LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1793, 18 July 1906, Page 20

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

The instruments which, wer© removed from the Observatory, on Observatory Hill, are now housed in a temporary i&tructure in the grounds of the Government Buildings, where observations are taken by the stars every night when the sky is favourable. It is underitftood the instruments will eventually be housed on Battery Hill, in the Botanical Gardens, close to Kelburno Kiosk.

From the local agents, Levin and Co-, Ltd., we have received a copy of the annual report of the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company for the year 1905, as submitted to the seventieth annual meeting of the shareholders. The fire department showed 16 surplus of £393,705, which was carlied to profit and loss account. The general reserve fund stands at £1,400,000; fire re-insurance fund, £900,000; Globe perpetual annuity fund, £1,654,200; life and annuity funds, £5,437,817; profit and- loss account, after fixing dividend for 1905, £1,010,022.

In the country districts where roadmetal is scarce it is found to be an advantage to allow grass to grow on the sides of the roads. Without it the unmetalled strips become quagmires in winter, and heaps of dutffc in summer. The New Plymouth Borough Council has instructed its foreman to discontinue removing the grass from the (streets between the water-tables and the metal. A ratepayer, who. recommended this course, stated that in Palmerston North the local authorities went so far as to plant grasp in the streets.

Messrs G. Shirtcliff© (president), G. Wilson, James McLellan, Lee, J. Uuthie, J. G. Hark ness, and E. G. Pilcher were present at a meeting of the council of th© Wellington Chamber of Commerce, held on July 10. The chief matter of public interest decided was that at the general meeting of the Chamber, to be held a fortnight hence, the council will recommend that the Chamber set adide from its funds the Bum of twenty-four guineas to provide prizes at the eight local State schools for (1) commercial arithmetic, (2) original English, composition, and (3) handwriting.

A letter was read from Mr G. Gregor at last meeting of the' Auckland City Council upon the question of the municipality providing workmen’s homes. •The writer pointed out that workers’ homes a distance from the city involving tram or train fares would not meet the requirements of those who must retide near their work. He suggested that the municipality should erect terraces of workmen’s homes of brick, and let each house for about 7s Od per week. The architectural details should be dignified and beautiful, so long as internal accommodation was not interfor-. ed with. He suggested that the City Council should provide these Ileuses in or near th© city, and the rent he estimated would leave a margin representing five per cent on the money expended. The Mayor said be hoped the Auckland City Council would take the lead in such an important matter as providing suitable homes for workers. The letter was referred to the Finance Committee.

Giving reasons for the Arbitration Court’s continuance of preference to unionists in the Greymouth wharf labourers’ award, Mr Justice Chapman remarked: “Though this is the only wharf labourers’unipn in the polony which has preference under an award, it was given by the employers themselves in the former agreement, and although there was evidence that consent was given by an agent of the Union Steamship Company without authority, we must treat it as the consent of the company, and other employers had concurred in the consent. Had. it been proved that the existence of preference was the source of trouble we should have had to reconsider the position. But this was not made /dear. We think, however, that the ‘process of admission to the union was too cumbrous to meet emergencies, and have accordingly brought the conditions of the award in this respect into accord with A form of clause which has worked satisfactorily elsewhere.”

One of the effects of no-license in Invercargill is a noticeable diminution in tlie number of those who lolled about the street corners under the previous conditions, and a complete absence of drunkenness in the town. During the past two days (says the Southland “News”) not a single caste of inebriety has been dealt with in the Police Court, and many who formerly did not allow a day to pass without frequent libations seem to have become reconciled to the altered circumstances. There are no evidences of drink coming into town from licensed districts in bottles or larger quantities, and generally the appearances up to the present have been such as to inspire hope in the breasts even of those who could see nothing but ill in the proposal to abolish the sale of liquor. Some opponents of the reform have circulated not only locally, but in the north, that “many sly grog-shops are springing up,” but this statement* is not in accordance with fact.

A Press Association message states that the Dunedin City Council has appointed Mr W. G. T. Goodman as electrical engineer, at a salary of £7OO per annum. Mr Goodman designed for Messrs Noyes Bros., and. supervised the erection of the Dunedin city and suburban tramways.

A heavy north-north-westerly gale raged at Wellington on July 10 from about 2 a.m. till midday, and inconvenienced shipping considerably. The scow Wanderer, from Havelock, which anchored in the stream at 1 a.m., commenced to drag at daybreak, and at 9 a.m. wafl within easy stone-throw of the Oriental Bay beach. However, the vessel’s anchor then held fast. The tug Duco came to her rescue, and after a difficult task extricated the scow from her awkward position. The Government cruiser Sparrow drifted across the harbour at about midday. After grazing the hulk Coromandel, she fouled a buoy off the end of the Glasgow Wharf, but was held by the Duco till anchor was dropped at the man-of-war moorings, where she is at presfent located. The hulk Arawata also broke away from her moorings in th© stream, but was brought up at the man-of-war anchorage. The Rev Mr Bates advises that from 5 p.m. on Monday till 9 a.m. yesterday the wind averaged thirty-five miles an hour. He computes that the fiercest gusto yesterday had a velocity of (seventy miles an hour.

The “ Ceylon Observer ” and Messrs Ridley and Son, of Christchurch, have been carrying on a joint crusade in Ceylon in the direction of having that island’s teas exhibited on a fitting scale at the International Exhibition. Sir Stanley Bois recently circularised Ceylon planters for the purpose of collecting samples of tea for the Imperial Institute. These were the first new samples to be prepared for exhibition, and the “Observer” strongly urged that they should, in the'first place, be sent to the New Zealand Exhibition before going to London. When the matter was referred to Sir Stanley Bois he was afraid it would not be a good thing to send the samples referred to first to New Zealand, as it would still further delay their arrival at the Imperial Institute, where they are really urgently needed to bring Ceylon’s collection there anything like up-to-date. The samples from St. Louis were to have gone to the Imperial Institute, but were hardly worth transport, so were disposed of in the States. The “ Observer,” according to the latest files, was urging the collection of duplicate samples for New Zealand.

It apparently remains for some serious disaster to skipping to awaken the authorities concerned to th© necessity for maintaining telephonic communication between the Beacon Hill signal station (Seatoun) and the city when bad weather prevails. On July 10 the little steamer Piako was slowly drawn into danger, and finally thrown on the beach at 10 a.m. in Fitzroy Bay, without help being available, owing to a breakdown in _ th© telephone wire connecting tho signal station and the city. In the afternoon tho Duco went out, but was* of course, unable to render any assistance. Tlie Hinemoa was despatched to the scone also, hut, on sending a boat ashore to Pencarrow lighthouse, it was discovered that the crew ol the Piako (an elderly man and a youth) were safely housed there. The Piako, which arrived at the harbour entrance early on Monday evening from Blenheim', dropped anchor, owing to a breakdown in her machinery. During the night the vessel commenced to drift, and by the morning was in danger. She was finally thrown up on the beach to the south-east of Pencarrow lighthouse, where she now lies on an even keel, just within reach of high tide. The Piako is an iron steamer of twelve tons gross and eight tons net. She wad built in 1877 at the Thames.

Speaking at the annual dinner of the St. George Society of Not York on April 22nd, General Stewart L. Woodford explained the attitude of President Roosevelt in refusing aid from other nations in connection with .stricken Sa-n Francisco. “The President, in the midst of the horrors of San Francisco,” be said, “kindly hut firmly declined the aseiitWfkce offered by the other nations, and especially, through St. George’s Society, the assistance of England. The President meant simply that, bowed as {he American people were under their load, it was his wish that the American people show to the world that under such an adversity the United States would take care of its own; would rise equal to the tenable occasion; would feed their own hungry, would clothe their own naked, and, spurred on by the indomitable courage which this people always have exhibited under stress of distracting calamity, set up their flag and move t-o the assistance ol ‘the city that once was,’ and build a new city, even though the earth shook beneath its foundations. In doing this —in refusing your great beneficence, the President still feels that ho is greatly honoured, as the American people /ire, in that England and the other great nations not only sent messages of regret, but offers of substantial material aid. He felt that the nation, as a nation, would set an example to other nations.”

One of the subjects mentioned by Mr Jennings, M.H.R., when interviewing the Premier, Mr Hall-Jones, was that of allowing men engaged on public works in the King Country and on the North Island railway works the privilege of leaving work at 12 o’clock on Saturdays, the men to make up the necessary time during tli© week. This would prevent desecration of the Sabbath by allowing football and other games, winch are now freely indulged in on Sundays, to he played on Saturdays. The request was made by the member for Egmont at the request of the men. It is only, within die past fifteen months that clergymen have visited these out-of-the-way places. The only occupations for the men are ‘ two-up ” and football. The question of tlie railway route betweejr Wellington and the Wairarapa has been receiving considerable consideration of late by the Lower Hutt Borough Council, and it recently decided to approach th© Minister for Railways to urge upon him the advisableneas of constructing a Mn© via the eastern side of the Hutt Valley and Waiiiui, thence to a point near the head of the Wairarapa Lake. It is pointed out that if this were done large tracts of fertile land would be made accessible. The Lower Hutt Borough Council regards this ae a matter of colonial importance, especially to this portion of the North Island, and it yesterday asked the co-operation of the Hutt County Council and the presence of a delegate from the Council with the deputation when the Minister is approached. The chairman, Mr R. Bould, "was appointed the Council’s representative. “Le Liberal,” a Socialist newspaper published in the French colony of Tahiti, makes the following flattering comparison between the administration by New Zealand of the Cook Islands and the French management of, Tahiti: — “Wo ■would like to see France follow a similar principle for the extension of her colonial influence. We would like to eco her inspired by that same spirit which has actuated our ally England. In this very neighbourhood, close to Tahiti, the Cook Group, which lately became an English colony, is now in full process of development. In 1904 its Budget showed a surplus of . 65,000 francs, and in 1905 this was increased to 125,000 francs. This country is m every respect similar to Tahiti, which for some time past has closed its accounts with a deficit of from two to four hundred thousand francs. It is a fact that Rarotonga, the principal island of the group, has no departments of roads and bridges, but there are r*}ads in the country.” The Wanganui “Herald,” in an ar-t-ice on “ Gambling and the Turf,” says: —We believe that- in the present state of the law the police are wanting in their duty with regard to the very large amount of betting that is permitted to go on ■with bookmakers. It is notorious that in Wanganui a number of these undesirable gentry are permitted to ply their calling in our streets apparently wlith perfect impunity, and that- some of our most prominent hotels and public places are being regularly and daily used for the purposes of this illegal business. This is the subject of much unfavourable comment, and we have heard the supineness of the police in this respect very severely commented on. While some attempt has been made in other places to put down what has become an intolerable evil, little appears to have been done in this direction here, and it is high time that some steps were taken here in Wanganui, where these harpies are allowed to carry on their trade with a publicity that amounts to little short of a pubic scandal, to put an end to such an undesirable state of things. At the annual meeting of the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, held at Liverpool on May loth, the chairman, Mr F. W. Moore, made the following statement with reference to the settlement of claims at Sail Francisco“A good deal has appeared in the newspapers about this matter, and some correspondents have gone so far as to send reports that all claims whatsoever, whether for damage by earthquake or by fire, will be settled by the fire companies. I need scarcely say that this is not tlie case. Representatives of the British and American companies interested are assembled at San Francisco, and a committee has been formed, and it is hoped that joint action will be taken to form a basis for the adjustment of claims. The course adopted will, no doubt, he for companies in the first place to ascertain what their undoubted legal .liabilities are, and then to promptly satisfy them. With regard to doubtful claims, there will probably be many cases of difficulty, but wc have the assistance of skilled assessors, and we can assure the shareholders that their interests will be well looked offer and carefully safeguarded, whilst the rights of the assured will ho fully protected. We have sent assistance from New York and Chicago, and Mr Dent, our submanager. will shortly he in California. In no case will we pay away any large sum of money in mspect of claims for which we may be advised tlmt the company is not strictly legally liable, unless we are fully convinced that the interests of the business require such payments to be made.”

Mx* Joseph Chamberlain, who ha© just completed his “three score *ycars and ten,” has been thrice married, thrice Mayor of Birmingham, and held office under three Prime Ministers. Ho resigned Ministerial office three year® ago.

The Stratford “Pest” reports that men engaged in driving a tunnel in the Manganui district on Saturday struck a seam of coal about 4ft thick by 12ft in length. It is stated that the coal is of good quality and burned well.

Mr Widdowson,. Stipendiary. Magistrate at Dunedfin, yesterday dismissed the case in ■which George Spiers was charged with betting on a kerosene tin on a road adjoining the Tahuna Park racecourse. He held that the facts did nob conclusively establish that “ the place ” was used for bottling. The decision will apply to a number of other cases.

The Wellington division of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association unanimously passed the following resolutions at a largely attended meeting held on July 6th:(1) “This division of the B.M.A'. wishes to express sympathy with Mr R. H. W. Bligh in his crusade against impurity. It is of opinion that liis lectures and expositions mrrst be of the greatest good to the public at large.” (2) “This division of the B.M.A. is of opinion that the advertisements relating to secret diseases and sexual matters now appearing in the daily and. weekly papers and magazines are disgraceful, and should ho prohibited in the interests of morality.” At the meeting of the Eastbourne Borough Council, held on July 10, Councillor Shortt said the clerk might forward a letter to the Wellington Steam Ferry Company, informing it of the disgraceful conduct of several passengers by the 10 p.m. boat to Day’s Bay on Saturdays. Councillor Shortt indicated that certain persons who make it a practice to travel to the Bay by that boat are not usually too sober, and are in the practice of shouting out ribald songs and sayings the whole way acroefe, to th© annoyance of other passengers. The Mayor said the Council had no power to do anything, but a letter could bo forwarded, as in all probability the directors knew nothing of the matter. Now that the petroleum-boring in Taranaki lias given promise of success, indications of the presence of oil are being found in many parts of the province. A few days ago a report reached the New Plymouth “Herald” office that mud, bubbling with the pressure of oil from beneath, had been noticed on a marshy property near the town. A “Herald” representative examined the spot in company with the owner of tho property. First the natural gas escaping from the bed of a stream was ignited, and a strong, steady blaze burst forth. When a hole was made , in the mud, gas escaped in such quan-. tities that a flame strong enough to boil a kettle could be obtained. The party was given several demonstrations. The bubbling mud remained to be seen. A young man with a long arm worked his hand down into the mud for a couple of feet. Then a sound was heard, as of a small motor-car in motion. Peering into the hole, the investigator saw motion in the mud, and could clearly discern oil. It id said there are indications that the property is on the same oil-bearing line as th© Moturoa bore. Th© ‘’Herald” surmises that the ground may be thoroughly .exploited at an early date. New- Zealand is not the only country in which land values are rising. United States newspapers show that that nation is having what is described as “ its greatest real estate boom.” People at New York are putting tlieir money into farms, sections, houses, hotels, and sky-scrapers, and there are gloving reports of big deals, big transportation problems solved, and handsome returns on investments. Throughout the farm lands of the W T est there is speculation approximating a craze. Manhattan. Island is described as the scene of th© broadest and most important real estate speculation in the world. Everybody at Pittsburg lie said to be speculating, and fortunes are frequently made in a day. At Syracuse buildings worth nearly two and a half million dollars are under construction, while Baltimore is expending a hundred million dollars in various undertakings. Property iin some parts of Philadelphia, lias increased in value by 30 per cent, during the current year, and a hundred million dollars lias been added to the value of farms in Nebraska during the past five years. Ilie city of St. Louis, which, it was anticipated would experience a slump after the Exposition, is booming wonderfully, and great buildings are growing skyward (fifteen to eighteen stories, occupying entire half-blocks) at tlie rate of two a month. Similar reports are made from a large number of centres. On April 15th— three days before the terrible earthquakes and fires—San Francisco was enjoying th© greatest land boom in its history. Buildings of two and three stories were being torn down to make way for loftier structures, and transactions in real estate were becoming startling. Li March last the value of property which changed hands in th© Golden City aggregated aearlv twenty million dollars.