LOCAL & GENERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2556, 11 March 1903, Page 28

LOCAL & GENERAL.

Last month Mr Lindsay, agent in Dunedin for tho Labour Bureau, sent about 40 men to the Otago Central and Catlins railway works. Twenty of ths number 'oft Dunedin, and the remainder belonged to the districts in which the work 13 being carried on. Mr Lindsay says that there are a large number of persons arriving in Dunedin from the Australian States and the Old Country. Every boat brings thorn in. They hang about tho town, r.nd do not seem to caro about going into -he country. Many of them call at the office for work, but Mr Lindsay cannot help them while there are deserving local cases on tho books, and of these there a number at present. The monthly mow-ting of tho Otago High Schools Board of Go\ errors, held on the 3id, was attended by Dr Brown (chairman), and Messrs J. R. Sinclair and J. A. Park (Mayor of Dunedin). Accounts amounting to £458 9s lid were pasted for pasTnont, and after making provision for these the bank account showed a credit balance of £944 16s 7d. Another donor, v.ho desires that his name be not disclosed, his, through the Rev. D. Borrie, given a. bursary of £25 a year for a theological student. Mr S. Home, of the Chinese Reform Society, Wellington, is at present in Duaedin with the view of obtaining the signatures of Chinese residents to a petition for the appointment of a Consul to watch over the interests of themselves and their countrymen in tho colony. The petition represents that through their imperfect knowledge of the English languago the Chinese pro at a disadvantage in carrying on their 1 business and in observing the customs and laws of the colony, and states that they are desirous of having some official appointed who, whilst advising them in eases of difficulty, will also conserve their rights and interests as residents. Rather curiously, the petition is addressed not to tho Chinese Governmc-nt, but to the House of Representative's in our own colony. This is explained, however, by Mr Home, himself a Chinese, by tlie statement that the Chincso Government i 3so unprogressive that it is unlikely that it could be moved to take any action in tho matter. Among the Chinese in the colony some of the apathy which is ascribed .to the authorities ot Poking is being found, for Mr Home has found that objections have been raised by them to the appointment of a Consul from the mistaken fear that it would mysteriously involve them in some fresh taxation". As a class, the Chinese do not seem to realise that if a Consul to represent their interests were appointed in New Zealand thoy could hardly fail to benefit.

Tho output from the mines of the Westport Coal Company (Limited) for the month of February was 48,650 tons 15c\vt.

Mcst people who have read the following paragraph, remarks M.A,P., would be a-lonished: — "Letters of administration of the will of Mr Franois Bret Harte, of 74 Lancaster Gate, author of ' The Heathen Chinee,' ' The Luck of Roaring Camp,' and many ether works, secretary of the United States Bianch Mint, 1C64-70, editor of the OverlairJ Monthly, United States Consul at Crefeld m 1878, and at Glasgow, 1880-5. who died on May 5 last, aged 62 years, intestate, have bec-n granted to his so.i, Mr Fiancis King Harte, of Chislehurst road, Richmond, administration having been renounced by the widow, and his estate has be-tn valued at £360 6; 9J." It :s a surprise that the greatest of all American shcrt-story writers should have left so little morey, for, apart from what he made by his books. Us serial rights were very valuable. I remember tho editor of the Idler remarking to me -'■me years ago (urites "St. Barbc,' 1 in the Ojrcn) that every thousand words Bret Harto liked -to write for a magazine could be changed for 20 sovereigns as easily as a Bank cf England note *or that amount.

Mr Jerome, district attorney ot the County of New York, says a prominent citizen has offered him £20,000 for the purree cf prosecuting fashionable gambling establishments in New Ycrk City. This individua-1 asserts that he ice ntly lost £20,000 during three hours while playing faro in a recentlyraided gaming-house. He says he has consulted the district attorney because !ie i = convinced the game was "crooked," and tbat he was cheated out of his money. The Now Zealand and Australian Land

Company's well-known Kdendale e-ttte, South'and, ha ; bc-cn iiispect°d by the members of the Land Purchase Board, aud it is understood will be favourably reported on to the Government as suitable for purchase under the Land for Settlements Act. Provided the pViee of the property can be anai'ojcrt. it is probable thar the estate will 1)6 secjred for clo-e settlement.

At la= week's City Council meeting tho Mayor s-noke. of the advisability of licensing stro!lng mu-ieian3. He was as fond of miL-ir a- any man, he said, but it waf too much to have it dialled up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and have tc pay out ail the time. By licensing mu-icians of this kind on tha Continent their numbers had been \ery materially reduced, and he wa = sure tho money Mibecribcd by citizen* to these musicians would be morn than sufficient to keep a citizens' band going all the year round. Cr Christie taid ho would suggest that the council see to the tuning of their instruments!

The weekly meeting of the Benevolent Trustees, held an the 4th, war attended by Messrs P. Treseder (chairman), H. Gourley, A. Tapper. R. M. Clark, R. Wilson, W. Talboys, and W. Burnett. On the motion of Mr Tapper, it was resolved that the City Ontin^il Ut asked to uro\ ido w crk, tu.< h as

clearing gorse and broom from the Town Belt and reserves, for able-bodied men in the institution unable to get work. On tho suggestion of Mr Talboys, it was decided to approach Chinese residents in the matter of raining passage money to China for their fellow-countrymen in receipt of aid from the trustees, as less costly to deal so with th-r-m than to maintain them for a>ny lengLh of time. The Secretary reported that thr^e deaths had occurred since last meeting — those of Francis Wilson, aged 71; Ellen GokLe, aged 60; and Thomas M'Gregor, aged 72. The return of outdoor relief cases for Fcbruarv showed 312 cases, comprising 121 men, 218 women, and 527 children, at a cost of £105 Os 6d. For the corresponding month of last year there were 301 cases (114 men, 225 women, and 524 children), at a cost of £93 0s 6d. Accounts amounting to £259 13s were passed for payment, and 34- cases of relief dealt with.

A Greymouth resident advances a new theory in connection with Ibo failure of the Elingamite enginca to work the propeller. He suggests that tho ecrew had possibly become jammed with kelp. Writing to the Grey River Argil?, ho says: "I had an exporie-nee of this myself some yeare ago. I • was chief engineer of the Star of the South. We were on our voyage from Lyttekon to Greymouth, and in- passing Cape .Campbell one dark night — the sea, was very calm, scarcely a riple to be seem. — when ju3t abreast of the light the engines were brought up standing and would not mov. I thca reversed the engines to try them, but failed, as they would not move. There was a great commotion on deck in consequence-, and the captain called down the engine room, ' For God's sake start the engines, for we are amongst ths rocks.' But with steam on the engines would not go either ahead or astern. I then ordered the turning gear to be shipped. We oould not move the engines. After making half of a revolution we unshipped the turning gear, and gave her the steam. The engines then got away, and we could feel the propeller cutting its way through the kelp. We then managed to gel clear of the rocka without touching any."

At the quarterly meetine of the Waihemo Licensing Committ-ee, before Major Koddell at Palmeiston on the 4th, the following transfers were granted: — Etnpiro Hotel, Palmerstem, Charles Burrell to J. A. Duncan; Ro3";>l Hotel, Naeeby, A. B. King to Patrick Ryan. Mr Bailey appeared in support ol both applications.

Since last communicating with the medical officer in charge of tho fever hospital sevoral of the patients have been discharged cured and free from infection. Very few fresh cases are coming in, and theie is every indication of tho epidemic dying out. The type of cases arc not scarle-t fever. They properly belong to a disease called robella.

The police on Thursday arrested a young man named Grant on a charge of stealing acme 15 guns, valued at about £4 each. It would appear that the guns were hired from various gunsmiths in town on the pretence that they were wanted for a shooting party at Waitati, and that they were subsequently sold to varioos dealers and pawnbrokers.

The saddle and bridle alleged to have been stolen from Outram by Ramsay and Cairns, at present charged with the acsault aixl robbery of Thomas Reid, were found by the police on Thursday in the bush at Maori Hill.

The following estates of deceased persons in Dunedin were certified to during February:—Adam Barr, £1S9O; Alexander Bannatyne, £8454; William M. Shore, 1 £1456: Samuel T. Staughton, £2262; James \',P. Maitland, £3621; Ann Kelly, £1505; | Jchn Jenkins, £3427. Large estates certified to in other parts of the colony were: — Edmund M. Honeyfield, Ne,v Plymouth, £21654; Alexander Humphrey, Napier, £19,074; Michael Corcoran, Auckland, £15,774; Alfred H. Morri.=by, Auckland, £13,6:0; Henry Mace, Christi church, £12,188; Jessio Tutchen, Wellington, £10.076; John Trott, Christchurch, £7t51; John Trenwith, Auckland, £7075; Charles Green, Nelson, £5215.

At ;> meeting of the Otago Trades ard Labour Council on Thursday it was resolved to call upon workmen not to deal with any baker who is tied to the Flourmillers' combine, but, with a view to resi-sting the efforts to inflate tho price of bread, to prtrchaeetheir bread from such bakers only as are free to buy flour from unassociated millers.

Tlie New Zealand Times says: — ''A young man who claimed to bo an undergraduate of St. John's College (Cambridge), and who-e reward for study wr« the doubtful boon of a schoolmaster's position in Taranaki at a salary of £i per week, asked the Beno\ olent Tru-'ees for money with which to defray co~,t of a cablegram to his father (a clergyman in England) applying for passage money to take the wanderer Home again. The applicant produced a letter which iimted him to return Home, but the matter of pas-age money had been o-, erlooked becaiue of an ill-founded belief by the father that the son I'ttc! money enough to pay for the ft quired ticket. The board decided to tempori-e in tho matter with a \itw- to te-ting the- reliableness of the representations n.ude to them."

At tho qiMrtrrly meeting of th Gcraldino Licensing Committee, on Tuesday, 3rd, the hce,n.=e of thy Winchester Hotel was nncelled on six specific grounds — '1) that iho piemiscs arc not maintained at tl.e rrij'uied standard. (2) th" foundations of the premises giving way cause the floor to bo dangerous to walk upon, (3) thp outhou=e conveniences are unsuitable to hotel requ.rementr, (4) th'- premises ait out of repair and havo been al'owed to become ru'iiou l - and dilapidated. (5j not sufficient far:htios arp Drowded to

allow the inmates to eFcape in caso of 4 fire, and (6) great danger to life existed in the past and continues to exist if the pre* miscs are allowed to continue in the present" state.

Our .Naseby correspondent writes: — "Ant election, held on Wednesday, to fill art extraordinary vacancy in the Borough) Council caused by the resignation of Mb A B. King, resulted in the return of Me J. R. Kirk, as against Mr Joseph M'Cabe^ by a majority of four votes."

The competition for employment in thel ranks of tho army of unskilled labourers, while not acuto at the present time, would appear to be in danger of becoming so in the near; future, and especially ac the winter comes on. The influx of Australians continues unabated, and on the arrival of every, steamer numbers present themselves at the* office of the Labour Department in the hope of getting employment. Of course this ia practically a futile procedure on their part, for any work that is going is reserved for local caees. To give 6ome idea of the rate at which this new element in our l , floating population is increasing iti n>ay be mentioned that for tha first two months of the year the sfceerago passengers *on the inward Melbourne boats have numbered about 450, as compared withi some 260 for the first two months of lasfi year. While, ac a rule, they have been un-< successful in obtaining employment on Government works, numbers ha-ve been abla to secure situations amongst private em* ployers, and as workmen are, in many casesyhighly spoken of. Competition foi employ* ment is much keener in Australia than it ia here, and when it comes to looking for & billet the native of any of the Australian! Stateu seems to display a greater alacrity, in turning things to his own advantage than a number of our own unemployed, with the result that strangers are securing work in front of local men. An employer usually, selects the most likely man for the workhe wants done, and does not as a rule care a great deal where he comes from. At the present time tho majority of the new, arrivals are away harvesting, and when this is over they will bo sure to gravitate to the towns in the hope of being taken on on the different works that will he in progress ia the city during the winter. One of our re* porters was informed on Friday that a de« tachment of toil-seekers is on its way to tho colony from the Home Country in the hope of work on the tramways, to the news that there waa to be a considerable expenditure of public money in Dunedint soenw to have travelled far and wide. Withf the advent of so many strangers it is also certain that the epidemic of police offences which has characterised the whole colony lately will be on the increaee, and extra/ police protection will certainly Be required' in the near future.

A short sitting of the Warden's Court was hold on Friday morning befort Mr E. H.. Care\r, S.M. An application by William Earnest Hitchcock (on behalf of the Barewood Mining Company) for an area of fiva acres of laud in the Nenthorn survey dis-< trict, being part of, the University Mining reserve, was granted. The application set out that the land was required for the treatment and deposit of tailings to be used in connection with the special quartz claim, No. 3, held by W. Wolters and party. IL, D Reid appeared in support of the application.

Our Wakatipu correspondent wired on Frw day:— "After a spell of fine, if hot, weather rain has eet in, accompanied by mild cquinoxial gusts. The indications are not of an alarming kind, though there may bo a few days of broken weather. There is a' considerable fall in the temperature, but na gieat floods need bo apprehended."

The Secretary for the Department of In* dus tries has received a complete set o£ papers relative to the Grarid International Peace Exhibition, South Africa, to be held at Johannesburg in 1904-05. The papers include the general ground plan, form of application for space, official reports, and; copy of the first condensed progre-.s report, which is to be issued monthly in future. Intending exhibitors will be supplied with tho fullest information on application to tho head office of tho Industries and Commerce Department, Wellington.

Mr W. Noble (the chairman of Bruca County Council) has lately made a discovery of valuable phosphate rock deposits on hi property at Fortification, Tokomairiro. la Mr Noble's own words, "There is a whol mountain of it, within a miie of Fortification Railway Station." A sample wag analysed by Mr Reid, rector of Milton High School, and found to contain a good percentage of phosphates

Tho express train for the south was dct layed for about an hour near Waiwera oa Saturday in consequence' of a mishap to a goods train that was running ahead of her. It appears that one of the waggons on tho goods train was loaded with tow, which from some cause or other took fire, with tho result that the train had to be pulled up and measures taken to extinguish Cue flames, the express being unable to get through in the meantime. The express for Dunedin wa.s not delayed by the occurrence, and bha reached her destination up to schedule time..

On the Bth an uniuual sight foi a Sunday v.as witnessed in the neighbourhood of the laiiway ulatiou. At 5 o'clock in the morn* ing a gaug of 70 men started to connect up a portion of the new station y?rd with tho present station yard, and the task of lifting old rails, laying new r?iL, fi.\ins points and/ tro-sings, and ballasting went on until the evening, by wheh time the work Had hrcai advanced to a stage that would craSie ;he railway s< rv ice to be carried on on Mon..ay. a- ii n -.ii]. The bssT arramzernentß had been

made for pushing * operations on expeditiotiely, and, the weather being fine, the men were able, with the assistance of a couple of powerful steam cranes, to complete everything that was contemplated in the plan of temporary alterations. It was a smart piece of work— well thought out, well directed, mid well executed by the men. The north trains, instead of running over what has been the main line, will now pass through ihe northern portion of the new station and along the lines which are to be used 43 tracks for the new station. These lines will be used until the new 6ta.tion building is brought into use. The north portion of the yard is temporarily interlocked, but pirhen the whole station is complete another feystem of interlocking will be adopted. The interlocking was also brought into operation en Monday, as well as a number of new signals and the new signal cabin at the foot of Hanover street. The work was supervised by Inspector Miller, of the railway staff.

The Hospital 'authorities supply the following returns for the past week : —Patients remaining in the institution from the previous week, S6; admitted during the week, 25; discharged, 25; deaths, 3 (James Walker, Jeannie.Neil,' and James Ronaldson Thornton). Total remaining, 93.

Mr George Wyndham (writes Mr H. W. I»ucy in his London letter to the Sydney Herald) recognises that he is getting on at the Irish Office. H© hae been publicly alluded to as " a. fmiling assassin," a phrase that has caugkt on and is repeated at-meet-ings which have been, or are, in danger of icing broken up by the police. As he rejnarks with that smile that suggested the antithesis, " the cachet is rather high." Mr iForster, one of the most honest, most kindlyintentioned of Chief Secretaries, never got ibeyond being called Buckshot. The wellknown origin of thi3 striking name was traceable to Mr Forster's humanity. They ■were bad <lays in Ireland during his administration. The Fenians, fearful of finding their occupation gone as a result of Mr Gladstone's conciliatory policy, were busy at work. Representations were made to the Chief Secretary of the necessity of the police habitually going about their business with loaded cartridges. Mr Forster, recognising the extreme gravity of the situation that later resulted in the murder of Lord Edward Cavendish, suggested a middle course. Shrinking from ball cartridge, he suggested buckshot, which would have the effect of disconcerting, without actually killing, would-be assassins or maimers of cattle. Hence what was kindly meant became a term of venomous opprobrium. •

The asphalt roadway laid in King Edward's square, Port Chalmers, by the corporation employees is fully answering the expectations of the inspector of works as to its. suitability for heavy traffic. A day or two since one of Mr C. Stephenson's lorries with a block of stone estimated to weigh five tons passed over the asphalt without leaving the slightest track of its passage.

At a meeting of the Drainage Board's Finance Committee on Monday tenders were opened for the board's loan of £40,000 which ■it is proposed to raise by the creation and issue of 800 debentures of £50 eaob, bearing interest at the rate of 4i per cent, per annum and having a currency of 21 years from the l«t of July, 1903. Forty-nine tenders were received, representing applications for 2523 debenturee, amounting to £126,150, or three times the amount of the loan. The premiums ranged from Is to 30s.

We learn that although the work of proTiding the boilers for the electric tramways plant will come to a Dunedin firm, there was a probability at one time of the order being cent Home. 'It appears there was a conflict between the Inspection of Machinery Department and the electrical and mechanical engineers (acting on be-half of the City Council) as to the method of staying the boilers. Happily this difference was got over by the good offices of Mr J A. Millar, M.H.R., who put himself in communication with t!ie Hon. W. HallJones, Minister of Publio Works, when the matter was satisfactorily settled and the work retained in Dunedin.

No satisfactory answer to their queries as to the solution of certain vexed points in regard to roll-marking has yet been afforded tho Arthur Street School Committee. Having failed to get satisfaction from tho Otago Education Board, the committee applied to the Minister of Education, but at their meeting on Monday received a letter from the department declining to give a ruling. The committee, by no means satisfied, paused a protesting resolution to be forwarded to the department.

A serious row occurred on Monday between 11 and 12 p.m. between some seamen (belonging to the brigantine Carin and the men on the Akaroa. How it started is not very clear, but apparently some of thoee concerned had more drink than was good for them, and this doubtless was responsible ior their coming to blows. One of the firemen on the Westralia, who was 'standing on ifche wharf, noticed two men , come along from the direotion of the brigantine, and one of them had a wooden stanchion in his land. On approaching one of the Akaroa alien he struck him a blow on the head, anflicting a severe ecalp wound which bled profusely. The row then became more 'general, and one of the Carin's men produced a revolver, which, happily, was not 9oaded, or the consequences might have been anore eerious. The police wer<* sent for, 'and Constables Juriss and Cameron appearing on the Bcene soon restored order. They «rrested a man named Frederick M'Ncil, and another who was too drunk to give his [p»me, on charges of assault, nnd speedily jjbdged them in the lock-up. Constable t^qftxen also took the injured win, whose

name was given as William Beeeanthum, to the Hospital, where he received medical attention.

A supplement to th« Gazette gives the complete returns of the areas under corn crops as on the 15th of October last. The areaii under wheat are: For threshing, 194,355 acres— an increase of 30,893 acres on the previous year ; for chaffing, ensilage, and feeding down, 900 acres— a decrease of 5112 acres. Oats: For threshing, 483,659 acres — an increase of 77,735 acres; for chaffing, ensilage, and feeding 1 down, 205,357 acres— an increase of 5849 acree. Barley: For threshing, 27,921 acres — an increase of 1407 acres ; for ensilage and feeding down, 2191 acres — a decrease of 4350 acres. The decrease shown thia year in wheat and barley under the headings "feeding down," etc., is said to bo due to the fact that last year, on account of the dry eeason, a deduction was made from wheat, oats, and barley in the areas returned " for threshing," and added on to " feeding down."

A private message from Glenorchy states that a successful ascent of Mount Earnslaw was made on Sunday by Mr Aitken (of Paradise) and his daughter, who were guided by Mr Jamce Wilson, of Glenorchy.

The Arthur Street School Committee on Monday discussed the question of postponing the school break-up for the regular annual summer holidays until after the New Year on account of the unsettled weather earlier in the £cason, but no conclusion was come to on the subject.

Mes=rs John'lToote. George W. Mason, and Donald Munro were on Monday nominated for the vacancy for Blueekin Riding in the Waikouaiti County Council. The poll takes place on Thursday, 19th inst.

For the four-weekly period ending January 31 the railway revenue amounted to £100,026, and the expenditure to £64,179. For the corresponding period of last year the revenue was £88,240, and the expenditure was £59,264. The railway revenue for the 10 months of the financial year totals £1-,612,311, against £1,543,197 Jast year, and the expenditure amounts to £1,120,957, against £1,047,709 for tho corresponding period of 1902. The section which has earned the largest amount of revenue during the 10 months is the Hurunui-BlufF, which is credited with a revenue c-f £827,259. The next highest is the Welling-tcn-Napier-New Plymouth section, which eanißd a revenue of £423,304. The total number of passengers carried on all sections during the 10 months was 6,202,699— an increase of 271,780 over the figures for 1902. This iii exclusive of season tickets, numbering 95,947, an increase over the pre\ r iou3 year of 11,918. The sheep carried during the 10 months numbered 2,669,244— an increase of 803,364 over the figures for 1902; cattle show an increase of 17,098. The quantity of wool carried totals 87,830 tone — an increase of 11,779 tons.

A number of fabulous statements have appeared iv the press ao to large fees paid to Professor Lorenz during his " bloodless" campaign in the United States. According to the Journal of tho American Medical Association he ia reported to have^aid: — "I gee it reported that I have made in this country 160,000d0l (£32,000). Now, as a matter of fact, I got one fee of 30,000d0l (£6000) in Chicago, and in the four months I have been here I have earned just 30,000d0l (£6000)." Whether this somewhat cryptic utterance is to be interpreted as meaning that Professor Lorenz received in all £12,000 during his stay in America, or that he got nothing more than the fee for his treatment of Mr Armour's little daughtej, k a matter which concerns only the distinguished surgeon himself. In any ca^e, the British Medical Journal points out, £6000 is a very fair fee even for crossing the Atlantic.

At a meeting of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce on the 4th a letter was received from the Lawrence-Rox-burgh Railway League inviting a rpresentative of the chamber tc accompany members of Parliament on a, trip over the proposed extension of the railway from Lawrence, so ne to view the nature of the country it will pass through. — It was decided lo thank the league for the invitation, and to request the president of the chamber to attend if possible.

The treasurer of the Free Kindergarten Association acknowledges receipt or the following subscriptions: — Mr J. A. Park, £2 2s; Mr James Gray and Mr Percy Hallenstein, £1 Is each; subscriptions per Miss Annie Rouse, £1 7s; W. B. Rnd Co. and J. R., 10s each; Messrs Thomas Finlnyson, H. E- Shackloek, Farra Bros., G. Ritchie, and A. D., 5s each ; Mrs E. F. Lawrence, G. 8., M. Merry, J. F. R., and J. R., 2s 6d each.