LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9532, 22 April 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

/At nine o'clock this morning the Wai«! makaririj Seiwyny Rangitata and Opihf were reported as fishable, the Ashley* AsEburion and Waitaki as clear, an*" the Rakaiaas dirty. •, . . \ j ; A Press Association telegram fromJ Levin to-day says, that Mr Jbsephil - l£ ? Reavy died this morning. He waai eighty-seven yearß of age, and came to the dominion in the early days ahji^ . fought in the 65th Regiment in th» Maori War.'.'.. .'.■...'■■ .- ■.:•• • ;.,■-'' '■■■-. .■>K ; ; ', The annual meeting of the,Syden-J ham Public Library was held on Tues* day lart, Mr JB/ Jones; the president, being in the chair. The report and' " balance-sheet were adopted. Much progress has been made during tha year, and the balance-sheet showed sA very satisfactory financial position, th«j amount carried, forward being £20 10s! " -9d. . About seven hundred new, volumes have been placed; on thai shelves during the year, and the publio reading-room has been much improved I since the last annual sheeting. ." J The annual social in connection withr the Queen's Own Lodge, No. 3©. Pro- 1 testaht Alliance, was held on Tuesday night, and was a roost successful funo-'v tion. About 200 member's and friends were present. Brother F. H. Jones-, W.M., presided; and items were contributed by Misses Pritchard, Dulcid Hadderfield, Shelton, ' Kinnimonth,! Bell and Low, Miss and Master Ballantyne, and Messrs W; J. Horwell, E« . Shelton, E. J. Bell and Hj Voyce. Master Charlie Horwell gave a step - dance, and in, ai character sketch he took part with -Brother W. J. Horwell. Brother John! Middlefon, D.G.M., gave a short ad-) dress, in which he advocated the claims.- , of the Society and gave instances, of •;' its success .in New Zealand and Aosrj tralia. Refreshments were '£*jmdedj,[ after which a dance lasted until mid?) ; night. Mr W. H. Bettel was the ao*( companiat. . - - '• The New Zealand Institute has eri*j tered upon a scheme 1 to niake th» libraries of the various branches avail- • able for the whole of its members throughout New Zealand. The itfea ■/ is to make. a card catalogue of all the libraries,. and treat them as one,. .: la. order to prevent waste of effort and ; unnecessary duplication-, it is suggested that each branch should specialise! in some particular subject. , The Canterbury Philosophical Institute intends ( to specialise in \jrorkg relating to th« Antarctic. Wellington will specialise in the anthropology of the South! Pacific. The Manawatu Institute has decided to endeavour to specialise in printed books, . pamphlets, newspapers,! manuscripts, prints, photographs, plans, maps, and all things bearing 'upon the history, European and Maori, 'of tha West coast of the North Island and the districts of the Main Trunk line, but particularly the district from Wellington to New Plymouth, the mountain districts, and the Taupo oountryi The Dunedin and other branches will taka I up other, subjects, v Each special library will be available to members: of branches in all parts of the + dominion. It is expected that in this way * spme very, valuable collections will be made. The Council of the Canterbury Institute has already communicated with societies. Governments and individuals in different 'parts of the world interested in ; Antarctic exploration, and has received promises of assistance. ' : It is estimated that there are over* 700,000 cows in Victoria. Of these about 100,000, are in the 10,000 dairies which are inspected by Government officers. . Originally the Dairy Supervision Act provided for the departmental control of the districts immediately; surrounding Melbourne, Ballarat, . Gee** long, and. Bendigo, whence. most of tha,' milk used in these large centres of} population was obtained. Bat, in the* two and a half years during which the Act has been in force, the Government* control has been extended to other.; moire distant districts supplying milk-, to these cities, while many municipali-j ties have voluntarily requested the department to assume the supervision oij the dairies within their boundaries..* Now there are about ninety munici- . palities in which the Act is in operation, and the work of administration has required the establishment of an: important branch under the control of Mr S. S. Cameron, a well-known; officer of the Agricultural Department* 1 Over thirty veterinary officers and 1 * dairy experts are engaged in supervisfing all these dairies. That the Acji has already had a beneficial effect oni the milk supply of large centres, says the "Argus," is acknowledged by /all who are acquainted with its operation.! If they have done nothing else worthy of praise the Government' supervisors-' have been instrumental in destroying i over 500 diseased cows which ni«l being used on dairy farms*

. A R new shaft is now being forged in .Port Chalmers for the Mararoa. This : morning several engineers arrived from Dunedin to work on the, vessel. At a meeting of the Tai Tapu school fcotnmittee held on Monday evening, Mr B. Penlingtpn, of Darfield, was Selected as headmaster of the school. The secretary of tho New Plymouth Harbour Board has been advised by the chairman and treasurer, who are in London, that the Board's loan of £275.000 has been underwritten at 101, for thirty years, at 4J per cent. The annual report of the Auckland ' Sjjducation Board shows that there are 606 schools and 981 teachers in the district. Eight hundred arid sixteen teachers are above the rank of pupilteacher. The difficulty of filling vacan'cfes "with certiacated teachers has been intensified by the Education Act ; of lusfp year. The Canterbury College Christian tJnion has arranged for a number of lectures to, be: delivered by clergymen to members of the union-. The first — !of these lectures was delivered last evening by the Rev J. Mackenzie, to a Very large audience. The Revs Dr OBrwin, 0./ W. Carrington, and C. H. -Laws will deliver other lectures. A meeting of the General Committee that is organising a social gathering &pd presentation to- Mr W. W. Tanner ; was ield last evening. It was decided .-.that the gathering should be • held on Tuesday, May 4, in the Soot- " ' tish Society's Hall, ' Manchester Street. It was reported that Sir, Joseph Ward and various members of Parliament had consented to speak, and it was hoped that the Hon, D. Buddo would be present. . ;.-. ■ r At a nieeting of tho committee of the Canterbury branch of the Amalgal mated Society of Railway Servants, held last evening, the following reso- • lution was carried: — "That this meeting regrets the comments made on the Addington Workshops inquiry by the .■ Hon J. A. Millar, as reported in the r ■* Hawke's Bay Herald,' believing that . any such comments should have been withheld until such tint© as the report had been made public." MrR. M'Nab believes in hobbies. Speakfn^ in Timaru, he said that he wcruld like to see every man with a ! Hobby/ He was convinced that if a , f man's attention was concentrated in a | sufficiently j small scope, in three • ° ypars -he could get to the outside limits of human knowledge. ; It wag men • iwho specialised wEo added to the world's -store- ■of useful knowledge and not the men vrho were generally well informed:- i b ■'""■■A. conference of local bodies interested; in the asphalting and kerbing of the i. footpath leading from Ashburton to the Cemetery, Saleyards, Show! Grounds ' and Racecourse was held at Ashburton I on Tuesday. The following apportionment of the cost of the work, ap-. prpximately £170 3 was agreed upon:— Cemetery Board £60, Hampstead Town Board £50,, interested ratepayers half the cost of cthe asphalt and work opposite their properties, Ashburton County Council £50. -'. „ An amusing incident occurred on the Feilding racecourse on Monday afternoon. During, the running of the Feilding Cup; while the field wa3 on ' the> outer sid© -of ■ the course, a hare entered the straight .near the home , turn. With «ars down, it raced up the centre of the" course^ leading the horSee >y a good half-toile. Nearing r the' judge's box it raised its ears, and, '■. amidst the cheers of the crowd, dashed past the pbst and on up the po-urse ■, invttue racing «tyle. Reaching the trees hear thj9 bend, it turned m and ■^disappeared, > from view. w The mayor&f chain, a handsome piece fttf work consisting of nineteen links, vtsfith a heavy, centre medallion, was presented to the, , Mayor of Dunedin (Bsr M'Donald) yesterday. The links [in the chain were contributed by past • mayors, and the medallion by the Chamber of Commerce. A Piees,.Association tidegram states that the Investiture was carried^ out by Mr D. M'Pherson (president of the Chamber jof Commerce) and Mr James Gore (the oldest ex-mayor present), and > several ,jcongratulatory v speeches were made. ' Two youths, named Thomas Cox and Henry Cox, were committed for trial at Timaru yesterday oh a charge t pf xobbing. John Joseph Cremin of £2 10s in; Timaru on. the night -qf , April 13. The complainant, a resident of Waimate, gave evidence that he met the .two accused on the afternoon, of April 13, and they spent the evening in various hotels. ,\ The complainant was then induced to j*o to the railway' yards, where the two accused knocked him down'''; and took the money from his trousers pockets. Bail was fixed ai> ,«eioO each. At the Magistrate's Court at Rakaia .i on Tuesday, before Messrs C. A. V C. .'Hardy -and .L/ CXxley, J.P.s, Mary D'ayies pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a number of articles of clothing from Rakaia residents. She was ' sentenced to two/ months' imprisonment. David Seeler was^charged with the theft of a swag, rug and portmanteau from the railway platform. He j.Was convicted and sentenced to three months' imprisonment. One of the trittuMsses in this case, named H. Schwann, was: arrested as soon' as , the Court rose and charged with wife de- , sertion. J3e was remanded to New •Plymouth.* _•■:■'■. A swimming , carnival organised by the Can,terbnry Centre" of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association will be held at the Municipal Tepid Bath, Manchester Street, this evening. The half-mile swimming championship of and the first round of the i water polo championship will be decidled, and handicap races and a display of fancy diving are included in the Srogramme. Daring the evening Mr eorge Harris, president of the Swim- . ming Association, will present some Royal Humane Society's awards for ( bra very and a number of trophies and badges won at the last New Zealand (Championship meeting. The following promotions and transfers in the Post and Telegraph Depart(inent are announced by the PostmasJ ter-General :— Mr W. S. Furby, tele: i graph engineer, Wellington, to be tele-graph-engineer at Auckland, in place '.of Mr W. G. Meddings. who is being -retired as he has reached the age . limit; Mr Q- C; Robertson, telegraph •ngineer at Nelson, succeeds Mr Furby *t Wellington, and Mr H. W. Har•rington, officer in charge of the local telegraph office, is promoted to the position of telegraph engineer at Nelgon; Mr C. B. Mann, assistant controller of stores, is promoted to the -position of controller of'stores at Wellington, in place of Mr J. Black, who has been retired, having , reached the Age limit. ' i On Friday evening the pupils of the Tai Tapu school, and the ex-pupils of f ttie past four years entertained the of Mr A. C. Maxwell, who has resigned the headmastership of the school, at a farewell gathering in the school. The gathering was organised and managed entirely by the pupils and ex-pupils of. the school, .jtfttd was a great success. Miss A. jMaoartaey presided. Misses Gladys •nd Dorothy Maxwell were presented • with handsome silver-mounted pursebags ; Miss Vera Maxwell, with a gold "scarf pin; Miss Rita Maxwell, with a •girl's companion; Masters James and ' Douglas Maxwell with pocket-books and ! purses combined and substantial pocket knives. The presentations were Blade by Misses Macartney^ J. Ander■jra, A. Barnett and D. Heinzmann i gnd Master J. Michall. Supper was provided by the girte and a programme , of music and games gave all present !# T«ry, «njoyaTble evening.

The Mayor stated this morning that he had seen one of the tenants of the Council, who rented an endowment reserve in the country. The tenant had said that he was unable to get some fencing done that had been authorised by the Council last season owing to the fact that- there was no labour available. There seemed to be plenty of work in the country for able-bodied men. At tlie Lyttelton Police Court this morning, Captain Marciel, J.P-, occupied the bench. Daniel Macfarlane, charged >with having been drunk on Wednesday and with having used obscene language at the time, pleaded guilty to both' charges/ He, was convicteci on the first charge, and on the second, was fined. £2 and costs, with the alternative of fourteen days imprisonment. , ___