LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 749, 23 February 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Monday last was. the thirteenth anniversary of the foundation of: the Wellington Harbour ' Board. The board's flag was flown at the mast-head throughout the day in-honour.of-the event.

_On account ofthe;, reception to 1 Lord Kitchener at " the Town Hall on Thursday afternoon, the Tramways Department has decided, if necessary, to divert Constable Street .and Wallace Street cars from Jervois Quay to Lambton.Qiiay from 4 p.muntil, after the. reception. .

■ It is a common thing for cases of. cruelty to horses to he' reported to 'the Society, for Prevention . of. Cruelty; to Animals by. an indignant spectator, but compassion is not often moved for a fish. At. the meeting of the. society yesterday, however,; a letter, was read- from" a lady who. stated she had seen a youth scraping the 6cales off a live 1 fish with. a' pen-, knife, oil tlio wharf. She had urged him to kill., the fish, but he refused. -. She: suggested that the society might be able to take ' some action to .prevent such barbarities in future. The society decided that'it could do no more, for'the present, than ask the press to', take" notice of Uie case. Another, lady wrote: that a good, deal of cruelty was practised on horses working on one of the wharves.

Re-naming; of. Pabnerston engages attention from . time to time, many holding that 'Talmerston North" is far too large .an' order, fori the ordinary busi-. ness . "man's. correspondence in a world which: is" essentially one:, of rush' and hurry.- Some of those who desire a change suggest a Maori 1 name, : but one (evidently a great admirer of. the present Mayor) .hints at the name of a well-known city" in Tennessee, America. His . suggestion: is "Nashville."

.The jold Manawatu Gorge 'coach road has . now been .'cleared of the : slips,'. which have blocked ; the thoroughfare intermittently for. the past two years. A number of new bridges are' replacing the old structures on the road, and when these are completed .the-.'gorge: .will be. clear, for traffic. Unless some means are taken, however,- to prevent?' the-' sliding >of the' hill-sides in -two or three places, it >is very, probable that the; road mil again be badly blocked in 'the .-winter; time.

: Tho foundation 6tone 'of the new- fever .ward of the Wellington Hospital, villi"it is understood, •, be publicly 1 laid on March 13.

"P" store and. the head office of the "Wellington Harbour Board is to be altered '.at, an .estimated, cost of -^1800,:.so as; to provide for increased office accommodation. :■ > V ; '.': ~. :

■ Among the 1 correspondence l which' came ,up. for' consideration at last night's: meeting of the'lCarori Borough Council was a 'complaint, from a • , in'edical','man : '.that his f account of .£l2 odd, dating back' to' 190G, had only been reducpd by.. JO2 2s. The fees charged were for medical attendance to. an injured..workman,"(whose condition at thp time of . the. accident was (so stated the doctor in his letter) sufficiently serious to' call for frequent ' visits. Curiously enough',: the rcouncil • was not able 1 to • de-> termine ; : th'e :identity ':of th"6 : workman: referred] to, 'as the only, individual- Svho: had been injured: in its employ -, was absent i for; three days' .only. .; The main 1 question, however,' as;stated; by the'Mayor,''was whether i.th'e'* council: generally" speaking?'! wasliable' for-'-'all medicalattendance, or for the fees for the .first consultation, only. The matter was referred .' to the. finance ■comrilittee for-:farther . investigation.'. :

: The,; complaint 'made- by. the. Chamber of,Commeroe at,Palmerston •' North in', regard to thb'gaol accommodation' there was mentioned to the Minister of-Jaetice by' a Dominion reporter:-•yesterday.- I .'.Tho ; Hon. Dr. Tindlay remarked that: it; was'significaht that. no complaint of' the kind haa previously.: been. made. If (he conditions were as unsatisfactory..as had loeri made tr. appear, ons would have expected'that the matter would, have been ventilated at an earlier date: Of course remedial steps would: be taken at onpo' if it. were' found that the. position of affairs was as had been described; • >, .

. Pour years ago,, the late Mrs. Milligan,. of. Upper Hutt, .bequeathed the whole of her estate'.to charities.' Among tho bequests was one of. £500 to .the Wellington Hospital, and .£loo.to '.'thetrustees of the Home for Chronic -Invalids/'- The .Wellington- Hospital Trustees . claimed' , the latter amount as. a legacy to the Victoria Home for -Incurables, a claim ;that, was disputed;by :those' representing the::interests, of - Mother .Aubert's Home for Incurables, snd lengthy, negotiations : resulted.-, Since, the terms of the will with regard to the point were ambiguous, the executors, of the' estate: declined■:to pay, over the amount, ponding an- agreement between' the parties. . This' has now been 'accomplished,; the : sum to ;be - divided equally.-,between the two institutions. At yesterday's meeting.-of . the : Hospital Trustees, Mr. G. Nash protested 'against subdivision, expressing,, the'opinion .that Mrs.' Milligan's intention, though -it had been ambiguously expressed,- -was -' that -Mother Aub'ort should: receive the whole amount,. Mr. ,11. C. Kirk,: acting-chair-man, held the contrary opinion; and the board endorsed the settlement.' ,

A depntation from tho Wellington Education. Board, will; ivait. upon the Minis-, ter for Education' (tho Hon.-' 6. Fowlds) noon to-day, iti'refereuoe to the curtailment of the:'maintenance vote of. the board. The...Minister'will' also be, approached in reference to the additions to the, Terrace School grounds.

A miniature - ritle range /has installed at the Worser, Bay School, and a similar range is. about to be provided at Brooklyn: School. : The, patent. travelling target invented by a Wellington firm is being-utilised in each.case. This.target will be on exhibition at" the cadet encampment at Lower. Hutt this week, and will probably .be brought under the notice of discount Kitchener., .

"Between Nelson, and Hokitika,". says the, Hon; T. Mackenzie,, "hardly'any bird life, at all is to be met ivitli; the imported vermin have -done their work .'of bird destruction only too well. In the region from, Ross Ito the south,' however,the tui and the pigeon .are to .be seen making bright the landscape with their presence. At the v Forks I met, a' gentleman who took a great interest in bird life on the • Coast; and! he told me . that the weka, kiwi,, and kawakawa had disappeared, and'ho believed that the stoat and weasels killed every bird in the country. He hofl himself just lost a half-grown black swan which he had reared. He. had found it lying on its back ; with a gash in. its throat. The stoats'and weasels were often seen in the neighbourhood of the lakes whero the ducks made their nests, and it was suspected that the . yermin, paid', due attention to:'their, eggs."- . - , •*■

■ The membership of the. General Labourers' Union at present stands at about 070, a falling-off of about 200 when , compared with the membership at this time last year, i The causo of the falling-of! is the number of men who left New Zealand during tho depression of last winter.' ''

The success of the big'Janderg arc,lamp which has done duty outside tho! Union Bank on Lambton Quay for some time past prompted the corporation, to invest in seven more arcs of tho same manufacture. The tender of Messrs; Turnbull and Jones at JCS9 18s. has been accepted for tho supply of seven lamps, two dozen globes and 500 pairs of carbons. Tho unsuccessful tenderers wore Laurence and Hansen (informal) JE7O 17s. i A. D. Riley and Co., .£lO2 15s. j A. and T. Burt, ,£lO3 9s: lid.; G. Braulili; ,£IOO ss. :

Shampooing, Clipping,' Hairdrcssing,' Manicuring, l'ace Massage, Treatment of Falling Hair and Dandruff, Combings made up. Natural. Hair-pads. ' Mrs.' Rollcston (oVcr Carroll's), U Willis Street. 'Phone 1599.—Advt.

_It is Understood that a recommendation will 1)6 mado to to-morrow nights, mooting of the City Council concerning the extension of the trnm Lino from the Bank of New Zealand 'corner, to the Post Office. It is stated that the Tramwnya Committal will urge that provision be made for the extension in next year's estimates. The bulk of the money, for suoh a scheme will be taken up in the cost of wood-blocking. : " ■

The city rate collector has been doing his utmost for some time past to get in outstanding rates, . and the corporation books are beginning to show the result of the efforts. The total amount of rates collected up to Monday last was £133,035, as against JC126.129 _paid in up to Febru-' ary 281 ast year. This leaves a balance of nearly. ,£7OOO in favour of the present year. Since • the- beginningof -the financial year a total of 298: summonses, have been issued against defaulters, the costs incurred in this mode , of collection amounting to .£l26'lis.,- as against, £79 9s. for the whole oMost .year.v Ano-' tlier batch of about 150 summonses will be issued at an,early.date.

The young man, Wni. Patrick M'Der-, mott, alias Threlf o, who stands on remand on a charge,of forgery, will be charged on six further informations of forgery at the S.M. Court this - morning./. .

Trenthnm racecourse was thrown open, yesterday to the combined' underwriters for ,the annual picnic. As usual; there .was a large, attendance of insurance men and their friends and the gathering proved an'unqualified success. - Luncheon; was followed by sports and games of overy description: and the day's , pro-, gramme moved with a swing from-,6tart to finish.

• The annual picnic of tho Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation, Ltd., was held at Day's Bay-; yesterday, and about 80 people took part in the outing, which proved thoroughly, enjoyable. A programme; of sports was got through the results being as follow —lOOydsl.'flat: •F. •■Midlane;.' egg and spoon,,race':.- F; Webb; hop, step, and jump: F. Midlane; driving competition: R. K. MThe'rson; 100yds.";swimming, race:. W.'. Smith. Cricket, ' rounders, quoits, and-,' other games were in progress'during the day. .- _The Hon. J. Carroll, Minister; for Native Affairs, who had >been attending a large *, Native ■ conference ,at Okaiawa returned to town last night.. In addition to Natives from all parts of the Taranaki province, delegates were • present;, from tribes in other parte of the Dominion. The main questions related to the individualisation of the lands and the right of disposal, especially in tho matter of lands under short leases. In order that there " might be a satisfactory -.basis-of agreement, among the-Natives , on the points, the. leading chiefs had, been, in consultation on the subject prior to the conference. I .'; It is understood that, the ultimate result .of • the conference was quite Satisfactory. ;. ; ' i ;

The work of 'replacing : the. Maflawatu, railway line between Palmerston North: and '.Wellington,, with, seventy-three! in place, of, fifty-three, pound rails, is being done by four gangs of i platelayers, , and should bo completed in about three or four months'., time..: The. line . through tho Manawatu Gorge.will bo relaid.with, heavier rails later in - the year.',,

.-;A commencement was,-, made yesterday morning with the work of erecting tents for -the., cadet encampment, at the. Hutt 'racecourse. The youngsters' will,- however, come into town in the evenings. -. ■■ '- 1

. ..The visit of : LordKitchener. to Invereargill recalls to . the ; minds of- old residents (says, the; "News"), the fact that a brother of the late . General Gordon resided in. Southland ; : in ,'.the early 'days;' He wasonly about' 22 years of age when he - arrived in 1862, . and was of delicate health,- and" unfit for manual labour.'-' He obtained- employment :on .- stations,";-but for a time; acted as tutor for the family of - the late Dr. Martin, of Riverton, of whioh the late Mr. George Martin; auctioneer, was a member. On young Gordon's death, several ' residents communicated . the; fact -to his parents, who forwarded- to; them the -.necessary money for a,. tombstone, which can now bo eeen, in ■Eastern, Cemetery. : :

A somewhat perplexing application for charitable aid'came before the Wailiemo .County Council last Saturday. -:.A' labouring map, well known at Palmerstdni'had: recently married a local; widow - with.: six children. The family had been receiving 205.. per week from the.funds, at the. dis-f posal of the; council, and- an application for the continuanoe of-this compassionate allowance: was made by the Husband. Members were in a quandary, as; to whether an able-bodied labourer of. : good reputeearning, 7s. per -day employed, should be assisted to carry the burden, that. he ■ had voluntarily taken on his'shoulders bo recently. Some councillors saw. the", danger of establishing a: pre? cedent; tliat would, open.. tbe door, to ■ a host of similar ■ applications; : otters thought-, that;-a., labourer's .wages ;would be lieavily taxed to support a wife and six ■ children. A member pointed out that the' new Charitable Aid Act would .come.' into.force in.-April, when inspectors wouldbe appointed to report on applications for relief, so' that all responsibility would tlien be taken from the local authorities. Accepting .thiß.,view of, tbe question! the pewly-married -man, : with, his family, was granted 10s. per week pro tem.

•; With; reference . to an interview with the Hon.. Thomas Mackenzie 'at ? Greymouth, which was published on 1 Saturday, wherein- it was stated -that'/'regulations were to be provided in connection with, bush burning," Mr. Mackenzie states that this is not so, and that he has been misunderstood, this probably being accounted for by the fact that, the interview was granted in "the train, and was subject to much' interruption. . ■ llr.' ; Mackenzie's remarks,were 'not concerned with the'regulation, by Government of bush, burning, but were, in the direction'~of. stating how a good bush-burn should be'earriett' out, the fault be had 'noticed on the "West Coast being that the trees were.cut too high up, / and : insufficient lopping done, •with the. result that .tho trees did not lie low and compactly, .which is;.essential .to a : "good burn.". ■ : . : A complaint .with . reference, to ; the water supply ■■' in , Maraina . Crescent '• is made by_ a resident. _ '.The writer states that at. tinies the-water has a'bad colour, a;worse, odour,: "and a ;taste like that of a solution from very.;., much : decayed irogs." ' 'Discolouration, 'and a- . bad odour, do not improve tho quality of the l a [ •" &?d s ' the, resident, , who • proceeds to istatfi.'- that, before ;drinking . the -water itself, ho has to have it^boiJed.

. A meeting/ of .the.. Benevolent .Trustees was held yesterday afternoon, th&re being present: Tho Kov. \V» A. : Evans '(chair--man), Miss Richmond, and ' Messrs. H. Cook, U. . W» Short, and .B. Robertson. .was reported. that,, the inmates of .Uluro Home number, one, hundred; -of whom sixty-nine, are men' and thirty-one are women. .In tho intermediate .home there are .eighteen, totalling in all 'one hundred and eighteen.'. Applications for the, position of overseer attendant, a't, the Umro Home' wore ' considered. .'From twenty-four the list had; been reduced to tour, and .the successful candidate lat length decided upon was' Mr. John' Lewis Jones, who had, for fifteen years,. been employed , on- the London and Northwestern'Kailway as statiohmaster, and, .or/late, had been employed iii the Government Printing-Office. Several cases of relief , wero dealt with. '. '

iSeveral passengers have , obtained ; permission to travel by the'. training - ship Amokura to tho Southern-Islands. They are , the ' Messrs'. ;Heberley, - residents of Campbell Island, and Mr. Cook, owner of .a whaling station at Cape Brett.' Mr Cook has.-jnst returned from a 'trip to 'England, whither he' went to . purchase an up-to-date whaling vessel, and ho .is on his way to the.Southern Islands to see what are the prospects of establishing a new station.

Mr. E. J. Horwood's experimental -unit of his now process plant is still in operation at Bendigo, treating bulk parcels of various classes; of ore with satisfactory results, and .it will shortly be dealing with. trial lots from -the South Comstoek Mine and Tasmania;'reoently purchased by Block 10 Company,: ajid another-lot from Silverspur, Queensland; Mr., Hornxxkl states that already arrangements are . approaching, completion , for the installation of, the process by-, one of''the companies ■ whose . complex ore has been tested at Bendigo. He, adds that an. .interesting and important' feature of the process is that it has been found: possible m the flotation operation to make most: of tho silver" accompany the lend, wliero it is of much greater'commercial: value than with the zinc. This is done by previously digesting the roasted ore in a weak of bluestone or other' copper salts, with oi without common salt. —: Advt, • .

The fire.brigade was called.out at 8.45 last,night to a small .'outbreak.in a house occupied by Mr. Clias. P., Curtis,'Adams Terrace. . ' The only, damage : done was. the burning of the 'wallpaper in. one of ■ the front rooms. '■ The fire ■ was' extinguished by .the occupants of the house before the brigade , arrived, -, ~

; Football authorities have been making inquiries regarding tho allotment of grounds for. the coming season, and . the Committee of the City Council ? i S .W' meet. representatives of the tootball. clubs, .with- a -view to arranging about grounds. . ' ■

rr„™^ v< ?i. s^w Wa3 ■■witnessed by passengers bv the fiotorua-Auckland- exoress ou baturday last., -A man "was seen 'a ' a .fWoetadjoiningi the . Mor r rinsville railway, station. After, the third unmi tWo !ln ' il ' oso .,, wi th him advanced'. Si, qquarry,ry (the nature of which . imnn! eI H. a sul| jeefc of much speculation S 011 tile, train) and- all ■ were hniS ' ? ' s 2! wild pig linS- -ii the shoulders of the bur- •• ore rlliiw" . jjophies of the chase oFn£V ? i ' a stone's throw friSm i i a,lwa y station, and the party's - not u& P S SreSS into - iforrinsville was not unlike tho procession of the,hunts-' men. in the .forest scene in "As You Like,

•Jif?? : followers of. amateur, athletics \r<T* ' e ito. learn" that X'.'.ll. • ho champion pole, jumper- o;" wi ral ? sl ?' ' has received the .neoessari wTf- i a bsence,from-iis employers, the Wellington Gas Company, ,to enable him to form one °f , the' tram : to represent s : ,at the-N.Z.A.A. chalmpionurifay which begin, next-Sat-

JpJ?of .the .Justice ; Depart;;, ment wm reoently drawn to the'fact thaf? at Tawiig famw.-Eteopeaa.' children -had '.V ft™ palmed off-on to Natives residing in' ; the vicinity of the Wanganui Eiver. . In, thismnnection, it,will-be remembered, 1 it '/ was alleged,that'some of the children in ' question; were. practically running' wild,,, and;, were, denied'- necessary comforts and ' lacuiues, for : their- proper . t up-briߣriD£.' y Referring, to the. position, lyesterday, .in' reply to an inquiry vby a Dosasnos. ny' .•! porter,-.the . Hon.; Dr.' -Findlay,- Minister'' for Justice, said . that Important issues were; raised in regard to the matter. ; In .. a uumuer oi cases the children were being ' , properly educated "and . well looked after, •bach case had been; investigated by t"he ' police, and fuUy- reported, upon. When' the details, were available, 'it would Ix found that; the not result- .would bo .that, ' while in several, cases action, would have ' . l .??. taken, in, the. majority, of. cases the children were being ;better, equipped 'for i life than if they had'remained under the control of their nature] parents. Grants approximating- JEI2S have been made to the Wellington Education Board! by, the .Education, Depai-tment, for. .the provision.of woodworking rooms at vari- ■;' ons in. the district.. 'A sum. of'' J!600 has ( also ,becn- voted for tools and--cquipment. •• •;.

; -A, boy prodigy with, alleged marvellous powers of' mathematical divination lias ' been discovered- in .-New England in tho : ■ peran of . William- James- Sidis, thoten-.-year-olds<mof the professor of. psychology ■; at "Harvard University . (savs - the - New. > York correspondent of the "Daily Mail").' *'■ A'year ago little Sidis, whose father: had.. trained' him . according to , a- unique "sys-?., rem, was admitted as an . undergraduate. to tho'.university. : One -evening'the boy —iri_ everythingbut;his.r'.knowledge of mathematics a veritable child—faced an■ audience .of J'leanied; professors, and de-' livered' a lecture, on' fourth dimensional theories.So' abstruseand erudite., were'. ; tlie: arguments -. of .'the boy mathematician,: 'the newspapers; declare, that many of the ■ hearers, who included Professors -W. P. - : Barbpur,'W. ■M; Pierce,. and J; C. Coolidge,,; confessed themselves; unable to;fol-v\ low him.• ■' Ilake—with «>me misgiving' i':—the following' "characteristic: of the ten-year-old lecturer from tie news-;" papers :-r-"Often there are'gaps left in tho ; fourth; dimensional-maces.: ■..I:. fiU'j.these up_ by slipping in polyhedrons' of appro- ' priato shape. I attach great value in working out my theories to the help given by. ? the. polyhedral''angles .of -, the dode-' • cahedron which enter into so many, prohlems.- Some- 'of; the - things I have .found out about-the fourth dimension will eoiv . tribute> : to ! the'solution of many of) tha - ■ problemsof, elliptical.. geometry,.'

iV\In l - Tegard- to'the removal ' ,: of;: the' . memorial -to >■ V little" brown dog," men*'' ! honed in '"the "cable .'messages •; recently, iyllr. i W'., H. Zouch,' secretary of tha i-; Christchurch'Society; for the Prevention.' ..oft Cruelty' to Animals, points out', .the ' was .unveiled in the' latchmer« ,i ■Recreation Ground,;-Battersea,. - by.; th# ,'Mayor of. that town, in 1306. The' foun i tain was presented by the Internationa Anti-Vivisection ;Coiuicil, : and . was' con< structed in memory;of;a little brown dog ■ ■whose bronze .model surmounts it- On ■ !.one> side ;of the fountain there is the fol< lowing • inscription "In; memory of «th» ■ brojvn, terrier, dor 'done ■' to death in th« laboratories .i of. TMyereity.-. College,',. inV .February,.,l9o3, after'''.having; endured.' vivisection extendingover.more, than two montiis!: and; having . been handed, over ■ from one;.yivisector .' to ' - death came, to' his' release.". The fountain. 6ost <£130, .which was raised by subscrip.. tions . amongstthe'' members of • the International Anti-Vivisectiori; Council; who ; first of all applied to London County Council for: permission to', erec. tthe foun-: : . tain"; in Battersea Park. Failing to get 1 Council for permission to erect, the foun-i tain to the Borough Council. Jji, action" for'libel was threatened,- and was. at first' •derided, by the Battersea. councillors, but finally tho council put its seal, to an agreement under which the International Anti^Vivisection-Council, undertook to in- .. , demnify the - corporation: against all rifiks,.