CURRENT TOPICS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7055, 17 February 1910, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS

LORD KITCHENER’S ARRIVAL. Lord Kitchener arrives at Bluff today from Melbourne on H.M.S. Encounter and- proceeds by the afternoon express to Dunedin. Ho will bo met by the Prime. Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, and representatives of tho Defence Council. A .citizens’ welcome is to bo tendered to him at the Dunedin railway station at 7.5 p.m., and ho will;then be escorted to the Fernhill Club. To-morrow morning the harbour defences of Dunedin will- bo inspected, and: the defence and school cadets in the aftefihoon. , Saturday he -will devote-to inspection.,. of ; the forces in camp, and Sunday is also to bo-spent in. Dunedin. Lord Kitchen., er will leave Dunedin for Christchurch on. Monday, and arrives in Wellington next Thursday morning. During his stay here his headquarters will ho nt; the Wellington Club.v Lord Kitchener’s, staff comprises Colonel Kirkpatrick -and Captain . Fitzgerald. Colonel Kirkpatrick is .a typical “KStdhener’s -man.” In India ins position vs that of A.Q.M.G.- of < tho strategical branch >ef the Indian army. Captain Fitzgerald in India, is -a mighty Shikari—a Nimrod who has _ hunted through and through the Himalayas, and finds this sport almost as good as soldiering. He has done bihorq than ■hunt'in these mountains; he has trd- ; Veiled , their ; passes, and has .gone,'on special, service to the plateaux of, Thibet. -; ,Ho wears --a frontier rtar. modal, and he libs the; sincorest liking for tho frontier tribes of India, who help to; provide England :.with' -her ' little Wars. They are' good fellows, land they make war like sportsmen, is .the substance of Captain Fitzgerald’s conclusions. like all men whom Lord Kitchener gathers-round him, heih'ais--learned ta face the hardest work in .soldiering.- t::-"'- 1 '- p;' 1 . ■ :, T”

THE ZOO. : There are at present in the Newtown; Zoo, a number, of f a uimals and birds which have been -kindly lent to the' Zoological Society - for exhibition, but whose, further stay is somewha* doubtful/' ■ The term 1 for, /-which/ were 1 lent is, just -about to! expire ana they aro .to bo;' removed unless, the society oan!- raise sufficient money -to pay the, prices set upon them iby the owner. In order to consider the post tioU a meeting ‘ -of ■ the / committee of fho soteiety waS-Aield at the Newtown* Xfifirary! last night, Mr E. I JVI 'Pether. 1 ick .being: in i the chair. 1 ‘ 'lt I was dccicled to make a strong -effort bo'retain the animals and birds for tho voo and with this end in view a. deputation was appointed ; to 1:1 wait --- upoh; tint Mavor * (Ur .A. Iv. Newman) and the chairman of tho reserves dommilbbtee (Mr J. P. Puke), and;,ant their -aid' in I meeting' -the temporary, financial difficulty which is being experienced. A' letter is also- to be ;so_nt to tho reserves .committee invoking ditb aid and public; assistance is 1 bo be .nought as well,//’. '///// /• ///,///■ ,

TO TEACH NOTATION. 1 An/ingenious method / :cf /teaching the stall notation was demonstrated to tho school inspectors’ conference yesterday by Miss Sheath;-of Napier. A frame contains five wires, arranged to form tho slave, and the notes, provided .with hooks, arc , hung on the wires, depending either, between them or on one - -of..the linos. - Sufficient notes, rests, and clefs aro provided to enable the teacher.'to build up bars of livo-finger. exercises, scales,: or part of any. piece- of music the teacher \ may wish the, class to sing or memorise. The inventor was heartily thanked by the conference, and -the opinion was privately, expressed by members that the system,* which is patented,, con-tains-the elements of a very offcotive music-teaching method, - - ' 1

-UNPAID HOSPITAL FEES. There has been a great deal said at recent hospital board meetings in re- . ga-rd to the non-payment of fees,by, those treated in tho; institutions, or by those responsible for the patients. The subject cropped up again at yes- ,; terday’s meeting of the Wellington :: Board, Mr J. P. Luke, the chairman,. Stating , that it was regrettable that ; certain persons sending members- oi , their own family to the Otaki Sana, torium. and hospital hiul contributed ■ ! nothing at all towards their maintenance. It was the bouuden duty of tho board to take court proceedings against people who could, but would not, pay. On the other hand it was. very pleasing -to find . some , persons paying their fees. Sometimes this waa - done at great sacrifice to themselves.: - A committee, consisting of Messrs; Luke, Orawford and Gardener, was set up to go into all the outstanding Ceos accounts. They were given power to take the necessary steps to collect the accounts outstanding. , THE OTHER SIDE. Regarding the- failure of Tuesday’s conference between the Hotel and Restaurant Keepers’ Association, and Hotel; Employees’ Union:-) to decide upon new conditions of employment ia Auckland,! ‘Wellington; and Dunedin, - Mr J. S. Palmer, president,' of the : Licensed, Victuallers’ '''Association', oi : New .Zealand, stated yesterday that the demands were considered by the employers in each -district affected : and in every case were characterised as'unreasonable and exorbitant. In, fact they were such that they could

not bo taken seriously. One now proposal suggested a 100 per cent, increase in wages with a reduction ot hours per week from Go to 56. Another, if agreed to, would mean a who.o day’s holiday in place of the preseq* haif-day. The employees’ tivefl had been asked to discuss ana accede to a irosh industrial agreement based on the lines of those which Wore to all intents and purposes current, bub the Wellington representative had flatly refused to consider any modification in the new demands regarding hours, holidays and wages and declared his preference for taking the matter before the A rbitration Court. At that.the employers recognised that it was futile to proceed further wit. i the conference. They were quite willing and anxious that the reasonable demands of the workers should receive fair and proper consideration. They had no desire either to overwork or under pay their employees. HXJTT VALLEY HOSPITAL. "On bohalf of the Pctono Ambu lanco Van Committee I desire to draw your board’s attention to what waa reallv an old promise to provide a district hospital in the Hutt 1 alloy before the end of the -present financial wear. As there is no hope now of that prornuo being fulfilled wo would request you V> consider the advisability' of helping us to provide a vehicle to enable nabionts to travel into the Wellington Hospital with some decree of safety and comfort from this valley■We ffiioukl bo ,p;larl of either a donation or subsidy to tbo fund. this letter from tbo secretary of tho committee* was read at yesterday s meeting of tbe Wellington Hospital Board. It "was referred to tbo incoming board, which takes office on April Ist, tor favourable consideration. TEACHERS' MUSICAL QUALIFICATIONS. \n i nit cresting feature of teacters' training in Germany was explained by Dr JR. Don. of Soutbl’and, to the school inspectors' contereuce yettmUay, wh«a singing tests were being di9oo«,«l. Dr Don, supporting a tb -““ , altornativo to tho singing ta proficiency on some suitable muajca-l instrument, .stated that diLnn 0 tho eovoil years' course, for German teachers it was compulsory to Ijracto; one hour a day on the violin. Anu. paid Dr Don, 'Mike results are astonishi n g—(laughter) I mean good. Mr George ilogben General of Schools) apoko of his amus-i-ne experience of tho masical aecom-pl&hm-enht of a Gorman teacher. Out of compliment to himself .the teacher, who was leading a elarrs in singing with his violin, intimated that he vojUa iiay the English National Anthem. Unit the nearest thing I could make out to the isine was ‘Pule Britannia, added Mr Hogbon. Jews' harps and drums -were f»ecifically barred as "mutable instruments,and Mr Bakowell suggested the pianola, upon which no opinion wnis expressed. raws NOTES A cheque for aE3400 was paid into the Tictonan Probate Office last week as duty in the estate of Joseph Thompson, late of Gordon square, London, turf commission agent. The final balance of fcstata for duty was *£46,675, and the cheque represents duty -at the rate of 10 per on £3OO, and 7 2-5 per cent, on J 544.875,

In connection with tho secretariat training class at the Sydney Y.M.C.A., Mr I. J. Virgo has just conducted tho first examination, for which about 20 candidates submitted themselves. The answers to the various questions ' reflected tho greatest credit om. the students, indicating a knowledge of the rise and progress of the and the basic principles uj>on which it operates. This doss will (remarks a Sydney contemporary) unquestionably prove a fruitful source of supply of secretaries throughout Australasia.

An important announcement was made 'by Mr Dealdn in Ills Ballarat speech. He referred to the lack of any adequate system of horsing tho fitftd artillery, and announced the determination of tho Minister to «et apart a section of the Commonwealth territory round the Australian capital for a Federal horse-breeding establishment, where not only horses for Australians, but horses for India, would bo raised. '‘‘Business is not forgotten, even in military affairs/’ was Mr Donkin's comment. The carrying-out of another recomm cn d ation of Lord Kitchener's was foreshadowed, when Mr Dca■kin expressed the hope that during the life of the next Parliament ho would see the construction commenced of railways to Perth and Port Darwin.

Bishop Grimes, in the course of his remarks at the morning service at tho Christ church Cathedral last Sunday, gave pome interesting figures relating to the financial position of the Cathedral building fund. On the receipts side, his Lordship stated, that Christchurch had subscribed, altogether, £20,571 6s 6d, tho bishop and clergy; of the diocese <£1955 7s Id, persons residing abroad ,£4806 16s Bd, parishes outside the city but in tho diooeso £10,613 12s 7d, interest on money temporarily. invested £549 1 17 s 8d; total £43,197 0a 6d. Tho expenditure incurred was £20.000 in excess of this amount, and before tho Cathedral was opened, a sum bf £20,000 was raised at 5 per cent. Since the Cathedral was opened, this liability was reduced to £13,400, there having been paid off ■ £6600, in addition to interest amounting to £4500. The total expenditure (including tho loan and interest) was £65,037 7s 2d.

Mr E. J. Hoiwood’s experimental unit of his now process plant is still in operation at Bendigo, treating bulk parcels of various classes of oro with satisfactory results, and it; will shortly bo dealing with trial lots from the South Comstock mine and Tasmania, recently purchased by Block 10 Company, and another lot from Silverspur, Queensland. Mr Hor-vrood-states that already arrangements oro approaching completion for the installation of tho "process by one of the companies whoso complex ore hbs been tested at Bendigo. Ho adds that an interesting and important feature of tho process is that it has been found possible in the floatation operation to make most of the silver accompany tho lead, where it is of much greater commercial value than with the zinc. This is done by previously digesting the roasted oro in a weak solution of bluestone or other copper salts with or without common salt.

Prior to her departure for Europe, Madame Melba said; —*T am going to start on a great_ scheme, X propose to retum to Australia, I have been negotiatwith Mr Williamson for some time. I 'want him to cooperate with mo in a grand opera project for Australia. Nothing final has yet been agreed upon, but there is every hope of a definite scheme. It is my greatest ambition to present grand opera in Australia on the some lines as it is presented in the great opera houses of the world. I hope to bo able to cable from Colombo to say it is finally settled. I intend to use my best endeavours to secure some of the greatest singers of tho world to join in this grand opera for Australia, and I feel that it will ho tho greatest musical treat Australia has ever had. When I have appeared in grand opera herd my highest ambition will have been realised," Madame Melba, before leaving Melbourne. purchased tho well-known dairy farm of Messrs Whitehead Brothers at Yoring, consisting of 223 acres, ae a going concern, ns well as an adjoining property of 110 acres. Much of her early girlhood was passed in tho neighbourhood, and the whole transaction thus contradicts persistent rumours that the great singer would not return to Australia for many years.

At a meeting: of ratepayers at Tedding cn Tuet-.day evening it wos resolved tn r.slv the Borough Council to take a poll r A vJjc ratepayers on the question of ! stabli-hiu'' ekotrio lighting in that town.

Messrs Ifaroourfc and Co. report the sale of freehold property known as No. 27, Brougham street, owing to the vendor's romovnt to Timuru. The property waj sold, at the ufraot price—viz., JJGOO, to a local resident.

The second Australasian Convention of Y..M.C.A.V* will he held in Wellington thi-i year, commencing on September 29th and running ill rough the* first week in October. Delegates will, be present from every Australian capital. The board of directors of tho local branch, at their meeting on Monday last, decided to offer visitors hospitality during their istay in tho city.

Tiie Wellington Highland Rifles paraded at Kilbirnio last night, taking tiie opportunity of getting in a daylight parade before tho arrival of Lord Kitchener. Next Sunday tho corps will attend a church parade, marching to St. James’s Church, Newtown, where Chap-lain-Major Shirer will preach a sermon. This will be tho last appearance of the company in full dress under the old volunteer regime.

Tho now four-bed shelter at the Otaki Sanatorium provided out of the BrownMcWilliam memorial -bequest has been completed. The Hospital Board has deckled to affix a tablet to the wall in commemoration of the memory of tbe donor. A bed has also been provided in tho Otaki general hospital out of the same fund for the use of indigent natives. This will also be given a tablet. A meeting of shareholders of tho first and second issues of the City and Suburban Co-operative Building Society was held last evening at the society's office, Guaitcr, Dykes and Co.'s, when an. appropriation was made by ballot and a sale by tender submitted. The ballot in the first issue fell to Air A. Andrews, who holds four shares, thus entitling him to a loan of <£4oo free of interest. The appropriation in the second issue was sold to Mr A. P. Smith for the sum of 1112 10s per .£IOO,

From Sydney to tho Victoria College, Wellington, has come a small bagful of ore containing uranium. The sender, a gentleman named Barrett, indicated that ho knew of a large deposit and would like to know what the professors thought of it. The chairman (Mr J. Graham, M.P.) remarked that complete facilities for analysis' were available in Sydney. Mr 11. F. Von Ilaxust: It shows tho fame of Victoria College. Mr J. G. W. Aitken inclined rather to the belief that a cheap advertisement was sought. The ore was referred to Professor Eastcrheld and Mr Cotton, lecturer on geology. "The Otaki Sanatorium is not simply an annex of the hospital, - " said Mr J. P. Luke, M.P., chairman of the District of Wellington Hospital Board, yesterday. “ There are always twenty-four beds occupied. Tho work of the institution has been very encouraging, and many persons who have received treatment nave* been able to go out into tho world one© more and perform their duties as citizens." In reply to a question by Mr J. J. Devine, Mr Luke said ho would endeavour to find out by next meeting what percentage tof cures had been effected. Such a report would bo very interesting. A conference of of the; New Zealand Federation of Builders and Contractors' -Associations and the New Zealand Institute of Architects was commenced here yesterday, being of a private nature. The gathering, was called to consider the general conditions of contract land deal with, proposed l amendments suggested by either side. The present conditions have been in force for five, years, and, it was thought the time had arrived when some amendments, not necessarily radical ones, should be made. The conference is being presided over by the Hon. C, M. Luke, M.L.C. The new demands of the Wellington Saddlers' Union—which ask for about an all-round 25 per cent.' increase on the present rates of remuneration —were to nave been considered here yesterday by tho Council of Conciliation, constituted as follows i —Conciliation Commissioner, Mr P. Hally; (assessors, Messrs Wycherly, Blanchard and. Wiggins,;jun. (employers), Messrs D. W. Murray, W. Findlay ami C. Tomblinson (the union). It was found necessary to adjourn the matter for at least three weeks to give country employers ion opportunity of being represented. # The assessors present had no information regarding the uosition in the country, and expressed themselves ns unable to negotiate in the absence of specific instructions. Word has been received that the Co- 1 lonial Mutual I/ife Assurance Society, Limited, of Melbourne, have joined forces with the Standard Life Aseccia- ; tion. Limited, of Sydney. This means that the Colonial Mutual, which only started industrial operations some few months ago, have acquired a wellorganised industrial staff and an established business, as, by the last report of the Standard, new industrial policies assuring .£759,531 were Issued for the year closing January 30th, 1909. Mr W. N. Dowaiv F-S.S., the founder and general manager of the Standard, was for many years associated with.the Citizenfir* Life Assurance Society, Limited, and in,TB9B, while he was general secretary for that company, their first million of ordinary branch new business for one year was written. He resigned that position in the following year and founded tho Standard. He will now toko up an important position with the combined companies. This amalgamation is another indication of. a further forward movement inaugurated by Mr James Pullar, F.F.A., since his appointment as secretary and actuary for the Colonial Mu* tual Life Assurance Society, Limited.

The Lux Light Company wish it known that tho Lux Incandescent Kerosene Gas Lamps give the Cheapest and Most Brilliant Light on Earth. See To Aro House, Bates and Lees’, Wardell Bros/, Leydon and Co., Caterer and Carey, E. Pearce and Co., R. Hannah and Co., Petone Workshops (where Lux replaced the latest devices in lighting). House Lamps 22e 6d. Lamps up to 2000 candlepower. 35, 37, 39/ Old Customhouse street (back of Opera-House), Wellington. *