NEW ZEALAND GENERAL

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 16, 20 April 1905, Page 19

NEW ZEALAND GENERAL

According to the latest account six candidates were in the field for the Wellington Mayoralty, and 38 candidates for fifteen seats in the City Council. It was stated at a meeting last week that the damage done by the earthquake last year had cost the Wellington City Council more than £1200, There are now GO patients at the Consumptive Sanatorium at Hamilton, Waikato. Several cases are awaiting an opportunity to be accommodated there, but the sanatorium is now full. Eighteen Chinese arrived in Wellington from Syidney last week by the ' Monowai.' Fifteen of them had ne\er been to the country before, and will jointly contribute £1500 to the revenue by payment of poll-tax. The ' Oairlaru Mail ' estimates fr|om information it has recei'dd that the average yield of wheat in the district is well over 40 bushels to the acre, which is two bushels per acre over the estimated average of last year, which was regarded as a record. Though this Books a high estimate it is probably not so far out. With a moderate amount of rain the heavy land always yields well. This year the rainfall was heja^y and it came at most opportune times, and even light land has consequently borne good crops. The a\ erage yield of oats is estimated at 56 bushels, the same as last year. The marriage (say's the Dublin ' Freeman's Journal") of Prince Albert Cjhica, the pretender to the Albanian Throne, and Miss Margaret Dowling, a young Irish lady, which has been attracting so much interest during the past couple of weeks, was duly solemnised on February 27 at St. Mary's Catholic (huruh, Cad-jgan street. The bridegroom, witoo is a handsome man of about 35, is the son of Prince Constantine Ghica and Princess Ilelene of Albania, and the great ambition of his life is to leald a revolt of the Albanians against the Turks, the outcome of which, he hopes, will be the establishment of an independent kingdom, with himself as its first monarqh. The bride is the daughter of a County Kildare man who emigrated to New Zealand, wttiere she was born, but for some time past she and her mother and sister have been residing in London. The stiory of their 1 engagement is a very romantic one, and the church on the date mentioned above was crowded by well-wishers of the parties. The bride wa,s given away by her mother, and Lieutenant Maican, of th? Princess of Roumania's Cavalry, acted as best man. The bride is a staunch believer in the Prince's cause, and, it is saiid, intends to Sevote her life to forwarding "Ms hazardous enterprise. The Prince has already seen some fighting, having taken part in the last Albanian rif tn'g, and he is fairly well known jm this country, having delivered addresses before the Balkan Committee. • v • .

Sir Joseph Ward leaves Sydney for Wellington direct by the ' Waikare ' on Saturday next. The production of fat poultry does not increase (says the ' Lyttelton Times '). An advertisement for 10,000 f head has brought very few responses, although go<*l prices are offered. The fowls are wanted for export to South Africa. A well-known Palmers ton sheep farmer, who lias had 40, years experience of sheep dealing, predicts that there will be a serious slumip in the value of sheep before the end of the year, more especially as regards the /prices at present ruling for ewes. We learn from a private correspondence that the Very Rev. Dean Foley is still at the Hot Lakes, a itf his many friends throughout the Colony will hear with regret that his health is still far from satisfactory, and that his progress towards recovery is not such as could fee deMred. it is understood (says the ' Lyttelton Times ') that fuuitorors, ftehmoiiigers, restauraint-keepers, and chemists wall be rop^rded as exempt from the early-closing pro\fcion of the Stoops and Offices Act until Parliament meets, ami tyhat Parliament will be asked to amend the Act in oa'cler to place the exemption of those tradesmen bejfo-nd da.rbt. ' The other day we bought land at £7 per acre,' said the Premier at Shannon, ' that was originally Bold at 10a an acre, and was subsequently bought from the small settlers by a dompany at about 25s Der acre. The total sum plaid for the Cheviot Estate was £63,000, and the Government some years afterwards paid" £273,000 for it. To-day it is worth over half a million.' A wit/ness in giving evidence before the Larrd Commi'ssiiojn at M/onven last week, said that before Wiaikakabi was cjiit up the estate carried 56,000 sheep, while ltust yeaoc it grew 8433 aores of grain, 2601 acres of g;reen and root orops, and carried 42,000 siheep, 2352 aat.tle, and 950 horses. Its population to*day was 6f26>, against about 50 whetti .used as a sfrertp run. TJie engineering surveys of the Canterbury rivers, with a niew to tile utilisation of water-power for generating electricity, are at present being combucted by the Public Wcrks Department. The Clarence River has bean partially surveyed, and the surveyors start immediately at tihe O;iihi River. The quantity d water takdn down t|he si reams, and tihe depth and rate of flow will be gaugetl, and the lines of the water races laid out. Some yecurs ago a number of opossumls were liberated im the Milforid Sound district, and nothing was heard for a long time of how they weie faring. When Mr. C. R. C. Robieston, Acting-Superintendent of the Tourist Department, Was \ isiting Milfqrd Sound a few days ago, Mr. Sutherland stated that they were increase ing ra; frily, to f-iuh an extent, in fact, that he had to Leesp a dog tiol in his orchard to scare tihe aliens away. A poll of the ratepayers of Wellington was taken last week on the proposal of the City Council to borrow £2i!),500 for an improved water supply, the erection of a new refuse destructor, the acquirement of public lighting mains, etc., from the Electrical Syndicate, the extensi mof the public library, and the constructu n of Kelburne Park. Votes we're taken on each proposal separately, with the result that the money was authorised for a valor supply, destructor, and lighting. This iinol c: £235,000. The other two proposals were rejected As an instance of the efficiency of the instruction imparted in tihe Reefton Convent High School the success attained by Misses Rassrrtussen, daughters of Mr. C L. RassML's: en, Lyell, has been specially brougjht under oar notice (says the ' Inaingalma Times '). Two years ago, after ha\ing only three months' teaching in the abo'. e school, Teresa Rassmussen, the younger of ihe two girls, qualified for the Victoria Scholarship though siha did not get one,* being only 13 years of age. On the 4th June last year she headed the list of all that passed the pupil teachers entrance examination, and in December last she successfully passed matriculation and stolicitors general knowledge. Immediately after passing these she sat for the Junior Ci il Service, of which we have just now got word that she al c o passed with credit. The elder one . of the two (Mary Rassmussen) was second on the list in June last for the pupil teachers entrance. She did nlot compete for matriculation, but passed with credit the Junior Ci 1 il Service examination in December last. They both passed their music examination last year with, honors and they are also well forward in drawings needle-work nil fancy work. These facts speak vjoluraes for the intellectual capacity, of the young ladies above mentioned, and also redound greatly to the credit of the highly capable teachers under whose tuition tftiey, were -able to aceornpli&b. so much. ' " • '-f ••"