LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160737, 25 August 1920, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A sharp shock of eai thquake, lasting for several seconds, vas felt here at 10.'10 this morning - . Mr Justice Higgins stated in the Arbitration Court at Melbourne yesterday that he may be compelled to resign, and added: “As the Bill is now before Parliament, I will not make a further statement.”

During- bis visit to Tasmania, the Prince of Wales was presented by the Launceston Stock Exchange with a cabinet containing a collection of mineral specimens. Chief among these was a piece of Osmridium, which was stated by the donors to be nearly ten times as valuable as gold. Half the world’s sujiply of this mineral was from Tasmanian mines.

The dangerous practice of “speeding'* by drivers of motor cars has, according to the report of the i’etone Borough inspector, not lessened in spite of many prosecutions. During the last race meeting at Trentbam 45 offenders worn caught, and on the evening oi the final day of the races some %alf-dozcn cars went through the town at such an excessive speed that they passed cars which were travelling at from 20 to 22 miles per hour.

When a deputation fio m Hawke’a Bay waited on the Premier and the Minister of Agriculture recently in connection with the utilisation of the bequst of the late Joseph Howard, a promis’ was made that the whole matter would be reconsidered by the Government. Cabinet has since i art fully gone into the position, and decided to adlnro to its former decision, viz., to establish an agricultural college at Wcraroa, Levin.

Estate of the gross value of with not personalty .LfIUJMb, iia,s been left by Mr W. O. Gilchrist, well-known in A nglo-Ausii ralasia-n city circles. Among other activities, lie um a dime, tor of the Union Bank of Australia, Ltd., of the British and Australasian Trust and Loan Company, and of Messrs Dalgety. and Co. After Iko payment of a number of bequests to his wife and relatives, he lcl'l Iho residue of bis property upon (nut fo his four daughters. The duties on flic property at this valuation amount to about ■£128,000.

Aii .'implication for the payment or subsidy by the Borough Council .to the E'ducaiiou Board on behalf of the Tech' meal College was received at hast night'* meeting of rlio Council. Tor the lasi two years no application for subsidy had been made, consequently the amount, .£SO each year, lapsed. The Board now desired the Council to mak-A its grant retrospective, amounting in all to .filTiO, including the current year’s subsidy. Councillors explained that, the loss to the College would be greater than the amounts stated, for the Committee would lose the Governxaent subsidy on the Council’s donations. The Council decided to refer the request to the Finance Committee to ascertain whether it was j-ossibic for the Council to do as requested. Flat feet in children was the subject of a circular received by the Otago Education Board on Wednesday last week from the Department. The Department desired that this should be sent out to all school's. The circular pointed out that in all schools there is a percentaga of children who have, or who show a tendency to flat feet. This is to a certain extent a disadvantage io the one affected in going through life. It is, therefore, considered necessary that after every assembly the children should walk into school on their tip toes. By this means the tendency to flat feet will bo counteracted, and the children will become much more sprightly, by reason of the fact that the weight of the body will be carried on the hails of the feet rating than on the heels. The letter was received by the Board, and will be sent on as a circular to its schools. An offer from the Defence Department of a number of Gorman machine-guna has been made to the Wellington Eduction Board. When the matter came before the Board, the chairman (Mr T. Forsyth) said lie was not keen on the proposal. The guns were laying down in the old Tc Aro railway station yard, and were a sorry sight. They had the great cst difficulty in providing accommodation for the schools, and there was n<tb tho space available for those guns. Even if there wore, it was doubtful if it was desirable to place them in the schools.. The best course, seeing it was an offer, was to thank the Defence Department for their consideration and decline the offer. He moved in that direction. Mr E. P. llishworth, in seconding , the motion, said that while he had always taken a strong stand on defence, matters, lie did not wish to see the militaristic spirit encouraged iu the schools. The motion was carried unanimously.

The Postal Department has been 'advised by London that the s.s. Corinthic, which left on the 19th inst., via Panama, has mails for New Zealand. The Works Committee of the Harbour Board have approved of plans for the proposed wharf extensions at Castlecliff, and these are to be forwarded to the Marine Department for approval. The shortage of coal is once again having its effect upon dredging opera tions, rnd the Kaione is again out or action because the necessary fuel is not available. A claim on behalf of a resident was received by the Borough Council last night from a firm of solicitors, claiming 11 guineas for damage done to a furlined coat which, it was alleged, was caused by the negligence of some of the Council’s tramway employees. Last evening- the Borough Council received a claim through a firm of solicitors from Mr J. Wallace, claim' ii.g compensation for an accident which he mot with while preparing decorations for the Prince of Wales’ visit. The claim was referred to the Borough Solicitor. Shortly after 9 o’clock last evening the Fire Brigade received a call from Wanganui East. The alarm was no doubt duo to a bright reflection in that locality, being mistaken for a more serious fire, but was found to lie only burning gorse wdl outside the district. It is not often that bankrupts are able to pay 20s in the £ before obtaining their discharge from bankruptcy, but the payment of his debts in full was advanced by counsel on behalf of an applicant as grounds for a discharge from bankruptcy at the Supremo Court yesterday. Needless to say the appii cation was not refused. A stare was made yesterday with tha deposition of stone rn the training wall to be constructed along Mitchell s reach. It is understood that, in vievf of the difficulty of obtaining supplies of stone quickly, a different method of construction is to be adopted. It is pror.rw-d to build the wall of clay and groincs, to be faced with stone. A ovntle rebuke was administered by the Mavor to Councillors at last night's meeting of the Council. He said that ho had no lime to write letters to the papers in answer to councillors’ letters. He was quite prepared to give councillors cvcrv opportunity at meetings to discuss various questions before tbe Council, but he was so busy with municipal matters that ho had not time to reply to newspaper correspondence. An interesting (ani what some councillor.- considered vaa able) opinion upon t;:e rs of the Acclimatisation Sorb.tv over r.sh and water fowl in H-reuxrh re-fvc> was placed before the IN rough Council last night by the .rough Solicitor. The effect of the opinion v.' ; - that the ' ouncil lia.d mil C ( i trol ov-r all inuniripai reserves and domains. The Council decided to send p cr-T of the roinion to the Acclimatiking at last night’s meeting of the • Vi-.r-il. <‘r Burnett drew attention to i !>■-.- ;rvi! of. as seen as possible, brirur'iig down proposals for augmenting ■. v.ter supply. There was every poe-vi-tlof there being a shortage el v r this coming summer. Some j. -re 1 --.. ■■-<> a report from the Bcrougu upon water supply proposals w,i. referred to the Works Committee, but -o fathat Committee has not mads a i rr.org to the Council upon tie matter. Scrterco was passed at the Supreme Ccmt yesterday afternoon upon Robert Carlton Gray, who had pleased guilty to the theft of .£LS in money. H;s iloaoi 'seated that he regretted to say the accused had a brag criminal record and had been sentenced to many shore periods of im; visoiiment. An attempt made to reform him had failed, and there wxs nothing to be done but to sentence him to a '-uesfintial term of imprisonment. ills Honor imposed a sentence ox two years’ imprisonment with hard la tour. A communication was read at last nitrhiT Borough Council meeting from Hr Boston Art Guild regretting that th,. Council had decided to abandon it.- picture exhibition, and intimating that some cases cf pictures had been packed and despatched. Efforts had b---!i mad-- ;o i, ;i vc the shipment stop-j-.-il. Th,.- Guild had been to some es-p-.-u-e in packing the pictures, and as U had beau guaranteed its expenses in this matter by the lute Mayor, the hill lor this work would follow in duo course. The Town Clerk stated that the pictures were on tac way and that he had taken neccs-ary precautions to have them insured. The letter was referred to the Gallery Committee. A motion, defined by the mover as a Te.-ohiiion equality, was proposed by ( r. Donaldson at last night's meeting nf uiv Borough found i. it vas in eufwt that all but l -hors carrying on bnsiiK-.-s within the Borough be given f days’ notice to have cement ft ore ‘-d in td-ir -. in accordance with the by-law:; xaiiir.g compli-r-TiM; v.u’.j -lied notice, ikvnsis to bo car.celieu. In ;p-ahit g to his motion, Cr. Donald--n raid that a butcher had cotrmcr.cvd busin-ss in a suburban part of the- town, lie was willing to have his llv-r concreted, but could not get the Wei dote. 11:- was selling meat cheaper than his competitors, and in doing so had evidently incurred the hostility of the opposition butchers, who had brought pressure to bear on the Borough Engine:;- to rreu’-d the new mar# to have the concreting work carried out. In many i.v..-cs ihv.-c butchers did not have concrete flo-.rs in the if own shops. Or. Donald-on said that the shop was opened under tie- supervision of the Health Inspector, urn occupier was willing to comply with li.o ! y-laws, and he contended that it was unfair to make the laws apply re one man and not to the others. The Borough Engineer said the by-mvc wa- aifficuit to apply. They worked in conjunction with the Health Department, and had sent inspectors round to ali the shops. Notice was given to all to comply with the by-law, but as the Health Inspector considered hardship would result it was decided, as long as the premises were sanitary, not to do certain tilings, but to insist on observance as far as any now premises were concorned. On the other hand, Mr Gohns, Inspector of Shops, considered the licensing of the shops was ultra vires, as they were already licensed by his Department. Most of the butchers had cement floors in their simps. After a somewhat protracted discussion, in the course of which an amendment to refer the matter to a sub-commit Tee to inspect and report to the Council at next meeting Was cis. feared, Cr. Dcnaidson agreed to Lite' ids motion to react; "That all butchers be given'notice to have cement floors placed in their shops, failing compliance the Council to consider the concellation of their licenses.” This motion was carried.