GENERAL NEWS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14324, 14 October 1910, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS.

POWER FOB TIMARU. Mr Craigie, telegraphs a Parliamentary correspondent, has been assured bv the Premier and Minister of Public Works that the utilisation of water power at Lak-e Coleridge will be transmitted to Tiinuni. This will bo of great advantage to South Canterbury, and Tima.ru will be able to run ibs proposed train-car service on very favourable terms.

BANK CLERKS AND MARRIACE. The Prime Minister, replying to a question by Mr Noswcrtby as to whether the Government will introduce legislation to prohibit the banks from preventing their employees getting mrirricd before their salary reaches £2OO per annum, says that anything that can be done to foalp in the direction proposed will receive his hearty support. He will inquire af the banks as to whether tha PTSSent rcsslfliiiui. .is •

LOCAL FREIGHT CHARCES. To Mi* Craigio's question whetiieß tlie Minister for Kailuavs would consider with a view to rectifying tho great anomaly existing in the charges ior freight on frozen mutton between o:im;iru and Ounedin and Oamaru and Tiniaru. the Hon. J. A. Millar lias replied as follows: —Frozen meat sent from Oamaru to Timaru is charged at the ordinary classified rate for the distance it is conveyed. Meat consigned from Oamaru to Port Chalmers ia charged at a special rate of 15s per ton, which rate was inaugurated many years ago in competition with sen traffic. 'J'iie rate has not varied since that time, nor is it proposed to alter it. X regret, however, that I cannot authorse a specal p*ate beng applied to meat conveyed between Oamaru and Timaru, where no sen. competition lias over existed. The ordinary rate applies in all such cases."

POST OFFICE EXTRAVAGANCE. A sum of £2OOO has been Bet a parti for statutory for the exterior of tho new General Post Office, states the Wellington "Dominion." So far it lia3 not been decided whether local or. ioregn sculptors shall he entrusted with tho work of shaping these figures, which are to be placed over tbo main entranco to tho building in Featherston Street. There is, however, a. feeling in certain quarters that before an order is placed it might ha worth while making inquiries as to whether statuary is appropriate as ail exterior embellishment to a post office. One local architect fails to see why statuary is called for in the architectural scheme of tho General Post Office, which is to bo massively ornamented in solid granite. He suggests that if statues are to bo bought, tliey should be jilaced in tho Government House grounds, whore, in the general fitness of things, they seem to be required

THE LICENSINC BILL. There has been some speculation by tho press and by politicians about tlia Government's mind on the new Licensing Bill. "Will the Ministry push on witu the measure!"' is a common question. Enquiries made by a Wellington Post representative have brought replies warranting a belief that the Bill represents the Government's best effort in the interests of temperance. It is understood that unless the Government gets some substantial assistance from both sides ol the House to get the Bill passed this session no further licensing legislation can be expected before the 3xpiration of the present Parliament, whose ternj will ena towards the close of next year.

Somo members have an impression that an effort will be made in tba House to got a division of the issues of local and Dominion option, with the 55 per cent, prnciple to apply to local option instead of the existing GO per cent. It is stated that any movement of that kind will necounter much opposition. The new Licensing Bill was considered on Wednesday bv the Consultative Committee of the New Zealand Alliance. Progiinent No-license advo. cates from various parts of New Zealand attended the meeting, information concerning which is not at present available for publication.

THE MAN WHO SMASHED THE NAVY.

There died in London in August Mr. Sidney Nash Castle, of whom it is said that he destroyed more warships than ever Nelson did. Mr Castle ivaa

sliipbreaker, and was born in 1838, the year in which his predecessors ill business broke lip tile famous "Fighting Temeraire." He is stated to have broken ut> more than 800 ships with an aggregate tonnage of 1,000,000. These included such vessels as the Saucy Arcthusa, the Princess Royal, the Collingwood, the Koyal Albert, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Colosbus, the Camperdown, the tialatea (in which the late Duke of Edinburgh served 'is » midshipman), the Dido, the Gibraltar, the Duke of Wellington, the Algiers, the Hannibal, the Edgar, the Formidable, the Impregnable, with the whole of the class early wood-built armour-plated ships, the Ocean, the De-enrol), the Poyal Oak, the Enterprise, the Favourite, the Lord Warden, the Prince Consort, the Pallas, tho Caledonia, the Zealous, the Lord Clyde, and the T?epulse; and the Indian troopships Euphrates and Serapis. It was in the Serapis that King fadwar d VII., then Pri nco of Wales, made the voyage to India in 1875. Among the more recent ships which wore broken up by Mr. Castle's firm on the Thames were the Ajax, tho Alexandra, the Undaunted, tho Conqueror, the Swiftisure, and the Thunderer. Tho London premises of the firm at tho foot of Yauxhall Bridge are well known, and tho figureheads that adorn the gateways attract attention.