LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 788, 11 April 1910, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tho t.e.s. Mabeno, with English and Australia-n mails on board, arrived at Auckland , at noon yesterday. The Wellington and southern mails will arrive ,in town this afternoon by the Main Trunk express.

Passengers on the Main Trunk line expresses last week suffered somewhat from the cold snap, which was Very evident late at night and in the early morning. The steam-pipe heating api paratus was not in operation, and for several ' nights passengers, 'ladies especially, bitterly of the cold.;'! In . ,the matter --.'of invalids and old • ladies the case was serious, and regret was expressed at the apparent want of forethought by the Railway Department. A passenger by the Auckland north express alleges that on appealing to one of the guards for warmer air-space on Thursday night, he was impertinently informed that anybody who felt cold on such a night must be diseased. It was intended to place the heating apparatus in operation in the Auckland-Wellington express on Friday evening, , but it appears that the machinery was not in order,, and passengers shivered for another night. It is understood that the expresses north and south will be heated from to-day. ,

Yesterday afternoon, about half-past four, a collision, • happily attended by no serious consequences,,took place on Lambton Quay, near ■ the Union Bank, between an incoming Seatoun car and a gig driven by Mrs.' Fellingham, who was accompanied by a girl, of about fourteen. The horse shied at something when just opposite Whitcombe and Tombs's, and the gig came into" contact with the car. Nobody .was injured. The damage to the gig consisted of two broken shafts.

The quarterly general meeting of the St. Vincent-de-Paul Society was held yesterday afternoon in St. Patrick's College, Buckle Street. His Grace Arch-i bishop Redwood presided, and there wero also present: the Rev. Dean.Regnault, S.M:, the Very Rev. Father O'Shea, Vicar-General, Dr. Kennedy, and several of the local clergy. Tho reports of tho different conferences (of which there are now seven in tho city and suburbs) were of a. very encouraging nature, and showed that tho society was making steady progress. The recent art union, promoted by St. Patrick's Seamen's Conference, had 'resulted in a net profit.of £60, and it was intended shortly to provide a meet-ing-room for Catholic seamen. . Two branches of the society ha.d been lately established in the city and suburbs. Another branch of the society was formed yesterday among the students of the college-

It is understood that the Railway Department will fix up bigger pumping gear at Eata, which...will obviate some of the present "stoppages" for water .by the Wellington-Auckland northward express on tho route between Paekakanki and Taihape. When arrangements have been completed at Rata, it is stated that the express will bo able to run from Paekakariki to that place without farther replenishing its boilers, and thence on to Taihape.

Mr. J. E.. Palmer, the Town Clerk of Wellington, who has just returned from a visit to Sydney, was much impressed by the municipal markets in that city. All tho fruit, vegetable, and fish markets of Sydney are now centred close to Darling Harbour, togfitlier with a corn, hay, and straw market, which is in a separate building, and an egg and poultry market. The cost of tho scheme was about £300,000, but the markets which are '. open are already paying their way. The council's profits are derived from tho stall rents of tho markets, which amount to Is. 6d a day and upwards. In the fish markets the fish are spread on long tables for sale, and rent is charged according to space taken on'these tables. Mr. Palmer is convinced that municipal markets could be'worked successfully in Wellington, and that they would do much to cheapen the cost of living.

A man was arrested by the detectives on Saturday on a cliarge of having stolen a sum of £6 from Peter Buchanan, who, it is alleged, gave him the moneys on Friday night to invest with a bookmaker. The matter will be dealt with at the Magistrate's Court this morning.

With reference to the request made by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce for a central railway station, in Wellington at the terminus of the Manawatu and Wairarapa lines, a Dominion representative has been informed on very good authority that the site for the neijv station i has been provisionally fixed in an area" near Bunny Street—which runs between the' Departmental buildings and the Government Printing Office—further, that plans of the proposed structure have been prepared for consideration by the 'Cabinet, the total cost running into something ljke £200,000. The station itself will, it is said, possess nothing of the palatial magnificence of the Dunedin building, but it will be erected on the most, modern approved lines for passenger traffic

The Wellington Gas Company's Morris tube class opened its season with a match between teams selected by Mr. Norwood, head of the fitting department, and Mr. Dongal, engineer's department. The fitting department won by 29 points. The following shot best for the winners .-—Norwood, 31; Gray, 31; Dodgson, 31; Coombs, 30; Smailbone, 30; Butler, 30. For the losers, Faulknor, 31; Densen, 29; Aston, 28; and Topp, 28, made the highest scores.

"There are one or two glorious uncertainties about the railway time-table," writes. "Traveller," "which makes its study at times a sort of delirious fascination.; Something like watching to-, talisator figures ,on the machine. I started out from Wellington on Monday last, and, according to the timetable, I found that I was to have a clear run to Palmerstori. North, with no stoppages. There were five stoppages, one each at Johnsonville, Paekakariki, Otaki, Levin, and Koputaroa. I don't blame the train for stopping a 6 these places,' but I am informed that they always stop at some of them, and would like to know why they are not scheduled. .'• Proceeding further along, I noticed that the train stopped at Feilding, but that progressive town is not included in the Auckland-Wel-lington list, but is side-tracked to the bottom of.the page,with the reference: 'A Stops at Feilding. . See. page 50.' Later on I found .that:we stop, at Ohingaiti, and'on looking up the timetable, find that- that place is., duly scheduled. I casually wonder then why, if Ohingaiti is scheduled, why not Feilding, Paekakariki, and Otaki? Further inquiry reveals a I am informed that although the express northwards is advertised to stop at Ohingaiti, nobody . may. take ;out a ticket for that place on that particular train. In order to preserve as much as possible the railway travelling public, I"respectfully ask that next month's time-table be printed in a .common-sense manner."

'There was a'change in the weather yesterday . afternoon. a The gusty ' northerly )of Saturday had gradually spent itself, and at noon yesterday the-sky bsgan to grow dark, and about . five o'clock a few drops of raiii fell, while the wind veered to the south. By nightfall the rain had set in irr earnest, and a cold, inhospitable southerly was 1 blowing. . V ■

Two . little boys, George Craig, seven years, of Park Grove, Burnley, and Victor Futeher, nine, of Burnley, Victoria, were recently playing; on the bank of the river, near the Hawthorn bridge, on the Burnley side, when Craig slipped into the water and sank. ; He could not swim. His companion,, who also; was unable to swim, bravely tried to rescue him by holding to the wgeds, and grass and stretching his hand out to the little,fellow, whose head came to the surface. All young Futcher's efforts were in vain, for. Craig was just out of his reach. While trying his best to save Craig, Futeher lost his .hold on the bank, and also fell in. Both-boys were drowned. The cries for help uttered by young Fntcher attracted the attention of a passer-by, who, however,arrived too late to render help. The imposition of. a wheel tax is suggested by a Dunedin city councillor. It was time, he said at a recent meeting of tlio council, that a different arrangement was come to for taxing vehicles. If a man could afford to have a trap, etc., then ho should be made to pay something for the use of the streets. Tho suggestion as to the establishment of a wheel tax was greeted with hearty "hear, hears" from councillors.. .

The Christchurch municipality has been asked by the Early Colonists' Association to take, steps to ask tho. Prime Minister to : invite Lord Kilbracken (formerly Sir Arthur Godley) and Lord Cobham (head of the Lyttelton family) to visit Canterbury during the Diamond Jubilee period in December next. The matteris at present under consideration.

Beferring to the statement published in the "Times".frorn its Sydney correspondent, that married immigrants to Australia' had been denied employment when encumbered with children, Mr. Elwood Mead (Victoria) said, that undoubtedly there was a difficulty with regard to immigrants who had families obtaining employment as station hands or farm lahourers. In giving before the Murray Waters Commission, one of his recommendations was that in each subdivision of an irrigation colony there should be a large number of 20-acre blocks to suit riien of limited means, and a considerable number of 1 and 2 acre, blocks for farm labourers and their families to meet the needs of the owners of the larger blocks for additional help. . These small blocks would enable the labourer to have a cow, poultry, e pig and his own vegetables, and when he was not working for wages he could be at home working on his own block, and making a large part of his living thereby. Mr. Mead expressed the view that in this way it was possible to have a very' prosperous and contented body of men attached to the soil. It was just as desirable for the family of the farm labourer to have good conditions as it was for the family of the farm-owner. Tho Minister of Water Supply (Victoria) alluding to the same subject, subsequently stated that provision had been made in the Shepparton subdivision for labourers' allotments, and woijld be made on all future subdivisions, so that in connection with tho new land sottlemcnt policv of the Government there would bo no difficulty with regard to tho farm labourers who had families to provide for. Children wonldnot bo regarded »s encumbrances in Victoria, but would be welcomed as the most desirablo of all immigrants. , ■ ■.■,-■'■