LOCAL AND GENERAL

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8334, 5 June 1905, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

At Hastings to-day .George Rtyfeeffi for the th-effc of a watch, was sentenoea to a month's imprisonment. :

The Amalgamated Society of Engi. neers and the Christchurch Black* smiths' and Farriers' Industrial Union of Workers have decided to joita the Christchurch Branch of the NW Zealand Political Labour League as a Union. . .

The secretary of the Political Labour League stated in bis report on Thursday evening last that the Amalgamated Carpenters' Union would hold a special meeting to deal with -th* <que»tion of joiniug the League. He should have referred to the Canterbury Carpenters' Union, and not the Amalg*- • mated Carpenters' Union.

A syndicate" hafe parbhkfiftathe NeV Zealand rights of the . Mephan-Fergu-son patent locking bar steel jpipd. -Eiis ts the pipb that the Coojgardie water costing three millions, wae earned out with. The intention" ,(s to «rect works in one or other of ihe large centres. The patent rights of the pipes were recently taken up in, the United Kingdom by a Bjwwrfjil company m London, . and Carnegie has taken them up for: America.

A faulty system of giving death certificate* was objected to at Sydney a few days ago by the City Coroner. He said a document, purporting to be a statement by a midwife, that a efiild had been stillborn, is handed to an undertaker. He buries, as a toattejrx>f course, without prior or subsequent , registration, and' there the matter ends. The law doea not require him to, and as a matter of practice he does not, verify the document in any particular, and for all he knows, the stateurients therein may be absolutely fatee, and have emanated from the most disreputable person in the community. He does hot know of any easier or safer method of disposing of children wlio were born alive, but who were liot wanted.

Admiral Fanshawe has been taken to task by the " Sydney Morning^ Herald" for his suggestion that Australia; and New Zealand should between them pay the entire annual cost of the maintenance of the squadron of the Imperial Navy in Australasian waters, roughly stated at £440,000 a year, double what h now paid. "The Admiral," sayis too paper, ."is an Imperial officer, charged with, the performance of imnortant duties, but amongst these duties wo nowhere read the duty of advising the Commonwealth upon its obligations to the Empire. . .In 1905 the whole business was discussed, and as a result the Prime Minister of Australia and the Premier of New Zealand submitted proposals to their respective Parliaments which meant the increase of the Australasian subsidy t» the Nfcvy to £200,000 * year. Everybody knows that this proposal, was not easily carried in the Commonwealth Parliament, and it is reasonable' to suppose that if it> had been weighted as Admiral Fanshawe now suggests, it would not havfc been acoeptetT^at all. The reflate advocacy <}f larger,, subsidies frqisr'Au*tralla/ie not • without its danger.")^

--Captain -M'Kenaie, who toofc-*he steamer Herald to Japan aftw she Was purchased on behalf of a Japanese firm from the Union Steamship Company, and Mr Penman (chief engineer), returned to New Zealand by the Waikare, which arrived from Sydnej on Saturday. Mr Penman (says the " New Zealand Times"), states that the vpjage from Newcastle to Kobe, at which port the vessel Was delivered, occupied twenty-two days. He spent a week at that port. Everything was quiet, and i no one would suppose that a war was being carried on between Japan and" another nation. . There were no warships in port when the Herald naßde Kobe, but an ironclad flying the Japanese flag was seen on the passage between Hongkong and Kobe. The] return passage to New Zealand War not without incident. They returned by the German mailboat Prinz Waldemar, Which called at a couple of pott*. in German New Guinea: At the first a prisoner was taken On bdftrd, to be landed at the next port to undergo trial. The charge against the man was that he had killed and eaten aflbther man. When the mailboat arrived, at' Sydney, twenty-three Chinese? stowaways were discovered to be on boa,rd, though throughput the voyage , their presence had been unknown io .the officers or passengers. The final iilcident was the tempestuous trip experienced on the Waikare coming r>6m Sydney. Both Captain M'Kenzie and Mr Penman went : sooth; by tfie Waikare. . ' -V

: Curiosities in the fdrm oj quaint Ijetters are published in *^c i*r§is $f this colony from time to'^tifttey-^d&e''Will-ing one, forwarded by the ; PoisimaftterGeneral to the Department of Industries and Commerce (Says the " Netr Zealand Times") deserves a pUki*. in the prize-list of such odditiefi. 'The letter is from a resident .of ; lArpaiia, v Hii'mboldt County, California,; and reajjs as follows: — "Mr Post; MJiater, —Would you Bee kind a- nuff Torvln Forme Me How' I. will get a Copy of Tha. laws of yore Country and Please let Me know what tha will cost and let Me know wheare To Rite Fore y Tjiim. Well, Mr Post Master 1 hay© Bin Trying To Get sume .of our Biubijess Men to get Tha laws of, . yore Country Fore Me But Tha say Tha can't get thiro. I wood like To ho •why a ihan can't get Thirii. I Am; Willing to Pay Fore Thim. if Tha t^njfef': Cost Too of el mutch.. Our Couhtry w getting mitey hard heare : Fore Poto Peoples Our laws is 'all MaftetFtfit i Tha Capust Clas, and That Pore/ People haserit: got mutch Chance eriy more. Mr Podt Master, I -wood like To lire In a country- wheare Tha People i* halfway honest any way if icnld. I bant say that about tha People/ heare in North America. That People Heare ia geting*Terablo Bad Robing and.steil- 7 mg and mui'ding oiis anulihe: lam gating' TuraWp sick of Mi Natif dourftry.'/ Now Mr Pds^ Master, will yon please rite and Tell ine httw ..mill get a odpey of yore laws and how I can get thTm and please tell me how mut«ji tHQuev a man will haft To hare in -fas ndbke't Bee Fork if can land on your island: I will sintt you one of tha «#* Parley's Plat Formes JSiat Is Trying to «et in Power hare. Tim mitsj; excuse lit Bad spelling." This from frees inlightened America f v

I The latest word in the b'istbry. of precious stones is kunzite, a Califbfnian gem, whioh.has at length found its way tbLbjadbh. In colbur Itunzite is a beautiful peabh-pink. It is morfc brilliant than the topaz, and hjiS greater lustre thati the sapphire; indeed, an ! expert with a poetib iniagniatibn has ' described it as ." tie rose of iewds/' the gem exposed 4 tb X-rays becdmes phosphorescent, photographing itself upon a pise© of sensitised papef if .placed in the dark— a uniqufe property [ among gems. ,

During the month of May, fourteen births, three marriages and one death were registered at Lyttelton. The opening of the Temuka Maori Hall, originally arranged for June 15, has been postponed to June 20, his Ex- ! celleney tie Governor having agreed to open it at 3 p.m. on the latter date. k -The number of callers at the local Tourist Agency during May was 245, the daily average being nine. For the vine month of last year there were eight callers v por day, the total for the month being 207. A woman who had been locked up , Binoe Saturday, ou a charge of drunfcteiin&tfs, was brought before Mr J. T. Sric*, J.P.j at ..the . Lytteltoii Police odrt. this morning. She was treated Bii a ftnrt offender, and discharged with a caution. Amongst those inconvenienced by the non-running o^ the early New Brighton trains this morning was the Registrar of who, however, tackled the walk into town, and arrived at his ofec6 just as two applicants for marr&ge cortifiißates pat itj au appearisce. "-■> . ': ■ _ 'jk well-attended meeting was held at Tar«dale, Hawke's B&y, on Saturday Slight to cdriiider the Question of flood prevention, and a petition was largely Bjgned prating th© Government to take euch steps as will prevent a fe- , currence of floods, A deputation will shortly visit Wellington to urge the • matter on the Minister of Public Works. : At Auckland to-day James Regan, convicted of selling a paper named "Saturday Night," containing an immoral article,' was admitted to proba•tk>n under a promise of good behaviour and to keep the peace for two jrcari, an his own security of £100 and two other sureties of £50 each, not to publish or sell any ijjdecent or imnioral . matter. Fines of ss, with, £3 10s costs, were imposed this morning by the Wellington Stipendiary Magistrate in three cases in *hioh ehot)keeperS were charged with k^j^in^ fiheir greniisek open Contrary to the Shops and Offices Act. Dr Findlijjft who appeared for the Labour Dethat only half the Europeans And none of -the Chinese shopfc»ep3r* wkve complying with the law, whfch'lhe Department was determined to enforce. Sir. Stringer, in arguing at the Migikrate'a Court that it was intolerable that a private individual should be allowed to \ dictate to a schoolmaster -h6W to conduct his classes, said that if Btioh a course were adopted, one child would come to school labelled, " This child must not be. struck on the hand,'' ot "This child must not bo smacked,'* and, finally, a child would have to be labelled in the particular spot where it ooutd be punished. A meeting of the Lyttelton Electorate. No-License League (central body) was held in the We&leyau Schoolroom, Woolsfcon, on Saturday afternon. There Was a layge attendance pf delegates from various parts of the electorate. Mr J. Field presided. It wa£ decided to take .over tho liabilities, of those branches that had secured public speakers, also to accept the services of Miss E. Field «a lady' canvasser for. the electorate. ,' Mrs Harrison Lee's meetings were ap- ( portioned to different parts of the district. An 1 executive oommittee was apyointed, after which the meeting adjourned f*>r a month.