LATE TELEGRAMS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 932, 10 January 1890, Page 20

LATE TELEGRAMS.

<£>KK PRESS ASSOCIATION'.) Auckland, January 8. The New Zealand Insurance Company, which holds its annual meeting to-day, pays a, dividend of 124 per cent. The report is as follows :—The premiums, after deducting returns and reinsurances, amount to £269,803, an increase of £20,447 for the year. After providing for ascertained losses, and paying the interim dividend of 2s 6d per share in July last, there remains £22,975 available for division, which the Directors recommend should be appropriated as folib)W3 :—To reserve fund, £SOOO ; payment of 'l2i per cent, dividend, £12,500 ; balance carried forward, £5475. The reserve and reinsurance funds will thou reach £240,000. The Directors have carefully gone over the (securities with the auditors. In estimating ■Sr,he present values, acting on the auditors' (suggestion, the Board had certified the •valuations made of freehold properties belonging or mortgaged to the Company by •expert*. The result was most satisfactory, showing that the investments could be valued at u considerably enhanced amount, nad are much in excess of the present valuation.

iit the annual meeting of the New Zealand Insurance Company to-day, Mr Wood moved an amendment to the motion for the adaption of the report and balance-sheet, "That the dividend for the year be 15 per uenfc. instead of 12J per cent.” He said that in the Company's position this extra sum could easily be afforded. Several speakers, however, urged the wisdom of adding to the reserve fund. The amendment waa negativ d, and the report and balance-sheet adopted. Messrs J. M. Clark and J. L. Wilson were elected Directors, and Messrs IBoardman and Way mouth auditors. A meeting of the creditors of Et. P. Bluett, bankrupt, was held to day, when it was resolved that the debtor should be publicly examined before the Supreme Court, and that legal opinion be obtained as to the validity or otherwise of the assignment of certain property by Bluett to trustees. The meeting was a somewhat animated one. It is reported that the Kauri Timber Company propose to considerably extend the sphere of their operations. Three of the .Melbourne Directors of the Company,Colonel ißa-gocd, R. Harper, and H. Patterson, are 2jow in Auckland. A well known Auckland citizen, J. C. McCausland, died to-day of heart disease. Hawera, January S. There has been good rain all day on this part of the coast, succeeding very hot weather. Nearly two inches of raiu was registered last night. Nelson, January 8. At a meeting of the Diocesan Standing Committee. Bishop Suter presiding, it was that the Standing Committee sanction the nomination of Archdeacon Julius to the Bishopric of Christchurch. At an adjourned meeting, Archdeacon Males presiding, it was reaolved that the Shanks -of the Standing Committee, as iepresenting the diocese, are due to the Bishop of Nel-on for giving effect to the general wishes of the members of the Church in referring to a proper tribuual for solution the doubts entertained and repeatedly brought under his Lordship’s notice by a .number of the legal profession in the diocese, regarding thß validity of the recent action of the General Synod, resulting in the uncanonical election of one of the Bishops to the Primacy in the event of a vacancy, but at a time when no such vacancy existed. The Standing Committee believe that his Lordship has thus been instrumental in preventing those very serious com plications which must have arisen through the offioe of Primate being filled by one who, however worthy of occupying that high office, has now been authoritatively declared by the Standing Commission, after considerable arguments urged by the Bishop of Chrisfchuroh on behalf of the proceedings of the General Synod, not to have been canonically elected to the office which the Bynod intended to confer on him. Grey mouth, January 8. Mr Edwards, Secretary of the New Zealand Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, has started a branch society amongst the local railway employes. Mr Edwards, in the couras of His remarks, said that the xiumoer now .enrolled was about 4000. Ghsjstchurch, January 8. The ordinary .meeting of the Tailors, Taiioresses, and Fresws 1 Union was held last night. There were §OO present, Mr Parker being in the obair. Ip the future, ft, :< de disputes will be referred to tfee Trades and Labour Council, which has made provision for the appointment of arbitrators, A letter was received from the Kaiapoi Fictorv, to the effect that the hands are not paid strictly in accordance with the log agreed up n. A deputation was appointed t<‘» wait upon the Directors aud jmanager jn itbe m itter. Tii- polluted literature case D me up at the Resident Magistrate’s Court fchia morning. Charges were preferred against James Andersen, Stephen P well, Charles Christian Wnmeiß, William Hashings, and Chas Henry Rhodes. The cases were adjourned for a week- These are the fiist prosecutions of the kind ever made in the Colony. At the annual meeting of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union to-day it was Auin unced that the members numbered 86, double as m ny as at the beginning of the year. The financial position of the Union is satisfactory. The Hospital Board to-day re-elected the honorary medical staff for another year. The Christchurch Hospital Board has approved employing ladies aa probationer nnrß3s, and the House Committee is considering a schema for giving effect to the proposal. The Labour Union is extending in the north era districts, La t night several re-

oruits to its ranks were gained at a meeting at Woodend. A similar meeting is being held to-night at Belfast. Dunedin, January S. The Macandrew Road Committee intend resigning in a body, as a protest against the indifference of the local bodies to sanitary matters, a condition which has already led tc the closing of the schools. Diphtheria is prevalent in parts of the district. The annual cession of the Educational Institute opened this morning. There w s a large attendance of delegates. Mr White, who presided, delivered an interesting address, in which he expressed regret that the authorities bad studiously avoided dealing with the Institute’s recommendations respecting mod fications of the syllabus. He went on to say : —‘‘ A great deal remains to be done. We must try to awaken the department to a more living interest in the annual deliberations. A great many changes have yet to be made in the system to make it fit in with the changing requirements of the people, and to adapt it for giving the best possible training to the rising generation. 1 think school committees have done » great deal for education, and am therefore sorry to see them abolished. The expense of maintaining the Board iB a mere nothing compared with the advantages accruing from local interest in the control.” He went on to urge caution in dealing with resolutions all aiming at centralisation. Approximate uniformity was desirable, but the cry was being carried a little too far, They must take care in secuiing uniformity that they did not lose something far better. They might secure a uniform scale of salaries throughout the Oolrmy, but where would be the advantage if the average was smaller? Existing discrepancies in salaries would not likely be cured by the central authority fixing the salaries. Supervision and direction mast come fro n central authority, but in real administration they must have as much local interest in the control a 3 possible. The machinery of the Act required accurate adjustment and alteration to minimise friction, but it would be unwise to do away with any of its parts. At a meeting of the City Council to-night the usual' salary of £4OO was voted to the Mayor. The question of the right of the Tramway Company to charge double rates after 9 o’clock was referred to the Committee. The Hospital Trustees passed a resolution appointing a Committee to inquire and report as to what alterations, if any, are required in the mode of nursing, and as to the desirableness of substituting female nurses. (PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Westport, January 8. Mr Harden, solicitor, this afternoon served a writ on the Borough Council at the suit of Augustus Webster, a laborer, claiming £2OO damages for injuries sustained by the said Webster through a horse accident .alleged to have been caused by the defective state of a Borough street. The case comes before the District Court on the 20th inst. The Harbour Works employes decided not to make a demand for 10s per day at present. A decided fall in the financial barometer has taken place. An old-established draper was sold off by order of the mortgagee a few weeks ago. A prominent firm of merchants sro understood to be arranging a compromise. A second trader in the Bame line has relinquished the general merchandise branch of his business and called a meeting of hia creditors for Saturday. An hotelkeeper in an adjoining township is about filing.