LATE TELEGRAPHIC.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1424, 15 June 1899, Page 33

LATE TELEGRAPHIC.

AUCKLAND, Friday. His Excellency the Governor was present at a meeting of the Charitable Aid Board, and spent some time listening to the proceedings, evidently taking' deep interest. His Excellency informed one of the members that he had spent a good deal of time at work of tne nature under notice at Home. The Hon Thos. Thompson, Minister of Defence, in returning thanks to the electors of Auckland, has notified them that owing to the continued serious illness of Mrs Thompson, he will not seek re-elec-tion next November. A requisition is being signed asking Mr George Hutchison, M.H.R., to address a meeting of Auckland electors. The Waihi-Silverton Mining Company’s returns are £1414 worth of gold from 1100 tons of ore, and the Waitekauri mine's returns are £6763 from 2543 tons. The following transactions n mining shares are reported : —Sales—Moanatairi, 4s 4d to 4s 6d ; OhinemuriSyndha'e. -5s ; Alpha, 4s lOd. Buyers—May Queen, 7s 6d; Moanatairi, 4s 6d; Alpha, 4s 9d; Crown, 13s 9d; Talisman, 14s sd; Komata Reefs, 3s 9d; Ohinemuri Syndicate, 4s 9d; Silverton, 13s 2d; Waitekauri, 46s ; Woodstock, 7s ; Maratoto, 4s 9d , Bunker’s Hill, 2s. The incorrigible girl Alma Olga Hansen, of Wellington, whose peculiarities have recently been mentioned on several occasions, came before the Court to-day, and was again charged with vagrancy. Sub-Inspector Wilson applied for a remand, which was granted. He said that with a view of having the girl sent back to Wellington, the police there bad been communicated with. Her father had been applied to, and it appeared he was not in a position to pay the girl’s passage home. As a last resource the sub-inspec-tor had applied to the Charitable Aid Board to pay the girl’s passage. The doctor said she was not a lunatic.

A dingey containing three men was swamped in the harbour to-day. Two of the men, named Braidwood and Dug gan, clung to the boat, while a man named Wright swam to the schooner Clio, narrowly escaping drowning. The brigantine Aratapu rescued the others before a boat despatched from the Upolu reached tne spot. Mrs Ellen Hannah, the victim of the vitriol throwing case of Saturday last, is now progressing favourably at the hospital. The European labourers on the Roto-rua-Te Teko-Wliakatane road have, it is stated, ceased work, owing to the natives objecting to their cutting material for fascines. The present objection is said to be raised, so that the whole of the work might fall into native hands. AUCKLAND, Saturday. Henry Sutherland lias been committed for triai on a charge of passing a gilt pen ny fot a florin. Stores and other cargo from the Hincmoa for Tiritiri, Little Barrier, Cuvier, Mokoliinau and Cape Maria lighthouses to-day were transferred to the Tutanekai, which lias received orders to work these places. The Hinemoa afterwards left for *• Island. Arthur Tucker, an unmarried man, thirty-five years of age, has been killed at the Te Kopuru sawmill, in the Kaipara district. It is supposed that he was caught by the belting and carried round the shaft. AUCKLAND, SunduA man named Charles Humphries cut his throat with a razor at Hobsouvi’le, nineteen miles from Auckland, in his whare. He had been playing cards with his mate the previous evening, and le r t him to go to bed, making the peculiar remark : “ Queen street was covered with blood.” Humphries was thirty years of age, and single. His mother resides at Parnell. AUCKLAND, Monday. The woman named Mary Mulvihill, who is charged with procuring abortion, has been committed for trial. In the Saddlers’ Union dispute, the masters are preparing a contra-state-ment, with a view to an amicable settlement.

The Auckland United Furniture Workers’ Union, having failed to come to an arrangement with the employers, will go before the Conciliation Board for a settlement.

Wm. Carroll was charged at the Police Court to-day with the murder of his wife, and was remanded to Cambridge till Thursday next. The Devonport Steam Ferry Company has declared a dividend of 10 per cent., and carried forward to new account £2063.

H.M.S. gunboat Goldfinch arrived from Sydney, via Noumea, on the 4th inst. The vessel last visited Auckland twenty-one months ago. Meantime the vessel has done a great deal of cruising among the islands. The officers’ list is the same as on the vessel’s last visit here, with the exception of Mr Haves, the chief engineer, who has superseded Mr Jacobs. The Goldfinch will remain in Auckland till next month, when she will probably return to Sydney. A man named James Carter, charged with being found on licensed premises during the currency of a prohibition order, pleaded guilty under extenuating circumstances. He was fined 40s and costs. A woman named Margaret Wilkie was also charged with a similar offence. His Worship recorded a conviction and discharged the accused. Recent rains have damaged the sewer at Freeman's Bay, doing damage to the extent of several hundred pounds. The storm water could not get away. The recent rains have also caused heavy floods in the north on the East Coast. Over 6000 logs belonging to the Kauri Timber Company, many of which were lying in the creeks for three years, have come down the Wairoa river.

Considerable damage has also been done to the Great Barrier roads, which are impassable.

The Board of Conciliation has given its reward in regard to the building trade dispute. It recommends 44 hours per week at Is 2d per hour for competent workmen; walking time to be allowed for suburban work beyond a two-mile radius from the Grey street firebell; no boys to be allowed in the trade unless legally, apprenticed for five years; proportion of apprentices to competent workmen to be three to one, and the proportion of incompetent to competent men the same; no subletting of work for labour only or piecework to be allowed in the trade. None of the parties in the dispute have yet signified their acceptance of the award. Their decisions will be announced next Friday. At the annual meeting of the Auckland Sailors’ Home Association, it was stated in the report that ail impression liad got abroad that the sailors were entitled to the free use of the home, and that it was a matter of no importance whether they paid for their maintenance or not. Arrears for maintenance to the amount of £45 had accumulated during the year, a considerable portion of which would never be recovered, as many of the debtors had left the place. Thirty-four men during the year had been admitted from the hospital, also eight shipwrecked seamen from the barquentine Waitemata, and six from the barque Wenona. The expenses of these men were afterwards paid by the shipowners. About 120 fiec meals and fifty beds bad been given to seamen claiming' to be destitute. A further sum of £I6OO, which was on deposit, was invested in a block of houses in town, and yielding 4f per cent, interest. The balance-sheet, which was adopted, showed a credit balance, carried forward, of £49 10s lid. MASTERTON, Friday. The Licensing Bench sat till a late hour last night hearing evidence for and against an application for a new license at Mauriceville. The Bench was unable to agree on all the points raised by counsel, and accordingly adjourned the application till Tuesday, 27th June. NAPIER, Friday. The report of the Hawke’s Bay Farmers' Association shows a profitable year. A dividend of 7 per cent, and 6d per bale was returned on wool, 21 per cent, on purchases, and 25 per cent, on commissions. The annual meeting of the Hawke’s Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Association was held to-day. The report showed the society to be in a most flourishing condition, 250 new members having been added during the year, whilst improvements had been effected to the show grounds. It was resolved to ask the department for better special train service on show days. By means of private subscriptions a valuable library lias been added to the rooms of the society. Mr W. Beilby, the retiring secretary, was elected an honorary life member. Mr J. N. Williams was elected president for the ensuing term. The balance at the bank had increased from £2l last year to £250 DUNEDIN. Friday At the Dairy Conference to-dav, in connection with the Winter Show, Mi Ruddick, the Dairy Commissioner, explained the nature of the proposal to charge on. the values for grading butter. A resolution was passed to the effect that the first grade butter should be 90s per cwt. and over; the second grade, 85s to 89s; the third grade, 84s and under. At the fat stock sales in connection with the winter show, the prices were, on the whole, good. Two very heavy shorthorn bullocks realised £2l 10s. Five three-quarter bred Leicester lambs brought 28s; half-bred Shropshire lambs, 18s 6d; second prize Shropshire wethers, 21s 6d; merinos from Hakatararaea Downs, 20s 6d; half-bred wethcis from the same estate, 365. The prices for hoggets, termed lambs, ranged from 13s to 325.

At a meeting to-night in connection with the proposed council of churches, the constitution as drafted by the committee was adopted with slight amendments. It was decided to hold a meeting on the 4th July, when the committee will bring up resolutions dealing with united evangelistic efforts, temperance* gambling, curfew legislation and the Bible in schools.

A fisherman named Kavanan, twentyseven years of age, a Russian Finn, is believed to have been drowned at Port Moeraki, He was seen out in a boat bv two other men when the boat disappeared suddenly. They went to the place, but failed to find any trace of the man or boat.

DUNEDIN, Sunday. A man named William Bryant,--about forty-nine years of age, died sudden fy* at South Dunedin to-day, The May sc of death is supposed to be heart disease. . DUNEDIN, Monday. Quite a number of -burglaries are reported to have been committed on Saturday or Sunday night.’" .1 DUNEDIN, Monday. The sheep entered atrtlie winter show for the society’s special prize for freezers were taken to the Burnside Freezing Works to-day and killed, preparatory to being sent to London to test their value. The results were :—-

Ten Romney hoggets, average hot weight, 591 b; average weight of fat, sib; average value skins, 4s 3d. Twenty Border Leieesters; average weight, 821 b; fat, BUb; skins, 5s 3d. Ten Sliropshires ; average weight. 651 b • fat, 6Mb; skins, 4s 3d. T orty crossbred Downs; average weight, 691 b ; fat, 7Mb; skins, 4s 3d. & Fifty crossbred longwools; average weight, 761 b.; fat, 81b ; skins, 4s 9d. ' INVERCARGILL, Friday. Two stacks, half a mile apart, were burned at. Nightcaps last night. They belonged to a man named W. Valli and were insured for £3OO.

The oat market is decidedly weaker, and buyers are not nearly so'keen. Outside markets have not responded to the recent rise here, and large quantities arc still offering. Farmers are now storing their grain. Dun and long Tartars oats are hard to place. At Dipton yesterday afternoon, a man named Patrick Whelan, a ganger on the railway, was stepping on the brake of a track of a moving ballast train, when he slipped and fell across the rails, the wheels of the next tracks passing over his left thigh and the right leg at the anklg. Without delay the train started for Invercargill. It stopped at Winton, where Dr Riley attended to Whelan’s injuries as well as circumstances would permit-, hut on arrival at the Southland Hospital in Invercargill, the man died. The deceased, who was about twenty-seven years of age, leaves a- wife and one child. The Premier formally opened a section of two miles and a. half of the Seaward Bush Railway to-day. This section was not in the original scheme, which was for a. line to take timber out of the bush. The terminus is now, however, out in the open country beyond the Mataura river, but not at any township. Before the Premier left the ground, a deputation waited upon him with a view to the further extension to and beyond the township of Fortrose. It was pointed out that the shortest route to Duneuin could be obtained in this way, but from the lie of the country there would be a large amount of cut and cover work on such a line.

The Premier said lie was not surprised at the request, as lie had been asked to extend the line from the other end—the ratlins'river branch. He was not. he said, bound up in the idea that some people held, that the trunk luies should be first completed, and he wo .Id lay the' matter before the Minister of Public Works.

The function held at Waimahaka was very successful. Fine; weather induced many to make the trip, two trains being used. A deputation by the Southland Frozen Meat Company waited on the Premier with regard to the heavy traffic and the freights on frozen meat from their slaughter yards and the Mataura works. It was shown that the freight was m.,re than double'that on grain. A striking proof oD't'lie remunerative clnnacter of the traffic from a railway point of view w-as that the six vans used for carrying green meat from Wallacetown to vhe Bluff, a distance of twenty-one mne", each earned £220 per annum. The Premier said they had made out a good case; although, of course, meat did not go into the same space as grain, and required special trucks. The Premier left this evening for Dunedin . INVERCARGILL, Monday. Early this morning the Commercial Hotel, Mossburn,' w r as destroyed by fire, together with an adjoining stable. The licensee of the hotel discovered the fire outside, near where a case of empty bottles had been standing. He got all the inmates out, with his wife and family, in their night clothes only. He lost some cash and a number of watches, besides the whole contents of the house. The insurances on the hotel are not known but the contents were covered for £l5O in the Imperial. The stab’e was insured for £25 with the Royal Exchange. WOODVILLE, Mondr-t. The Premier has arranged to speak here on Friday evening, in order to reply to the Leader of the Opposition. BLENHEIM, Monday. Capain Russell;** Leader of he Opposition, will deliver an address at. Blenheim on Wednesday evening. No candidate has as yet been announced in the Opposition interest, but it is be-

iieved. a ,’choice will be made during jCkp-taiii Russell’s visit. He will address a .Picfcon audience on Friday night. ' ' CHRISTCHURCH, Friday. ;.J: Between twenty and thirty hands in the spinning department of the Kaiapoj Woollen Mills struck last night tor an increase in wages. , A meeting between the manager arid the men is arranged ioi Monday to endeavour to amicably settle .tho di ttic STCHUEC H? Sunday. h ' For the dog trials in connection with the Christchurch .Coike Dog Club next, week, 200 entries have been received, forming a record for any such meeting in Ihe colony. . ; 'The entries for the M inter Show number 809, including a large quantity or roots and: groin. There being no room for stock and machinery, numbers of entries iii these classes had to be.refused. Mr Gilruth, the Chief Government Veterinarian Surgeon, has received from the veterinary officers cf the Board ol Agriculture of Great Britain a letter m the following terms:—‘‘We have examined the specimen, you sent, and we agree that the lesions are those of swine fever 3,'i we.find it in this country." The speci* men was from one- of the pigs condemned at Mat-aura. - •. . , •A man" was arrested Ivaiapoi las. Vffiit inner peculiar circumstances tor fit.eal.ing a bicycle tour years ago. Ihe bicycle was stolen from me Star Cycle Works, and was in possession of the accused until a. week or two ago, when he sold it to another man, who took it to the Star Works for repairs. There it was recognised and detained. The arrest or the man ot Kutapoi followed almost immediately. . CHRISTCHFRCH. Monday. The result o e the poll for the seat of the headquarters of the Pharmacy Board, of New Zealand has been declared. The result gives a majority of sue votes for Wellington. The voting was—For Wellington, 126; for Christchurch, 120'. Only a few votes were given for either Dunedin or Auckland. • Lode lo.st night the police, under SubInspector O’Brien, raided a house in Tuarn street, occupied by Chinamen, on suspicion that gambling was largely

: carried on. The party effected an entrance quietrly and found, o, number of Chinamen , and Europeans seated round a table, on which <! fan-tau” had evidently been played. They succeeded in arresting ...thirty-two Chinamen and four Euro- . poana, and also secured the bank bag (which contained several- pounds in ’ small, coins) and the apparatus. The accused were brought before the Police Court this morning and remanded until Wednesday, in order to secure Hie services of a, competent interpreter. NAPIER, Monday. Albert Pella tn, aged about thirty-five, was drowned in the Tutaekuri River, near Ta-radale, on Saturday afternoon. •Deceased was' last seen alive on Thursday. ■ OSE-VMOFTH, Saturday. Curiosity was excited this morning as to the identity of a large three-masted steamer with a black funnel, which was seen off the coast, and was quickly making away to the north-west. BLENHEIM. Friday. . Mr Furness, proprietor of the “Marll boto-ugh Express,” was this morning fined 10s and costs for a breach of the Gaining ■and: Lotteries Act, in publishing a letter from ‘Tatters alts’ (G. H. Adams) in reply to- certain strictures on his method of conducting sweeps.