LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 791, 14 April 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There are many rumours afloat in the city that a big-land suit is impending in connection with tho Wellington dock. It is said that the... case .will be a very large one, involving' very important issues, and that some of the leading counsel, of New Zealand will be engaged. It is a singular thing that Auckland and Wellington, which have largely adopted a concrete policy, are both in considerable difficulties with regard to it.

A motion was heard by the Court of Appeal yesterday in regard to the.Christchurch income' tax case, Bowron Bros, seeking an order of tho Court prohibiting the magistrate, Mr. H. W. Bishop, from adjudicating upon the matters heard by him at the beginning of_ last month, on the ground that he had no jurisdiction to hoar the case. Counsels argument occupied the whole [oi yesterday afternoon, and the caso will be concluded to-day. The only other case on tho Court of Appeal list still to posed of is that of the Gisborne Harbour i Board v. Frank Braytcn Barker and Percival Barker.

Several returned Wellingtonians by the TJlimaroa who were in Sydney during faster—the carnival time of the Ntrar South Wales metropolis—state that people streamed in from all points of the compass for days before. Easter—farmers from every State for' the big agricultural show; sporting men from as far away as Western Australia, , New Zealand, and Tasmania to attend the races; and musical people from Brisbane and Melbourne hurried into Sydney to be iu time for tho opening performances of the Grand Opera Company. The. casual visitor to Sydney.from New Zealand is given to wondering how all the hotelspublic and' private—and boardinghouscs are made to pay;, Easter would, have opened their eyes. By Good .Friday, accommodation stood at a premium, .and on tho Saturday there were people offering double rates for accommodation in the city. Shake-downs were common.in apartments ordinarily reserved for sitting, or writing rooms, and single-rooms were converted for the nonce into • double-rooms. At tho back of it all one could detect the ring of good times. Record harvests mean record Ea'sters for Sydney, and. from all accounts given to a recenV visitor every .State has fared well during the jiast season.

During,the cowse of an interview (which is'unavoidably crowded out of this issue), Dr.. Findlay told a' Dominion reporter yesterday that it was'highly probable that the new coinage of the Commonwealth would not be legal tender in New Zealand.. No, coinage was: legally current or was legal tender in New Zealand unless it was issued in,pursuance .of, a Royal proclamation by. the Mint in London or by a colonial branch'of that Mint established in the colonies. He was not yet in a-position to say whether the new Federal coinage remained in the >xme position as before the Australian Coinage Act was passed. That, he said, would depend upon, whether the Australian mints still remained branches of the Imperial Mint, or whether they were now separate institutions existing solely under Australian legislation, ■;■ If the mints remained branches of the Imperial Mint the Australian gold coinage would be legal. tender in New Zealand, but if/ they existed . solely '• under Australian legislation the reverse '.would be the case. He took it that Wie 6ilver coinage,. although struck ,at the' London Mint,, was riot issued by that Mint, but was issued in Australia, under tho "Australian- Coinage Act, and, therefore, was not legal tender in New' Zealand. Before Australian coinage could be adopted in New Zealand as legal tender provision would have to be made for it by statute requiring Imperial sanction, or, if the Australian mints remained branches of the Imperial Mint;-,by Eoyal proclamation. Tho Court of Appeal yesterday affirmed the conviction of Henry. Stephen Coburn, manager, of a newspaper called' "Now Zealand Truth," who was; found guilty when tried Wore'a special jury, at the last Wellington ■ criminal sittings, on a charge ' of, distributing obsceno.i printed matter for public 'sale. At the trial Mr. Justice Chapman intimated that if the conviction were upheld by the Court of Appeal tho offence was of.such a nature that it must be punished by a term of imprisonment." Coburn, who is on bail, will be sentenced by Mr. Justice Chapman on Saturday mcrning.

Three families who were on board the Orient steamer Otway 'at the time of the outbreak of smallpox arrived from Sydney yesterday by tho Iflimaroa. When tiie vessel arrived in the stream tho Port Health Officer, Dr. Pollen, boarded her, and it was not until he had made a careful inspection of the ship that he allowed the Customs and postal officials on board. A very thorough examination of the passengers .was made, and after the names and addresses, of tho OtwayV,late passengers had been taken the steamer was given'a clean bill of neallli. '• :v-

•. '■ ■ •"'■v- ■•■"'' The Wellington Iloniing Pigeon Society flow its Oaks Race, "for young hens only, from Waitotara on Saturday last. The winning bird's time for the 104 miles air-line was 2 hours 4 minutes. The following is. the result:—Mr. J. J. Elliott's b. c. hon No. 393 (1477 yds. per minute), 1; Mr. A: Clark's b. c. hen No. 105 (1466yd5.), 2; Mr. E. Powell's b. c. hen 361 (1485yd5.), 3; Mr. J. H. Clark's' b.c. hen No. 16 (1448yd5.), 4; Mr. W. Bailey's b.c. hen No. 223 (1429yd5.), 5; Messrs. W. J. Richards and Son's r.c. ben No. 344 (1390 yd?.), 6. ' An interval race from Marton was also flown during the week, with the following result:—Mr. It. Lewis's r. c. cock No. 33 (1244yd5.), 1; Mr. W. Thorahill's. b. c. hen No. 333 (1177yd5.), 2; Mr. C. Bidding's silver hen No. 45 (1130 yds.), 3; Mr. J. H. Clark's b. c. hon No. IC (1107 yds:), i; Mr. J. Bolton's No.; 49 (1098 yds.), 5; Mr. E. Griffiths's blue hen No. 40 (1063yd5.), 6.

The Onslow Borough Co'uncil last night unanimously approved 'of the Mayor attending the conference on the Hutt Koad works, to bo held ■ next 1 Tuesday at the instance of the Maknra County Conned!. Councillor Lynneberg expressed the hope tliat the conference would be more produotivo than a similar one that was held a few years ago. Councillor Stafford: "It's a much more, serious matter."

At the annual meeting of tho Wellington Highland 'Rifles last evening Major C. D. Mackintosh, in his "capacity as honorary life member of the corps, presented Lieutenant Willis with his captain's certificate. The honorary executivo officers elected for tho onsuing year were: Corporal Shannon (general secretary), Sergeant Dobson (shooting secretary), Lance-Sergeant St.. Clair (storekeeper). Corporal Ritchie ma presented with the gold medal awarded by tho Naval and Military Tournamont Committee for tho most efficient volunteer last year.,

Dates have been fixed for tho training camps in connection with the undermentioned corps as follow:—Wairoa M.R., May 19 to 28; Haw era M.E., May 17 to 26; East Coast M.E., May 22 to 29; North Taranaki M.E., June 16 to 24; Waverley MJJ., July 14 to 23; and Waimarino M.E., October 13 to 22.

The annual meeting of St. Mark's Young Men's Club was held on Tuesday evening in tho club-room. Tho Eev. A. M. Johnson presided over a good attendance of members. The report and bal-auce-sheet, which was adopted, showed that tho club was progressing in every way. The jcash in hand is £1 12s. 9d., and the value of assets over liabilities £26 7s. 9d. The following officers were elected for' the year:—President, the Her. A. M. Johnson, M.A.; vice-presi-dents, the Eev. C. E. Tobin, Messrs. G. Barltrop, J. Besant, P. Caterer, G. Clapham, J. Firth, W. Gaudin, G. Hall, W. Hueston, T. Pilcher, E. Rawnsley, and L. Watkins; sceret-iry, Mr. L. C. Barnes; treasurer, Mr. M. F, Andrews; librarian, Mr. B, W. Legg; magazine editor, Mr. G. C. Smith; committee, Messrs. F. Caterer, E. Eawnsley,' R. Caterer, W. Kitching, H. Sanders, and G. Smith. Tho syllabus for the year was drawn up. Next week's meeting will be "Impromptu Debates." ■

For 6ome' time past She Wellington Football Association has been going into the matter of finance in regard to a proposal to form a football ground on the Town BeW at Goer Street. An estimate of the cost of the ground was. .£ISOO. It was decided at last night's meeting of thtf* association that the estimate was too high, and that it was no use considering this particular matter any longer.

Messrs. Gould and.Dunnett,-owners of the Sherwood Downs Estate of 10,000 acres, have, it is reported, offered that property, whioh is situated near Fairlie, to. the Government for closer settlement purposes. . The City. Electric Lighting Department will probably begin the extension.of the electric light to Kaiwarra next week. The Mayor of Onslow (Mr. J. G. Harkness), speaking at the meeting of. his council lasti .night,. thanked councillors for the cordial support they had accorded to'him during his term.of office, which had been much more pleasant and enjoyable than he had anticipated. He belieTed'the borough would progress more rapidly in the near future than in the past. He could say withont hesitation that he would rather live in Onslow than aiiy other suburban borough. He also thanked the town clerk (Mr. H. Abrai ham) and the borough engineer (Mr. Clapcott) for their assistance. So faT as this year was-concerned, at any Tate, he desired •-' to say "Farewell." Earlier in the day, Mr. Harkness had been waited upon by a deputation of ratepayers, who asked him to allow himself to be nominated for a fourth term of office. He replied that he hoped he would be a.ble to comply with their request, but would five a definite reply this morning through. ir. M. P. Cameron, 1 who introduced the deputation.

Councillor J. P. Luke has given notice to move at the next meeting of the City Council—"(ll That this council resolves that the injustice ' and disability experienced by the residents of the Kilbirnie district by the absorbing' of the £2000 allocated by a previous council for the formation of a recreation ground in their district, but which was spent by ; a former council in recreation grounds 'in other parts of tho city, be remedied at .the earliest possible date. (2) .To give effect to the above resolution, the City Engineer be-instructed to submit to the council estimates of cost, together with plans, for providing a suitable recreation ground adjacent to the present reserve, or as an alternative the formation of a portion of the Town Bolt at the rear of Moxham Avenue. (3) That the.Finance Committee'be requested to consider ways and means to finance tho above resolutions and report to tho councils