LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7892, 23 December 1903, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

■'. - • ♦ ■ ■_■ The Waitaki, Rakaia, Rangitata4nd Wflimakariri Rivers are fisfhable. A man was arrested by Detectiv«^'Ooßnel to-day on two charges of false pretences. A purse, containing some money, which, was left on a shop counter, has. 'beei handed to the police, who seek the owner. A 'telegram from Pahiatua states that the dairy industry is flourishing there, and there is an abundance of grass everywhere. Members of the Selwyn County Council stated this morning that the.lark was one of the most injurious of the. small birds, although the Government had not declared it a noxious bird. :-f Mr C. R. Suisted, f-ormerly'ol {Jig Union Steamship Company and the Christchurcti Meat Company engineering departments, haa been appointed an additional inspector of machinery. He is at present an engineer on the coastal steamer Aorere. There, seems to be same doubt as to th* operation of the law in regard to compulsory closing during the holidays. MrJ.Lomas, Inspector of Factories, states that all shopkeepers must close their places of business on the afternoon of Thursday or. Friday, ,from one o'clock. Christmas pay and New Year's Day are holidays under tihe Factories Act, and all young persons under eighteen years of age, and all females, must be <paid! for those days, as well as for the afternoons of Boxing Day and January 2, The Woolston Brass Band will play tne following programme on the Rotunda. Victoria Square, to-morrow evening: — March, . "Roll Away Bet" (Ord-Hume); conw* solo polka, "The Amateur" (Greenwood) } „ selection, "Un Ballo in Maschera" (Verdi); waltz," "Syringa"; song, "Tlie Lost Chord" (Sullivan); lancers, "Songs of Britain " (Rapps) ; fantasia, " The Sunbeam" .(Greenwood); march, by request, " B Band CF " (Ord-Hume) ; air. vari^ L " Adeste Fidelia " (Aum) ; " God Save tb? 'King."

* '-^^^^rrr,;:: ■ Upwards of eleven thousand photographs •f scenic subjects, and relating to Maori, art ■nd people, have been sent out by the Tourist Department during the- last fifteen \ months. In connection with the Congress of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, the Railway Department) ■ is issuing return tickets at single fares to lour members of the Association. These ticketß vrtLl ba issued 'up to and including January 6At to-day's meeting of the Hospital Board the .house surgeon reported that during November 124 patients were admitted to the hospital, 118 weve discharged Rtid 7 died. Fjfty-«ight operations were performed under an»Btheties, and there were 805 attendances in the out-patient departmaut. The matron of the Christchurch Hospital wported to the Board to-day that Nurses GUI and Irvine had completed their training and would leave at the end of tha j month. The former had taken a position at the >Otaki Hospital, Nurse Welsnwin was tteooramended for a place on the permanent staff, and Nurses Maeliu and Boott were recommended ior promotion. Misses Campbell and Bowman were undergoing their, three months' trial. At the Cbristohurch Magnetic Observatory at 9.30 a,i», to-da? the barometer stood at 30.121, and~was rising. The wind wtu north-cart, and.elewd (010) 10. The maximum temperature durhV^ the preceding twenfcy«four hours was Ta.aTaijd the minimum A 7.9.. 9. The temperature at 930 a.m. wi»~-D*y bulb 57.9, .wet bulb 52, humidity . 74 per cent. The maximum temperature in the sun waß 140, and the minimum thermo- •:' meter on the grass 40.1. The rainfall was nil _ . Sir Joseph Ward has sent the following • ■• telegram to Professor Klotz:— "I heartily „ qpngratulate you upon tlw : cou6B.m,mation of th« ini|>Qrtanfc work that you have been env gaged in at Doubtless Bay. It as very satisfactory to know* that Wellington and New Zealand are now joined to the chain carried by Canada from Greenwich to Australia; and I 9m only too pleased to know •• Uiat the officers of my department have ex- , tended to you such services as call for the complimentary remarks contained in your telegram." ' . Mr A. P. Gairdner, an iron expert from Melbourne, arrived at New Plymouth last week in connection with ironsand matters. He called on Mr E. M. Smith, M.H.R., who gave him what information h« required!, and also showed him hi* exhibition of mineral products and manufactures. Mr Gairdner (says the "Herald") has made arrapgeEoenta to »hip ten tons of Sand to Melbourne, where it will be treated fey his firm's new plant,, whiohy it is claimed, will be able Ho r su,ocea?fuUy smelt the stand from a commercial standpoint. It is understood Wb , principals have put in an application for lease- of some miles of beach at Mokau. A remarkable letter from a woman, residing at Newman was read at the meeting of " the Wellington Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals* on Monday. " The .'following is an extract: — "I am desirous to know if it is the right amusement for boys at the age of twelve to seventeen years v to sit at the station on Sundays and catch birde and cut their toes off and *kin them alive and let them go again to seek their living. I should like to know if such things should be allowed to go on? . . ." Several members were horrified when they thought that such a state of affairs existed, ■' but others received the letter with <( a grain Qf salt. 1 ' The matter was allowed to drop wh«n the secretary stated that he had replied asking the informant to ascertain the names of the boys and report them to the Constable of tlje district. Under the heading of "A Sequel to the Tour of the New Zealand Band," the London "Daily Chronicle" of a repent date states.:-^' Mr J. Henry lies is making some unpleasant reVelations regarding the visit to England last spring of the band from • New Zealand, which was conducted by Lieutenant Herd. It was understood that £3000 had been raised in the colony as a guaran- . tee fund, but when the thirty imreiciana , : Handed at Plymouth there was only £150 ready for. immediate expenses. Their sufferings would have been great but for the faot that Mr lies provided them with, board and lodging for three weeks. Unhappily, the members of the committee of manage.- «£ pent were not on particularly friendly terms with' one another— a state of affairs which naturally hampered hid. in managing the tour, and consequently it is not -surprising that'the visit was a financial failure though «n artistic suocest." ; Among the subjects to be discussed it the twenty-first annual meeting of the New Zealand Educational Institute, to be held at Nelson on JanuairA 5 and following days, are: — The adoption\in all education ' , districts of uniform regulations for the appointment and promotion of teachers. Primary schooV teachers to have the right to elect one member, not a teacher, to each Education Board. The Government- is to . , foe urged) -to offer greater inducements to •■..-. young men to enter the teaching profes- ';■■ sion, and to make provision for the moife efficient training of teachers by the establishment of Normal schools in 1 " the four centres, and' the adoption of a colonial scheme for the instruction and training of pupiMeachers. The Department to be asked to prohibit the publication of inspectors' reports, and to publish in the annual report a detailed list of teachers and: the exact total- amount of salary paid for each position during the year. Thatowing to the epidemics prevalent during the year 1903 the Department be . a6ked %o substitute the average of 1902 in schools and) staffs where staffs and^ salaries would be unfairly reduced. That the powers of head teachers in reference to the disposition of their staffs be N deflried. That the Bystem of centralising country schools be considered with a view to adoption. The ( Hawke's Bay Institute proposes — "That, as all other tranches of the public service axe efficiently managed from the bead Departments, the Minister be asked to introduce legislation' to abolish both Education Boards and School Committees." The same Institute recommends the introduction of religion in public schools^ both on religious and educational grounds. Other subjects on- which recommendations have been, made ace, that teachers' Saturday class season tickets be restored; that schools and asylums be established for children mentally weak ; that support be given to .: the petition for the establishment of a school of dentistry; and that the rule in the New Zealand University calendar, where tinder one year in a. Normal school is regarded «* equivalent to about ten years' ordinary teaching experience, foe revised^ __________^____