NEWS IN BRIEF.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 53, 8 April 1914, Page 10

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The Selwyn County Council has forwarded £lO to the Scott Memorial Fund. The general committees of the fund will meet shortly. The grocers of Christchurch notify that their establishments will be closed all day Friday and open all day Saturday to 9 p.m.—.7 It is stated that Mr H. de Latour lias been approved as the candidate of the Eeform Party for the Gisborne electorate. The sitting member is Sir Jas. Carroll. The Mayor has received from Mr C. Wickens, on behalf of two admirers of the "City Beautiful," a parcel of l)ulbs, in the hope that some small plot •may be embellished. The ex-students of the Normal School Training College have subscribed to give a Watkins Memorial Prize in memory of the late Mr Edwin Watkins, who had charge of the college for 35 years. Two infirm passengers by the Eemuera, which arrived at Wellington from London, will be required to - furnish bonds that they ( will not become a charge on the State" before they will be permitted ■to land. Eeports from Central Otago indicate that beneficial rains have fallen, but advices from Tapanui state that torrential rains are being experienced there, and floods are threatened. —Press Association. A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of Lewis Preston Dickerson, of Christchurch, billiard saloon keeper, will be held at the Official Assignee's ■office on Wednesday, 15th inst., at 11 a.m. At last night's meeting of the Sumner Borough Council, the Town Clerk reported that during the past month building permits to the value of £370 had been issued, making a total of £17,326 for the year ended March 31, 1914. Mr H. L. Eiseley, of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce, is expected to arrive in Christchurch early in May. He is making an Australasian tour, and by way of combining business with pleasure, is explaining the advantages of Bristol as a port. The Mayor stated to-day that he had visited the football ground in the South Park, near which the electric wire poles are being erected to bring in power, from ffhe Addington sub-, station. His Worship remarked that there-might be some inconvenience at present, but as it would be ten days before the season opened, every care iwould be taken to see that the ground was rolled down before it was required. The members of the Christchurch Working Men's Club recentiy fired their first competition in a series of five matches. Some 35 men took part, and good shooting was done. 'Mr A. Miles was top scorer in the A class, with 69, .and Messrs G. Brydon, Brackenege, and Hawker top scorers in the B class. The prizes for'the competition were donated by Messrs Fraser, Atwood, Drury, Morris, and J. P. Oakes. In the second competition held later, in the A class Messrs Oakes and Wells both scored possibles. / . The instruments for the newlyformed Christchurch Cadets' drum, bugle, and fife band are to arrive by the Opawa at Lytt6lton about Sunday next. The band will be able to get sufficient practice before the end of the month, and it is thought that they will be able .. to play for the big parade on May 2, when General Sir lan Hamilton reviews the cadets in Hagley Park. The cost of the instruments is over £IOO, and an amount of between £2O and £3O has yet to be collected. Anyone desiring to contribute should leave their donations at the office of Mr J. J. Dougall, or else communicate with him. The truant officer's report for the _year 1913 was received by the Education Board at its meeting to-day. In his report with regard to the employment of children of school age, Mr Blank stated that this trouble has lessened considerably during the year, though there are still some parents who are very desirous of all the assistance that can be obtained from child labour, being in many cases quite indifferent as to their children's -education. During the year some 3800 names were sent in and 172 cases taken into Court. At to-day's meeting of the Education .Board, the Appointments Committee reported that it had considered the letter from the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, asking that children receiving dental treatment should be allowed to attend the Christchurch Hospital during school hours without their absence from school being recorded against them. It was agreed to point out to the board that apart from the ordinary school holidays, children can attend for dental treatment on any day after 3 p.m., and also on Saturdays, without interfering with their attendance at school. The Board adopted this idea. There was general jubilation at the ■ast meeting of the Wellington Hotel Workers' Union over the winning of the six-day week from the Arbitration Court, and numerous small increases of from 5/- to 2/6 per week in the matter of pay (says the "Post"). The members present expressed special appreciation of the able manner in which the secretary (Mr E. J. Carey) presented the union's case before the Arbitration Court, and, as a special recognition of his services, extending over eight years in the office of secretary, granted him a three months' holiday on full pay « and a bonus of £3O. The assistant secretary, Mr H. O'Mallv, for the extra work imposed upon him during the Arbitration Court proceedings, was voted a week's holiday on full pay and a bonus of £5. Special votes of thanks were also passed to those witnesses who had given evidence on the union's behalf before the Arbitration Court.

Mr J. C. Adams, chairman of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College, together with Professor Wall, last year opened negotiations with the Governors of the Royal Holloway College, Surrey, with the result that an annual scholarship at that institution is open to women students of Canterbury College. In a recently-posted notice at tlie College, Dr Chilton, chairman of the Professorial Board, states that it has been arranged that the Canterbury College authorities shall propose not later thau May 1 each year the name <i a woman student who has put up an exceptionally brilliant performance in any of the subjects recognised in the honours examination in the University of London. The Governors of the Holloway College are prepared to award a scholarship worth £SO a year for three years to a student so nominated, and it is understood that the Board of Governors of Canterbury College will supplement the amount by £IOO a year. The estimated yearly expense at the Hollo- -> way College is £IBO, so the selected student would need £«JO in addition to the amounts provided-

The Labour Department offices will be open on Saturday from 9 a.m. till noon. At last night's meeting of the Heatlicote County Council it was reported that four building permits had been issued in Opawa, three in Avonside, and one in Cashmere during the past month. The respective values were £2215, £1357, and £540. '' The day is coming when people will not have New Zealand timber in furniture. It gives and takes too much. My own factory uses more than 50 per cent, of oak from abroad," said Mr S. S. Williams at the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce meeting on Monday. The position of officer in charge of the Labour Department in Christchurch, which was rendered, vacant by the death of Mr Carmody, has not yet been filled. Mr Donald, who was appointed temporarily, is on a visit to Wellington, and Mr Stringer is acting chief in the meantime. A fire broke out at Feudalton in a house by the old terminus at about 12.45 to-day. A motorman named Huggins, and a conductor, Barber, left their car, broke in the door, and were able to extinguish the fire. The fire brigade was not available, as the place is beyond their area. The report of the Normal School and Technical Committee, received by the Education Board to-day, set out that there was at present no systematic check upon the attendance of the primary school children at the manual training classes; it was agreed that a supplementary roll should be kept so that the head teacher of the primary school would know whenever a child was absent from the manual training centre. It was further decided to ask the director to make a note of the classes coming to the manual training centres without being in charge of a teacher. A meeting of parishioners of St. John's Church, Woolston, was held in the parish-room on Tuesday night to consider the advisability of raising a loan to re-roof, paint, and renovate the church, which is in a deplorable condition. There were between 20 and 30 present, the vicar in the chair. After a long discussion it was unanimously resolved to borrow the sum of £2OO in order to make the necessary urgent repairs. Speaking in support of a plea that a Presbyterian Church be built at Sumner, a member of a deputation which waited on the Christchurch Presbytery this morning, said that in the district there were more heathen than there were in some foreign mission stations. According to the census returns there were supposed to be 400 or 500 Presbyterians in the district. As a matter of fact they would be pleased to have a quarter of that number attending their services. The average attendance was only 25 to 30, although it increased in the holiday season. The maximum attendance had been 130.

'' The best tramway agreement that has yet been entered into in the Dominion," was the verdict of Mr W. C. Noot, secretary of the Wellington Tramways Union, on the new agreement between the Tramways Union and the Wellington City Council. The secretary went on to say that while the rates in Auckland for motormen and conductors exceeded those provided for in the new Wellington agreement by £d per hour, the conditions granted in Wellington more than compensated for the Auckland men's advantage, Which amounted approximately to only an additional halfcrown per week. A determined effort is being made by the Wellington Magisterial Bench 4o put down the use of obscene language in the public streets and the salutary sentence meted out to one offender by Mr D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., says yesterday's "Post," should serve as a warning to others who are given to profanity. Frank Maidment, who was characterised by Inspector Hendrey as a thorough "waster," was convicted of using profane language towards a constable, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. On a further charge of obstructing a policeman in the execution of his duty he was sent to gaol for a month, sentences to run concurrently. Mr James Conroy, a New South Wales mail guard, who some years ago received the Imperial Service medal in recognition of his public service, has had about forty-four years of continuous night work. He was a driver for Cobb and Company for ten years, driving fifty-six miles six nights a week, from Mittagong to Goulburn, so that he drove over 100,000 miles in the dark. While in the service of the Postal Department—thirty-four years —he travelled 250 miles every other night, 1750 miles a fortnight, 45,000 miles a year; and thus 1,501,500 miles in the thirty-four years; a distance equal to 107 times from Sydney to England, or 62 times round the earth, )r seven times further than the moon is from the earth; and iu all that time lie has never seen an accident, and has never been fined a shilliug.

At last night's meeting of the Heathcote County Council, it was reported that the roughest parts of the Dyers Pass Eoad, above the tramway .terminus, had been partially repaired; to make the roadway suitable for fast traffic would cost at least £3OO. It was stated that the Government had given a grant for repairing the road above Victoria Park, anil it was decided that an application should be made to the City Council for a grant towards the repairing of the road as far as the park.

The chairman, Mr G. Seott, at. last night's meeting of the Heathcote County Council, declared that the county should have a direct representative on the Christchurcli Tramway Board. At the present there was one representative for the Heathcote, Woolston, and Sumner districts, which was too large a district to be covered satisfactorily.. The board had promised that steps would be taken to ensure representation to the county. A motion that direct representation should be given was carried unanimously.

At the meeting of the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce Mr Jas. Reid said that New Zealand winter rabbitskins were of considerable value. The price per bale was from £7O to £9O. The fur of Australian rabbits was not very good, because it was so thin and dry. In the colder districts in New Zealand the fur on the skins was first class, and the export realised a considerable amount of money every year. In his opinion, it would be a good tiling if cabled prices were received from .France and England from time to time. The High Commissioner should also be asked to include the prices of rabbitskins in his cabled produce reports. The suggestion was referred to the council of the chamber to deal with. To-day's river report states that the rivers of the district are clear, with the exception of the Ralcaia, which is dirty.