LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10035, 23 December 1910, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

All the Canterbury trout rivers were reported to be dirty this morning. The weather was unsettled and gloomy this morning, the east coast of the North Island being the only blue pity area in the dominion. The post office clock had a relapse this morning, after being variously jvrong for a day or two. The bauds commenced to travel at 11.30, and went speedily round to 12.5, where they became exhausted until they were set in motion again. As a timepiece the 'clock has now lost the last shred of •whatever reputation for reliability it may have had. A somnolent and portly person appeared at tho Police Station this afternoon with all the evidences on him of a recent immersion. The water ran off his clothes aiid made pools while it was explained that his midday siesta on the river bank had been interrupted by 'his rolling into tho stream. He was fished out by a passer-by, and did not seem much the worse for his involuntary bath. i Yesterday Mr J. C Adams (chairman of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College), Professor Chilton, Mr G; H. Mason (Registrar of the College), and Mr R. Speight (assistant curator at Canterbury Museum) visited the Oass district and selected a site, opposite tho proposed railway station, and on the Board's Grassmere Rim, for a small building to be used as a botanical observatory. ' ! The election of officers of the Star of Sydenham Lodge was held on Tuesday. The result was as follows:—N.G., •Brother Kennode; V.G.,, Brother O'Connell; secretary, Brother A. I. de Boo; treasurer, Brother F. Webb. There was a very large attendance of members and visitors, as the biennial ( ballot for Grand Lodge had. to be held that evening. ;The result of the ballot .•will not be made known until tho end

of January. '"' The Tennyson Street Congregational , Sunday School's annual Christmas-tree entertainment was held last evening in the presence of a crowded audience. Presents were made to all children. fThe Rev W. J. L. Closs, 8.A., presided, and the following rendered musical and other items: —Mrs Holt, the Misses Edith Field, Belle Jenkins and Olwon Owen. The Scout troop, under [the leadership of Scoutmaster Boniface, 'gave a representation of ctmp life, depicting an accident witli first-aid applied. During the evening refreshments were handed round. I A complimentary letter was received fay the Wellington Harbour Board on [Wednesday from the Merchants' Association, thanking the Board ' for the Wompt- clearance of the cargo of the iftlarania on her recent call from Sydney. The Marama was specially put fon in Sydney for the carriage of what 'is believed to be the largest cargo of Mediterranean dried fruits —currants, sultanas, dates and figs—that has ever been sent to New Zealand in one vessel. The fruit arrived in Sydney from the Levant, and was there transhipped jnto the Marama. The Board received •the letter with manifest, appreciation |of -a welcome change from the somejtiraes adverse criticisms of its management. I During the past year a strong effort has been made to reduce the debt on ftnox Presbyterian Church, which at the commencement of 1910 stood at £1650. A systematic canvass amongst inembers of the- congregation and supjporters of the church, combined with the proceeds of a sale of work", resulted jn <sash and promises being received totalling £IB7B, the . promises made being all reducible by the end of 1911. !The Debt Extinction Committee is confident that the small amount of debt, Vet remaining, £72, will bo easily collected before the end of 1911. During \h& past year seventy-four members joined the church, membership. A deaconess has also been appointed, and she Will commence her duties early in the New Year. J Certain unscrupulous landlords are jinking advantage of the imposition of a Federal land tax to raise rents quite unnecessarily, says the Melbourne '"Age." A case in point has come under tho notico of the Minister of Customs, who has been given by a constituent a printed notice forwarded to the latter by his landlord. The notice reads as follows:—"In consequence of the Federal land tax it has become necessary to increase the rental of the (louse which you now occupy to £5 5s a month, such increase to take place from January 1, 1911, next." The rent pas been raised by 5s a month. As a matter of fact the Federal land tax Will not affect thab property, as it will be well under the £SOOO exemption. Even if the landlord owns a number of properties and comes within the scope pf the, tax, the £3 per annum increase Jn the rental is extortionate, and justifies the observation of the constituent (in bin letter to Mr Tudor:—"This is the way some of the landlords are using the land tax as a lever to increase their income." , I In briefly reviewing the operations pf the Wellington Land Board during Lhe present.year, Mr James Mackenzie Commissioner of Crown Lands, said thab he had made several trips to the North Island Main Trunk settlements, End. generally speaking, found the setlers in a prosperous condition. A pleasing thing was the confidence in the administration of the Board that had been expressed by the Crown tenants ne had come in contact with. Indeed, be could say that he had not heard a lingle grumble during the last eight or nine months. " But then," added the speaker, "times are now prosperous." Mr Mackenzie also paid a compliment jto the highly satisfactory manner in '■which the Crown tenants' representative (Mr H. T. Ellingham) had carried out his duties as a member of the Jioard. The latter, in returning thanks, remarked that when he first took his jeat on the Board he had laboured under the mistaken idea that unjust treatment was being meted out to the Crown tenants. Now, however, he was ifc a positio/i to say that the Board its tenants with every fairness land in a very creditable manner. [ A great many Victorian telephonist*, take advantage of the "conscientious icruple" clause in the regulations to ihirk Sunday work, and as a result Ihose who conscientiously perform their duties are imposed upon. Tho Federal Postmaster-General is no believer in Sunday work, but he objects quite as etrongly to cant and humbug, says an (Australian journal. In Mr Thomas's opinion, if a telephonist will not work lon Sunday he or she should not ride in W tram or train on the Sabbath, as that necessitates the employment of other people on that day. But there is no & consistency about the average person ith " conscientious scruples?' Several ,A the State deputies have taken steps |to ascertain how the " conscientious " telephonist behaves on the Sabbath. Of two male employees who always declined to work on Sunday one was found |to spend the day fishing, and the other jplayed cricket most of the day. Another employee who declared that his conscience would be outraged if ho attended the office on Sunday invariably fmt in the Sunday afternoon at biliards. Unless humbug of this kind Speedily ends the Postmaster-General .Intends to transfer the "conscientious " •members of his staff to small country exchanges which do not open on the jßabbath. ( Ladies with prematurely grey hair 'should try the Hemsley Burnet Hair Restorer. It restores the colour and at the same time promotes growth and Jceeps the scalp clean cud healthy. Insist upon being supplied_wii.il the genuine Hemsley Burnet Hair Restorer. I XlO7 "When your nerves are unstrungbecoming weaker every day—take Stearns' Wine of Cod Liver Extract— Eoothes the nerves—increases the lood supply—keeps you going full !*©#. ?

The wharves at Lyttelton presented an exceptionally busy scene this morning, when the intercolonial steamer Moeraki and the ferry-boat Mararoa brought nearly 700 passengers to the port. The Tarawera. which arrived from the south shortly after midday, was practically a full ship.