LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 529, 9 June 1909, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A list of subscriptions oollectod by the committee of the s.s. Penguin Stewardesses' Bod Fund will be found in our* advertising columns.

Tho Maplcrton County Council has withdrawn its appeal against tho assessment of contribution made by the Woliington and Wairarapa Charitable Aid Board in respect to the Victoria Home for Chronic Invalids. A.

commission presided over by Dr, M'Artiiur, S.M., was to liavo heard tho appoal to-day.

At tho. usual monthly meeting of tho Aooountant Students' Socioty, to bo held this ovening, in tho Chamber of Commoroc, Mr, J. S. Barton, F.1.A., N.Z., will deliver an address on the' subject " Trustoes and Exocutors."

Rugby extraordinary. • Otp Waikariao oorrespondent sends tho following, which soema to make all ordinary doings'of tho football field look dwarfed and tamo:—"A football match, Married v. Single, is to bo played here to-day. Mr. A, Burling (aged 109 years) is gomg to kick off." .\ Tho monthly meeting of tho Wellington 1 rovn;cial Industrial Association,, was held last ovening, Mr.'A. W. Newton (president) m the chair, Tho principal business was the presentation of tho secretary's report ou iMMlnca Week." Accounts ampliation to Mb los. wore passed for payment. „

At tho special meeting of tho City Council to be held to-morrow night, the rates and estimates for tho'year, will be dealt with. Four committee reports, which wero not dealt with last Wednesday owing to tho lateness of the meeting, will oome up for adoption. .Included in tho Tramway Committee report is a recommendation concerning tho Wadestown'tramway. • >.

Mr, J. P,' Luke,i M.P. for Wellington Suburbs, has written to tho Earori Borough Counbu asking if there were any matters ho could bring before Parliament on bohalf of the borough. At;laßt night's meeting of tho council it was resolved to thank Mr, Luke for his offer, and to request him to urge on the Government thfl desirableness of securing a site for a post office at Earori..

Tho following,votes woro passed at a njeqt. ing of Cabinot yesterday i—Gloaavy-Marma Road, £250; l'ipiriki-Wniouru Road, £400; Otekaiko water supply, £1420; Penguin disaster fund, £1000; Mount View Mental Hospital (works), £350; .Blenbeim-Waipara Railway, £4000 1 Gisborne-Rotorua, £5000; fog signal cartridges, £636; Eaitieko Road, £250.' It; was also .decided to invito for a residence, for tho police inspector at' Ohristchurch, and for 1 a now police station at Sydenham. ::

About a/week ago wo published ramo anticipations in ropird to the report of tho Timber Commission, Tho commission-mot , yesterday.. and ptissed a formal resolution, ; stating that the anticipations published wcro erroneous. : Wo _ should havo felt moro satisfied, in publishing the- resolution bad tho , comtnission gono-tho length of stating tho' extent- of the error. "We did not claim that our information was exact; and wo still suspoct that it will bo found that our informant ~ was not far .wrong in his conclusions. • About 6000 Oitizenß IjavO: signed tho testimonial whioll is to bo presented to tho Prime ' Ministor (Sir Joseph Ward) in endorsement of tho Government's action in presenting a. Dreadnought to the British Navy. It lias, boon decided that tho presentation shall bo. mado at tlio Parliamentary Buildings at 7.30 o'clock to-morrow evening. It is understood' that tho speakers will include the Mnyor (Dr. ..Newman), and Messrs, D. J. Nathan and J.' pykes; Tho dotaijs in connection.with tho function will l>o arranged this morning. Tho alleged reckless driving" of motor-cars camo up. at last night's mooting of tho ICarori Borough Council. Tlio Makara county clerk forwarded the following resolution: "That tho clork communicate with Wellington CSty Council and neighbouring' bodies asking them to co-oporato with this council in approaching tho Government with the object of having motor'police appointed to protect tlio public against. tho excessive speed and.,!rcoklosß manner at which soma " motor-cars and motor cycles nro driven along tlio highways; tho cost of upkeep to .bo inert by a direct, charge upon, motorcars.and motor cycles. 11 , Tho latter was received. Excessive speed of motor bioyolos and can has boon tho subject of discussion by many of tho county councils of the Dominion. A proposal. to establish a motor polieo foroo has been mado by the Makara County Council,, and tho Hutt'County Council yesterday dccidcd to assist in making representations to tlio Go vera meat, to this end. It was ro> marked by a councillor at tho meeting that a southern local body had prosecuted-on by. laws framed to restrict the rate of speed, ■ and last tho ease, although :it \ras stated that tho speed had reached a milo a mimite, Tho chairman (Mr. W. Welch) remarked that only ono liccnso feo of 10s.; was required from tho owner of a motor car, and no additional levy was mado unless the car changod hands. Tlio council resolved to support a provision for an annual licenso. ; . \ .

Writing under date Juno 6, Mr. G. V. Hudson states :—on tho forenoon of Thursday, Juno 3, I observed that tho sun's diso: was completely clear of spots. At 10 a.jn. on Sunday, Gtlh, three days later, I noticed a fair-sizod spot, forming with sovoral smaller ones an interesting group not less than 40,000 miles in '-length, aud readily visible in any telescope.« Those spots wore situated only 'about one'third of tho sun!s diameter from

its western limb; hence tlioy could not havo been brought into view through tho sun's rotation on its axis. Tlioy must therefore have burst out on the side of -tilie sun presented' towards tho.barth, and within a period of throe days only. Thoso facts indicate that striking solar outbursts may at times ho detected by those possessing telescopes of mod. orate pow6r, if the sun, is regularly viowed at suiiiciently. frequent intervals.

"Dangerous" is tho label on ono of tho doors on the top floor of tho new Customhouse. It originated in 'a peculiar aocident which haß happened to ono of the interior walls separating two rooms in tiio occupation of tho Agricultural Department. Since 'ho building was completed one largo room Mirts been divided into two by, a partition wall of plaster, about threo incbos in tirickness, which wall has dividod rooms oeoupied by l -tho Department's publi iitions in ono instance, and hemp and llax and othor speeimons of the country's'produce in glass snoweases in the other.' This wall hns completely ( given w-ly, and that it still stands is about as m'uoh as can ; be said for its .stability; Big lumps of plaster lie . about the floor'of Uho room, towards which the wall bulges, and the wall itself is scarred with rents and cracks in all directions. In these the formation of tho wall may lie seen.' It is pierced vertically with 'holes, evidently, intended for the , insertion of stiffening bars of steel or some other metal, but, there is no. sign of anything of the land. A builder w)io was consulted, states th.it tho 'Wa.ll or partition is a patent olio, of the space-saving order, and is effective enough if the iron or steel bars are inserted in the .holes made for their oception, In his opinion the wall has col■lapsed of its own weight for lack of such supports. -

Sofno idea of tho tremendous forco of the northerly gale which raged over the "city during thn end of lust week is convoyed by tho fact .that-at two o'clock' last Saturday morning n sholter-shcd, which wns situated on a corner of the playground, at the Terr raco School, and overlooking a tennis court and some private residences iu.Sievers Terrace, was wrenched from its piles Vid hurled into the gully below. Pari; of tho roof smoto the dressing-shed on the tennis court, wliila another portion ornshed on to tho root of at) outhouse in the precincts of a residence in Sievern Terrace, with » uoiso that'awakened tho residents in the immediate'vicinity,'and splintered l-lio yard with a motloy collection of fragments of wood and iron, . Curiously enough, the shelter-shed had hut recently been moved-to its site on that corner, of tho playground. In pursuance of tho schema 'adopted'for enlarging tho school playground, a buttress had been constructed on the gully face, and by' Riling-in tbn space between, a small area was added to the ground, On tliia the shed, which previously bad been situated 3ome 30 feet nearer the main schoolj and ill a well-sholtored position, bar! been rejected.' Thpro were also minor casualties to the school building, which stands in an exposed "position, A large ventilator, for instanco, was whipped off tho roof, and lnirlcd to tho uspnalt playground beneath.