IN THE DOMINION,

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 8, 19 August 1908, Page 5

IN THE DOMINION,

Gangs of men have been employed in divesting Auckland of her festal attire. Auckland retains the Ranfurly Shield, having beaten Wellington by 24 points to 3. A great scarcity of feed in the upland country in the Wairarapa has resulted in a large number of stock dying of starvation. A man named Ellis burst a blood vessel on the Waikaia railway works on Monday when going to work, and died very shortly afterwards. A Timaru footballer, while playing in a match here, had his jawbone broken. He was attempting to collar an opponent round the ankles. The other player's knee struck him in the face. The fever ward at the Wanganui Hospital was destroyed by fire on Sunday morning. Eight patients and a nurse who were in the building escaped in safety. In all, 14 cases of desertion from the battleships were reported to the Auckland police. Eleven have been accounted for, and the other three are supposed to be “lying low.” A resident of Balclutha received an unpleasant surprise the other dav on unpacking a bicvcle which he had ordered from a British firm some months before. The machine was intact except the tyres, which had been almost entirely eaten off. Searching for the cause, a dead rat of large size was discovered within the packing case. An exclusive diet of rubber had proved too much for the rodent. News from Westport states that e-pera-Hons for the re-launching of the T-aviuni, stranded on the south beach at Westport, are proceeding. Heavy upright lengths of timber are being fixed to the side of the vessel, which lies embedded in eight feet of sand. The jacks will be attached to these lengths of timber, and the vessel lifted, to enable the skids to be placed under her. This part of the operation will probably take from one to two months. When the vessel is on the skids it is intended to repair her. so that she may be ready, when re-launched, to immediately resume collier duties. Mr J. Daniel, of the Union Company's Wellington repair works, is superintending the whole of the work. On Saturday night the visiting Pressmen were entertained by the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Institute of Journalists to dinner at the Tiffin. About sixty were present, including representatives from every part of the Dominion and from Australia. After an excellent repast was partaken of, the evening was devoted to song and story, and a right merry time was spent. Those who contributed to the programme were the Unique Quartet (Messrs. Abel Rowe, A. G. Fogerty, Geo. Pelham, and Jas. Lonergan), Mr Arthur V. Carbines, Mr A. S. Reid. A number of toasts were honoured during the evening, which was brought to a close by the singing of the National Anthem and “Auld Lang Syne.” In proposing the toast of “The Government Fleet Commissioners,” Mr T. Courtney (“Sydney Daily Telegraph”) referred in appreciative terms to the courtesy of the Commissioners in providing a suite of rooms for visiting Pressmen. The New Zealanders, he said, were a nation of born entertainers. He agreed with the American Pressmen when they said that the Maoris were the aristocracy of the coloured races, and he would go further, and say that the country which brought this about in the Maori was going to produce the white aristocracy of the Southern Hemisphere. He referred in eulogistic terms to New Zealand journalism, which he said had reached a very high standard. New Workers' Homes. Tenders have closed for the new workers’ homes to be erected at the Lawry settlement, Ellerslie. Twelve residences are be erected and there will be five different designs. The tenders received) varied from £5Oll 10/, the amount given by the successful tenderer E. A. Hitchfags, of Wellington, to £6024.

The Ha we a Disabled. The Union Steamship Company receiveb a cablegram from their Sydney office last week, which stated that the Hawea had her tail-shaft broken on July 30. During the first 24 hours after the accident the vessel drifted lldeg. north and 35 miles east. On the second day she drifted 9deg. north and 30 miles east. The second and third officers and a boat's crew left the Hawea at noon on August 8, 45 miles south-south-east from Ball’s Pyramid, and landed at Lord Ho wo Island. The news apparently was then conveyed by steamer from Lord Howe Island to Norfolk Island, and thence cabled to Sydney. Captain Todd, of the Flora, who is now out in search, proposed to visit the Three Kings, going from there towards Norfolk Island, and thence zigzag to Lord Howe Island, continuing to Newcastle. The following of this course should enable the Flora to find the Hawea. The Rakanoa has been despatched direct from Auckland to Norfolk Island, and other steamers have been instructed to keep a look out for the disabled vessel. In reference to the removal of its nolicense advertisement from railway stations, the Waimate W.C.T.U. has received the following reply from the Minister for Railways:—“lt is entirely optional under Mr Barnfield’s contract, for him to accept or reject contracts, and the Railway Department cannot interfere.” The union passed a resolution stating that it strongly protested against the continuation of the contract under which it is possible for the liquor partj- to dictate to the people of NewZealand as to what they shall read on their own State railway premises.” A Plucky Rescue, When the steamer Monowai was being tendered for passengers at Gisborne last week, a well-dressed woman from Wellington, on reaching the deck of the steamer Tuatea, stepped overboard. There was a nasty sea running, and she was being rapidly carried away, when Mr. Douglas Hamilton, a member of the Frank Thornton Dramatic Company, promptly jumped overboard, and at great risk to himself, brought the woman to the boat, which she reached in an exhausted state. The woman is said to have been suffering from melancholia in consequence of the death of a relative. A Main Trank “ Sensation.’’ Honestly believing, no doubt, that it had a solemnu duty to perforin, the Taihape “Times” has endeavoured to startle New Zealand. That journal published a report that the “Black’’ tunnel between Toi Toi and Mangaweka was perilous. There was a hole through which the turbulent waters of the Rangitikei River could be seen raging far below, and its bed was waiting to receive guests. A day or so before the Parliamentary special ventured northwards “a gang of men was engaged in shifting the rails laid through the tunnel further in from the river wall, with the idea of putting less weight on that side of the track in which the defect is supposed to exist,” continued the allegation made to the Taihape “Times” by an informant. Then the rumourer hinted at the prospect of a train “crashing through the structure and smashing into the Led of the river some hundreds of feet below”—pulp for trout. “ A little light from the official lamp, however, drives the blackness out of the tunnel. The Mai Trunk has not a weak vertebrae between Toi Toi and Mungaweka, aceo ding to a statement made to a “Post” reporter by Mr. Holmes, Chief Engineer to the Public Works Department. The hole is easily explained. “It is a small drive put in to dispose of the material excavated from the tunnel," said Mr. Holmes. Men bored through the Hank of the hill, as they have done in many other tunnels, and tipped spoil down into Hie river. Thus the hole is not evidence that the bottom is falling

out of the tunnel, or that one side is slipping away. The rails were shifted to increase the clearance on the curves inside for the wide carriages which the Government decided (long after the tunnel was made) to run on the Main Trunk route. This operation and the ordinary workaday drive for the ejection of spoil seem to be the basis on which somebody built up a weird rumour. “The engineers,” concluded Mr. Holmes, “are quite unaware of any danger existing in any tunnels on the line.” The Parliamentary Party. The Parliamentary party which came from Wellington for the purpose of being present in Auckland during Fleet Week, returned by special train, leaving at 10.20 p.m. on Monday. About 200 people comprised the party, including some GO members of both Hon es of the Legislature, and the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, the Hon. Jas. McGowan (Minister for Mines), Hon. George Fowlds (Minister for Education), and the Hon. Dr. Findlay (Attorney-General). The Hon. J. A. Millar (Minister for Labour) returned to Wellington via New Plymouth yesterday. Parliament re-opens this afternoon, and it is expected that the session will run well into October before it is e'eneluded. Demonstration Against the Police. The cases in which Leslie Fowler. Wil liam Stack, and Matthew Johnson were charged with behaving in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace at Hastings (being the outcome of a hostile demonstration against the police after the hearing of some betting eases) were before the Court, at Napier on Monday, when defendants applied for a change venue to Hastings. This was vigorously opposed by Inspector Mac Donnell, and the police offering no evidence the cases p.m. on Monday. About 200 people will when defendants applied for a change of were dismissed.