LAST NIGHT'S NEW ZEALAND NEWB

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10959, 30 April 1907, Page 1

LAST NIGHT'S NEW ZEALAND NEWB

(Per Pre_-i Association.) AUCKLAND, last night. The Minister for Marine -has directed the holding of inquiries into the recent collisions m the harbor of the steamers* Rotomahana and Kestrel and of the Kanieriand Dawn. The Hon. George Fowlds has presented to the Auckland Art Gallery an oil painting of his father, the late Mr M. Fowlds, which was hung m the Art Gallery at the late New Zealand Exhibition. The picture represents the late Mr Fowlds m his hundredth year engaged m weaving "blankets. A meeting of those engaged m the Auckland oyster trade was held to-night. The opinion was expressed tliat the system, of opening beds m sections was detrimental to the industry. Tlie. closing of the Mahauangi beds for the last six or seven years had- resulted m the death of a large number of oysters through clustering, and it was believed the same thing would happen at Wailieke and other ' places. Tlie beds proposed to be opened by the Minister would not give a fortnight's fishing ' to 'the whole of them. 1 The beds were better for a periodical ; thinningr o-t. It was resolved to wait on the Jlon. J. A. Millar m connection ; with the matter. i At the annual meeting of the Taupiri 1 Coal Mines Company this" afternoon the 1 shortage of railway trucks was referrei to. It was stated that the output dming the past year would have been a least 10,000 tons more had there beei sufficient trucks. It was also stated thai a petition to the Minister of Railways was being promoted asking not only that more waggons be provided, but also thai engines of larger size be employed on .the Waikato line, it being, asserted that the present engines could hot bring full load/up some of the steep grades between Mercer and Auckland. A shareholder asked whether the directors had considered the question of providing their own tracks, but it waseiplained that the" Government did' hot allow this to be done. At the inquest on the infant child of Mrs Moslem, found dead' m bed on Sunday morning, a verdict of death from heart failure, due to lymphatis, was returned. Dr Inglis said such, a cause of death was extremely rare. ' The quebtion of making instruction m marksmanship and military drill compulsory m .universities and public secondary schools and Government assistance towards the establishment of minature. rifle ranges throughout the colony was urged on the Hon. George Fowlds, Minister for Education, by a deputation from the National Defence League of New Zealand this afternoon. It < was also suggested that the ,(_overnment should include instruction m rifle shooting as one of the subjects under the Mamial arid Technical Education Act. It was pointed out that as the .303 rifle was being discarded . at Home it would be a good opportunity for the New Zealand Government to purchase, say,. 150,000 of the old issue for the use of this colony. In reply, Mr Fowlds said that some of the questions raised did not come within the scope of his department, but he would be. very pleased to put the matter before the Ministers concerned. He thought it a good tiling that the youth of the colony - ishould be taught to shoot, but he looked askance at any compulsory prdposal, believing that better results could be got from a volunteer than from a pressed man. He felt favorably disposed towards placing miniature ranges within the reach of every boy. The_ question of including rifle shooting as a subject under the Manual and Technical Education Act was one on which he was riot prepared to commit himself at once. All the representations made would be carefully considered by the Cabinet. A deputation from the Engine Drivers' Union waited on the Hon. J. A. Millar, Minister m charge of the Inspection of Machinery Department, to-day with re^ ference to the, award xuider which the union is working; Mr Banfield pointed out that owing to the large number oi exemptions under the other awards, very few members of the union worked under their own award. The result was. that the union was of very little use to its members. He .. suggested that an, amendment; should be made m tlie law", whereby, oil the expiry of existing, awards, all engine .drivers, no, matter where working, should come under, the operation of their own award. The Minister pointed out that m the case of steamship and engine drivers a special certificate was required, and an exemption was therefore necessary. With regard to other cases, he suggested that the union should make an application to the Arbitration Court when the awards of the different trades came up for renewal, for the exclusion of engine drivers from the separate awards, so that they could come under their own . award. Mr Banfield said that such an application had, been refused at Waihi a fortnight m-eviously. The Minister , pointed out that this was probably due tVthe fact that : a separa te certificate was required under tlie Mining Act. The deputation stated that tliey would adopt, the Minister's suggestion. News has been received from Sail Fran-, cisco of the death of Captain. ,H. G. Morse, formerly of the Alameda, aged 75 years. '_ NEW PLYMOUTH, last nightMr W, F. Massey addressed a very large audience at the Theatre Royal, dealing principally with the land question, but m view of the bye-election he touch* ed on general politics. A motion- was carried m favor of the optional tenun being included m any Land Bill. There are three candidates now m the . field for the Taranaki bye-election : Messrs '; H. Okey (Opposition), E. Dockrell (Government), and W. G. Malone (Independent Liberal). The campaign opens on Wednesday! and. promises to be short and sharp. MASTERTON, last night. Nurse Hall has issued writs against the proprietors of the Otego Daily Times and the Taranaki Daily News, claiming damages for alleged' libel ' m connection with statements made concerning the death of Miss Victoria Howell. WELLINGTON, last night. Tho Cbnciliatfon Board sat to-day to hear a dispute m the timber workers' | trade. During the proceedings, Mr Grenfell, secretary of the Employers' Fede- ' ration, asked the chairman whether Mr ■ Andrew Collins, who had signed the apj plication for reference of the dispute to , the Board m his capacity of secretary to tlie Timebr Workers' Union was the same gentleman of that name who occupied a seat on the Board. The chairman replied m the affirmative. Mr Grenf ell thereupon expressed the opinion that it was contrary to custom, and liardly compatible with justice, tliat a man should occupy a judicial position and at the same time act as a secretary to an employes' union. As secretary of the Timber Workers' Union, Mr Collins could not, m this dispute, be other than a partisan. Mr Collins asserted that he had taken no part m drawing up the claims. He was an honorary officer of the union, and drew jno salary. There was nothing m the Act \ to stop him sitting as a member of the I Board. The representative of the union, said Mr Collins had nothing to do with , the men's claims. His signature to the : application for the hearing of the dispute i was required by the rules of the iinion and the Act. The chairman said the mat- ' ter was ono for the Legislature to deal with. WESTPORT, last night. Vice- Admiral Sir Wilmot Fawkesmadc a round of inspection of the Westport harbor' works to-day and m the afternoon visited the Westport-Stockton Coal Company's mine, and was tho guest of the company at dinner. He afterwards inspected the Westport Coal Company's binns at GranityV and went on to Denniston, Avhere he is staying for the night, with the intention of going over the Ironbridge section of the mine to-morrow morning. While out viewing the harbor works the Admiral was impressed with the possibilities of a large bay on the west of the Buller river, "and enquired whether it was not a more practicable harbor than that proposed at Point Elizabeth. CHRISTCHURCH, last night. At the Magistrate's Court to-day, a woman named Mary Hyland was fined 20s for practising palmistry. Robert Ferguson was committed for sentence on a charge of uttering -a forged school certificate, which made it appear that he had passed the fifth standard. The accused had made use of the certificate when applying f o r a position on the railway. A charge of attempted murder against , Hans Wilson was dismissed without pre- ' judice, as he had been committed to the , Smtnyside Mental Hospital. ! Trouble is being experienced by the officers of tho Government iv collecting the fines imposed by the Arbitration Court on the slaughtermen who went out on strike recently at the Islington and Pareora freezing works. A number of the men have paid up, but some of them decline to pay or to make what is considered a reasonable effort to meet the fines by instalments. Every effort has been made t 0 have matters satisfactorily settled, but m a minority of the cases without avail so far. It" isj very probable tliat at the next sitting of the Supreme Court at Timaru and Christchurch the defaulters will be cited to appear before the Couit to show -easm why a writ of attachment should not be issued against them. OAMARU, last night. Some time ago the police made a .aid on the houses of several Chinese market gardeners, who were suspected of koeomg opium, and the cafiea came before the

Stipendiary . Magistrate to-day. Charlie Gou, who pleaded guilty to opium smoking, was fined £10 and costs, there having been a previous -conviction. Hop Lee pleaded not guilty to opium smoking, and also pleaded not guilty to permitting opium smoking m his house. The first charge was dismissed, and on the second Hop Lee was fined £5 and costs. Ah Hong pleaded guilty to opium smoking, and Was fined. £5 and costs. Sing Quong pleaded guilty to a charge of opium smoking, and was fined £5 and costs. The same defendant was then charged with having opium m hh? possession, to which he pleaded not guilty, and the charge was withdrawn. Hong Goon, on a charge of having opium m his possession suitable for smoking, was fined £5 and costs. The fines and costs totalled £40 3s. INVERCARGILL, last night. The total insurance on municipal properties m Invercargill is £20,193, the premiums amountinjrtb £238 per annum. The- theatre rate is oOs per cent. Among several novelties ' t6 be introduced into the programme, of the coming winter show is a competition for farmers' boys, open without restriction, for the best collection of dairy, agricultural, and pastoral produce. -\. . At a meeting of the Southland Trades and Labor Council the delegates expressed themselves favorable to the recent action taken by tlie Minister for Labor to enforce the provision of the Factories Act re the Saturday half-holiday. J By a public meeting called by the Mayor at the request of the Employers' I Association, held to-night, it was resolved to protest against the proposed enforcement of the Factories Act^as regards the Saturday half -holiday!" * ' Mr Hanan, i M.H.R., who was present, was requested ' to take steps to secure an alteration of! the Act, and it was decided tliat a copy of the resolution be sent to the Minister ; of Labor. Mr Hanan expressed biur^tf m fayor of a universal Satur.Uy half, holiday, but under the :oiroumstan;es advocated a district- referendum on the matter. .;.;.' .-'■♦ The Southland Trades and Labor Council, agting on. the suggestion frbm Taranaki, has decided to take steps at the beginning of next season to form a union of workers m milk, cheesy and butter factories m Southland. DUNEDIN, last night. A party of City Councillors and others went out to Waipori. Falls to-day to inspect the works aud to' witness the Mayor, Mr Lawrence, turning on the electric power generated there by_ hydraulic machinery. The power station was reached and the party spent two hours m going ' over the works. Mr Goodman explained the machinery. By way of experiment, Air; Goodman turned on the power of one generator, the circuit being closed at Halfway' Bush, and ran, the other generator as a motor., Luncheon was served at the men's barracks, -and various toasts were honored. In the afternoon the Mayor (who m the morning had laid a marble slab suitably inscribed to Commemorate the occasion) turned on the power. „ (Special to Herald.) Dredging returns: Sandy Point 40ozs, Rise and Shine 39 and 25ozs, Enterprise 25ozs, Electric 24 and 21ozs, Perseverance 15 and 15bzs, Hartley and Riley 15ozs, Notown Creek 50ozs, Blackwater River 12ozs. Quotations: Blackwater River, contributing, seller 14s _'_'d ; Enterprise. 4s, 5s 3d ; Hartley and :Riley, buyer 12s 6d ; Perserverance, 2s 6d, 5s 6d j Notown Creek; 9s 6d, lis; Pactolus, buyers 27s 6d; Rise and Shine, 14s, 15s; Sandy -Point, ; buyer 20s 6d. The Molyneux river is 10ft aboye normal at Alexandra.