LOCAL AND GENERAL

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8911, 24 April 1907, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The colonial mails which left MelH bourne on March 20 arrived in LondoiH on Saturday last, their due date. H Copies of Mr G. T. Booth's addresM on the Labour movement in New ZeaH land, before the Canterbury EmployersH Association, will be circulated tnroughH out the colony. H During the eighteen months that thH St Helens Maternity Home has been iH existence in Dunedin, 259 infants havH been born at the institution, includinH four sets of twins. H At the Feilding Magistrate's CourH to-day, a Chinaman was fined £1 anH costs for keeping a shop open afteH hours. To evade the Act he openeH a shop adjoining his grocery and frui^B store at nine o'clock on Saturday nighfH and sold fruit only. The MagistratH fiaid it was a deliberate attempt tH evade the Act. H Last night the Sumner BorougH Council of 1906-1907 eat for the lasH time, and signalised the occasion by b<H coming sadly tangled over certain nu_H tions and amendments. The firet m<H tion put forward on the subject i^Lu hand lapsed, and was substituted bH one in favour of a certain course of ac^M tion to be completed by the incoming ! Council. The chairman (Councillor j Wrenn) pointed out that the Counc^B had no power to take such a cours^H and he moved, as an amendment, tha^B the whole matter should be held ove^B for the new Council. The ameiidmsrß was rejected, and the original motio^B was carried, notwithstanding that it^B [ mover voted against it. The move^H then pointed out to another councillc^B the absurdity of the motion, and askeH for a recount, on the understanding thaHj his new convert would vote against tI«H motion at 'the recount; and upset tli^B former decision. This course did ncH appeal to the chairman, and he declh^B ed "to be made a fool of." TherM upon the two councillors became ser iou^H and begged that their names ehoulM be expunged from what they regarde^B as an absurd and ridiculous vote. On^B of them stated that he had not realised what the chairman's aniendmei^B meant, and he was now in favour <^H it. The chairman eventually agreeM to suspend the standing orders, rescin^B the motion, and pass hi* ainendmer^B to hold the matter over*

The "Wimmera, from Sydney, arrived Wellington this morning. Her ails will reach Christchurch early toorrow. Captain Edwin's weather forecast, legraphed at noon to-day, is as tol--5T6: — " Northerly strong winds to le ; glass fall ; tides high ; sea heavy ; in probably heavy." At Feilding, to-day, Christopher Rytn was committed for trial on a charge breaking and entering the premises A. D. Soott, of Halcombe, on April while the occupier was absent at his ther's funeral. The South Christchurch Rand will ay the following programme on the .tunda. Victoria Square, to-morrow ening :— March, " Will o' the Wisp" ; iltz, "' Passing Thoughts " ; selection, Bellini's Works " ; polka, " Midnight . vels " ; march, " Waldmere " ; interbzzo, "Queen Elizabeth": valee, Elsie " ; march, " Tintern Abbey " ; t^od Save the King." During March, 144 patients were aditted to the Christchurch Hospital, I were discharged, and 16 died, leavg 117 remaining on March 31. The uses of death were : — Cancer (3), gasi> enteritis (2), peritonitis (2),' mteslal obstruction, cardiac disease, stranlated hernia, marasmus, Bright's sease, diabetes mellitus, fractured is and ruptured lung,^ pyelonephritis, d pneumonia. There were 86 operams performed under anaesthetics, and 5 attendances in tne out-patient dertment. The care of the old West Coast Road er Porter' 6 Pass js a question that II exercises the. minds of people who efer the road io the railway. The Iwyn County Council recently sugsted that the Upper Waimakariri >ad Board should take charge of the 1 road, but it is not yet certain that s Board will undertake the maintence of so long a stretch of road. The ;rk of the Road Board, writing reatly to the County Council, stated at the Board would consider the prosal, but only one of its ratepayers is making use of the road; Mr J. Wilson Potter, one of the imbers of the Australian mail liners' hdicate, in the course of a letter to c English Press last month, said that c principal difference between tho oposed new steamers and those now lining on. behalf of other mail coniriies would be their greater capacity * cargo and lesser accommodation for ssengers. The new mail boats' anal accommodation for passengers kuld be equal to 8750 first and second _ss, as compared with 13,000 provided rby the' P. and 0. Company. This ping in space and extra size of .aniens-. Mr Potter points out, will oyide tor a larger cargo-carrying cecity, thereby securing a steady sight revenue. The Rev Goliath Joseph, Armenian esionary, who was refused admittance the Commonwealth at Fremantle, ed again at Melbourne, but the Cusms officers there found his stateHits conflicting. According to the Argus," he 6aid he was not going do church work in Australia, and c money he expected to make in istralia was not to be devoted to urch work when he got back home, here his home was, proved to be very certain, as Bagdad was mentioned one time and different places at anSier when the matter was reverted There is an arrangement by which ehbishop Clarke is notified from road when anybody connected with a Church of England in Asia intends visit Australia, but in the case of a Rev Goliath Joseph none has ared. The man is decidedly coloured, dis a Turk by birth. He is now in. . hands of the steamship company, be returned when he came. _n view of the proceedings of the Natation Conference, and of the corntint that more restrictions on British j ipping will be to the advantage of I _ unrestricted foreigner, the " Ars" publishes the following figes: — The tonnage of British shipig, including Australian and >w Zealand, entering the Comrawealth during January last ie 285,663, as against 98,153 foreign anage. Of the total British tonnage ,9y9 was Australian, 34,233 New Zeaid, and 21Y,431 "other British." hile of the total shipping over' 2s |>er at a foreign flag, the proportion considerably reduced when steamers me are counted. The total tonnage vessels under steam was 267,637, of lich 221,971 was British, and. .45,666 roigU, or about 17 per cent ( of t the bal. A number of the foreign sailing ssels are of the "tramp" variety, d arrive here in the busy season on c off-chance of picking up a load for rts off the regular lines.