AUCKLAND. (From Our Own Correspondent.) December 20.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 30

AUCKLAND. (From Our Own Correspondent.) December 20.

The Aucklanders are greatly pleased to fiud that, notwithstanding that the improvements to Government House have not ysb been commenced, there is a prospect of his Excellency the Governor (Lord Ranfurly) and Lady Ranfurly spending a portion of the summer, after the southern tonr, in Auckland. Inquiries have been made as to the prospects of obtaining a euitably furnished residence for two months, and two places have been suggested — the residence of the late Justice Gillies (Rocklands, Mount Eden) and The Pah, formerly the residence of the late Hon. James Williamson. The only objection to the latter is that the distance from town would preclude his Excellency entertaining on the scale he expressed his desire to do when residing in Auckland. The probable date of arrival, if satisfactory leidential arrangements can be made, is stated to be F. bruary. Lord Ranfurly during his brief otay he"re earned golden opinions from all classes of the community by putting himself in touch with its daily life, so that he will on his return receive a hearty and, indeed, enthusiastic welcome.

On the whole the PublicJWorks Statement appears to have given a fair amount of aatisfaction throughout the province* considering " the limited amount now at the disposal of the ' Minister for Public Works. The Whangarei- ' Kawakawa railway now taps, the Pahipuhi Forest and the mineral- country, and every mile beyond that simply means vJfce - catching. ' Perhaps the most -pressing work is the conuec- ' tion of the Lower Thames with the Upper Thames by the present uncompleted section of ■ railway. The goldfielcls projected branch lines, however desirable, will bear a little delay till the gold-beaiing area has been more thoroughly explored and prospected. A great feeling of relief and satisfaction was felt here at the Old Age Pensions Bill having received the "happy desoatch" at the hands of the Legislative

Council. There was a consensus of opinion 'ohafc it was simply charitable' aid or relief in another guise, and would prove a stimulus to thrifclessness and improvidence, iustead of encouraging the influences which go to strengthen self - respect and self - reliance. SeveraL of the local political organisations' denounced the measure ; while others, though agreeing with the principle, disapproved of the methods proposed to ba adopted in enforcing it. With the prospect of increased municipal taxation ' for water supp T y and drainage, and added thereto a coutemj.l*ted special poor relief rate, it is not to be wondered at lhab State old age pensions should receive but scant suppoit from those who have taxable property. At the annual meeting of the Auckland City Council the mayor called attention to the large sums the city was contributing to charitable aid r lief — sufficient, indeed, during the past decade to more than extinguish its large overdraft. The suburban boroughs are even worse off in this respect, as no less than 25 pec cent, of their, revenue is absorbed in poor relief. All

'. the local bodies dencuuee the present system of ,chtrit»ble aid relief as wasteful and extravag ant, and, worse than all, the blatant frauds and impostors receive a good deal of the relief which should be given to the modest, retiring, *nd honest poor. < Mr G. M. Reed, of the New Zealand Herald, has recently gone.on the Auckland Charitable Aid Board iii the hope ofrprc- ■ during a reform of the system, and of dimini^h- . ing the expenditure for. relief, which tor years . past has been, steadily mounting up. His pro- ■ po;al is a labour test, but, as a large proportion of the. applicants- are women and children, ib is difficult to see how it can be applied to euch cases. .As the dry season is again approaching the apprehensions of a water famine are renewed, The city pumps are kept goiug day and night in tneetjng the requirements of the city, while the overflow at the Western Springs has ceased. Every plan suggested, owiug to engineering • and other materials, involves a, large expenditure, with consequent increased taxation. But for the dog-iu-tne-manger policy of the Onebucga Borough Council over the use of the Onehuiiga Springs, which were originally made r water endowment for " the County of Eden," Auckland could tide over the difficulty of a city water supply for ano'her decade. With the question of a water supply is also associated bhafc of city drainage. It is computed that nearly £100,000 will be required to complete ' the city drainage. Taking one consideration with another, the city ratepayer is going to have a lively time of it. The Board of Conciliation has failed to get the various steamboat companies and the auxiliary oil engine vessels to come to an amicable agreement, and there is nothing for it kok bub to let the question be decided by the Couit of Aibitration. TLe-e were two causes of disagreement. The smaller steamboat owners claimed ito be exceptionally treated" from the large steamship companies, and both from the auxiliary oil engine vessels. In some cases the - owners were paying more than the tariff or the •.demands of fbe Se*meu's Union rtquired, while in some, other cases, the ste&mer was , worked " itt the family" on the co-operative , principle, which, of course, handicapped its . rivals. It is not clear how the law can get

behind family arrangements, even it were politic to do so? 1 On this second sitting of the Board of Conciliation, Mr Belcher, the representative of the Seamen's Union, has adopted & very different attitude to that assumed on the first occasion, when he was needlessly aggressive. It is but justice to him to say that he abstained from his former impolitic offentivenese, and conducted hiß case temperately ptt firmly.

What the seamen have not yet obtained the journeymen bakers have got without a struggle, Und without recourse to the Board of Conciliaiion. They have bettered their condition to the extent of about 6s per week ; and is required bettering in some caf=es, as it was alleged that men were working 70 to 80 hours a week, in certain cases amid insanitary surroundings and at from 10s a week and their food. The master bakers promptly clapped a halfpenny extra on the 21b loaf to defray "the cost ot increased wages," but when it transpired that labour received on!y £45 out of a rite of £166 a week the master bakers judiciously refrained'from enforcing the new impost. Our Harbour Board authorities have pulled themselves together after the late Queen streeb wharf shed disaster and grappled with the situation. £5000 will cover all the loss, and

the work of repairing the partially burned

tee and erecting the new shed will go ahead vigorously under a bonus of £10-per day to the

contractors. Owiug to the arrangement* made, very Httle inconvenience has been felt by the -fcteoruehip companies or the importers through the calamity— indeed, the fire is likely to prove a blessing in disguise if it leads, as it is likely ■ to do, to a greatly improved method of storing and distributing goods to that which formerly prevailed. Death bas been busy during the past fortnight, but perhaps there has no colonist passed biro? of late Tears whose decease has been so

generally regretted as that of Mr Josiah Clifton Firth. It was some what sudden, as only the day preceding his death letters were written by him which showed that he had proj-.cts maturing in his brain stretching forth into the future. He was one of Auckland's greatest captains of industry, and his career has been full of romance — of humble toil and great wealth — of successes and reverses — which fall to the lot of few men. Ia the early days, toiiiug as brickmaker, he found time and heart to preach to his fellow citizens when ministerial service was nob available. When by a turn in the wheel of fortune he became the managing partner of a large and prosperous milling business he remembered the poor working men who had shared his early and more humble fortunes. They were taken into his new seivice and spent their lives in it. Among the large body of men whom he once controlled there are none who are not grateful for so kind and considerate an employer. Long before labour legislation was fashionable or conciliation boards cstab'ishod Mr Firth had considered the eight hours' day problt-m, and a method of insuring his workmen's lives so as to mitigate to weeping wives and fatherless children the lost? of the breadwinner. As an employer he gave the highest wages and insisted upon the best work, aud as the outcome of this policy he commanded one of the finest bodies of men in the province. Every workman who did his duty to Mr Firth was in his service for life, humanly speaking. It was my lot to witness his farewell with his men at Matamata, and as they clustered around him tobid the lastxdieus many of men fairly brake down — for they had grown grej in his service — and.wepb like children. Well they m'gbt, and many of thorn now look back with fond regret to the happy days spent und-er his ngime. It was a pleasant thing to see at the funeral the sons of the old workman (themselves having been in his service), bearing the body of their o'd master to the grave and pa>iog tha last office* of respect. Mr Firth, at Matamata, cast his all upou tha h»z vrd of the die, and Fate, or Fortune, or Luck was against him. Yet, strange to say, the day had been when £280,000 awaited his acceptance for the estate, and be declined the offer in one of those dcci«io»s which make or mar a man'a whole after life and cannot ha recalled.

Among the Natives death has been no less busy than among the European?, and the last of the great chiefs in the Waikato district, Wahauui of the Ngatimaniopoto, has passed away. Nothing can more forcibly show the altered relations of the races and the facb that the Native question has been removed from the sphere of politics than the manner in which the tidings of bis death was received. His death received but incidental mentioD, while the tangi over his remains has been disposed of in a couple of lines. Yet the day his be n when Aucklanders opened their morning paper anxious to know what Wahanui's views were, and what ha was doing. The ether dny I attended the examination of the Three Kings Maori students at Wesley College. W*ti>\uui as a bright Three Kings student, had holped to build the premises in which it was held, and tvio of his old co-workers wera present — Erueriti, "a lay agent of the Wesley* n Maori missions} and the Rev. William Gittos, superintendent of Auckland* Wesleyan Maori missions. His death brought up many curious anecdotes concerning him, showing his marked traits of character. Able, arrogant, and unscrupul ms, Wahauui never was a power for good among his countrymen, and of late years he had betrayed a liking for strong diink, and altogether wandered far from the training he had received at the Three Kings. Volunteering appears to be agiin reviving. Auckland Naval -.Artillery have recently

out of camp at Fort Cautley, after putting in a foitnighfs drjlLafc the batteries in the torts. Their conduct in camp was unexceptionable, the diicipline being excellent. A movement is on foot to establish a corps of mounted r fles, while Colonel Backs is sounding the leading cyclitts with & view of forming a corp3 from their ranks for ridetta duty, carrying despatches, and capable of making recounaisances, sketching in the field, reports, &c. The headquarters of this corps, it is suggested, should be at the North Shore, so as to be available for coast defence northward.

The Mackelvie Art Gillery has just been enriched by the put chase of two pictures by the trustees, at the late exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, through, the good offices of a prominent member of the Academy. One ia entitled " Refuge," by E. Blair L'-i«htou, and the other a landscape, "Autumn Floods," by Ernest A. Waterloo, A.RA. Successful as the former is as a picture, and popular as it \% certain to be, it yields the palm to the landscape. In deference to the wishes ef the artists and the public, the trustees abandoned their method of obtaining pictures from Scotlaud*, aud from a particular Scottish fecbool of art, exclusively, and the change of policy has given great latisfaction.

Our yachting season promises to be unusually 'successful. A number of new yachts have been added to the fleet, and on a Saturday afternoon the harbour presents a gay' spectacle, thickly dotted with these white - winged racers. Aquatics have proved a pleasant outlet for the euergy, enterprise, aud skill of our young men, but it is greatly to be regretted that there is no central controlling authority to put down with a ficm hand the sailicg matches for wagers, which is simply another form of gambling and rapidly destroj ing the true sporting spirit characterising the legitimate yachtsman.

Owing to the advent of Christmas holidays affttira are brisk on the Thames goldfields, all the mines on gold doing their best to furnish Chr:stmas crushing* to the shareholders. Some of the mines have yielded handsome crushing.*, but the Wains, as usual, bas topped the Hat, its monthly return being one of the largest in its history, and the yield for 1897 in excess of last year. During the past seven years the total bullion won from Ibis famous mine is considerably ov.u- £630,000. Mining investors and expert* predict a revival in speculation early in the coming year, although nothing equ il to the late mania for company iorming or promoting. The Auckland public have not enthused over the Klondike ventures, and in that case distant hills have not looked green. Some of our mining speculators had a flut'er over the Coolgardie discoveries, and got several mining reports and —a good deal of experience, so they are not setting their faces Klondykewards, either in person or mediumietically. Why miners should leave a temperate climate, with all the comforts of civilisation at their elbow, in order to endure the horrors of an Arctic winter in the prospect of a gold fiad, passes comprehension. So far the Thames gold miners almost to a man have been proof against the attractions of Klondyke.

No American vessel passed the Suez Canal in 1896. From Greymouth last week the Brunner mine shipped 2225 tons coal, and the Blackball mine 710 tons. From Westporb last week 4804 feonß of coal were shipped, of which the Westport Coal Company exported 3927 tons, and the Cardiff Company 877 ton*.