LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 771, 21 March 1910, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Victoria, with an English and Australian mail, arrived at Auckland from Sydney at 3 p.m. yesterday: The Wellington portion of the 'mail will arrive, here by the Main Trunk oxpress this afternoon.

A Wellington traveller who has just been over the coach route between 'lokaanu and Waiouru reports that thousands of wild horses are to be seen on the margin of the route. The animals are usually first seen about eleven miles from the railway line, but they often stray nearer, and two foals are reported to have been captured by Mr. Kennedy, of Waiouru. In the mobs which are to be seen galloping over the plains, the stallions are said, to be in excellent condition. The mares, however, looked a poor lot. Some years ago a large number of the wild horses on the Waimarino Plain were captured by a party headed by Mr. E. O'Neil. a well-known Wellington provincial horseman. Each one of . the party was mounted on a fast horse, and sections of the "outlaws"- were galloped to a state of exhaustion by means of relays. As each horse dropped to the ground; its legs wero. quickly bound; then it was • blindfolded, and*. left while ■ the chase after other fugitives was renewed. Later the.captives were yarded and broken as much as their sullen tempers would permit.

A petition has been numerously signed in the Hastings district, praying the Government to take over the late Mrs. G. P. Donnelly's property at Waimarama—about 6000 acres. The petition (says our Napier l correspondent) will be forwarded m a few days.

The visit of the juvenile members of the Navy League to the flagship this afternoon is dependent on the. weather. If it is considered fine enough a flag will be flown on the Town Hall. If there is no flag.to be seen there, the visit will not take place.

A pamphlet giving full directions as to how'to obtain State-guaranteed loans is in course of preparation. The procedure under the Act is very complicated, 1 and it is felt that without the pamphlet mistakes would often'be made by inexperienced officers of local bodies, especially in the remote parts of the country where no skilled advice is available, and such mistakes would involve long delays, irritation, and expense. The pamphlet will indicate step by step all tnat is required to be done in order to secure a loan.

Lovers of . good music should not fail to attend, St. Peter's Church tomorrow' evening, when the choir .will render three anthems from Brahms's "Itequiem," and'the whole of Wesley's ilovely mottet, "The Wilderness." , 'No, performance of this music has as yet, been attempted in the Dominion. Each of the works presents really difficult technicalities. The members of the choir are to be congratulated on their ability to render such difficult music, and it is expected that there' will be a large attendance in the church.! The full programme will be advertised in to-morrow's issue.

H.M.S. Pegasus sailed for Sydney yesterday: morning, and the. flagship Powerful is at present, the only warship in New Zealand waters.

: It is understood that the decision of the Government with "reference to the recent' trouble which occurred at the Dominion Scouts' camp at Hutt Park will be published within the next day or two.

The Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, has arranged to sit at: 10 o'cock this morning for * the hearing of' the case, Edward Joshua Riddiford versus George Foreman, a claim for £200 damages', etc., for trespass. The divorce suit, iVlewhumey versus Mewhinney, will subsequently be. taken in camera. Mr. Justice. Williams will take the case of William Burgess and John Mitchell versus William Vickers, a claim ior £200 damages for breach of contract.

The town rivalry once so noticeable between Taihape and Mangaweka in their earlier days is at present in evidence farther up the line, where there is a. sort of triangular duel between Ohakune, ■ Rangataua, and Raetihi. ; All three places are progressing rapidly. Raetihi, which was laid out some fifteen or sixteen years ago on the assumption that it would be on the main line 1 of railway, is the commercial and farming centre. ■ It recently held a, very successful agricultural, and pastoral show, and this season- it has exported over £10,000 worth of . wool. It is also the headquarters of the bank which opens a branch twice a week at Ohakune, and which is. now on the point of erecting a new. building in its own town. Ohakune and Rangataua now claim populations of 900 and 700 inhabitants respectively, and each watches the other with a very observant, but not very friendly, :eye. Recently it was given out that Ohakune intended to transform itself into a borough, and to rope in Rangataua . in order to gain the necessary one thousand population. As Rangataua desires to play a lone hand in its municipal development, this announcement was treated by its inhabitants as a sort of civic bombshell, and a mooting' was hurriedly called to discuss ways, and means of frustrating the alleged project. On it being stated, however, that Ohakune had no wish to absorb Rangataua, • the latter' party held its. hand, but each district is now. endeavouring to attain a population basis which will give it tho status mentioned. . Messrs. Humphries Brothers have secured the contract for the erection of a new residence for Dr. Waiter Hislop, in Upper - Willis [street. It. will be a tivo-story building in brick, cccMyirig a section with 36ft. frontage by a depth of 200 ft. Mr. E. M. Blake is tho architect. Throughout the Lower Waikato (says the Buckland correspondent of the Auckland "Herald") there appears to be a unanimity of opinion that a mistake has been made in proclaiming the coming season a close one for game. Both ducks and imported game are reported to be very plentiful, and, in fact, pheasants are in greater evidenco this season than they have been for several,years past, and they are doing considerable damage to crops of maize and turnips. It is hoped that the Minister for Internal Affairs will give effect to the wishes of the great number who are desirous nf having an open season. In any case, farmors declare that they cannot allow the birds to continue throughout tho season causing the present depredations to crops,

The new Grafton bridge, Auckland, which is now practically finished, has been constructed by the Ferro-Concrete Company. The original contract was £31,918, but extras have brought the cost up to about £34,000. in about four or five weeks' time the work will be quite completed. At' the Grafton Road side the approach is almost finished, all that remains to bo dono being to put the tar macadam finish on the road. Tie embankment be* tween the bridge and Bridge Street has been enclosed with a rustic fence, and formed into a rockery. At the Symonds Street end the kerbing and channelling are completed. The roadway will be of concrete, finished off with powder asphalt, and a tram shelter is being erected on the northern side of the bridge. The lighting of the bridge will be by means of 26 electric lamps, in each of which will be two 25-candle power incandescent lamps. ,It ; is intended to take steps to preserve the beautiful bush in Cemetery Gully, and to' put the paths through it in order.

Major Menzies presided at the;' annual meeting of the Old Wellington Navals' Association, held on Friday evening. The annual report, in referring to the annual cutter race, stated that the White Horse Cup had been won four out of five tunes by Petone and by Wellington only once. Wellington's Tecord was improved by winning last December's race, which gives them two wins out of six. Regret was expressed at the lack of support given to the proposal to form a reserve corps. Regret was also expressed at the death of Messrs. J. Stitt and W. E. Redding, two members of the association. Donations to the funds, amounting to £9 IBs., were acknowledged. A credit balance of £30 10s. Bd. was shown on the balance-sheet. The election of officers resulted as follows:—Patron, Hon. C. J. Johnston, M.L.C.; president, Colonel John Duncan; vice-presidenis, Majors A. R. Hislop, E. Davy, C. J. Cooper,. Surgeons G. G.' Gillon, and A. Martin, Adjutant Biss, . Lieutenants Cruickshahks, Hume, M. E Denniston, Bardmaster Cimino, C.P.O. W. Harris, and J. Rabe (all re-elected), and Major Menzies' name was added to the list; hon. secretary.and treasurer,.Mr. R. K. Couper (re-elected);. committee, Messrs. Tandy, Watson, Trevor, Sinclair, Casey, Baker, Devonport, Kitcbing, Griffiths, Nation, Barnes, and Smith; auditors, Messrs. E. Meek, and J. Bulford. During the evening Major Menzies, on'behalf of P.O. Roberts, presented exC.P.O. Rabe, as eoxswain of the association's crew, with a silver cup, to be competed for annually between , past and present Navals.

Mr. Charles J. Crawford, who is a candidate for the Mayoralty, of Wellington, is making arrangements to address the electors on, or about April 1. The Mayoral election will take place on the last Wednesday in April.

A meeting of wool and grain stores' employees was held in the Trades Hall on Friday evening last, for the purpose of discussing the advisability of forming a anion. There weie between twenty, and thirty present. A resolution waß passed that a wool and grain stores, employees' . union. of industrial workers be formed. Mr. W. Noot.Qate president of the Trades Council) was elected secretary, and a committee was set up to draft a provisional . set of rules. The -meeting was presided over by Mr.. E. J. Carey, the new president of the Trades Council.

An ordination service was, held at St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral yesterday morning, when the Revs. 6. V. Kendrick (Palmerston North) and W. Eaine (Masterton) were admitted to; the priesthood. The Bishop of Wellington (Dr. Wallis) officiated, being' assisted by Archdeacon Fanoourt, the Revs. T. H. Sprott, and A.' L. Hansell.: Archdeacon ■ Fancourt presented the candidates. The sermon was preached by the Rev. A. L. Hansell, who gave a concise and interesting account of the foundation of the Church and the origin and development of the Christian ministry. He also referred to.the more im■portant place :which was .'being given to the priesthood of 'the laity in modern Church. life as a hopeful sign, and concluded with a few earnest words to the candidates, urging them not to neglect the grace received in their ordination: The Rev. T. H. Sprott sang the Litany, and the Bishop was celebrant at the Communion.

At . the request of the Dunedin 'Library Committee, Mr. H.L. James, ot the Parliamentary Library, is preparing a paper for the Library Conference on the Dewey system of classification. Mr, ■ James has : had considerable experience with the system, which- has now been adopted by the public-lib-raries authorities of Wellington, AuckChristchurch, and Dunedin. In addition, it has the widest use of any system .of book classification. Dr. Frengley, Public Health Officer, is also preparing a paper on a subject that is well known to him, "The Public Library and Infectious Diseases!" The conference, which meets at Easter, promises: to be quite - successful. No doubt there would have been a larger attendanceif the meeting-place had been more central, but Dunedin is entitled to the honour, having originated the idea.

During his remarks at the unveiling of the commemorative tablet at the infectious diseases hospital ,on Wednesday the Hon. G. FowlcLi will make further allusion to the operations of the new Hospitals Act. : .

The Department of Agriculture is carrying out experiments witli the object. of ascertaining whether or: not bacon and cheese can be carried overseas in the same cool chamber.

A ninth of an acre of land, upon which a building is erected, cnanged hands in Hawera recently at £750. Allowing that the building is worth £200, the land value works out at over £40OU an acre. The section is in a side street.

L A Main Trunk line resident who suddenly developed a penchant for shooting with a Winchester rifle, 'recently occasioned muoh alarm to his neighbours/ He had no idea of the gun's carrying capacity, and imagined that so , long as he'.fired amidst the stumps with no one but himself in thei .mmediate vicinity, he could do no harm. His first excursion, however, was fraught with trouble. In one'of his shots he just missed the head of a straying farmer, but managed to. hit a valuable horse, which died next day. In another shot, the sportsman narrowly escaped lodging a bullet in a woman's foot. The question of possible damages h'as now driven all direct interest in -shooting from the sportsman's mind. - During their Easter shooting expedition in Tenui, the Highland Rifles will give an entertainment in aid of the local school. The Highlanders will leave Wellington by the midnight train on Thursday. , While on the West Coast his Excellency the Governor visited the Ross Groldfields Company's deep mine at Ross, and descended as far as the sixth level. The big pumping plant recently installed by the company was at work, and his Excellency was much interested in-what he saw. With regard to the complaint as to the need for an additional magistrate for the Taranaki district, the Hon. Dr. Find-lay,'. Minister for justice, states that any inconvenience which might have arisen is .due to the fact that tlie magistrate who is temporarily filling the position has been indisposed. It is intended to make another permanant appointment to the-magistracy at Hie next meeting of Cabinet.