LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 58

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

x " Strong representations have been made c by residents in the Lake Wakatipu district, y backed by petitions from local bodies, urging the Raihvay Department to conl - tinue the daily train and mail service with y Dunedin. d The interest of counsel engaged in the d ilomona cases does not flag. On Saturday, c owing to there being a fresh in th-e crock jjl now well known as Moynihan's Creek, Mr n J. MacGregor and Mr Beal, C.E., were on ii the ground all the clay. On Sunday there c was a. further rise of some sin or 6in in c j the creek, and the Momona settlers tolet phoned this fact into town, when Mr J. F. t M. Frasor and Mr Stark, C.E., went out 0 on the former's motor car, and spent the " day in the vicinity of tlw dam. The rise n on Sunday proved sufficient to block the J[ Slomona drainage J 1 Word has been received by Mr Bergamini £ (of the firm of Eorgamini and R«id) that a the troopers' memorial statue for Dunedin if may be expected to arrive here in a fort- '• night or so. A concrete foundat'on for the statue hss already been laid in the Southern „ Recreation Ground, near the corner of i- Princes street and the Anderson's Bay n road, and three steps are now being placed on the foundation. The committee (Messrs R. Chisholm, J. A. Park, and J. L. Sale mond) will hold a meeting shortly to fix a date for the unveiling. f A meeting of the Farquharson Subscripe tion Committee was held on Morwlay after1 noon, and attended by his Worship th& , Mayor (Mr J. Braithwaite), Dr Hocken, '. Messrs G. Fenwick, A. Marshall, G. Lawa rence, W. Henderson, W. Dawe, and the '- Rev. W. Scorgie. Repor'.s were handed in ™ as to the collections on behalf of the fund. ' It was decided to leave the fund open for f some time yet. A letter was received from Mr John Roberts offering to arrange for a ] special concession for Mr F&rquharson's passage. It was decided to thank Mr .Roberts for his offer.' The secretary stated 0 that already over £110 had been subscribed. b A handsome memorial tablet yraa placed 3 in the vestibule at the Otago Boys' .High 1 School on Monday afternoon to the inomory of the late William J. Dunbar, an ex-pupil. \ The tablet is of brass engraved, in Gothic - design and mounted on an ebony shied overlying a larger one of clear ' polished L ' rimu. The school motto, " Recti cultus g pectora roboraat," surmounts the text of 1 the memorial, which reads : *' In memoriam • William Joseph Dunbar, born at Milburn ■ August 10, 1583. Pupil of tho Otago Boys' High School, 1593-1902. Lcsfc his life by 3 drowning at Portohello, Dunedin, January i 19, 1906. This brass has been placed here • by his old school friends." The tablet is 1 a fine example of the engraver's art, and s was designed and engraved by Messrs i Moller and Sons, Octagon. - | A Wellington telegram states that i " Veronique " was produced by the Williami 6on's Comio Opera Company on Monday ! evening with sensational success before a • crowded audience, which insisted upon fn1 coring every item. Tlte season has so far [ eclipsed the former visit. The company is t certainly a very fine one. Mr J. C. Maddison, who was a passenger from Wellington by the Rotomabana, which arrived in Lyttelton on Sunday night, after a 22-hour journey down the coast, states isha.l the passage was the roughest he had ever experienced. The worst of tho weather ' was experienced near Capo Campbell. . Heavy green seas swept over the vessel, and . the stern was sometimes buri«d in the sea. ' The engines had often to be slowed down, so that at times the vessel hardly seemed , to move. The gale commenced to moderate , when tho vessel was some distance past Cape Cempbeli. Many of the passengers 1 had a- very bad time, but e\cry attention \ was paid to them by the ship's staff. Mr j Maddison expressed his admiration for the way in which Captain Stewart and his > officers and engineers Tiad handled the ' ' vessel. i A large and brilliant meteor burst in tlie northern sky at ebout +.48 a.m. on Monday, ' lighting up the Town Belt and the whole hillside for a few seconds. It apparently emanated from a point many degrees below the northerly terminus of the Milky Way, • and to follow an oblique course toward bh« earth, leaving a fiery trail similar to that ! of a large comet The swans in th« pond at Jubilee Park were much startled by the occurrence — and so were some of the late and early "birds" of the genus homo who happened to be abroad at the time. j Mr T. E. Taylor has (says the Lyttelton Times) received an interesting letter from ' Mr J. Barnes, a leading business man of Manchester, who comments. upon the progress of social reform in England. " I believe," he says, "that this country is "becoming more sober, and the working man is becoming more thoughtful." He thinks that this is due partly to tho temperance propaganda, but also to cheap 1 entertainments and to the facilities offered by the extension of tramway systems. He , . describes England as becoming a new , country, and says that trade, especially in Lancashire, is " booming." The cotton trade, he adds, was never so good as at present, and two or three more years of such prosperity would make some of the Lancashire cotton magnates equal in ( wealth to some of the American million- * aires.. He believes that there will be £

check next year, as mills are being run u]> , in, every direction, and the next problem' will be Want' of workers. Then it will b» the operatives' turn, as v there will probably be two situations for every worker. He cannot see how. Lancashir&'ccan possibly get trained cotton operatives to fill the situations in the mills now being erected.