LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7675, 7 April 1903, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Mokoia, from Melbourne and Hobart, arrived at the Bluff this morning. Her mails wrill probably reach Christchurch %otnorrow evening. The Dunedin correspondent of this paper reports that legislation is to be introduced Wt session to mc-et the 'position disclosed by the judgment of the Full Court in the ttattersali's case. Captain Linn, Secretary to the Royal Humane Society of New "Zealand, has received an application for an awardl on betialt of Walter William 'Hurley, of Auckland. It is stated that he jumped off the wharf, and rescued a domestic help named Mary Rristowe from drowning. When the train from- Lyttelton was passing through the tunnel this morning a piece «of brick fell on to one of the carriages. The train wis stopped at the Heathoote station -Mid a trolly was sent back to ascertain if anything of a serious nature had happened. The train was delayed for about fifteen tainutes, and the southern express was also iield back on that account. At the Chriatchurch Magnetic Observatory at 9.30 a.m. to-day tne barometer ,«tood at 29.587. The maximun^ and minimum temperatures recorded during the preceding twenty-four hours were 71.8 and 44.6 respectively. /The maximum. 'tempera-ture-in- the sun was 124.0, and the minimum thermometer on the grass registered . 38.9. There was no rainfall recorded during 1 tbe previous twenty -four 'hours. A banquet will be tendered to the Pre--1 mier at Waimate to-morrow- evening. Sportsmen on .the Wairarapa complain of the dearth of stags with gdod heads. Ifc is alleged that the animals have been • destroyed wholesale, both in ancl out of season/ when quite young, and there is a general opinion among station-owners in the district that the Wairarapa will have i to be closed for deer shooting, for two or | three seasons, otherwise the animals will be killed off altogether. ( A somewhat exciting incident occurred' during tiho performance! of "The French . Spy" at the Opera House on .Saturday ' night' (saiys the Wellington " Post "). Some decorraitions on tlie left of lie stage caught; •fire and flared up in rather a threatening | manner. As the burning pieces ifell to the* 'ground, Miss Fitzmaurioe Gill phickily, and with cailm aesiuranoe, stamped them out) \ with hfitr feet, amd them, throwing up a ■ ligWfc «hawl she was wearing, Hi© flames still remaining on the scenery • Itself. The promptitude and pluck which «he displayed earned far her round after) 1 round of well-merited appkase from the gpdieace.

The partnership between Mr R. J. Paull and Mr G. W. "Venables, in the ownership of the " Wflikato Times," has been dissolved. The business will be continued by Mr Paull. So far 618 factories have been registered this year at Christchurch under the Factories Act, but 371 have still to be registered. Inspector Lomas has received instructions from the Department at Wellington to forward the names of proprietors of unregistered factories to the head office, with a view of prosecuting those who have neglected to conform with the Act in this respect. Those who have overlooked the necessity of registering are liable, under the Act, to a penalty of £5 per day for every day after April 1 during which a factory remains unregistered. The third annual report of the Royal Humane Society of New Zealand, -which has been printed and issued in pamphlet fonr, contains a number of interesting items under the heading " Humane Society Notes." ".WV very timmh regret to note,' says the compiler in one of these notes, " that our sister Society of the Commonwealth of Australia, with its headquarters in Melbourne, still continues to make awards in thin colony. We certainly think that our Society has' established a fair and just claim for exclusive control in the mat- ' tor of making awards for life-saving in our own tesrritorv. When the Australasian Society was established the Royal Humane Socieiv of England at once withdrew from Australasia and left the work to the new Society; we naturally expected the same courtesy extended to us. New Zealand is no part of the Commonwealth of Australia, «> that in a geographical sense the Melbourne Society has no grounds for forcing its awards on" New Zealand. Unknown to either Society, awards have been duplicated in at least one instance, and probably in more, and we have good reason to believe that the Australasian Society has been hoaxedi into granting a medal during the past year in New Zealand. This state of matters should no longer continue, and we hope that our friends in Australia will see their wav to retire from New Zealand."