AUCKLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12334, 23 April 1902, Page 8

AUCKLAND.

■ v ' —' ♦ (F«OU; 008 GITS CoMKroSBBNT.) '•' . :, ' April H. His. Excellency the Governor is now occupying Government House, Auckland, and, with the flagship Koyal Arthur and other vessels 'of Jbe squadron in port, Auckland is.enjoyiiig 'a rather gay social season. Lord and'Lady ; R.ghfurly intend to remain in Auckland till early in Juno.

Soon after hie arrival Lord Kanfurly accompanied the Mayor on a round of the city to.see how it had progressed in eauitarv matters since last visit. Some two years ago his Excellency made some uncomplimentary remarks about the lack of municipal cleanliness in -Auckland. Since then we have been progressfug rapidly, and tho Mayor was naturally, anxious to show that W e had been cleaning; up. Hie Excellency was' glad to hear it, and doubly.glad to see it; in fact he complimented the Mayor all round, and gavo us a clean bill of health, which is uioro than the 1 meat amiable of mayors could have got from him when the plague rats were about. There is no doubt that little plague scare did Auckland a deal of good, o i Richards, late city purveyor of Sydney took a look round our municipal works the other day, and was quite euthusiastjc and upstinteel in his praise of our city undertakings; bis only doubt being whether we were-doing exactly ihe right tlnng m asphalting Queen street, The onlv danger is that if WO get too frequently pp.tted on the back v/e may bo inclined to yield to the tightness of tho exchequer and postpone the completion of our drainage works, which we stil! need to make Auckland an up-to-date city. There has been .a good deal of mild excitement, in Auckland lately with reference to the proposed erection' of a plague contacts hospital;in tho'Domain. Some two years ago, when Au,(%id, was officially dodared the-.dirheat pity ijvtha colony, when wo were supposed to be harbouring plagueinfected rate,, and when we were flushed with tho excitement of having produced tho way case of bubopio v plague ever discovered in the colony, we quietly. assented to the erection of a plague hospital mid a contacts hospital irtsido the publio domain. There wae-at tne time some little demur on the part of City Councillors to using the people's recreation ground for such n purpose, but the. Premier came north to tidy things up, and during his visit he gave the City Council such a publio scolding, accompanied by a threat to seize a. portion-of the Domain under the Public Works Act, that all opposition was. silenced, and tho plague hospital f S i n n W a C(ms l )icl,o1 ' 5 eyesore in our beautiful Domain. Fortune favoured us with the contacts hospital. At tho time of the royal visit it was used to.shelter come of the visiting volunteers, and just when the volunteers had oleared put of it the building took fire and was burnt to the ground. It would nave suited the temper of the majority of citizens if the : plague hospital iiad also caught, but- pur luck.-stopped short At the contacts hespitol. "• As for re-erecting the contacts hospital, nobody ever dreamt of it. and, moreover, it took tho City Council many .months and many letters and telegrams to induce the Government to pay over the prico of the bulling (minus the insurance), their liability 'being undeniable, as tho firo was obviously due to the presence of the volunteers. Correspondence with the Defence Department oil this matter was proceeding when the Health Department —stimulated by the recurrence of plague in Sydney-awoke to the necessity of having the contacts hospital re-erected. Then the city, authorities played the one department off against the other, with the result that the Defence Department gracefully settled the; (Mcrred'claim. Then the trouble aro?e oyqr the proposed re-erection of tho ho* pital. People were in a calmer mood than when the plague scare was on, and they naturally enough saw any number of objections to the erecting a contacts hospital in tIM. Domain. Tho only argument in favour of that course was that the plague hospital is already there, which only had the effect of leading a few worthy citizens to the contemplation of committing arson. Some members of the, City Council rose to the occasion and fought strongly for the selection of another site for the contacte hospital, but when, all tho councillors had had their say on. the subject it was evident that there- wits still around the council table a lively recollection of the Premier's scolding, for; by a. majority of one, the council decided to ask the Government to select a site. We have/not yet heard what the Government has to say on the subject, but unless the Government has a strong desire to make itself unpopular in the northern city it will' not hurriedly place another plague hospital in the Auckland Domain.

Another hospital matter of some importance has just been decided on—namely, the erection of buildings near the District Hospital for the treatment of ordinary infectious coses. Hitherto Auckland's only provision for infectious diseases has been'a cottage with four beds. The other day the hospital authorities had some 20 cases on thnir hands, ant) when the four beds were full they '.' commandeered" the plague hospital, to ■ the consternation of the district health officer, who was haunted by the fear that a plague case would slip through his fingers from Sydney while he "had no means of isolating it. However, the incident awafcned the Hospital Board to the- necessities of the situation, and they decided to at once provide some 30 beds for infectious raEes. The idea of the medical superintendent at the hospital is to erect three buildings, so that scarlet fever, measles, and diphtheria can be separately treated, while thoro will bo communication by speaking tubes to prevent the necessity for each small hospital being separately staffed, unless the number of cases demands it.

Another effort has been made in the Grammar School Board to establish a board-ing-house in connection with the school. A site at One Tree Hill was being disposed of by the School Commissioners, and its purchases as a site for a grammar school board-ing-house was strongly urged by Sir (4. M. O'Rorke and others, but the proposal shared tire same fate as the scheme brought forward last year to purchase the Pa estate for the samo purpose. A majority of the board wero. concerned about the distance from town, and wero doubtful if a boarding-house so far from the school would be a success. Tho siw is on the line of the electric, tramways to Onehuriga, but even'this did not carry sufficient weight to gain tho support of a majority of the board, and the proposal to pnvchase tho site was defeated and the whole question of providing a boarding-house deferred. ; ' ■

The delegates from the Trades and Labour Councils of the colony have concluded their conference. Thev Eat five days, and no.

one.can complain that they failed to make lio.r vmws known on any and overv question in which labour can claim to have a voice, and on some questions concerning which it 13 difficult lo coo how labour is 'specially interested. Tl.o feature of the eon', fcraua was ,fl, e SIM of tlm or(lw d . but for the easy confidence with which the Hof l>»"}" qwstions it would haw taxfli them five times five days to rat to the 1; sm« s3 was rnshed .through at a gallop. lUre were many proton concerning tl'e 1 h \ o - A '\ pa^r - aml tllo °*<*uVs ■Tcpoit contained, some sensible remarks as ; to the bad effect this must have on the inUrn'"if i°i n «»«fercnce. when-they ap. I prodchwl the Government with their sackful j <rt resolutions. Common sense prevailed lo • some extent, and it was decided to limit the -.lumber of subjects in future, giving cacli I eouncl the right to bring, forward at the ■ most six resolutions. ■ Since the conference n,r 3e tr \ e r P Tr. id ™ t of tho Fariners ' Union (Mr M. M Kirkbride, a hard-headed Mangere farmer) lias expressed Hie views of tlio farming community on somo of the resolutions the delegates saw fit to adopt, Mr hirkbmle thought it .'.rather ironical of the abour representatives to suggest -workint; in harmony with the Farmers , Union, and at the same silting propose to pile up the taxes on tho people who were making thoir hvrag out of the land. Mr.Kirkbride also [oil foul of the eoiifercnee fof\their opposition to the freehold land tenure and their proposed periodical revaluation- of Crown' ewes.- He said tho farmers W knew came to >,ew7,oalaiid to get a bit o r land of their own. They could got-plenty of land in the Old Country on IcWliold with rcvakv I, 0 " 5 ! , - w d l b Was n<ry «loubtfnl, viewed in tho light pf the confpreiwo of the Trades and Labour Councils, and tho experience of many years, whether their yoke would be thl l % T-i "' ur " on liEhtcr " s Quants of tho I (state than as tenants of a private landord As o:iltivators of tho soil, they were banded together to protect their interests, and would sec to it that, men of other trades ignorant <>f f,] ie conditions of tho farming community, shall not dictate to them as to llio toiiuro under which ther would hold the land they cultivated. The opinions of bootmakers, clothiers, and tradesmen on land tenure, taxing the land, etc.;..might have greater weight with some people, miffht even have greater Weight with the Government, than tlm opinions of ftns* who had lo ■make a-living out of the soil; but this only showed the immediate necessity of completing the organisation of farmers in order that they might take that position in the ]>ody polifiii which their numbers nnd calling warranted.

An experiment in (ho .establishment of workmen's hamlets near. Auckland is to bo tried by the Government, who are now offering sections to workmen at Avondxle, Kew Lynn,, and Henderron. Mr -John' Bollard, M.H.R., lias worked hard for a scheme of this character, and though lie has not got,the scheme he advocated adopted in its entirety, I yet he hopes to fee a, successful result. Mr Bollard advocated the freehold, the Government hove granted lee..=es of 999 yearn, and by Mr Boilard's snlwme it would have i been easier for the workman with little or no [ capital to secure a home than under the terms now announced, which make the sections available only to workmen who havo at least £50 "in cash ready to put into his home. 'Die. Government intend to form and metal roads through the .hamlets, arid for that purpose the allotments have been proportionately loaded. The vexed question of a site, for the new city abattoirs seems to be nearing a- settle- ! ment. The butcher* have fought hard for a site uear the city, and they have met with a I good deal of sympathy in the City Council, but four suggested sites have already been rejected by tlio Government as unsuitable j and there seems nothing for it hut that the butchers should bow to the inevitable and accept a site close to Otahuhu station, which has the approval of all the. Government officers. A conference of representatives from the City Council, suburban Borough Councils, Butchers' Association, and Government Agricultural and Health Departments has declared in favour of this site, find ye* commended its adoption to the City Council. There was much protesting from the butcher) and many gloomy forecasts as to how the Otahuhu site would affect their trade in the future, but Mr Clifton, the head of Iho Stock Department, rather silenced tho opposition by alluding to the Dr.nediii abattoirs, which he said were similarly situated with, regard to communication with (own, and winch, though started amid as much opposilion from tho butchers as that now maiii-' lesied in Auckland, were no'w working to the satisfaction of all concerned. [We have learned by telegraph that the City Council rejected the proposed site.j The question of electric lighting for the city \n)] soon be under the consideration ol the City Council. A renort on the subject is bomg prepared by Mr W. T. Goodman, who was expected to finish some months ago; but bis work in connection with the Dimedm tramways has been a. more renous undertaking than he anticipated when he set to work on the Auckland electric lighting report. Mr Goodman has promised to furnish Ins report on an early date, lliere will doubtless he a. strong bid made both inside and\ outside the council for the mujiicipalisation of the electric light, but whether the council will face this responsibility remains to bo seen.