having assaulted Acting-Detective Hammerley ibj striking and kicking him. The case was the outcome of a drunken brawl on Saturday night at the corner of Queen and Weilesley Streets. The detective was injured about the month in his attempt to arrest the ringleaders in the disturbance. A remand until Friday was granted, bail being allowed in two sureties of £25 for each of the three accused.

During nearly half a century, Sir G. M.... O'Rorke has been prominent in the liervice of the public, and in view of his approaching visit to England a movement was initiated with a view to affording an opportunity for a public acknowledgment of the esteem with which he is regarded in the community. A citizen of New Zealand since 1854, Sir Maurice has been actively engaged in national politics since his entrance into the Auckland Provincial Council in 1865. For 12 years he was speaker of that assembly, and afterwards acted as Speaker of the House of Representatives for the record term of 20 years. . Since 1904 Sir Maurice has been a member of the Legislative Council. He has.; been for many years chairman of the ■ Council of Auckland University College and chairman of the board of governors of Auckland Grammar School. He has been ' a member of the Senate of the University of New Zealand since 1879. Last August a representative committee- commissioned Mr. C. F. Goldie to paint the veteran ' politician's portrait, and the work has now been completed. Arrangements have been made for the presentation of the portrait to Sir Maurice on March 5. The cere* mony will take place in the University Col- ; * lege. ,■' ■':.

■ With regard to the trip of the Rarawa. from New Plymouth to Onehunga on Sundayr'the Northern S.S. Company write stating that the lata arrival was due solely to a late departure, the steamer being delayed at New Plymouth till 12.40 a.m. on Sunday for the J. C. Williamson theatrical company. The weather was fine, and the trip occupied ten minutes under twelve hours.

: As stated yesterday, there was a stoppage of all work at Woolwich Dock, Parramatta River, Sydney, last week, when the 1 steamer Knight of the Garter was floated out after cleaning and painting. TheUnion /Company's steamer Maheno was ;| waiting to go in, and then the trouble be.. -\ gan. It was all due to the fact that In. J the undocking of the Knight of the Garter :( some en, who belong to unions other £§ than the Painters' and Dockers' Union,lS assisted. The Maheno was; consequently ■.£ discharged from the dock without being cleaned and painted. It was; claimed that 0 none but the painters and dockers should h; perform the work. •

The number of visitors to the museum .- \ has largely increased during the past year- r ; - The register kept by the attendant on Sundays shows thafc 23,790 people entered thf> building on that day,' being an average of 456 for each Sunday. The greatest at-.- •'- tendance was 812 on September 8. On the seven chief holidays of the year the total •■", number of visitors was: 4835, being age of 681 for each day. On ordinary - ! week days : the visitors can only be occa-. ■: : • sionally counted, but the daily average is v ;; ; ; believed to be not less than 200, which ■ <

would make a total of; 61,600. : Adding to S: this number that, already ; given for Sun- ' days and: holidays, the total number of; 'yi visitors for the year was .90,225. " This = ;;

shows an increase of 11,136 on the. figures ~ given for the previous year. The attend- ■■'■■■[ ance is now rather more thaa double what x it was ten. years ago. .;' ...-;•'--,'■ '>')

A lady at thelolago Bay races on Satur- . day had an unpleasant experience (tele- ; ; s graphs our Gisborne correspondent). She ; was wearing a dress wade of a fine tea- > teTial. A lighted match, thrown to the, .j----ground by a smoker, came in contact with her dress. Instantly there was a blaze, and?;|||] before "the fire could be extinguished the ■' -.. dress was completely destroyed. Th? -j : lady fortunately was not severely burned. ,' ,In the annual report of the Auckland ~' Institute, which held its annual meeting. ' last night, reference -was made to the zealous support accorded the institute by the late' Sir John Logan Campbell, whom the report referred to as follows "In Sir"_; John Logan Campbell the " institute loses a member who joined it soon after its-, -j foundation, who ion several years served \Ujs as one of its council, and who during the, -~ ; whole.of his membership was one of its Vi most liberal and consistent supporters. 'XV; The institute is proud to have numbered „' among its members: one who assisted in -'_r. the foundation of tins city and the estah- ,;

lishmentof its institutions; who during his -'•ij lifetime contributed, an unexampled series :.\

of varied and far-reaching benefactions,

and who at his death has provided for so \i«\ many large and important bequests. Mem- - :.; bers of the institute are aware that amoi»g

these bequests is one of £1000 in favour -| of the institute. It is understood that this ■ : ■ will' shortly be received, and it will then -i / be the duty of the council to apply it to ; purposes which will worthily commemorate the name of the donor." '■■■M-0A

For each resident in the Mount Albert district 30 gallons of water is consumed '- daily, according to a report placed before"'-, the Mount Albert Borough? Council at'its •■ ; meeting last night. The Mayor (Mr.;; M. Wj J. Coyla), commenting on the report, said that 30 gallons of water per capita was far too much. Even if there were an ever- • plus of water, it was no excuse for waste, - for waste meant extra cost in pumping the water. People apparently forgot, he ;?; • said, that all the water had to be pumped. -,

In response to a request from the Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral Association, the Government has agreed (tela- ' graphs our Wellington correspondent), >: subject to the association complying with certain conditions in the way of dates ana ; ; the classes to which prizes will be given, ■;£;. to auk Parliament to vote £500 by way-of additional prize money in connection with </ the associations' next show, which it is . intended to work in with the Auckland - Exhibition. On the occasion ■of tb* • Christchurch Exhibition Parliament voted ,"' £1000 by way of additional prize money -.:■ for the Canterbury Agricultural and -,; Pastoral Association show, under conditions similar to those which attach to thegrant now projected for Auckland.: p' ; -i*j

The counter-proposals which have been . formulated by the Auckland Tramways.J: Union to place before the company as a iS basis for a new agreement, [ were handed V> to the general manager (Mr. J. J. .Walk* ~' late) yesterday. The union asked that the. now proposals should be discussed between, ,:■ representatives of the; compaay -and ; the; ■;,.;•: union,, and the company has grafted &}s', r i request. ' '■:■:;;■;. ';^Cj