LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Mail, 17 September 1902, Page 48

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Mr A. Barron, chairman of the Land Purchase Board, has returned from an extended tour of the South Island on departmental business. The colonial mails which left Melbourne by the s.s. Australia on the 13th of August, arrived in London oil the afternoon of the 14th instant—one day early. William Joseph Cooze, twenty-eight years old, died suddenly at Carterton on Sunday afternoon from peritonitis. Deceased, who had arrived from Wellington on Saturday evening, was ill for only eight hours.

Tlie Special Committee set up to make arrangements for the erection of a statue to the late Queen Victoria in Wellington intends making a special effort to raise the £260 yet required to complete the monument. A cable message received by the Acting-Minister of Defence on Monday states that Captains Tuckey and Potter and Lieutenant Spencer are to leave Sydney by the Mokoia on the 20th inst. for Wellington, and that Lieutenant Travers, of the Railway Pioneer Regiment, will also be a passenger by tms steamer.

The following candidates have been nominated for positions on the Johnsonville Town Board:—Messrs M. Atkinson, T. A. Bowler, H. W. Po.vler, J. W. Chapman, C. Duncan, J. J. Eason, G. E. Manson, J. J. Moore, J. Ricketts and J. Rod. A poll for the election of five out of the above candidates will be held next Saturday at the Rechabite Hall, Johnsonville. With regard to the statement that there is at present considerable slackness in the boot trade, inquiries that have been made by a “Times” representative show that tho alleged slackness does prevail, but it is not more marked than in other years. As a general rule, tho present season is quiet, and there is nothing to cause concern in the present state of the trade.

The Mapourika brought a considerable amount of gold from the West Coast on Monday. The consignment included one box, valued at £4450, consigned to the Bank of New South Wales at Sydney and four boxes, valued at £13,151 Ss 6d, for the National Bank of New Zealand at Melbourne.

A meeting of the Wellington City Council and adjacent local bodies wiil bo held in about a month to consider the question of providing an infectious diseases hospital for the district. At present infectious cases are treated in the plague hospital at Berhampore (which accommodates only eight patients) and in a separate ward of the district hospital. The statement of liabilities and assets in tho bankrupt estate of John P. Ward, mining agent, of Wellington, shows that thore are unsecured creditors for the sum of £SBB Is 5d and secured creditors for £219 12s 4d, the total liabilities being £BO7 13s 9d. There is furniture valued at £l7, and if the £I9OO worth of paid-up mining shares are negotiable there will be a credit balance of £llO9 6s 3d. The principal unsecured creditors are:— John C. Colbeck (Auckland), £200; A. D. Wilson (Pelorus Sound), £B2 4s; J. E. Millar (Thames), £3l 7s 9d; H. E. Gribbin (Auckland), £3O; J. B. GoreMartin (Wanganui), £3O. The secured creditors are Henry L. Jackson (Blenheim), £132 7s yd and Edward Parker, £B7 4s 7d. The bankrupt’s statement is to the effect that he was for several years connected with gold mining in Victoria and New Zealand. He made a considerable sum during the “ boom ” in Auckland, and took up several claims. He lost money on all but one of these, and had to borrow for the purpose of prospecting. In 1898 he had reduced his debts from £763 to £344, but the “ slump ” then came. He left Auckland for Havelock, and while there he was led to believe that the streams along the north bank of the Wairau would pay for dredging. He accordingly formed a syndicate in Taranaki, and was appointed manager and prospector at a salary of £4OO a* year and 10 per cent, on all shares taken up. He had to borrow further money for mining ventures and lost it all. He states in conclusion that “all the shares he holds will be valuable.”

As the outoome of the last horticultural oonforenoe held in Dunedin, a National Horticultural Society of New Zealand has been formed.

A second story is being added to the Roman Catholic Convent School at Lower Hutt. The additional acoommodation will he used as a residence by the Sisters when it is found necessary for them to remain at the Hutt. Under the reorganisation scheme of tho City Council the present inspector of private drains and his assistant and one of the staff employed at the pumping station are to be retired. Another inspector of private drains is to be appointed. Mr A. Barron, Chairman of the Land Purchase Board, is on a tour of the South Island, which has already extended over four weeks. He has inspected a number of estates in Canterbury and Otago which are under offer to the Government.

The Bellevue Gardens. Lower Hutt, have been placed at the disposal of the Veterans’ Home Committee by Messrs Orr and Lodder, the proprietors, and it is proposed to hold a garden fete there in aid of the funds of the Home on 11th October.

The deaths from infectious diseases in Wellington during the year ending the 31st March, 1902, were as follows: —lnfluenza. 14(1901—5) : diphtheria, 7 (1901 —6): typhoid fever. 5 (1901 —8); phthisis. 55 (1901—57). The deaths from cancer numbered 33.

The Defence Department has received the following communication from the Health Officer at Auckland concerning the condition of the .invalids who were landed from the troopship Montrose : 8792 Blacklock, and 5697 Shellock are both very bad ; 9G78 Stephens, who was discharged from the Quarantine Island on the Btli inst., was sent to the general hospital on-Friday suffering from acute rheumatism and endocarditis (inflammation of the heart). His case is serious.

Messrs Brandon, Hislop and Johnston. acting on behalf of the Karori Borough Council, have requested the Wellington City Council to agree to a special case being stated in respect to the claim which has been made upon the latter body for rates upon the'Karori cemetery. The City Council has refused to comply with the request, and has asked the city representatives in Parliament to protect its interests in connection with any legislation which may be brought in to bear on the subject. The firm of Turnbull and Jones, electrical engineers, etc., has been converted into a limited liability company. Mr R. T. Turnbull has been appointed managing director, and tho board consists of himself, Mr J. R. Blair. A. H. Turnbull and Mr R. C. Jones, of Dunedin. The company has already branches at Dunedin and Christchurch, and is contemplating opening a branch at Auckland. The work in connection with the conversion of the firm into a company was conducted by Messrs Badham and Biss. Mr Rowley, formerly a member of that firm’s staff, has been appointed secretary. In his ’annual report, the City Engineer says that bv the kindness and courtesy of the Chief Commissioner of Police the officers of the force are now rendering valuable service in reporting unlighted lamps. The existing arrangements as to the hour for lighting up the street lamps, and as to lighting on moonlight nights (when it is frequently intensely dark) are not by amy means satisfactory, and Mr Rounthwaite lias for some time past been endeavouring to arrange with the Electrical Syndicate a fixed time-table for lighting. He hopes that this will shortly he in "operation.

The September number of the Journal of the Department of Labour contains the following report on trade and labour in Wellington:—Wellington.—Building trades Fairly brisk. Engineering trades —Very quiet, and no appearance of early improvement. Boot trade—Also very quiet; men working short time. Clothing trade —Order tailoring moderately good for the season; factories quiet. Retail trade (general)— Apparently good business doing in all branches of retail trade. Unskilled 1 arbour —Slight falling-off in the number of applications for employment during the month. A number of married men have been sevtt on to co-operative works, and a few single men to private employment in the country. The remaining applicants are principally single men. " Mr Fraiiz David Siedeberg, a wellknown pioneer of the dredging industry, died at Dunedin on Thursday—at the age of seventy-five years'. He was a German and emigrated first to Victoria and then to Otago at the time of the first Molyneux rush. Settling at Cromwell in 1863 with Mr Charles Schultz, he started a spoon dredge on the Kawarau, and afterwards shifted It to the Hartley’s Beach claim, now part of the Hartley and Riley. Several other dredges were built by the firm. In 1873 Mr Siedeberg removed to Dunedin, and commenced business as a "building contractor, retiring some "years later. He was twice married, and leaves a widow and a large family. One of Ms sons, who was chess champion of the colony, is now an electrical engineer in Germany. A daughter is Dr Emily ! Siedeberg. i • ' ■

Mr Peter Pender, late Inspector Police, made his first appearand 1 the Bench as a Justice o/the ol * the Magistrate’s Court at Christoff ? on Wednesday. '-nnstchurcfi *- Captain H. E. Neave whn dead last week by a private at Be? gaium, Madras was a son of Mr p Neave of Christchurch, and brother** the late Lieut. A. C. Neave First New Zealand Regiment and la?® of the Yorkshire Regiment) ’ X/ er killed in South Afrira He twenty-nine years of age, and was =1? cated at Christ’s and j" liurst, from tho latter of ih‘3? hot?" posted to the Royal Warwickshire R«i ment.

By the death of Mrs Caroline Ann Evans a very old resident of Wellington passes away. Deceased was eigVv three years of age. She arrived in Wellington with her husband, the lata J° ‘ n kvans oy the ship Adelaide S 1840, and they lived in the first sett£ ment at Petone until the foundation of Wellington. Mr Evans died fortv year, ago. There is a family of ten children seventy grandchildren, and twenty eight great grandchildren. Among the cluldren are Messrs J. E. and J W Evans (of Wellington), Mr T. F Fvina’ (of Martinborough). Mrs A. P. Mason Mrs A. Whiteford and Miss C J Evans’ who all reside in tho Wellington district!