LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 8, 4 October 1907, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

4 The text of a supplementary oxtradition treaty between the United Kingdom and Norway is published in this week's " Gazette." The postal authorities have been advised of tho departure of the Zealandia from Sydney for Auckland on Wednesday. Thore are 110 bags from London for "Wellington, which should arrive by tho Manawatu express on Tuesday. Tho painters' and paporhnngers' award does not permit of tradesmen cleaning up. tho mess they mako in the courso of their work. To gather up tho picces of old paper and scrim has to bo dono by a labourer ■connected with tho trade, who is paid labourer's wages. So that it frequently happens that rather than employ a man to do this work, very often of a trivial character, the "'boss " does it himself. Tuesday of last wock was tlio hottest September da yfixpeiienced ■in Sydney sinco 1559. Tho maximum tcmporaturo was 91.1. Tho atmosphere was lomarkably dry slid dusty, and tho senso of dryness (says tho Sydney "Morning Herald") was accentuated by tho hot, squally north-west wind which prevailed. Tho velocity of the strongest, gust rogislu'reil £2.5 miles an

Land has boon, taken by tho Government for the purpose of a public re- t creation ground at Waipukwian. t The time given by the Commission to inquire into tho coal-mining disaster j at Nightcaps has bco nexteuded to November 1. t A.new parochial district of Raetihi 3 has been formed on the extreme north 1: frontier of the Wellington diocese. 1: Previously this was part of the extensive parochial district of Taihape. t The steam traction engines of the 0 State Coal Mino Department have * been kept very busy lately. The out- , put of coal during the past few weeks, wo are informed by the acting-man-ager, has been just double what it was at this time last year. Tho demand i for the new briquettes has been very i large. 1 The Otaki Maoris are proposing to { raise funds for tho restoration of their 1 historic church, a building in tho native style, and the only church in •] this dioccso which is used alike by ( Maoris and pakchas, though tho ser- ] vices are not tho same. Tho Diocesan \ architect, Mr. F. Do J. Clero, has j been asked by the Standing Commit- ] too to report on the proposed improve- ] monts. A proposal has been broached | to build :i separate church for Euro- j penns at Otaki, but the Maoris have expressed their hopo that the two raccß will continue to use tho samo uuiquo old building. Tho Wellington, Banjo, Mandolin, and Guitar Club's first annual social and dance was most successful, being attended by fifty couples. Tho band contributed several selections, and the following ladies and gentlemen also contributed items: —Misses Barker (2), E. Tumor, Messrs. Reid, Turner, Kierman, Andrews, Sexton, Bomford, and Williams. ■ Queen Anno is dead, assuredly, but a doubt seems to linger in some quarters as to Queen Victoria. The three: months-old Post Office in tho Governmont Building still proclaims in a bold lettering tho sovereignty of "V. R." A ballot for sections in tho Hukanui and Nireaha Village Settlements will be hold to-day at the Public Hall, Ekotahuna. A meeting of tho Women Students 1 Hostel Society was held yesterday morning. Mrs Thornton, of Dunedin, was appointed First Lady Principal of tho Hostel to be opened early next yoar. Arrangements are now completed for driving in the first pile of the building to. bo erected in Woolcombe Street. His Excellency the Governor has kindly consented to perform tho formal ceremony on Monday, October 14, at 4 p.m. Acting on behalf of David Henry Tobin (Btevedoro), of Ghurneo Street, Mr. P. J. O'Rogan has filed with the Clerk of Awards a claim for £300 under tho Workers' Compensation Act, 1900, tho respondents being tho 'New Zealand Shipping Company. Tobin was engaged in discharging cargo from the s.s. Turakino on March 13 last, when ho fell down the hold, a distance of thirty-five feet, and sustained very severe injuries, including a fracturned ti ;h, a dislocated hip; broken collarbone, and other injuries. Ho is . permanently crippled, and will, never be able to do work of any kind. It is understood that tho facts are not disputed b ythe Respondents, and that tho Court will be asked to assess damages without any contest. Asked yesterday how "Miss Mary Ann" was getting along, tho Secretary of tho Trades and Labour Council remarked that " Mary " was very difficult to organise. Arrangements for placing the demands of the Domestic Workers' Union had not been completed in time for consideration during tho pressent session of the Arbitration Court, but it is anticipated that "Mary'' will very probably make her bow" to tho President of the-Court at the ensuing sitting. Sjnce the organising of tho Union, however, the "Missus" has been' more considerate, and " Mary's!' complaints less frequent. Arrangements for tho Trades and 'Labour Sports at Day's Bay on Labour Day, October 9, aro well in hand, and details of the sports programme will bo advertised shortly. Givon fine weather, the big picnic should bo highly successful.' Between six and eight thousand people attended the sports last year, and it is oxpccted that' those figures will bo beat 'ii next week. Tho Mission Band has been engaged for the day, and there will be the usual'holiday trips by the ferry steamers. Sir Joseph Ward, the Hon. R. M'Nab, the Hon. George Fowlds, and the' Hon. J. A. Millar, have signified their intention of being present if possible. It is expected that several members of tho. Upper House will also attend. hour at 11 a.m. The annual examinations conducted by tho Trinity Collego iioard of Music have just been concluded in Wellington. and the results arc gratifying, as they show a marko-1 'invement both as to tho standi"':! ■ .vorl: and the number of candidates.. liie examiner was Mr. Charles Edwards, L. Mus., T.C.L., who is no stranger to New ' Zealand. He,came out to conduct tho examination last year, and on three previous, but not consecutive, occasions. Seen by a Dominion I'oporter yesterday, ho expressed' his satisfaction with the results. "I am pleased to notico a considerable improvement in the standard, of tho work done," he said; "the results aro yory satisfactory all round, and the quality of the work is equal to that in England." Mr. A. J. Wicks, chief secretary in . Now 'Zealand for Trinity Collego, was i equally gratified. He nointed out that tho standard of work was mi- • proving all round, and there had been a great incroaso in tho number of • candidates for the Wellington examii nations. This-ycar the total was 178, •' against 97 last year, and the results . were at least sovonty-five per cent. hotter than those of last year. Mrs Ethel R. Do Costa, LL.B. (neo l Jiiss Ethel R. Benjamin of Dunedin), - after practising tor aomo years in that citv, has commenced practice as a barrister and solicitor in ISo. 6 Nathan's • Buildings, corner Grey and Feat.'ior- >' ston Streets, Wellington. Mrs. Do i Costa has the distinction of boing 1 onlv lady practising at/ tho Bar in vno Dominion. Ir.UMidm:; clients can cie--0 pond mi prompt '.'.ml careful nttontion ii at M l- » -">0 Costa's hands.

A car from Constable Street went off tho lines yesterday afternoon'opposite tho Government Raihvay Offices, ploughing deep furrows in tho track, and stubbornly resisting for about an hour the violent pressure and ingenious coaxiug which were by turns tried' to restore it to the proper path. Meanwhile there was an awkward hampering of other car traffic on tho lino. It is gazetted that no person shall take or catch more than twenty trout, or more than thirty-eight pounds weight of trout, in any one day in the Waimarino, Hawko's Bay, Wafiganui, Nelson, South Canterbury, Asbburton, and Otago Acclimatisation Districts. The number of applications for permits to work at rates below the minimum wage is evidently increasing. Mr. W. H. Wrsthrooke, Secretary to the Trades and Labour Council calls it an outbreak of " permitites." All the medals presented for com•pot'itioii: in the local examination under the Trinity College Board of Music were made in Wellington, and their effective 'finish and design prove that there is 110 need to go outside for this class of work. Tho nrincinal medal is that given by Lord Plunkett. for the best candidate in New Zealand in ,any subject in the senior division. It is of 18-carat gold, and bears. His Excellency's arms 011 one side, and 011 the other tho crest of Trinity College, of which His Excellency is a vice-pre-sident. In the senior division two medals are offered, one of the Dresden Company, and the other by an anonymous donor, tho first for the best candidate in any subject, and the .other for, the best pianist. In the intermediate division medals are presented by Messrs. Begg and Company and the Wellington Local Centre Committee for the first and second best in any subject. Thero is one medal in tho junior division, given by Mr. Judah Myers for the best candidate in any subject. Tho medals are •all of gold, and will be presented by tho Governor early next year, on receipt of tho certificates from London. In the course of a lecture given before the Philosophical Institute 011 Wednesday evening on the protective powers of the blood, Dr C. Monro Hector said that tho quostion of tho relative virulence of tho invading organism and the host led naturally to tho problem of immunity. In regard to this, 110 mentioned two striking facts elicited by tho great Russian scientist, Metschinkoff, as having an important practical bearing. If an animal which has a natural immunity against a certain organism is subjected to conditions which depress its vitality, it then becomes a prey to that organism.' If, for instance, a fowl which is naturally insusceptiblo to injection by anthrax is immersed up to its thighs in cold 'water so as to rcduco its temperature, it can bo inoculated with certainty. Further} if, along with non-virulent organisms, there are injected particles of powdered charcoal with a viow to diverting the phagocytes, injection is, readily produced. There is no doubt that tho strugglo for existence goes on as keenly between tho cells of the human body and invading Organisms • as it does any.whero. in the animal kingdom. Moreover, immunity must be as ancient as disease. Cells from the liver of a rat which had been inoculated with anthrax were depicted 'amongst a sories. of vivid diagrams illustrative of the lecture. Considerable ignorance of the condition of the trade is displayed in the Scaffolding Act, which provides that tw,enty-four hours' notice, shall bo given of an intention to use scaffolding, to give the inspectors duo warning of the claim on their official attention. Tho clause is quite unworkable when applied to the frequent cases of urgency where scaffolding is required to effect quick repairs,. or do some little job where the weather conditions have to be considered. Something migfit happen to a building that required immediate attention to save heavier trouble that might' ensuo if the work was postponed—the essential stitch in time—but the law does not permit of it. Tho provision is an adihirablo 0110 in the case of largo buildings where a number of men are 1 to bo employed 011 a scaffold for days at a time, but the. time of notico should certainly be modified in the case of the small and urgent job.