LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7947, 27 February 1904, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

! —^ — Fencing and other works at the police station at Waimate have been put in hand. The recent fete held in connection with the Avonside Church resulted in £85 being netted. It is understood that the PostmasterGeneral has declined to purchase any of GelPs telegraph instruments ior use in the colony. The contract for the drainage of the Kapua Settlement, Waimate, has been let to Mr Fogarty z and: the work will 'be carried out at once. Mr Hugo Friedlander, of Ashburton, has "been appointed the Christchurch Tramway Company's arbitrator in the negotiations which are pending with, the Electric Tramways Boards At a banqut-t tendered to Eim at Palmerston North last night, the Premier stated that the dairy experts had recommended Palmerston North as a site for the proposed dairying experimental school. Bush fires are raging in the country outside of Greymouth, doing a considerable amount of damage. At some of the sawmills work has teen stopped, and the mem engaged are keeping the fire back. Kokiri State School had a very narrow escape. >. The sum of £1140 is in hand for the building fund in connection with the Avonside Church. It is expected that by tme end of the financial year on March, 31, the sum will be increased to £1200. Altogether, about £1800 is needed. A committee has been appointed, and it is hoped that the work, of erecting the new building will be in hand by this time: next year. At the annual meeting of the Wanganui and West Coast Rifle Association held last evening, it was decided to- considerably increase the scope of the Association 1 and throw the annual rifle aroeetdng open to civilians, Volunteers and rifle club men throughout the colony. The intention is to institute a North Island championship, uver 100 competitors took part in the present meeting. A few days ago a little boy named W. H. Ahlers,/while playing on the beach .at Erskine Ploint, Lyttelton, picked. up a corked glass bottle, containing a piece of paper, on which were written in pencil the words: " My. address, Mr R. A. Bradbrook, 35, West India. Dock Road, Poplar, London, England. . . . finds this bottle and . . . .to me. I will be very glad to get a letter from Hay ward and Co., Adelaide." On the other side of the paper was written, "This bottle was dumped on May 9, 1901." The bottle was probably thrown overboard by some member of the crew of an outgoing vessel. At the meeting of the Educational Institute this morning, Mr T. Hughes said that the members had cause for pleasure in the result oJ the now familiar case of Mr Sturrock. Mr Sturrock was a teacher whose Board had tried to dismiss him, and he had successfully tested the case in the Court of Appeal. Then, the Board asked for a writ for his removal, on the ground that it wished to reorganise its boys' and girls' schools under one head. The writ had been refused, and Mr Sturrock had been awarded nineteen guineas as expenses. The result meant a great deal to all teachers, as giving them something in the nature of a claim to security of tenure. For about ten years Sir William Steward, with striking perseverance, has introduces the.Eleotive Executive Bill into the House of Representatives, and rejection after rejection has failed to damp his enthusiasm. He is as firmly convinced of the justice of the principle as ever, and B till believes that an elected Executive will remove nearly all the baseness from politics and banish the evil concomitants of party politics. In the present Parliament^ however, he has lost faith. He informed a reporter this morning that hft would not give it another opportunity of refusing to accept the great principle, and 1 would wait until a new Parliament was elected before he introduced" the measure again. "The Power of Gold" will be. produced by the Walter Sanford American flayers at tho Theatre Royal on Friday evening next. The play is an American production, but the 'scenes are principally laid in London. . The plot is set in a framework of stage pictures. The scenery wnS* painted by scenic artists in New York City to Mr Sanford's order for thus tour. The Christchurch season will be for"four weeks, it being found .necessary, owing to the expense of the company, to play in the larger towns only, therefore the seasons must be longer to fill in the time before the coinpa%jr opens. in Sydney. Several new and successful American dramatic productions will be produced during the season. . The organisation is at present appearing at: the Opera House; Auckland. The box plan is at Milner and* Thompson.'*

1 Forty-five majksmen will go from Auckland province to the Trentham rifle meeting. Sir Joseph Ward has received the. following message front the Colonial Secretary, J*i ji : . — " Provided no mare cases (of smallpox) occur, restrictions will not be imposed on passengers from New Zealnad." Mr Wyatt, representative of the British Navy League, addressed a meeting at Timaru last night, when a branch of the League was formed, and a 1 strong local cotaanittee was appointed. About 100 members have already been enrolled. At its meeting at Timaru last night, the Hibernian Society passed a resolution in favour of teaching Erse, the native language of Ireland, in the Roman Catholic schools, ■but a resolution to include the Maori language in the teaching was rejected. The Compensation Court at Auckland today gave an- award in the claim of Colbeck and M'Donald, on account of land taken for the Paeroa-Waihi railway. The claim was for £2922 13s 3d, and the Minister of Public Works offered £250. The award in respect of all items was £683 15s, with no costs on either side. A short time ago one of the missionary boxes at the Avonsid© Church was taken from the vestry into the avenue and rifled of its contents. An attempt has been made to force open the bW kept in the church for collections towards the building fund, but the attempt was not successful. The matter has been placed in the hands of the police. . * Amongst the estates of deceased persona finally certified last month were the following : — Christchurch : Samuel Goodman, £9931; Richard Westenra, £25,305; Sa-nnul Goodman (settlement), £3860; Samuel Medlicott, £6332; Henry W. Barrett, £1125 ; John Wilson, £2326; William Bishop, £1743 ; James Lane, £3114 j.John Cook, £2208. ' ■* ; Mr J. G. Gow, Chief School Inspector at Timaru, informed the local branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute that inspectors proposed to examine schools this year under tfae regulations of 1899. Immediately after examination each school would be expected to adopt the course of instruction now under consideration by the Education Department. Mr J. R. Charlton, M.R.C.V.S., received by last mail a radium apparatus for the treatment of artificial diseases in horses. The speck of radium is enclosed in a small platinum case, and is applied through the platinum to the part where the disease has appeared. Mr Charlton intends to use the apparatus next weak in a case he is attending to in the country. ' "Did you get a good pass?" — "That," said Mr L. Watson to-day, to the Educational Institute', "is the question that has been 1 the bane oi teaching. ' So-and-so only got one failure,' says the questioner, as if the aim and end of teaching is to avoid failures. The sooner we get rid of that idea, the soojier we shall become capable of educating the children as we are supposed to do." Mr T. Hughes informed the Educational Institute this morning that it is understood that the new syllabus will come into force on January 1, 1905. The InspectorGeneral wishes it to be well considered before it comes into force. The examinations for the present year will be conducted on the old lines, but the teaching will be expected to trend towards the new syllabus, not only after the year's examination, but even before it. The council of the New Zealand Jersey Cattkbreeders 1 Association met at Palmerston North last night. The balance-sheet since the formation, of the Association in April last, showed receipts £86 Is, expenditure £59 8s (a. The membership is forty : two. It was decided to hold the annual toeeting at Palmerston North during the winter show week there 2 and also to issue a second volume of the Flock Book next July. Summonses have been issued against nine Rangiora business men "for having 4 light and unstamped weights in use. It is said that one tradesman, when he heard an kispaction was in progress lost no time in purchasing a new set of weights, and waited the advent of .the inspector with perfect equanimity. His feelings can bs better imagined than described when the inspector seized the weights for being unstamped. The following is the statement of Customs duties collected at the port of Lyttelton during the week end4ng February 26:— Spirits £1101 '16s 6d, cigars, cigarettes and snuff £218 15s, tobacco £1031 3s 9d, wine £149 15s 7d, beer £26 12s, tea £50 10a 6d, coffee, cocoa and chocolate £9 11s, sugar, moi lasses and treacle £506 6s Bd, weight £230 • 11s 9d, : ad valorem £4280 Is lOd, other du- | ti«s £543 15s 6d, total for the week £8149 ! i 0s Id. > ' At the Christchurch Magnetic Observatory, at 9.30 a.m. to-day, the barometer stood at 30.303, and was steady. The wind was north-east, and .cloud (0-10) 0. The maximum temperature "during the preceding twenty-four hours; was 70.6, and the minimum 40.5. The temperature at 9.30 a.m. ■wag—Dry bulb 64.9, wet bulb 59.8, humidity 72 per cent. The maximum temperature in the sun was 119.9. , and the minimum thermometer on the grass 6'dA. The rainfall was nil. A man named Charles Rowley (says the Patea paper), working for the Wairoa Road Board, twenty miles behind Waverley, was brought into the Commercial Hotel on Sunday evening, suffering from blood-poisoning. On Sunday morning he, went out after wild honey. He felled a tree in which was' a bees' nest, and wasr attacked 1 by the honey-makers, receiving over twenty stings. His blood .being over-heated l at the time, blood-poisoning set in, his two legs, from) the knees downward becoming quite uselsss. Speaking to the Educational Institute this morning, Mr T. Hughes said that the ' joint conference of inspectors and teachers which met recently did) a good work in passing a resolution affirming that a code of rules should be drawn up for the guidance of inspectors. Wlhen the motion was proposed, there was a storm of opposition, but, if he. remembered rightly, ths motion was carried by fourteen votes to eight. " I believe most of the fourteen wers teachers," said Mr Hughes^ and thereat the assem- j blage of teachers laugihed heartily. At a meeting of the Hibernian District Board, held at Timaru last night, a resolution was passed, on the motion of Waimate, recording its appreciation of Mr Wyndham's Irish Land Purchase Act. Other resolutions ! included one in favour of the Irish, language : being taught in Roman Catholic schools; : and another that branches should be estab- ; I lished, if possible, in Great Britain and Ire- : land. Auckland -was -fixed as the next place •of meeting. The business close*!' this morning. Mr G. Little^ Auckland', was installed president for the ensuing year. j The secretary of the North Canterbury i branch of the Educational Institute stated 1 to-day. that the membership of the branch | was extremely small, as compared with the J number of teachers in the district. Auck- | land hod 378 members and North Canterbury only 170. The difference between North and South Canterbury was very mark- ■ ed, as only three South Canterbury teach- \ ers, three ladies, were niot on the roll of the ' Institute. "Recently," said the secretary, : " I sent a circular to every teacher in North Canterbury, and I did not get a. single re- ! Mr D. Lnmsden, secretary of the Canterbury School Comtoitteea Association, states that the country committees have been rather inclined to hold aloof from the Assodar tipn, and they say that their interest* are not the same as those of, the»town committees. He says that that fact makes the As- . sociation less powerful than' it would! be if there was more cohesion. He believes, however, that there is a, tendency now to break down the objection, and to offer a united' front to those who stand in the way of the reforms the Association is endeavpuring to bring about.

Sir William Steward informed a reporter to-day that Messrs Black and Sons had made a start on the contract on the Pukaki lakeside deviation road. The alterations to the Theatre Royal are now almost completed. " The carpentry and joinery work has been finished, aJid the pias- , tering a.nd painting will not occupy more than a few days. The Theatre will be reopened on Friday night next. In regaird to the patient who died at the Bottle Lake Hospital, Dr Finch .^states tnat the woman was sent down, as a small-pox patient, but while in the hospital developed typhoid fever. There were no other fever pitienta at the hospital. The woman was expected to recover, but she suffered a relapse and died. Nominations for the positions of officials and committeemen in connection with tna Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association closed to-ady. Mr Robert Reid, ot Darfield, and Mr M. Murphy, were the only nominees for the positions of president and vice-president, and they are therefore elected. For the general committee of twentyfour members, twenty-five gentlemen had been nominated, as follows: — Sir G. Clifford, Messrs C. H. Ensor (Mount Grey), W. Lawrie (Lincoln College), L. Wilson (Teddington), J. Hay, C. Lewis, M.H.R., J. Stevenson (Flaxton), J. Studholme (Coldstream), O. P. Hugonia (Cashmere), D. D. Macfarlane (Amuri), F. J. Millton (Methven), T. W. Adams (Greendale), John Deans (Riccarton), H. C. Peryman ,- (Tai Tapu), J. Duncan, F. Waymouth, J. Murchison(Lake Coleridge), A. W. Beaven, J. D. Hall, A Chamberlain, J. F. Wachsmann, J. Henderson (Dunsandel), J. D. Millton (Rangiora). R. A. Chaff ey (Amuri), , and G. W. Thomas.