LOCAL AND GENERAL.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4084, 23 June 1900, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

His Excellency Hie governor has arranged to hold a levee at Government if mi sc (in .Monday, 2nd July, at d p.ro. ■ .Mr C. Mill, treasurer of the BadcnFov.cil souvenir fund ad. (’altnerslon North, lias forwarded to Hus office £2 Ills from -Mr 0. Sinclair and. to from .Miss Agues Sinclair, in aid of the fund. 'Die chess match between the Wellington Che'-s (flub and the Working .Men’s Club, v.hlch look place last night, resulted in Hie former winning IH names lo 21 wins for the Working Men’s Cl uh. Hi ofVssor Brown, of Victoria College, will lecture under the auspices of Hie I’Voebe! Society on “Educational Ideals of Plato and Aristotle,” in the lecture ball of the Education Boat'',’ buildings to-night. The Wellington Wharf Labourers’ Union baa filed an acceptance of the recommendations made by the Conciliation Board on the hearing of the recent, dispute. It is thought, however, that the Dial ter will have to go on to the Arbitration Court.

Tbo Drivers’ Union Ims passed a resolution deploring Hio ridicule that, is being put upon the Conciliation Boards of the colony, and declaring that the Conciliation and Arbitration Act. if properly administered, possesses legislative properties that are of the, greatest boon to the working classes.

The following is from Melbourne ‘•Hunch” :—Our loyal Chinese subjects in tho Malay States have subscribed a very large stun to the various war funds as a recognition oi tbo benefits and privileges which can only be enjoyed under tho Union Jack. Three of them have together contributed £7OOO to the widows’ and orphans' relief fund. This is a record that puts to shame plenty of our wealthy Victorians. 'fim Wellington Society lor tho Proveiltion of Cruelty to Animals it lo bo known (bat it cannot take noticeof anonymous letters making complaints or representations. In spite of previous intimations to tins effect, the so. ciet.v continues to receive unsigned communications. Some of them evidently refer lo matters worthy of investigation, but olliors aro clearly prompted by illwill or jealousy, while yet others appear (o bo of a bogus character. Anonymous letters-, in accordance with a resolution of the committee, do not receive attention.

At the Chris!church Poultry Society’s annual show, which opened on Thursday, Mr J. Casey, of Khandnllah, secured the following prizes :—Minorca- cock, first; do cockerel, third; black Hamburg cock, third; silver-pencilled hen, first; rose-comb bantam pullet, first; do cockerel, second; Rouen drake, first; do duck, urst. In pigeons Wellington fanciers scored well. Mr Curtis secured two firsts for owls, first for beards, first for balds, and second and third for Friths; Mr Fuller, first for magpies, first and second for turbits, and first for Friths; Mr McKenzie, first and second and two thirds for African owls.

Peter Ross, labourer,' has been adjudged a. bankrupt on. his own petition —deficiency £79 15s fid. In the estate of John McWilliams, contractor, the total deficiency is stated as £4ll Os lid, owing to forty-six unsecured creditors, tliei principal being:—Warded Bros., £SB; Wairarapa. Farmers’ Co-operative Association, £3l; AA T . Murphy, £-4; P. Healey. Thomas Watson, £25; Gear Meat Company. £2l; G. Thomas ana Co., £l6; W. M. Bannatyno and Co,, £ls; Whiteman Bros., £15.“ ’ Them is one secured creditor—Barnard McNeil, Eecfton, who holds security over the bankrupt’s furniture, valued at £32 8s Cd, for a debt to that amount. The London “.Daily Chronicle” gives currency to tlie statement that tho reason for Mr Cecil Rhodes’s return to South Africa, was in order to arrange with the Australian and New Zealand volunteers to settle down, in Rhodesia when the war is over. In order to attract so desirable a class of settlers, Mr Rhodes, it is said, is offering.them many special inducements, including, capitation grants for fiio transport of their families to their new homes. If this ho so, Mr Rhodes is for once bound on a praiseworthy mission, though our contemporary says it should prefer to sec the colonial volunteers settle down in HlO Orange Free State and Cape Colony.

Councillor Izard has invited the City Council to ask its solicitor tho following questions relating to tho poultry by-law;—(1) Docs the by-law refer to existing poultry no uses? (2) in a case where a poultry nouso is nearer to a dwelling than tho poultry run, is the length of tho house to bo computed in tho 30 feet proscribed in the by-law? (3) Can a poultry house be erected against a dwelling house or fence, provided tho run is .‘ip feet from a dwelling, and six feet from a dividing fence or public street? (•!) What is a properlyconstructed poultry house within the meaning of tho by-law? (5) Can tho Council enforce payment of tho license, fee? Councillor Winder wants to know if the. city boundary is a “dividing fence” within tho moaning of the bylaw.

When tho announcement was made that tho soldiers or Irish regiments were to he permitted to wear sprigs of shamrock on St. Patrick’s Day, it occurred to Mr Redmond, of tho postal service in this city, to try to obtain some specimens of tho “chosen loaf of bard and chicl” ’from historic localities. Having already some in his possession from the rook of Cashol, lie wrote to Downpatrick, County Down, to ascertain if he could got some shamrock from the grave of the patron saint of Ireland. In response to his request he has just received a communication from the postmistress at Downpatrick, to the effect that “there is no shamrock growing on St. Patrick’s grave, as it is covered now with a huge stone. I enclose, a scrap plucked in tho vicinity.” Tho parcel of tho treasured leavesjias come safely to hand and has been added to Mr Redmond’s collection. Tho demonstration to be made in Wellington when hostilities cease in South Africa will bo on a scale not hitherto known in the city. In response to his circular, the secretary of the Demonstration Committee, Mr Francis Shaw, lias received numerous replies stating that the writers will either take part in tho procession or decorate and illuminate their premises. The displays at the various Government buildings will bo on striking and liberal lines, and private firms and individuals will not be far behind in thoir decoralions and illuminations. It is understood that tho warehousemen of Victoria and adjoining streets arc planning for a unique and effective display of illuminations. Painters and transparency makers are onsily engaged on Government and private orders, and at least one *)riiiting house is turning out. naticnal flags in various designs and sizes at a. price which should put them within easy roach of school committees 'and other bodies and organisations. The ’drapers are offering a wide range ofnuisl linn and ribbons in the. national colours )for decorative purposes.

The Conciliation Board has made known its award in the butchers’ dispute. The Board declares that tne rates of pay shall be : -First shopman, £S per week; second, £2 7s 6d : third, £2 ; small goods men, £3 and £1 ids-all to ho provided with meat and found, or if not found, to bo paid an extra ten .shillings per week The rate; of pay fixed for drivers of hawking carts vary from £l. Us to £2 os per week, the employees lo bo found. General hands aro to receive £2 2s and Ci 10s per week, casual riders out £1 7s Gd, boys from ton shillings to £1 Is, and casual bands eight or nine shillings per clav.

When Iho Boers migrated from Cape Colony to the Transvaal theyy were forced to '-■lear the way by killing six thousand lions. For years the South African Boers have been hunters, and their skill with tho rifle is due to this daily practice in tho fields and woods. Their creditable work of freeing South Africa of the dreaded lions, which roamed in such numbers that life was rendered unsafe anywhere in the country, is offset by their ruthless destruction of the giraffe from Cape Colony to the Bofietle River. They may have killed (30,000 of these innocent, graceful creatures. For years past tho giraffe lias beer, a, profitable quarry for the Boer hunters, ami the animal was valued by them only because the hides were articles of commercial use. They were

shot down iu droves, and destroyed in the greatest number possible in every direction. The Auckland “Herald” publishes extracts from a letter received from Mr iiornibrook, formerly a member of the Thames Licensing Committee, who is now in Abyssinia, engaged in prospecting for a powerful Loudon syndicate, in which lie advances novel views on the liquor question. air liornibrook writes that in Asmara more than every seconu house in tho main street is a- hotel or inn, and although no has been there for over a year ho never saw a man drunk, and he believes the Court records (to which he lias access) do■ nob show a conviction for drunkenness. The more he sees of it tho more he inclines to the opinion that the greater the number of bouses the less “diTuiks.” lie says: “I can only account for this by the fact ; of not meeting so many friends in a house. Hence no shouting or treat- • ing, as is the ease‘in the- colonics.” ] Spirits, etc., are cheap. Brandy is from 2s Gd per bottle. Absinthe, a much stronger spirit, and greatly used to put in impure water, ranges from two to four and a half francs per quart bottle (a, franc is worth DRI).