LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7587, 22 December 1902, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

■ - -—^ j The Zealandia, which arrived at Auckland from Sydney to-day, brought 253 rams from Adelaide, consigned to Wellington. ' Mr Mackenzie, the member for Waikouaiti, is urging the Minister of Marine to set aip -a .Commission to. make full investigation .into the question of fishing by trawling on the New Zealand coast. The amount that Mrs Shaw, wife of William Shaw, a pensioner, charged on Saturday -with not disclosing all his wife's property, had to her credit at. the Post) Office Savings Bank was said to be £221, not £22, as previously stated. \ Last week the executive of the Sheepowners' Union and the Secretary visited Leslie Hills to make inquiries into 'the recent shearing, trouble there. The fullest investigation was made and a report will be laid before the committee of the Union. i ' Mr C. Ferrier, J.P., presided at a sitting of the Lyttelton Police Court this morning. Two men who had been, locked up sinoe Saturday were convicted of drunkenness and discharged. Hairy Gardiner and F. J. P. Hearn were each fined! 5s for keeping unregistered, dogs. I A big meeting of Maoris is at present taking place at Parihaka. Maoris have been flocking to Parihaka from Wanganui (in the south up to Te Kuiti in the north. iThe objectof the meeting is to hear a promised explanation from Tohu, who prophesied .that King Edward would never be* crowned, 'and who, after the Coronation, said that he would have "big things to say" at the /Christmas gathering of the Natives. • ' Petitions for a poll on the Greater' Christ(phurch scheme are now being circulated in the districts surrounding the city. In Lin,'irood' the petition is being freely signed, there being now sixty names attached to it. The canvassers have met with only one refusal to sign. In Bt Albans some forty signatures have been secured already. A petition bearing more than the requisite' 'number of names has been sent forward praying that that part of the Heathcote Road Board comprising the Beckenham Estate, at the south end of Colombo Road, jnay be included in Christchurch. Petitions are also being circulated in favour of the inclusion of tho more thickly-populated part of the Riccaiton district and of the northern portion o£ x L:nwood. Spreydon is favourable also to joining the city, and it is iboped that its wish will be given effect to. There has been published a handsome tittle pamphlet, embodying two • poems, entitled "The Old Order Changeth" and "Retrospect, 1 ' in memory of Bishop Harper. The author, whose identity is hidden under the nom de plume of " An Early ,Bettler," in the first poem describes a steep and shingly beach, whereon the .waves from wide Pacific break in snowwhite foam," the virgin bush and the simple life of the Maori, and then, when the scene is. changed, golden corn, glittering toofs and a contented people. The " Retrospect" covers the century from 1800 to X9OO, and in simple words vividly portrays the vast changes that have been brought) about in this colony. The poems have been published with the object of assisting the Cathedral Completion Fund, and copies may be obtained from Messrs SimpWi and Williams and Mr T. Crook. The pamphlet was printed at the "Lyttelton Tiroes" office. ■ The Registrar : General's return of vital statistics for November shows the numt>sr of births in the four chief cities of the colony, with their suburbs, to have been 'is follows :— Auckland, 140; Wellington, 94; Christchurch, 82; Dunedin, 110. Tho 'deaths duEjfig the month, with the proportion per thousand cf population, were: — Auckland, 83, 1.65; Wellington, 41, 0.83; Christchurch, 38, 0.83; Dunedin, 59, 1.10. {The total births numbered 426, a decrease of 58 on the number in October, and the deaths were 221, two more' than in the previous month. Eighty-se^en of the jJeaths, or 39.37 per cent, were "of children finder five years of age. Of the 83 deaths (in Auckland, 46 were of children under the •ge of five ; and of the Wellington deaths, tfel out of 41 were under five years old. Measles were exceptionally fatal during the month, no fewer than 26 deaths being Wscribed to this cause. ■' Seventeen deaths jwere due to pnthisis and eight to cancer.

Detectives Fahey and Quirke this morning arrested a young man on a charge of being an idle and; disorderly person. The Mokoia, from Melbourne and Hobdrt, arrived 1 at the Bluff on Sunday evening. Her mails will reach Christchurch tomorrow evening. Tho Templetcn branch of the Fanners' Union has written to the City Council protesting against the proposed alteration of the weekly half-holiday to Saturday. The Tai Tapu Dairy Company, after deducting working expenses, paid its suppliers the highly satisfactory price of tenpence < per lb of butter fat for the months of Octo- : ber and November. The display of fireworks to be made ab ■ Ly ttelton on New Year's Nighfc will bo ', superior to any yet made in connection ' with the Lyttelton Regatta. The fireworks are to be> more numerous and more attractive than oii any previous (New Year's Night. It is intendedl to have some illuminated boats and a lantern display. At the Palmcrston North Stipendiary Magistrate's Court, P. Pittar, manager of the "London Dental Institute, charged with wrongfully describing himself as a dentist, was fined £3. At the request of the defence the fine was increased to £5, and notice of appeal was given. The defendant used the term in an electoral transfer form which he had signed. There are now on view in the window of Mr F. Tucker, jeweller,^ High Street, two very handsome gold bracelets to be competed for on Boxing Day and N<p- Year's Day at the Phunpton Park Trotting Club's Summer Meeting: One bracelet bears a pretty scroll design in diamonds and sapphires, and the psher is ornamented with diamonds and rubies. Both are very well finished. • At the Christchurch Magnetic Observatory at 9.30 a.m. to-day, the barometer stood at 29.907. The maximum and minimum "temperatures during the preceding twenty-four hours' were 61 and 40 respectively. The maximum temperatui'e in the sun was ,127.8 and the minimum thermometer on the grass 33. There was no rainfall during the previous twenty-four hours, and the barometer was steady. The West Australian Government has undertaken to carry out an experiment in the direction of a State monopoly of theliquor traffic. Some time ago the Government was informed that several applications were being put in for licenses to sell liquor at Gw.alia township, near the Sons of Gwalia. mine, and that if the Government cared to start a State publichousd there it could have a monopoly. The Government has decided to do so, and a license has been applied for in the ordinary way.