LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 403, 12 January 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The postal authorities adviso that the Uhmaroa, which,left Sydney on Saturday for Wellington, has on board an Australian mail, which is due hero early on Wednesday morning next, January 13. The tender of Mr. R. W. Bond, of New has heen accepted for the eiection of a new police station for that town. The amount of the tender is about £1200. If the Majterton licensing inquiry is not finished by to-morrow, it is expected that tho Hutt inquiry, which is set down for hearing on Thursday afternoon, will bo adjourned to a convenient date. The New. Zealand Amateur Swimming Association's seven championships will bo Yield at Timaru this' year. Last night tho local centre fixed the dates for February 11 and 12— Press Association. The annual statutory meeting of the Wellington Harbour Board is to bo held on Monday next, January 18,. at noon. Tho business will consist, of examining, settling, and allowing accounts for the year ended 30 last, and tho consideration and_ adoption of tho annual reports of tho Acting'Seoretary, • Acting-Engineer, and Harbour-Master. The following past students of St.- John's College, Auckland,'will be ordained, by Bishop Wallis for work in this dioceso. as assistant curates at tho morning scrvice at St. Mark's Church-next Sunday;— Mr. G. Kendrick, to be licensed to tho parish of Falmerston North; Mr. W. Itaine, parish of St. Matthew's, Masterton; . and Mr. C. E. Tobin, parish of St. Mark's, Wellington. The Rev. T. H. Sprott will preach.

.Wool {armors in Hawlie's Bay, and those that take an interest in shipping generally, will be pleased to 1 rend in another column of Mr. G, ,H. Scalos's chartered steamer Clan Sutherland having been successfully berthed at Napier. The vessel at the time" of berthing was drawing' 22 feet, and congratulations are duo to both .Mr. G. H. Scalos for his enterprise, and to .Captain Jones, who although a stranger in theso waters has made a nost of friends, and established an epoch in tho history of tho port of Napier. An oversea vessel berthing at Napier means a etc * being avoided t0 I'a'Hanieo,

The bullotin by Mr. A. Hamilton, Director fi i f Dominion Museum, on Maori fishing, I nsh lore, awi fcfovng implements, is reviewed at length by London "Nature," winch reproduces a couple of the illustrations, and pronounccs Mr; Hamilton's monograph ''an interesting contribution to tho study of the commissariat and industries of primitive ,man." Holiday traffic (writes our Palmerston North correspondent) shows little sign of abat'nlJ> yesterday morning the northern express being one of the largest this year. There wero fifteen cars and threo.luggago vans, and tho train required tho combined efforts of two big Manawatu engines to haul it into lalmerston. The inadequacy of the Palmerston station for tho volume of traffic was never more'apparent than at present. Fire fighting is a risky undertaking, and Superintendent O'Brien, head of the local fire brigade, was very _ nearly giving a practical demonstration of the fact during tho fire at rm. r ' r!' . I llue s 6 shop yesterday morning. ,lhe Superintendent was directing operations alongside tho Duke of Edinburgh Hotel when one of the sliding iron shutters which protect tho-windows of the hotel which overlook tho scene of the fire fell into the fire, narrowly missing him. . J t In the course of his Government commission to' perpetuate Maori types, Mr. Nelson lllingworth is now engaged on a bust which will represent an older type of Maori than any of his previous efforts. The quality of imagination will of necessity enter moro fully into the work, and tho element of portraiture will hardly exist. Mr. lllingworth expects to leave at tho end of January for the Bay of Islands district, in search of other subjects. •. • .

_Tho annual meeting of the Forty Mile Bush Athletic Society took place in the Hamu Hotel on Saturday, Mr. J. P. Lomax presiding- . The secretary read the balance Sheet, which showed, a credit of £10 Is. 4d. Great interest was taken in the proceedings, and the prospects of the forthcoming meetmg, which is to be held on St. Patrick's Day. « re m? ' a .£ofd day's sport being ; looked ror. Tho society have deoided to make the retiring secretary (Mr. Fred Walkley) a presentation for kind services rendered. ,Tho foljowing further subscriptions for the Italian Disaster Fund have been received by the Consular Agent for Italy (Mr. It. T. Robertson)Mr. J. C.Douglas,' £1; Mr, Samuel Pearson, 10s.; Mr. TJ. Georgi. Palmerston North, £2 25.; Mr. G. Gargiula, Palmersftm North. £2 25.; Nicola Fosta, £1 Is. ; 0.8. G., 55.; Mr. A. Georgi, 10s. 6d.; collecwon boxes at benefit concert on Friday last, £1 ss. 3d.;! Mr. F. Rodriguez, £1 is.; Messrs. Thomson, Lewis, and, Co., £5 55.; proceeds of a sacred concert held at Hawera (per, Mr. A. M. Conroy), £20. Colonel John M. Denny, of the well-known ship-building firm of Wm. Denny arid Bros., gave soino impressions of his recent trip to New Zealand at a social meeting in Dumbarton. He was disappointed with the results or the Arbitration Courts in New Zealand. There was enough to show that, while they might largoly do away with strikes, they might bring aoout that which-was worse—a -refiling of discontent permeating the various strata of tho country. _ \ There: was, in . his opinion, a worse feeling between employer and employed in the colonies than he ever expected to see here.—-"British Australasian."

It is expected that the eight sleeping'cars for tho Main Trunk line will be completed by the date fixed for the commencement of the through service. Six of the cars are certain to be ready, and the other two will probably also be available. There will be two on each train, giving accommodation for forty persons. During' the daytime, these cars will be used as ordinary firstclass oarriages, and will seat about , a third as many more passengers as sleeping accommodation is provided for. : It is thought that tho cost will be about. 10s. or 12b. 6d. per berth for tho journey from Wellington to Auckland or vice versa. A novel featuro.in .connection with the. New Zealand Conference of the Methodist Church, to be.held in the Taranaki Street Church, February - 25, . will be a men's banquet, to which about' 300 Methodist laymen and ministers will probably be "invited! It. is understood that the idea is' due, in part at least, to tho Y.M.C.'A. Tho banquet will, be given in tho Town Hall Concert Chamber, and the Rev. C. H. Garland, of Nelson, will preside. It is expected that about 180 visiting delegates will attend the conference, and a special committee 'is oiigaged in .finding temporary homes ' for these.

Travellers stato that the construction of the new bridge over the Manawatu River near. Ashhurst is proceeding very slowly. Pour spans have now been almost completed, and another three or four .will be required to fiiiish the job. Meanwhile the big ferry boat, for tho conveyance of vehicles and heavy traffic, has been washed away, and, when tho river is only slightly swollen, those, wishing to cross the stream have ,to leave the small boat in the shallows, and walk through the water to dry land. In the circumstances it is not surprising that there is little, traffic, and unless the Manawatu . Gorgo Road is. cleared, the . bridge, when erected, will be made little use of. . A settler at Whiteman's Valley called at the Lower Hutt polico station at 8.30 a.m. yesterday, and. informed Constable Mahonoy that, a sawmill hand named Jas. O'Connor, a single man, 28 years of age,,was in a dying condition at his residence in . the : Valley. When the constablo went, out ho found O'Connor unconscious and in a vory weak condition, and Dr. Purely was sent for. The doctor pronounced.O'Connor to be suffering from a paralytic stroke,' and ordered : his N removal! to the hospital. Ho was brought into _ town in a critical condition, and, on inquiry at the hospital last night, ho was still in a bad way. O'Connor came from the Northern Wairoa about twelve months ago, and is stated to have relatives there.

An. interesting trial of the ."exertion wage," or premium bonus system, is being made at tho Otira tunnel, now being constructed by Messrs. M'Lean Bros., contractors. The men working in tha heading'were informed that £1 per foot for every, foot they excavated abovo 66 feet in any one week ; would be divided among them. There was somo outcry against this attempt' at "speeding-up," but. the;men seem to have responded as desired by their employers. ■ Last week they made 74 feet, the ( biggcst week's work accomplished since the boring was started. This meant a sum of £8 to be divided amongst 24 men. Mr. Murdoch M'Lean, speaking to a Dominion reporter yesterday, said that if;this rate of progress were maintained, .there woulcl be no difficulty in finishing the tunnel within contract time, Tho interesting historic ceremony of removing tho colours of the 58th Regiment from the Auckland Supreme Court to tho Free Library eventuated successfully yesterday aftornoon (telegraphs our Auckland'correspondent). No fewer.than ton of the original members of the famous corps—men who 50 years ago took a hand in the defence of Auckland prpvinco during the Maori hostilities of that-period—woro present, at tho function. Several descendants of 'members, of the regimont were also in the procession, and .tho interest-and enthusiasm of the veterans of tho city was exemplified in the numbers who turned up to lend eclat to tho occasion. There was a good muster of the local volunteer t forces to form a guard of honour along the route, and the Garrison and Battalion Bands played martial airs. It was touching to .see tho respect for the two tattered flags shown by tho survivors of tho 58th. They eagerly J laid claim to tho honour of carrying them, and saluted tho two omblems with bare heads at frequent opportunities. Tho colours were received on behalf of tho citizens by tho Mayor (Mr. A. Myers), who made-a stirring and interesting speech, and they now hang in-ft glass case just insido tho porch of tho Municipal Buildings. Tho original case is to be placed there for them shortly.

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Tho Wellington Harbour Board has com.-1 menced \Yre\vmrnary work in connection with the agreement made between that body and the Miramar Borough Council. These works include wharf extension, the widening of the cutting opposite the Mirantar Wharf to 66ft., and the widening of the road between tho borough's boundary and the cutting. return, the borough council is to pay £0000, spread over a number of years. Tourists from overseas are not so numerous this summer as has been the case for a few years past. _ Speaking to a business man whose duties bring him into contact with the touring public, an explanation for the falling away was given. England, lie said, was considerably upset by the industrial ferment which had followed the financial panic of a year ago. The new conditions anticipated as the possiblo outcome of the proposed licensing legislation at Home have only served to accentuate a certain ansiety among the moneyed classes. America,, which sent a good many tourists a couple of years ago, had also had its money troubles, and Now Zealand had suffered in its own little way (as London and tans had in a very big way) from the slackening in _ the tourist traffic. New Zealand's summer inflow has, in years past, come from Australia. Lren there, however, an influence has been at work to check the number of trippers to the Dominion. This influence is the tourist bureaux which the different States nave instituted for tile purpose of bringing homo to the Australian public places of interest and scenic charm within their own gatos._ Since the establishment of these agencies the tendency of Australians to visit i\ow Zealand has apparently become less.

The new Minister in charge of the ;Tourist Department, the Hon. T. Mackenzie, is showing a great interest in the work of his Department in the southern • mountain and fiord country that he knows so well. Our Dunedm correspondent telegraphs"The purpose of the Hon. T. Mackenzie in visiting' Queonstown towards the end of the week is; to see what improvements can he made in that district ff>r the convenience of tourists. , Mr. Mackenzie's trip to Manapouri afterwards is to enable him to go into questions of traffic and access. Another journey planned by the Hon. T. Mackenzie is to the West by the Hincmoa,: which leaves the Bluff on January 21 for Dusky Sound, Hall's Arm, and George Sound. Mr. T. E. Donne, who has never before visited these places, will accompany the Minister. It is said that the tracks cut from the Sounds have become overgrown, and Mr. Mackenzie _ wants to see for himself what their condition is so as. to'arrive at a con-, elusion as to what ought to be done. While in.the fiord country Mr. Mackenzie will also try to . get on ,to the trail of . the elk that were liberated at George Sound two years ago." .: