LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7996, 27 April 1904, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

♦ The Moeraki, from Sydney, arrived a* Wellington this morning. The Selwyn .County Council to*lay received a circular in behalf of the fund for •the presentation to the battleship If/eur Zealand. The chairman said that the Coun--1 cil couH hardly vote the pubjic funds to such a purpose, the matter being one for the consideration of individual members. • The circular was received. , The Rev F. W. Isitt • addressed a large meeting held at Stratford last night to jfrotesfc against the removal of a license from Alton to Strathmiore. The Mayor presided. Resolutions were carried condemning the , proposed legislation of last session in th« . interest of liquor sellers, and protesting against eleven o'clock licenses, and also pro* testing very vigorously against the proposed transfer of* the license. Some opposition to Mr Isitt was shown. , A member of the Selwyn County Council stated this morning that the slaughter of small birds in his district had come to au . end, or nearly sb, because the price had been lowered. /When boye could get 9d 4 dozen for birds they were very wiiling.to ihunt the littte pests, but they would not take a lower price. He thought that the prioe must be raised, unless they could manage to import some cheap Chinese labour foi the destruction of the feathered nuisance. The Kaiapoi Borough Council estimates , for next year are: — Receipts £1612 3s sd, expenditure £1756 4s lOd, debit £144 Is sd. The borough will for the year be short of revenue to the extent of £40 by the loss of auctioneers' licenses, and a similar amount - from one publican's license less. Two loans of £1000 and £2000, still current, the one for six years and the other for nine years, must be paid off before any extensive scheme of concrete channelling can be undertaken. When the Selwyn County Council w«b discussing the question of the duration of the " small birds' season," a, member^said that in his district the official buyers had had to refuse £5 worth of birds on the day after the season closed. The local tody had expended all the money it tadcollected for- the purpose, but ofcher bodies had not done so. He understood that the boys who had the £5 worth of bird* had salted them down, and would convey them to other districts, as soon as' the season opened. The baxracouta appears to be an asjseti from the tourist paint of view. "We may '. mention," says the edit6r4>f the "Akaroa Mail," " that the barracouta affords us some of the most beautiful night views of the harbour. These fish follow . the shoals, of garfish and trevalli into the shallowest waters of the harbour. We have stood on the pier and seen the whole of French and Child'ren.'s Bays\ luminous with millions of the phosphorescent fish leaping in thousands from the water, like streaks of moonlight, in the endeavour to evade their insatiable enemies." At the meeting of the Selwyn County Council this morning, Mr G. Witty, M.H.R., remarked that the road from Riccarton through Hagley Park to the Hospital was getting into a "very bad state. The side channels were choked witlrjeaves, grass | was growing freely, and suckers from tho trees were causing, a nuisance. The rpaxJ itself was 1 a gooaone, but if it were not attended to before the middle of winter it I would 'be spoilt. He hoped that the ars Kangement between the City Council and! the County Council would soon be brought into operation, so that the road might be ; f •nrest'TVpA. > •

\ - """" ~ ' The garden fete in aid of the Phillipstown School piano fund will be opened to-morrow afternoon. Though continuation classes have been established at Thames, the Minister of ■Education has been written to! urging the necessity for the establishment of a fully equipped technical school. At a epecial meeting of the Selwyn County Council to-day a rate of one-tenth of a penny in the pound was struck for hospital and charitable aid purposes. The Jate last year was one-seventh of a penny. " "Shall I'Tead the section of the English law?" aßked Mr Johnston, at the Magis- I trate's Court this morning. "We have too i touch law already. I wish they would make j \ so that we could understand it," remark- j ed Mr Bowden. j News has been received at Thames to ike effect that several New Zealanders will joceupy responsible positions on the Gold Coast of, Africa mining properties, and also j *ev«sal good appointments ait Sumatra, one j ' Thames man receiving £1200 a year, and Another £1300. > j : 'A few days ago, the bucket-chain of the jclredge Manchester was stopped, and tlv& ..stock of a two-ton anchor was brought up with the buckets, which were partially prised off the lower tumbler, by it. No damage was done, but a delay of about twelve hours was caused. /""^ JH telegram, from Dunedin states that the •Trustees 1 Executors and Agency Company of New Zealand, Limited, reports a profit on the year's transactions of £2539, of ■: "whioh a half-yearly 4 per cent dividend has been deolared t and a bonus of 4 per cent, carrying forward £1000 to the reserve . • ; fund. ' > The House Surgeon of the Christchurch .Hospital reported to the Board to-day that iduring March 112 patients were admitted to fine Hospital, 114 were discharged and 9 jlied, leaving 91 remaining on March 31. jJThe number of operations performed under Weesthetics was 84, and there were 953 attendances in the out-patient department. Mariners are complaining of the absence of a light on Tuahine Point, the northern limit of Poverty Bay.. Such a light has been asked for for years, and the Harbour Board offered to maintain it if the GoVernment would provide the lantern. The light would relieve shipmasters of great anxiety in /making the approach to Gisbome in thick or dirty weather. At the Lyttelton, Police Court this jmorning aman earned Axel Wilhelm Bruse ■was fined 10s and costs, with forty-eig-ht hours' imprisonment in default, for hawing Ibeen drank. and disorderly on^ Norwich Quay. A similar penalty- was inflicted on Andrew Cogle, who had* behaved in a disorderly manner and had pretended to be drunk in London Street. Mr J. T. Brioe, J.P., was on the Bench. The Auckland Board of Education dis"^fcussed irifch much warmth the dilatorine^s fof the Education Department in Wellington Jn replying to the Board's urgent applications for grants, especially for technical education. The Board resolved to complain ■to the Minister, and to ask the InspectorGeneral to visit Auckland at once to ascertain the needs of tbo education district. Several members advocated the resignation of the -whole Board in the event of not receiving better treatment. A telegram from New Plymouth states that H.M.S. Psyche arrived there this morning. The officers a.nd men of the warship will take part in the ceremony of unveiling the memorial hatchments at St Mary's church to-morrow j, when the Governor, the Bishop of Auckland, the Native Minister, Captain Scott and the offiqers of the Antarctic expedition will also be present. The ceremony will be the occasion of a military display by the battalion. The officers and veteran officers will entertain liord Ranfurly at luncheon. Soundings, for comparison with thosa taken in February, 1903, have been made over the inner harbour at Lyttelton. The soundings are now being extended outside the moles, over the area connected with the entrance channel. The inner soundings indicate that between No 7 jetty and the entrance there has been no silting up, owing, no doubt, to the propellers of the large vessels periodically agitating the bottom water; between No. 2 jetty and jAe entrance the reduction in depth averages about one foot ; and over the remainder of the harbdur there are indications of a slightshoaling. . Mr Cameron, third officer of the MapourJka, pluckily rescued a young woman from drowning at Westport on Saturday. It appeared that the Mapourika was coaling alongside the Westport shutes when tie Ruby Seddon passed: by and caused' her to roll heavily. The young woman at the time happened to be walking across the gangway, when the shore end Df it swung loose and' precipitated her into Hie water. Attracted by the screams of the rfirl's mother t Mr Cameron rushed out of fcis cabin, jumped into the water, and resc^ed^ the young woman, who had already gone down twice. Mr Humphries, Commissioner of Crown Lands, sayg that the statement that he had arranged for the purchase of the Onawe Peninsula, near Akaroa, on behalf of the Government, is erroneous. So far as he snows, there 'us no truth in the assertion that the Government has decided to purthase the site for £400. Mr Humphries Visited the peninsula a few days ago, but Jnore as a private individual than as a Government officer. He saw a good deal of .. fighting in the early days in Taranaki, having served under the late Sir Harry Atkinson, and he takes a personal interest in Maori historical matters. Onawe" comprises about sixty or seventy acres. The trenches thrown up by the Akaroa Maoris to resist Rauparaha can still be seen. There was very little fighting on the spot, as the -wily northern warrior captured the' pa by strategy, entering it while the gates were thrown open to admit some of the Kaiapoi Maoris. The following statement shows the : . amounts of rates, collected for and expended on the destruction of small birds last - year by local' bodies in the Selwyn County : —Avon Road Board, £80 3s 6d (collected), ! £BB 12s 8d (expended) ; Riccaxton Road Board, £132j12s 3d, £41 3s 6d ; Templeton RoadflJoard, £83 4» 7d, £89 17s 7d; Heathcote Road Board, £90 3s 7d, 433 10s lOd ; HaWll Road Board, £62 19s 10d, £31 7e lid ; Spreydon Road Board, £19 0s 7d, £12 16s 6d; Tai Tapu tyjad Board, £21 0s sd, £11 11s lid; i/inooln Road Board, £60 6s 4d, £32 0s Id; Springs Road poard, £102" 11* Id, £62 8s 7d ; Courtenay Road Board, £143 ?s, £143 14a 2d ; Ellesmere Road Board, J8228 14s Bd, £215 5s 8d; Malvern Road Board,, £22 lls 2d, £25 9s" 10d; East Malvern Road Board, £25 3s 9d, £26 9s lOd; South Malvern Road Board, £16 7s ' 6d_ £11 10» lid, • Rakaia Road Board, £58 \la 6d, £49 16s sd ; ; . Lake Coleridge Road JJoard, £39 Qa lid, £31 10s ; Upper Waiwakariri Road Board, £11 Is lOd, £25 sa ; Soutihbridge Town Board, £5 6s sd, £5 6s.