LOCAL AND GENERAL.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4395, 28 June 1901, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The letter from the Ratepayers’ Association in regard to the question of wood-paving was simply “received” by the City Council last night. The coal companies’ arch on Lambton quay was offered by public auction yesterday, tho whole structure being knocked down for £l4 10s. The cost of erecting it was over £SOO. The coal bibits on it were sold for £1 11s per ton. Tho two-year-old grey shire stallion, ono of the pair presented to the colony by Lord Rothschild, accompanied the three light thoroughbreds which came out in the Papanui to Momohaki yesterday. Among the many interesting exhibits at the coming poultry show will be a beautiful specimen of the pheasantHamhurgh hybrid. It is reported to be an extremely handsome fowl, and will doubtless attract a great deal of attention. i

Tho transcript of tho evidence given before the Teachers’ Salaries Commission in I lie .South Island alone cover.- 1 o.io thousand pages of typewritten mat-

A.s «oon as ths necessary alterations are made, s6m e departments of th® Wellington Post Office will he removed to tho old Colonial Bank building, Lambton quay, in onl'T lo relievo the pressure on the accommodation at the General Post Office.

The Inspector-General, at tho meeting of the Teachers’ Salaries Commission yesterday, indignantly pretested against any implication that ho had consulted the council of Hu; Educational Institute in drawing up a colonial scale of staff and salaries for teachers.

The Ashhursfc domain has been brought under the Public Domains Act, and tho following board has been appointed for its control —Thomas Lowes, George S. Rumbles, Jack 11. Vincent, George Kcarle and John .McCool. The hoard will meet on the third Monday in each month.

Tho Native Land Appellate Court is to sit to-day at Sydney street Schoolroom for tho further consideration of tho Chatham Island cases, adjourned from the -25th instant. It is probable, however, that another adjournment will take place, as it is understood that some of the parties are not ready to proceed. It was remarked by the chairman a| ; the meeting of the Teachers’ Salaries Commission yesterday that the Government Printing Office was overcrowded with work. Members of the Commission expressed the opinion that its printing should bo done in private offices, if that were necessary in the interests of expedition. Several settlers in th 0 Upper Makuri and Coonoor districts of the Forty-mile Bush have applied to the Laud Board for a remission cf rent on account of bad burns and other drawbacks. In several instances, as it appeared that the land belonging to th° applicants within the last few years had been revalued and very largely reduced, it was decided to refuse the request. Messrs Harcourt and Co. report the sale of the Liverton estate, containing about a thousand acres of excellent sheep country, about 750 acres being in crass and the balance valuable mixed milling timber. There is a four-roomed house on the property. The estate is situated in the Hutt district, about one mile and a half from Belmont Station and twelve miles from Wellington, and has been sold under instructions from the executors of the late Mr John Liverton.

The arrivals in the colony during the month of May, which totalled 2157, included 1098 persons from New South Wales, 346 from Victoria, 293 from Capetown and 186 from the United Kingdom. The departures (totalling 1675) included 972 for New South Wales, 256 for Victoria, 158 for the United Kingdom and 95 for the United States. Ono Chinese arrived in the colony (at Auckland) and 12 departed (from Wellington). A statement in the Duke of Cornwall’s Dunedin speech, that Dunedin stands unique in sending nurses to tho war, is questioned hy tho Christchurch secretary of the St. John Ambulance Association, who states that Canterbury led the way in sending nurses, as six left Lyttelton in January last year, and five are still in South Africa. Tho Canterbury nurses arrived in South Africa before the Dunedin nurses left the colony. The persons responsible for the removal of th e Venetian poles from the streets of Wellington have done their work in a perfunctory way. They have merely thrown a number pf loose stones into the holes, which have thus been converted into traps for horses’ legs. It would be well for the City Engineer to instruct that these holes bo e properly filled and rammed down; also, that this course should bo adopted in all eases whore the streets have been laid open for the insertion of gas and waterpipes.

According to the rainfall returns for May, the highest fall for the month in tho North Island was 10.52 in, at Mangorei; the fall at the Summit was 9.50 in. The heaviest fall for a period of twenty-four hours was 2.65 in, at Mangorei, on the 12th ult. At the Summit on the 23rd 2.10 in fell. In the South Island the highest fall for the month was 36.14 in at Puysegur Point, which generally holds the record. Rain fell on twenty-nine days during the month, 4.40 in falling on a single day, the 18th. The next heaviest fall for the month was 14.26 in, at Hokitika,

The half-yearly meeting of Court Epuni, A.0.F., was held at Petone last night, when, the following officers wore elected for the ensuing term:—C.R., Bro. G. W. Bowles; S.C.R., Bro. H. Clark; S.W., Bro. W. C. Sibon; J.W., Bro. E. J. Andrews; 5.8., Bro. T. McArthur; J. 8., Bro. A. Greening; M.S., Bro. J. H. Lash; auditor, Bro. Kingdon. It was decided to give a “social” to the troopers now on their way from South Africa who are members of the order. The lodge presented Bro. Lusty with a gold chain, and Bros. Ibbetson and Heppleston with clocks for their past services.

Two or three years ago a dozen sections of land near the North Island Main Trunk Railway, ranging in size from 60 to 280 acres, were thrown cpen for selection. For some of the sections there was fairly keen competition. Since then the owners of some of the smaller sections have become dissatisfied with the size of their holdings, and wish to acquire other Crown lands. As there are no Crown lands in most instances contiguous to their sections, they are barred from taking up additional areas. At yesterday’s meeting of the Land Board a pathetic and argumentative letter was received from one of the lessees. The Board resolved to reply that it had no power to. comply with the request. The moral in such cases seems to 'be that selectors should not apply for land if they are not prepared to abide by the conditions. The vital statistics for the month of May appear in this week’s •’Gazette.” The numbers of births at the four chief centres and suburban boroughs were as follows:—Auckland, 122; Wellington, 120; Christchurch, 104; Dunedin, 97. The total for these centres is 443, as against 411 in April, an increase of 32. The deaths in the four cities and suburban boroughs, and th e proportion per 1000 of mean population were as follows: —Auckland, 39 deaths (0.78 per 1000); Wellington, 34 deaths (0.69 per 10001; Christchurch, 39 deaths (0.87 per 10001; Dunedin, 44 deaths (0.84 per 1000). The exclusion of the figures for the suburban boroughs would raise the death-rate at Auckland to 0.91 per 1000, would reduce the rate at Christchurch to 0.85 per 1000, increase it at Dunedin to 1.00 per 1000, and would not affect the rate at Wellington. The total deaths for the four cities, viz., 156, is an increase' of 8 on the number for April. The deaths included 91 males and 65 females ; 49 (or 31.41 per cent.) were deaths of children under five years of age. and to n*f these were tinder one year of age. There were 35 deaths from constitutional diseases at the four centres ; of these 14 were caused by cancer. 12 by phthisis, and 4 by other tubercular disease*

At a meeting of the Wellington Board of College Governors yesterday it was decided to advertise for a master in th e place of Mr Maclaverty, ef the college teaching staff, who has resigned his position. As Councillor Devine, iu consequence of a severe cold, was unable to be present, at last night's meeting of the City Council, his motion in regard to the water supply for the high levels was adjourned. The motion by Councillor Tolhurst to the effect that the Council should fix water meters ,pn the service pipes to hotels, lodging-houses, public halls and all new buildings, was also postponed. A witness examined before the Teach, ers’ Salaries Commission yesterday was questioned by Mr Hogg, M.H.R., in regard to tho amendment of the Education Act, which was introduced b.v the Government “in the dying hours of lasi session.” The tenor of the questions led Messrs Davidson and Stewart to state that the council of tho Educational Institute had no knowledge of the Bill until after its introduction. The terms sanctioned by the City Council with regard to the hours of work and wages of the tramway drivers have not yet been definitely accepted by the other side. There are one or two points about which the Mayor and City Engineer are to consult the representative of the drivers. When the hours and rates P f pay of the drivers have been settled, the petition recently received from the tramway guards will be considered.

The Electric Light Committee reported at last night’s meeting of th 0 City Council that it had considered th P application of the New Zealand Electrical Syndicate for tho sanction of the Council to th o extension of the electric light into the Melrose Borough, and recommended that tho necessary permission be granted, subject to a deed being drawn up by the City Solicitor embodying clauses for the protection of the Council. The recommendation was agreed to. /

It was reported at yesterday’s meeting of the Wellington Land Baavl tba: eleven applications had been received for the allotments in tho Epuni Hamlet, and nine sections had been selected as follows:—Section 79, 11. McF. Douglas -section 80, F. Pocknall; section 91, J. A. Powrio: section 102, H. McGuire ; section lf)6, W. Weston; section 108, G. Howard; section 115, H. Cook; section 118, J. A. Lawson: sec tion 120, Margaret E. Burn. Th o traffic staff of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company mot on Wednesday afternoon for tho purpose of presenting Guard Hordman (who has been promoted to the position of sta-tion-master) with an illuminated address. Mr W. M. Hannay, general manager of the company, in a brief speech, made the presentation. The address is of unique and artistic design, and is beautifully illustrated with scones along the Manawatu railway lino. In the Magistrate’s Court yesterday Mr Haselden, S.M., made a vigorous protest against solicitors calling witnesses without first going over with them the facts upon which they proposed to tender evidence, so that counsel might be properly seized of the case, and bo able to keep out all extraneous matters. His Worship said he knew the scal e of allowances in the lower Court was very low, but that did not absolve counsel from doing their duty in the manner he had indicated.

Among the witnesses examined by the Teachers’ Salaries Commission yesterday were Mr J. R, Blair, chairman, and Mr A. Dorset, secretary of the Wellington Education Board. Mr R. Lee, tho Board’s chief inspector, is expected to be a witness to-day. Quite a number of teachers are spending part of their midwinter holidays in listening to the proceedings of the Commission. It was mentioned yesterday that the Commission has now sat longer in Wellington than it did in any other centre.

At Richards’s Room, Cuba street, on Wednesday evening, the Friendly Societies’ Council held its annual meeting, presided over by Mr J. Mackay. The balance-sheet, which showed a credit balance, was presented and adopted. Complimentary reference was made to the way in which Air R. Nowall had carried out the duties of secretary. It was decided to invito subscriptions in aid of the bands that took part in the recent march past at Go vernment House. A notice of motion, was taken for the purpose of opening the way for members of friendly societies to attend the meet ings of the council. The holder of what was originally two special settlement homestead sections in the Hnnterville No. 1 ill v.ik, representing 400 acres, applied to i lie Land Board yesterday to be allowed lo obtain the transfer from an adjoining holder of another 400 acres. It was ad mitted by the Commissioner that the applicant was an excellent and deserving settler, but the Board considered it undesirable to establish a precedent under which tho special settlements would be liable to be depopulated. An application was then made ten increase the area to' 600 acres, but the Board decided to only consider such an application when brought before a full meeting.

The Public Health Department wants the Wellington City Council to provide a disinfecting apparatus for this town, as the following letter, received by the Council from the department, will show:—ln view of the presence of plague and small-pox in Austrglia, it is most important that all provision should b c made to meet an outbreak should one occur in this colony. I would, therefore, be glad if you would kindly let me know if your Council possesses any apparatus for disinfecting clothing, etc., and also for spraying the interior of buildings. If your Council does not possess any snob apparatus, I would be glad to learn what methods would be adopted in the fumigating of bedding and clothing, and the disinfecting of rooms, yards, etc., in the case of an outbreak.” The letter has been sent to the Works Committee. A lantern exhibition of photographs was given at the Dresden Piano Company’s rooms last night, under the auspices of the Wellington Camera Club. It proved th e most successful yet held, 120 lantern slides being thrown on the screen during the evening by Mr Barltrop, who superintended the exhibition. Tile following are the names of those who contributed lantern studies: —Miss Holt. Messrs W. H. Tustin, Seed,Greenshields. Tanner, Robertson, Brown, Paul, Hunt, Barltrop, Jenkins and Reuter. Twenty-eight pictures were shown in the quarterly competition. In that for the best picture of “ animal life,” Mr Seed took first prize and Mr McGregor Wright second. In a competition in which the subject given was "Solitude,” Mr A. B. Keyworth secured first prize and Mrs W. C. Fitz Gerald the second. Mr C. C. Robertson judged the pictures in the competition, and criticised the slides, which were all made by members. in an interesting and instructive manner. The annual exhibition will be hold in August.