NEWS ITEMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10830, 24 November 1906, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

It is interesting to note that, vi cci the Stamp Act Amendment Act, passed last session, the title of the Commissioner of Stamps is alterd to the Minister of Stamp Duties, and tlie Secretary for Stamps is m future to be styled the Commissioner of Stamps.

At a conference of delegates representing the unions federated to the New Zealand Typographical Federation held m Christchurch last week, it was decided to apply to the Arbitration Court for a new set of working conditions. The first case is to be filed m Wellington.

During the four weeks ending October 14th the passenger tickets issued on the •Wellington-Napier-New Plymouth section of railway numberd 196,243, as against 172,309 for the same period m the previous year. The revenue amounted to £48,168 10s 9d, as compared with £43,---421 8s 4d for the same month m 1906.

Captain M. Reston, who commanded the steam trawler Centennial, now considerably overdue, was a native of Lyttelton, and a son of the late Mi- Reston; who was governor of tlie gaol there m fhe sixties, and relinquished the position upwards of thirty years ago. He was at ono time m the service of the New Zealand Shipping Company, and" commanded the ship Waimea. He was afterwards chief officer of tlie s.s. Matauia, which, after he left her, was lost on the southern coast of South America.

According to a correspondent of the Wellington Post, signing himself "State Mine, Seddonville," the plant which was purchased at great expense for the purpose of making the fine coal produced at the State mine saleable is lying idle, and hundreds of tons of it are washed down the river. Further, the mine has only worked two days this month, ' and many of the men have been forced to leave the place. As the mine' is capable of producing an enormous quantity of coal of the best quality, he wants to know if tlie public interests are .being wantonly ia::-i---ticed to benefit private monopoly.

The profits on the working of the Wellington Rugby Union during last season,' according to Mr iS. Brown, chairman of the Management Committee, amounted to about £700. The intimation was made at a smoke conceit held on Wednesday by the Wellington Union. At the beginning of the season the union had a debit balance, and had to draw on its insurancv fund for the general account. Mr Brown also referred to tlie question of grounds, stating that he hoped tomake arrangements m the near future so. tluit there would be no hunting for first-class grounds.

Dr Valintine is still engaged preparing | his report on the cases of peripheral neuritis among the trimmers and firemen of the Rakaia. He remarked on Thursday morning that he had been looking up literature on the subject, but could not see any parallel cases. It is rather a curious fact tliat trimmers who were iv the bunkers shovelling and wheeling coal were affected to only a slight extent. The men who suffered more severely were the firemen who were sending the coal into the furnaces. Iv justice to tlie captain of tlie steamer it may be mentioned that as soon as he received information that the men were unwell he had them attended by the ship's doctor. Then when the steamer (reached Auckland the patients were examined by the port health officer (Dr Sharman) and' Dr Lewis. Tinally, when the Rakaia came to Wellington a message was sent through the siptain to Dr Pollen. j During the hearing of the appeal m j what has come to be known as the Tram Ticket Lottery case m the Wellington Supreme Court, very outspoken comments j were made by the Chief Justice on the ! prevalence of gambling. The defen lant, John Tait, had secured from the Corporai tion tlie sole right to advertise on tram tickets, and he publicly notified people j to keep their tram tickets, and the holders of certain numbers, at the end of each month would have £6 m prizes distributed amongst them. He was convicted of an offence aginst the Gaming and Lotteries Act, and appealed 1 on the ground J that the elements of selection and diligence entered into the scheme, and that the process of prize distribution was not one of chance. His Honor, who reserved judgment without calling on counsel for the Crown to reply, said 1 that nowadays I you could hardly do anything without gambling. You could not go' to a boat I race without seeing gambling ; you .ould I not go to a football match without seel ing gambling ; you could not have a horse race -without gambling, and now' it would appear that you could not ride on i tr; nicar without participating m a game of chance.

Tho Wellington Rugby Union made a profit of £700 last season. Following is the list uf visitors last week at the Hot Springs hotel, Morere : , Mr J. C. Clifford (Loudon), - Miss. E. M. 0. Bowen, Miss M. L. Bowen- (Turakina), Mv H. Hill, Dean Binsfield (Napier), Mr A. Frew (Oamaru), Mr R. W. Cook, Mr Fraser (Mahia), Messrs Irwin (2) (Whararata), Mrs Cyril White,; Mrs Jex Blake, Mrs L. T. Symes, Mr and Mrs AgnewBrown, Mr H. Lockie, Miss Brooke^Taylor, Mr L. Buscke, Mr Gordon Nolan, Mr T. J. Gredge, Mr H. Bousneld, Mr J. Campbell, Mr Broderick, Mr N. Redstone (Gisborne), Mrs Van Aspercuvander Velde, Messrs W. Griffin, J. McLean (Sydney), Mr and Mrs Peter Crarer and cliild (Wairoa).

A painful accident befel Miss Jennie Johnston, pianiste to the MacMahon Dramatic Company, at tho Wellington Opera House. When the bell rang for the orchestra, Miss Johnston, with a roll of music under one arm, and holding up her dress with tlie other hand, started to descend the steps into the cellar witli the object of entering the orchestral well through the trap door. She had descended thd-ee steps, when her foot caught m the front of her dress, and she fell heavily down the remaining fifteen steps to the bottom, sustaining severe bruises and an ugly injury to her forehead. Dr. McLean stitched up the wound and saw to the removal of the sufferer to her rooms.

Some months ago, Mr W. A. Graham, of the Waikato, who Ims long held the view that some parts of the North Island aye suitable for the cultivation of tho sugar beet, forwarded to experts m Ham. burg and Vienna samples of soils m the Waikato, for the purpose of ascertaining if beet could be profitably grown m that part 'id the colony. Tlie reports of the agricultural chemists m Europe consulted by Mr Graham are satisfactory, and Mr Graham 16 now urging the Waikato farmers to go m for cultivating the root. He has obtained about a hundredweight of beet seed from Austria, and will distribute it amongst the members of an association which lias been formed to start the indus. try.

We strive to keep the alien out, even with an insufficient poll-tax, but some pf him nevertheless appears to worm the way into our affections, and when he wishes to return to liis own country we send him forth laden with tokens of our sorrow at his departure. At least, that is how it strikes one after reading the following paragraph from a Timaru paper : — "A number of friends and customers of Charlie Ah Gin, the popular market gardener, met at Saltwater Creek hotel on Saturday evening to bid him farewell before he left the district on a trip to China. Several handsome gifts were presented to him, and Charlie Ah Gin replied, thanking his friends for their kindness. Ail wished him bon voyage."

A contributor to the Outlook thus enthuses about Dunediii: "To the North Island brother, Dunedin is a Mecca. His eye has looked sadly on rows of Avhite pine shanties, the ephemeral sawmilling hamlets of the bush: -here it rests on stately palaces, one stone upon another compactly built together to defy eternity. He has dwelt among a people of English traditions; here the street boy as lie passes vnder the window whistles "l r e banks and braes." He has worked where the Sabbath is profaned by the cricket .match ; here the University science professor carries his Bible m his hand to listen to that preaching of the Word which builds up unto salvation. He has been unchurched by sacredotalists who have- presumed upon their great majority ; here the cathedrals are Presbyterian, — the First Church dominates the city ; the Knox Church illuminates the suburbs ; and the back-country brother can sit m the noblest congregation of the Southern Hemisphere and hear its broadminded minister claim the intellect of the world for the obedience of Christ."

Some interesting remarks were made by Mr G. F. C. Campbell, a vice-presi-dent of the New Zealand Rugby Union, when proposing at a Wellington Rugby Union function the toast of "The health, prosperity, and success of the South African team," now touring Great Britain. He stated that the team included some members of the late Boer forces, who were playing m friendly contest shoulder to •shoulder with men who had fought for Britain. (Hear, hear.) "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin," and it seemed to him that one N touch of football makes the whole world kin. Most of them who had played football liad felt that spirit of comradeship, and it must be that foptball would bring about that .spirit not only m South Africa, but between nation and nation. (Applause.) They heard of football being played m France and America, and these sports of ours might exercise a greater influence on national relations than any of us thought of. (Applause.)

In his New Zealand chapters upon "Soldiers of the Common Good," m the November issue of Everybody's Magazine, Mr Russell, an American author, gives some attention to the restriction of hours of labor m factories and shops. He then puts this proposition and story to his readers : ' "Imagine the salesgirls m a great department store (m America) restricted by law to three hours' daily ovtertime m the Christmas season, paid for that at one and a half times their regular wage, and provided with supper money or car fare to go home ! But m the New Zealand stores you do not see those pale, thin, exhausted young women, struggling on with overtaxed frames and weary feet, that brighten for ns tlie merry Yule-tide. One morning when I was m the Pennsylvania anthracite region I arose early to see men (and others) go into the mines. It was a great sight because there were about fifty boys whose employment was a crime against humanity and the State law, and sowed the seeds of disease, ignorance, vice, and misery for all society to reap. I saw one man trudging off to labor with his three children. One walked on each side grasping his father's hand, and the third, being too little to walk at the required pace, was astride the father's neck. The oldest of these boys was eleven, and the youngest seven. I was told that the two older boys drove mules m the mines. And the boy astride his father's neck? Oh, lie picked slate. You shall see ho such sight as that m New Zealand, glory be."

Mr W. M. Hannay, general manager of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, lias returned to Wellington from a holiday trip abroad. He travelled via America, and his experience led him to think that the American Grand Trunk Line, and the Canadian Pacific Line were as good as the best of the British railways > In the C.P.R. workshops at Montreal they .turn out one engine per week, and over 14,000 waggons a year. Though he speaks highly of the American railway m most respects, he says he saw nothing to equal the best English lines, and the splendid way they coped with the traffic by rapid transit. Like Mi- Fulton, Mr Hannay 6ays tho motor 'bus has come to stay, though the .cost of construction and its adaptability to bad roads are matters that have not yet been finally solved. The motor 'bus is being used largely as a feeder to tram and train, and m the scenic districts some of the railway companies are using them for excursions m cases where it would not pay to run excursions by rail. The bad condition of most of the New Zealand roads will, Mr Hannay says, have to be considered m any attempts made to develop motor 'bus traffic. During his travels abroad, Mr Hannay studied the question of the electrification of railways. The system has not been adopted to any extent yet m Great Britain, though' there aro possibilities m the future. It is, he thinks, premature for New Zealand to adopt the sys. tern. Filially, Mr Hannay says tliat the New Zealand railway employes are .superior m eveiy respect to those m tlie Mother Country.

Mr J. E. Fulton, U.E., of Wellington, who has just returned from a trip abroad, was m 'Frisco at the time of the earthquake, and says wherever steel was used the buildings stood. A similar earthquake m London would have laid tluit city flat.- Mr Fulton, was impressed with the way the Americans run their railway lines. Their engines are powerful, the longest train seen having one engine haul, ing a load of 80 30-ton-trucks. This load of 2400 tons was m great contrast to our average loads of 400 or 500 tons. The Americans do not bother about show or polishing, the brass. and other fittings, but their engines do the work. Mr Fulton visited some of the leading engineering shops. The Americans do not work any harder than the British, but m the American shops there is a greater utilisation of automatic appliances than there is m British (shops. Mr Fulton says that motor 'buses are becoming more and more common m London, and that they have come to stay. They would be very suitable fo r colonial towns or suburbs where there aacr c not trams. Motor cars, however, he adds, are becoming a great nuisance m London. The main complaint against them is on account of the dust nuisance they" create. To such an extent has this nuisance grown that m some suburban localities the advent of the motor car has seriously depreciated the letting values of houses. On one point, Mr Fulton speaks with decision, viz., the municipal extra vaga.nce that has of late been prevalent m England. The various municipalities have been so lavish m their expenditure m the immediate pa6t that there is a danger of financial trouble jn store for them m the future. In contrast with the costly extravagance m Great Britain, Mr "Pulton is inclined to commend the more utilitarian methods of the Americans. He instances the Blackwall road tunnel under the Thames m England, made by the County Council at a cost of over a million sterling. It is splendid, and scientifically constructed, but there is not a very great traffic through it, and he doubts. whether interest will be paid on the money sunk m it. Tlie Americans would be content with a much less extravagant work. The same thing applies to railways. In England, railway stations, etc., are so solidly and well built that when they become out of date, tbe companies are naturally shy of incurring the great expense of making alterations.