LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 54, 27 November 1907, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

I It will probably bo a fortnight before the Parliamentary Library, of over 60,000 volumes, is open to the public, that interval being required for the process of " straiglifcc.i-ing-up" after the session. The public's privileges in respect of the library do not include the taking out of books of recent fiction. Last year about five hundred peopi-j made- use of the library during the recess.

A branch of tho St. Vincent do Paul Society, a Roman Catholic laymen's philanthropic organisation, was inaugurated ..it Ncwtown on Monday night. There arc noiv branches at Te Aro, Thorndon, Ncwtown, ami l'etone.

Two more hoys, alleged to be connected with "Tho Feather Gang," were interviewed by the police yesterday, and will be brought bol'oro the Juvenile Court in due course to answer a charge of having broken into tjio promisos of Messrs. E. T. Taylor and Company, aud tho new drill Bhed.

The Customs revenue collected at Welling' ton yesterday amounted to £475" 17s. sd.

The Supreme Court will ho occupied today with the case in which W. G. Tustin is charged with having committed breaches of the Bankruptcy Act.

The block of land next to Nathan's Buildings in Feathorston Street was offered nt auction yesterday by Messrs. Harcourt and Co., but was passed in.

The preliminary vote of £2000 on the Supplementary Estimates in connection with the new museum building marks another step towards the provision of this much-rcquirs'l accommodation. Plans for the new erection are being drawn at present. r.

The members of tho ladies' branch of the Navy League are to pay a visit to tho training ship, Amokura, to-morrow afternoon/ Those intending to make, the trip are requested to be at the landing steps near the Thorndon Baths at 2.30 p.m.

The Premier said in the House of Representatives on Monday that £800,000 of the last Government loan had been raised to such good advantage that it had realised £553,000, yielding an' average interest equal to 3i per cent.

A .theological conference of priests belonging to the Wellington Roman Catho'ie deanery will be held to-day at Otaki. Dean M'Kenna, of Masterton, will preside, and the following priests from Wellington city will attend -.—Fathers Maloney, Bowden, Kimbell, Herring, and Venning. ■

. Tho return of immigration to and emigration from the Dominion during-the month of October is to hand. Tho totals are as follow, the figures for the corresponding month of last year being given in parentheses : —Arrivals: male adults, 2121 (2486): female adults, 1121 (1362); malo children, 191 (223); femalo children, 157 (228)— total persons 3590 (4299). Departures: male adults, 1099 (1030); femalo adults, 500 (469); male' children, 75 (81); female children, 101 (97) —total persons, 1780 (1677).

It is an astonishing tiling what a good lead will do. The Post and Telegraph Rifles, under Captain Morris, paraded at Riutonl Street at 7.30 on Monday evening, aiid proceeded to Island Bay to assist the Rev. Mother Mary Joseph Aubert's work in connection with Our Lady's Homo of Compas'sion. They were told off to carry a quantity of wire and fencing posts to the top of tho. hill above the reservoir, and so willingly did they work that all the material there was shifted before they, partook of the Rev. Mothei's welcome cup of tea. A squad of letter-carriers also visited the Homo on Monday, and did useful work for an hour or two.

Sir Robert Stout will leave on the Manuka on Thursday for Gisborne, where he will be joined by Mr. Ngata, M.H.R., and will commence a sitting ofp the Native Land Court there on Saturday morning. The Court will also sit at Gisborne on Monday, removing to Tolaga Bay on Wednesday, opening at Ookomaru. The principal meeting with the East Coast Natives will be at Waiomatatiui. The sitting there will begin on Monday, December 9, and will continue, probably, over a week. The commission will meet again at Rotorua soon after Christmas; and will proceed to the Bay of Plenty in January. In February the Commission will revise their work in Wanganui and tho King Country;

The Trustees of the Benevolent Home are considering, ways and means for the entertainment of the , old people .at Christmastime. As the chairman remarked: "We, ourselves, can have what we liko, for fiftytwo weeks in the year. The old people have a prescribed diet for fifty-one weeks in tho year. On the 52nd. week, Christmas-tide, we should endeavour, with tho assistance of our friends, the public, to mala that 52nd week ! something to anticipate, and, when past, something to look back upon." This is an annual chargegon tho pockets of the generous. The, Trustees will bo pleased to receive contributions, either in cash or in kind, towards the Christmas entertainment of the inmates of the Home.

A Durban gentleman is the proud possessor of a record big fish —an eagle ray, or relative, of the , dreaded sting-ray (" stingareo"!, which he has offered to make freo to the permanent wondering gaze, of Wellington 'foi a modest £400. Mr.. A. Hamilton, who recoived this offer as Director of the National Museum, is not accepting it. Tho saa monster, which was caught recently at Durban, has a width of 16tt. 9in., is 72ft. in

circumference, and originally weighed about two tons. It has been skinned and well preserved, arid is mounted on a substantial wood and iron frame, states the owner's description. The monster is much larger than any eagle ray in a New Zealand museum at present, but Mr. Hamilton thinks that a sen Roland for this Oliver might be found on oae of the Auckland province mudbanks.

It will be remembered that last year in connection with the obsequies of the Jate ! Mr. Seddon tho representative Maoris that assembled in Wellington on the sad occasion presented to the family of the deceased statesman, while tho body lay in state in the long lobby of Parliament Buildings, an In Memoriam address, couched in the best Maori, which was rendered into English. Th<addresses were signed by tho Hon.' J. Carroll, Native Minister, by the Maori members ->f Parliament and by the leading chiefs of both Islands. It has been suitably framed wit'i an inner border of scroll-work, or kowhaiwhai, in red, white, and black, so often seen on the rafters of a carved wharo. On Saturday morning, Novomber 23, Mr. Carroll, accompanied /by Messrs. Parata, Heke, and Ngata, M.H.R.'s, waited upon Mrs. Seddo-i at her residonce, and presented tho framed address. Mr. Carroll referred in touching terms to his lato chief, and paid a high tribute to the kindly feeling Mr. Seddon entertained towards the Maori race, who would always respect his greatness and revere his memory. After Sir. Ngata had read tho English translation of the address, Mr. T. E. Y. Seddon, M.H.R., thanked Mr. Carroll and the Maori representatives on bohalf of his mother and tho-fami/y. Ho said th.it tho address would be kept amongst the many treasures that recalled the close connection of his father with the Maori tribes in dif ferent parts of the Dominion. It would bo highly prized as the expression of the sentiment of the Maori people.

Mrs. Ethel R. Do Costa, U.B. (neo Hiss Ethel R. Benjamin, of Duncdin), after practising for some years in that city,' has commenced practice as a barrister and solicitor in No 0 Nathan's Buildings, corner Grey and Featleiston Streets, Wellington. Mrs. Do Costa has the distinction of being the only lady practising at tlio Bnr in tho Dominion. Intending clients ciin depend on prompt and careful attention at Sirs. Do Costa's hunds.

A fashionably attired woman needs a perfectly .cut corset, artistically moulded to tho "human form." C. Adams and Co., 35 Cuba Street, have a most up-to-date corsi;t department, and a lady expert is ajways in attendance for tho purpose of ■"fitting." C. Adams and Co. aro agents for the Afossenger Corset Manufacturers. Your measure is taken by an expert, fitted and made to your order within a week, inspection invited. ■ C6ll,

Some smoke, ■ hovering' over a house in Adelaide Road, led to an alarm of fire being raised about 9.45 last night. A malicioui false alarm from Webb Street caused tin brigade to turn out again at 11 p.m.

Three of tho Bills affecting Native lands, which appeared under tho heading of "Public Bills Dropped" in yesterday's Dominion, wero actually passed in the dying hours of tho session. The mistake arose in the Bills having been presented'-by tho Native Minister, instead of being brought down by Governor's Message (as is the procedure followed in the case/of a, Bill dealing with Crown lands). This was subsequently rectified, and the Bills wore passed...iTheso measures were the Maori Lands Claims Adjustment and Laws Amendment Act, the Ngatimaru Landloss Natives .Act, and tho Rangitatau Block Exchange Act. The Landless Natives Act is a measure to provide land for certain landless Natives (Upper Whanganuis) in tho Waitottira district. These have been squatting, on land that tho recent Native .Commission, hold belonged to others, and it has been deemed advisable to allocate certain lands from which they could never be ejected. The Rangitatau : Block Exchange Act deals with a ■ block; of Nativo land which dovetails rather awkwardly into a block of Crown landj An exchange is to be made td'.give a better alignment for the bound-