Interprovincial

New Zealand Tablet, 26 July 1906, Page 24

Interprovincial

Parliament will meet at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 21. The first lambs of the season are now to be seen in different parts of South Canterbury. The price of the State coal, delivered, in Christchurch is to be 30s per ton, and 15s 6d per half ton. Sir Walter Buller, the well-tnown authority on the ornithology of New Zealand, died in England last week. Rich gold-bearing blacksand continues to be thrown up by the sea on the Fi\e Mile and other beaches in South Westland, and several parties continue to do well. It is expecteld (says the ' Taranaki News') that six different companies and syndicates will be at work boring for oil in the New Plymouth district in the course of a few months. It is reported that lifty temporary clerks employed at the Government Buildings in Wellington have been given notice that they will not be required after the end" of The present month. With regard to the fuller's earth operations at Tararu (says the Thames correspondent of the ' Auckland Star ') development work is steadily proceeding. The erection of the buildings has been almost conxploted, and the material will soon 'be available. An attempt made to form a ' Citizens' Bible-in-schools' League ' in Wellington last week met with a rather disappointing result. Only fourteen people were present, and the meeting, after discussing the proposal, decided to adiourn for a week to ' beat up an attendance,' as one speaker put it. The ratepayers of Wellington have authorised the City Council to borrow close on a quarter of a million sterling, for various works. Among the votes allocated in the schedule were • — £100,000 for general electric light installation works, £10,000 for additions to public lio-htinsr, £3U,()00 for power for lifts, machinery, etc , £52,052 for t"amway extensions, additional cars, etc., and £27,000 for recreation grounds. It is ieported tliat additional carriages for the heavy railway traffic in connection with the New Zealand International Exhibition are being pushed forward at the Hillside workshops. The rate of construction is reported as one carnage per week — a very creditable rate. The staff at the workshops are also preparing to turn out a number of tank locomotives. Ten of these were recently built at the Addington siloes, and ten by a prnate firm at the Thames. The Catholic Debating Society's meeting held on Tuesday evening, July 17, (writes our llokitiK a correspondent), was well attended, the president, Mr. J. Toomey, being in the chair. The evening was devoted to a mock Parliamentary election. The different) candidates addressed the meeting at length, and we~e asked a number of questions. The election resulted in favor of Mr. W. Cuttance. who laid special stress on the necessity of furthering the interests of Westland. An extraordinary outrage is reported from Bunnythorpe. Between two and three o'clock on Sunday morning a dynamitard entered the new dried milk factory of Messrs. Joseph Nathan and Co., and exploded charges in the fire-box of a 150 horse-power boiler and in the cylinder head of a 75 horse-power engine. The whole of the brickwork was wrecked and every window in the building broken. The factory had just, been rebuilt after being burned by an incendiary. The noise of the explosion was heard miles away. English, Scotch, and Irish law differ in material points (states the 'Post'), but it is the case that when any colony is founded English law is automatically established. The point was discussed in the Court of Appeal at Wellington on Friday, apropos of a contention by Mr. Levi that ' British law ' runs on every ship of the Empire. Mr. Le\i contended that when a ship left New Zealand for any other place she carried British law with her— a statement which brought from Mr. Justice Chapman the question whether she took with her the Established Church and other institutions. It was a fact, continued his Honor, that for some mysterious and unexplained reason, if a thousand Scotsmen ta y e possession of a place and hoist, the British flag there, and the action was recognised by the Imperial authorities, British law ran there, although the men most concerned mitjht never have heard of it before. It was a case of ' the dominant partner, his Honor supposed.

Dr. Pomare, the Chief Native Health Officer, who has returned from a visit to the outlying islands of New Zealand, states that Rarotonga is the most glorious place he was ever in. The simple life prevails, everything is apparently contentment, there is n o ne- of the usual stress of living that seems to be the concomitant of civilisation nowadays, and yet things are very prosperous. It is understood that the Government have no intention to prepare detailed maps of Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. In the case of Dunodin the Department issued a map for the Exhibition held in that city some years ago, and it is now being brought up to date in order to show visitors to the New Zealand International Exhibition what the Department can do with that class of work. Recently a deputation waited on the Minister of Agriculture urging Government assistance in thoroughly testing a dry-air process, the invention of Mr. Turner, a Wellington chemist, for dressing flax, and the Minister promised to support the proposal. It is understood, howe.er, that the Cabinet has now refused to sanction any expenditure in that direction. A further deputation is being arranged. The Mataura correspondent of the Southland 1 lines writes .— ' The expansion of business at the paper-mills and at the free/.ing works, together with the extra labor required and the outlay involved in the re-erection of the building destroyed'by the recent" firel is making a mar\ed improvement in trade in the town. All the stores a nd business places are very busy, and there is not am empty house in the town 1 his is also manifest by the increased demand for co a l Both coalpits are working full time and cannot overtake the orders. Mr. F. T. Bullrn informed his audience at Palmerston North that during his tour through New Zealand he had found an entirely new thing to tell the British audiences when he got Home. He referred to the widespread use of the motor-boat or oil launch in this Colony. He had been told that our farmers living niear the coast used such vessels very much as a horse and gig were in other places ; it was quite a common mode of travelling fiom one point to another. He said that in no other country had he found such a common use o-f these craft. Sir Joseph Ward is expected to reach Auckland lrom San *r a ncisco on Wednesday. On his arrival in the northern camtal he will receive a public welcome and will be presented with an address, of which the following is a copy :— ' On behalf of the citizens o f Auckland it affords us vciy great pleasure to welcome you after your visit to Europe and the United States We recognise in your able advocacy of universal penny postage at the Postal Un-.on Congress, Rome, , a far-sight-ed effo-t to promote reform of international importance. Ihe successful introduction of this measure by you in New Zealand has proved of inestimable advantage to all classes of the community. Your representat\°*+ i 5i 5 T^ e% Y Ze aland's commercial interests in the United Kingdom and America will, we feel sure be productive of advantages to the Colony. We think the present an appropriate time for referring to the many valuable servi.es you have rendered to New Zealand a s legislator and Minister of the Crown. In your administration of Ihe Railvvav Department an intimate knowledge of the commercial, agricultural, and" pastoral conditions of the Oolonv h a s been reflected in administrative and tariff changes which have greatly assisted the development of our chief rural industries, your versatility as administrator has been displayed in the importmm n P ni?^f%hi i° ma Treasurer . and in other depart5> colon ! al smice . and your temporary tenure of the Premiership during Mr. Seddon's absence in Europe was d-stinzuished by tact, discretion and promptitude in the despatch of public business. The en?hrn! 1C h mmis J ratlon p of the Tourist Department, through the medium of which New Zealand's attrad tions have become so widely known, also owes much to your personal direction. In welcoming you back our minds revert with the deepest sorrow to the great loss which 'New Zealand and the Empire have sustained through the death of the late Right H on R j beddon, P.C. A rraver responsibility has thus been Steffi ss fo^r^rrs &x sn!