THE New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 1899.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1424, 15 June 1899, Page 26

THE New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 1899.

The Public Works Department has accepted the tender of Mr J. Mclndoe, of Hawera, for the erection of a new police station at Mokau. The little steamer Hercules, on a recent trip South, had a somewhat novel task to perform, viz., towing a five-roomed house from Jackson’s Bay to Okuru. The house was to be placed on a raft for the purpose.

A painfully sad incident in connection with the foundering of the Ohau occurred yesterday, when the wife of one of the officers of that ill-fated steamer, who has been suffering from dementia since the catastrophe, was transferred to the asylum. The Very Rev Father Lewis, on behalf of Archbishop Redwood, acknowledges receipt of £IOO from Messrs J. Staples and Co., Limited, being the first instalment of a sum of £SOO voted by the directors of that company to the building fund of the new Roman Catholic Cathedral for Wellington. According to the “ Daily Times,” a writ claiming £SOO damages for alleged slander has been served on Mr G. W. Deller (Mayor of Carterton), at the instance of Mr H. B. Tucker, of the Marquis of Normanby Hotel, Carterton. The case will come before the District Court at Masterton.

The portrait of (he late Mr diaries Hulke, painted in oils ay Mr J. LI. Brown, is now hung in the south wing of the Colonial Museum.

It is understood that Mr McCaddv, of Masterton, has purchased, for the sum of £I3OO, the section at Petone originally offered by Mr Wilkie to the Govern ment for a post, office site.

Tenders recently received by Cabinet for the electric lighting plant and work in connection with the projected drainage system at Rotorua have been declined. and fresh tenders are to he invited.

The following passed the examination held in Wellington last week by the board of examiners under the Dentists Act:—Messrs Chamberlain (Feilding), Mcßae (Palmerston North), Phillips (Wed mate), Aplin (Napier), and O’CarrcU (New Plymouth).

The Commissioner of Police has issued a circular to all stations throughout New Zealand, instructing that reports should be sent to the secretary of the New Zealand Royal Humane Society of any cases of the saving of life, or of bravery in saving life. A press telegram states that Mr Frank Perry, of Tamafold, Pahiatua, chairman of the Pahiatua County Council, was married at Holy Trinity Church, Woodville, yesterday, to Miss Nellie Nicholls, eldest daughter of Mr W. H. S. Nicholls, of the local post office. Bishop Wallis acknowledges with thanks the receipt, in aid of the Cathedral fund, of £ls 9s lid, the proceeds of a concert held at Cambridge, in England; and the sum of £IOO from Messrs Staples and Co., of Wellington. This donation is the first instalment, it is understood, of a subscription of £SOO.

The following subscriptions are thankfully acknowledged by the treasure*' of the Society for the Prevention of Crueltj to Animals: —S. C. Leary, ss, A. Hoby, 10s: T. A. Field, 10s 6d; A. J. McTavish and Co., 10s; C. Cathie, 2s 6d; Rev H. Van Staveren, os; Mrs Van Staveren, ss; and £33 10s 8d (proceeds of a dance organised by Mrs Adacs, — total, £35 18s Bd.

We have to acknowledge the receipt of the first number of a new fortnightly, “The Stockwhip,” published at New Plymouth. The paper has a strong political tinge, the exact colour of which is reflected by the editorial announcement that it will afford unwavering support to “Richard Seddon, the Hierophant of Liberalism in New Zealand.” There are sixteen pages cf reading matter, a couple of cartoons, and the words and music of a song entitled “Our Glorious Dick.” This should be found diversified enough for local requirements in Taranaki.

A Council of the Christian Churches has been formed in Dunedin, and a draft of its constitution has been adopted. The objects are defined as being to encourage devotional fellowship and mutual counsel concerning the spiritual life and religious activities of the community; to watch the interests of temperance, public morality, and such other questions that may affect the position and prosperity of the community, and to take such action as may he deemed necessary and practicable from time to time to safeguard and promote the same.

The drapery and clothing emporium of Cuba street, widely known throughout the colony as Te Aro House, has become the property of Te Aro House Drapery Company, which was registered in London ’on April 29th, the ousiness having been taken over from Mr W. H. Carter as a going concern. The company has a capital of £30,000 in £1 shares. The first subscribers, seven in number, are registered as holding one share each, and the directorate consists of Messrs W. H. Carter, Percy Chant and Chas. M. Duncan. The registered office of the company is at No. 9, Bush lane, London, E.C. Mr W. 11. Smith, who was appointed manager of the Cuba street business some time ago, will still retain that position. Mr W. Belcher, writing to the “Otago Daily Times” of Saturday with reference to the Ohau disaster, says:--

“From inquiries, I find that Mrs Charnock, wife of one of the lost crew, was entirely dependent on her late husband's earnings, and is left almost unprovided for. It was also reported that ilr Cliarnock was the only married man amongst the seamen and firemen. This, I find, is incorrect. I am advised from Sydney (N.S.W.) that Fireman W. Denny was a married man, and has left a wife and two young children to mourn their loss, also unprovided for.” Mr Belcher considers that these cases warrant an appeal being made to the public for funds towards their relief. Mr T. M. Wilford’s little boy Max met with a serious accident in a remarkable way at his father’s residence. He was playing on the balcony with his rocking horse, when he -suddenly went over the railing and fell to an asphalt footpath some sixteen feet below. It was marvellous how the ciiiid escaped alive. He had at 'east one rib broken, and he chanced to fall on a piece of board from which a nail projected, with the result that the nail entered his side. The boy, who showed much fortitude, walked into the house without assistance. Dr Collins was sent for, and attended the little sufferer, who is doing as well as can be expected.

Mr C. A. Fitzßoy, Mayor of Hastings, has definitely announced that he will contest the Waiapu seat against the Hon J. Carroll at the general election. Mr A. S. Baker, of Palmerston North, left Auckland by the Moana on Monday cn route for England. It is improbable that he will return to New Zealand. Mr Baker talks of ultimately settling down in the Argentine.

A vigorous canvass is being cdndqcted in certain parts of the city for signatures to a petition intended for presentation to Parliament, having direct reference to the Judiciary and a recent .nesting. The text of the petition is not on exhibition in any public place, but it is said that a large number of persons are affixing their names to the copies in circulation.

A curiosity has been shown to the Southland “News” in the form of a blackbird with white head and neck, the latter encircled by a narrow black band, one wing mottled white, and a few feathers of the same colour distributed over the body. In shape, the head resembles that of a pigeon, but the bill is distinctly a blackbird’s. The freak will be stuffed, and should form an interesting curio. Mr C. E. S. Gillies, winner of Hie blue ribbon of Australasian golf, returned from Sydney by the Mararoa, after an absence of three weeks from Auckland. He speaks in high terms of the treatment lie received at the hands of the Sydney golfers. A dinner was given in his honour by Auckland golfers, and congratulations have been sent to him from players of the ancient game in all parts of New Zealand.

Advice received by the San Francisco mail informs Messrs Levin and Co. of the movements of their new steamer Himitangi, which left the Clyde for Wellington on April Ist. She was reported to have sailed from Gibraltar on April Bth, Malta on the 14th, passed Port Said on the 22nd and left Aden on May 2nd. Colombo was to be the next port of call. The Himitangi was to have come out via. the Torres Strait, but owing to the lateness of the season it has now been left to the discretion of Captain Fraser and his officers, so that the steamer will probably call at either Fremantle or Albany for coal, and will then come on direct to Wellington. She is expected to arrive here about the end of the month.

It is rumoured that two funds in Wellington will soon receive generous donations from a local company. The company is said to be contemplating the setting apart of £IOOO, oue-half of which is to be subscribed to the Anglican Cathedral bulding rund, and the remaining £SOO to the fund for erecting a Roman Catholic Cathedral. When the donations aro definitely made, it may be expected that other companies and firms deriving large profits from trade will follow the example of generosity and unsectarianism which, if the report is well founded, is being set to the community.

On Thursday last at Auckland the officers and engineers of the Flora gathered together in the smoking-room and presented Captain Fleming (who lias just relinquished the command of that steamer to take up the position of superintendent of the Mercantile Marine at Dunedin) with a smoker’s companion, which contained two silvermounted pipes and a silver-mounted cigarette-holder, a silver-plated saladbowl, and a silver inkstand. The presentation was made as a token of the esteem in which he is held. The chief engineer, Mr Robertson, in making the presentation, dwelt upon the sterling qualities possessed by the recipient, and wished him all happiness and prosperity in his preferment. Captain Fleming "suitably replied, after which his health was duly honoured.

The “Lyttelton Times,” in discussing the political address given at Christchurch on Thursday night by the senior member for Wellington, points out that it was under the auspices of the “ Independent Liberal and Labour League, a nondescript body, whose promoters will scarcely claim that it has yet acquired any political influence. Our visitor is a clear, and might be an effective, speaker if he were less self-conscious, and had a more correct idea of the proportions of political questions. His perspective is wofully confused. He told nis beams last night that he knew himself, and (hat there was no justification for the charge that he was suffering from ‘ swe'led hear. We doubt, however, if Mr Hutcheson anavet managed to diagnose his mv” case. With age experience will come to nun; with exnenence he will learn in tu b v/hicn, in the freshness, vigour and effervescence of political youth, lie cannot be expected' to know.”

In a letter addressed to the chairman of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce on the subject of the North Island Main Trunk Railway, Mr J. Kennedy Brown .ays : —“My avocations for a number of years took me all over the inhabited portions of the North Island." I have penetrated the interior by every known route,, and routes unknown, and yield to no onein my knowledge of the country. It has become the fashion to describe the central route as going through ‘a pumice desert,' and the Stratford route, per contra, as being splendid country. Now, sir, I unhesitatingly say that this is, as Mr Seddon would say, 'absolutely incorrect. There is little to choose between the one route and the other, as far as the character of the land is concerned, and of the two routes, I am of opinion that the central route will open up a much larger extent of country for settlement, large areas being Crown lands.”