NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8180, 23 July 1912, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

The Wimmera, Warrimoo, Mocrakj, Victoria, Talune, Zealandic, Haiiroto. and Kotorua are expected to be within wireless range of Wellington this evening. His Honor Mr . Justice Sim, will hold a chamber sitting of the Supreme Court) this morning. j

The ! Celtic, Club, will meet tonight at, the Burlington tea rooms, Willis street, at eight o’clock. As important business will be placed before the meeting a lull attendance is desired. '

Indications of finality, are at last com-i ing from the special. committee,, of thel city council appointed to inquire into thei treatment of reserves employees. ' 10-i morrow everting the committee will meet to prepare a report' for presentation to the council meeting on Thursday.

Meinbers of the Academy of Fine Arts, at a-special nioetiiig last night, adoptedalterations to the articles of association to, abolish voting by proxy at the elec-i tion of officers and to substitute for it. a system of voting by post. This privi-| lege will bo available only to members residing fifteen miles or more from Wellington and to members resident lington who are temporarily absentj from their homes.

No difficulty in finding work for unemployed men has been experienced bo far this winter by the Labor Department,! provided, of- course, that the men were! willing to take the work offered them.i Some there were who refused to go toj the country under any conditions, preferring to remain in the town, and for such tho department had no help to give. At the present time it has work waiting for men op farms, while a number can also be placed on railway works in the vicinity of Stratford.

At the beginning of next month some new provisions < relating to the hours, overtime and holidays of assistants ployed in licensed hotels will come into operation. The most important change will be in connection with tbo hours of labor. At present all hotel assistants, both men and women, have to work sixty-five hours per week, but under the new provision the hours of the' women will he reduced to fifty-eight and those of the men to sixty-two per week.

The Court of Arbitration has filed its award in the dispute between the Federated : Boot Trades’ Association and the Boot Traders’ Federation. An agreement wart arrived at before the Conciliation Council at Auckland and forwarded to the court to be made into an award. Thtr agreement, which is to remain m force for three years from August Ist, applies to the northern , industrial districts (except Gisborne judicial district) and Taranaki, Wellington,' Otago, Canterbury and Southland. The terms of the award have already been published. The Mayor and city councillors having accepted an invitation to attend Captain J. K. Davis’s lecture on the work of Dr Mawson’s... Antarctic expedition, the special adjourned meeting of the council arranged for (o-night to consider tramways reorganisation will not he held. After ordinary business has been disposed of at Thursday's, fortnightly meeting, the council will go into committee to resume tho tramways discussion. An endeavour will be made to reach some points of agreement, and probably a Later special meeting will bo held to discuss the recommendations. in open council. ■

Some consternation was caused ui the I/abor ranks recently when the Railway Department intimated its intention of withdrawing the concession of 25 . per cent, allowed on the fares of men sent to public works by the Labor Department. This meant that the men had to pay full fare or that the Labor Department had to find it for them. The difficulty, however, was not very long lived and now men sent to employment aro again able to travel at the reduced rate. It hart been overcome bv the Labor Department taking upon itself the responsibility of making the concession. The Railway Department gets its full fare in each case, but 25 per cent, of it is paid by the Labor Department. An outbreak of fire occurred in the Shamrock Hotel, Dunedin, shortly before midnight last Friday. Miss Moflat, one of the Wykeham-Nable Musical Comedy Company, went to put her boots out for the night, and found that, probably owing to the fusing of an electric wire, the woodwork of the room had taken fire. In: a few minutes, the whole room was in a blaze. Messrs Greene, Montesole. and other members of the company hurried to give assistance, and the brigade was summoned.. The chemicals were sufficient to put a stop to the progress of the flames, but not before the whole of the contents of the room had been destroyed. Miss Cazalla, another member of the company, _ occunied the adjoining room. She arrived only the day before from Christchurch, where she had undergone an operation for appendicitis, and the excitement of the moment ‘proved too much for her. She was carried down a ladder by one of the firemen, and medical assistance had to be rendered. It was fortunate (says the "Otago Daily Times”) that Miss Moflat .discovered _ the outbreak so soon, as the room was in a wing off the building, and the whole wing must hare been destroyed. _Mr Greene suffered some slight injuries to his hands in his efforts to fight th© flames, and Mr Lashbrook lost everything he had.

The rural postal delivery from Afihhurst to Ranmai school, Spur road, and blisses road, commenced yesterday.

Very little progress has been made in connection with the workers’ settlement ai Taitville, though a considerable number of inquiries from would-be tenants have been received. The block is now bang cut up into suitable building allotments.

Tho executive officers of the Petono Borough Council have taken tho necossteps to further the raising of a loan, for the purpose of providing an up-to-date samtarv sewerage scheme for Petone.

While skating at the Kilbirnie rink last evening George Erwin, twenty-two years of ago, an employee of the Gas Company, 101 l and sustained a doublo fracture of the leg. He was removed to .■ tho hospital. 1

An extraordinary general meeting of tue shareholders of the Wellington Trust, Jxmn, and Investment Company will bft held on August Ulh, at 8 p.m.. in tho National Mutual Life Association's buildings. Customhouse quay. ‘-Kioto was a fair attendance at the concert, hold last night, in the Palaco theatre, Petone, in aid of a family who are in distressed circumstances, through tho untimely death of the bread-winner. The concert was inaugurated bv the cmployees of tho Petono Woollen Mill. The annual conference of local authorities affiliated to the Municipal Association of New Zealand will open ut the Mayor’s room. Town Hall, at 10 a_m. on Monday next. A largo number of remits, most of which have already- been published, will bo discussed. The orderpaper will bo issued to-day. Tho highest point reached by tho flood waters, in the Hutt river, during last week’s flood, was eight feci above normal. Portuuately on Tuesday night, tho wind veered round to tho south, -with the result that tho water in tho river quickly fell several feet. The damage dona to tho river protective works was not of a serious nature.

It has been found that the loan money available will not bo sufficient to complete tho Hutt borough sewerage scheme. Work has been hampered by wet weather, logs, and tho abnormal quantity of wqtor met with in the trenches. Unless a further loan is raised to complete tho scheme, tho authorities will bo unable to extend the service to a number of thoroughfares.

Tiie "Hadfield" centrifugal pump, imported by the Hutt Borough Council, was delivered at the pumping-station on Saturday afternoon, and the work of installation is now in progress. The pump lias a capacity of dealing with nine hundred . gallons of water per minute, oud if is confidently anticipated that,the trouble that has existed in the past, in regard to the water supply, will shortly bo overcome.

The monthly meeting of the Women's Christian Temperance Union Was held in the Y.M.C.A. rooms last Friday afternoon. There was a largo attendance of members and visitors, among the, latter being Mrs Palk, of Taranaki, who addressed, the gathering.. Sister Mildred, who has spent some years among the Maoris, gave an account of life among the Maoris, and Miss Mueller sang a ' “Pei Song” and '‘Maori Maiden.” . Captain Wahlstrom, of the coastal steamer Putiki, picked up an oil launch about 16. miles north-cast of- Farewell Spit lighthouse on Sunday morning, Tho hull of tho launch is of kauri, phinted white, with a green stripe and a red house. Tho motor is a Hnion oil engine of three-horse power. The mast was stepped, tho Sail awash overboard, as was also an anchor with two fathoms of rope over the side. The launch, which bears no name, was towed to Westport by the Putiki. ■At a Morris-tube match last Friday evening tho Gas Company's "A” team beat S. Puke and Company's team by 7 points. For the winners Smallhono (34), Pvenson, Coombs' and Hodgson (3B) scored best, and for the losers Carter and Drew (32) and Luke and Wallis (31). The Gas Company’s “B" team mot a corporation team and lost by 1 point, the best scorers for the winners being Pike (32), Calnan (31), Pringle (28), Gott and Campbell (27), and- for tho losers Turnbull (30), Gisborne (29), Williams, Teague, and Beeves (28).

A ballot hos been taken by members of the Wellington Drivers’ Union as to whether tho union should join ; (1) The Federation of Labor; (2) the United Labor Party: or (3) remain ns at present simply registered under , the Arbitration Act and affiliated with the Trades Council. For eo-mo unexplained reason the union lias decided that the result of tho ballot is not to bo published and the secretary declined to give any information when asked by a "Times ’ repre-' sentalive yesterday. It has, however, been learned from other sources, quite authoritative, that the union refused to have anything to do with either of the two Labor organisations, tho voting being decidedly in favor of remaining unattached as at present. Particulars of the death of a native, named Taurerewa Tuaretoa, when hushfelling near Kaetihi, • reveal wonderful fortitude on the part of the deceased (says the "Auckland Star”). Ho was seventy years of age, and belonged to the advanced type of Maori. He was overtaken by a fall of timber about noon. He was pinned to the wet ground, unable to move, but quite conscious and olive to tho seriousness of his' plight. Later in the day ho heard tho voices of searchers, but was unable to respond effectively. He was discovered at nine o’clock at night, being then in an exhausted condition from exposure, and beyond hope of recovery. The best assistance 1 possible under the conditions was rendered by the rescuers, and, prior to his death, Taurerewa personally offered up prayers, and bade the members of hi* family do like duty in turn. At the adjourned meeting of the Tara*' naki I»and Board on Thursday (reports the "Taranaki Herald”) a resolution wan passed calling the attention <cf tho Government to the dissatisfaction which exists amongst applicants under the renewable lease tenure and the disability under which they labor in not knowing the exact amount of broken rent required to be sent with the application. The resolution was the outcome of the result of the ballot held that day where, out of nine approved applicants for one section, only one had sent sufficient money. The board considered that applicants under the renewable lease system should be placed on the same footing aa 1 these under the occupation with right of purchase tenure, and recommended that* legislation should bo introduced to that effect.

Chatting with a well-known authority on Saturday, a "Taranaki Daily New* 1 ' reporter was informed that the condition of the dairy herds throughout the district was at present much superior to what it was at this time last year. He recalled that, last year, the cows came through the winter in a dreadfully bad condition, which fact had materially affected the milk supply. Commenting on their improv&l condition, he said they would come into profit this year in the flush of the season, and indications pointed to the fact of the coming season being a good one. So far as yonng cattle were concerned, the speaker—who is qualified to judge—had a different tale to toll. They had, ho said, gone through the winter very badly. The mortnlity among them had been very oonsiii-rnhle, so much so that it would oonsiderally affect the price of springers for a couple of years, and dairy stock generally.'