LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 877, 25 July 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Wimmera arrived in Auckland at 3.30 p.m. yesterday, with English and Australian mails aboard. The Wellington a'lid southern portion of the mails will arrive by the Main Trunk express this afternoon.

The sitting of. the Bankruptcy Court, which was set down for to-day, has been postponed until next Monday.

The express train from "Auckland to Wellington was delayed at Palmerston for half an hour on Saturday through a couple of timber wagons getting off the line during shunting operations.

A well-known pugilist was involved in » "scene" outside the Grand Hotel between nine and ten o'clock on Saturday night. He was requested to leave the hotel premises, and, it is alleged, retused to do so. A constable was then called in, and he was arrested.' On jetting into Willis Street the constable found it necessary to handcuff the man. There was a large throng of people about at the time, and some young man is said iO have incited the crowd, with the result that there was considerable hooting, and quite a disorderly scene. A detective, wtm \\:is in the vicinity at the time, arrested the alleged inciter, ifnd both were lodged in the cells. They wjll appear before the magistrate this morning.

An examination in subject "D" will be held in November next, for all officers who have previously passed, in "C." Tlie campaign selected for the history examination ("D" IV) will be as under:— First paper: The • operations in the eastern theatre of the American war of secession, from the commencement of hcstilities to May 5, ISG3, inclusive; seeond paper, special period: The Shenandoah Valley campaign, from April, 1861, to June, 18G2, inclusive.

A big future development in the use of postcards in New Zealand is predicted by Mr. 1). liobertson, .Secretary to the Post wml Telegraph Department. Speaking at a social on Saturday evening, he mentioned that at present New Zealanders. sent practically no postcards as compared with the people of other countries. This might be attributed largely to the fact that ill this 'country advertisers did not push the postcard on the attention of the public. In America every advertiser said "send a postcard for information." Hero an advertiser forgot all about the postcard, and said merely ''send for a catalogue." In Europe and America • postcards were used at all times and on all Occasions. Tho postcard was invented in Germany, and probably reached its highest development there. This might be accounted- tor by the thrift of the people. In England the postcard was made popu-: lor by the-late Mr. Gladstone. In America, as stated, it had been popularised by advertisers. Finally, Mr. Hobertson expressed a hope that in a few years the use of postcards in New Zealand would, rise in the .same proportion as it had done in other countries. At the present time many people did not know that they could send a postcard for a halfpenny

On the motion of Mr. J. W. Macdonald, solicitor to the Public Trust .Office, tho Supreme Court has granted to the Public Trustee, probate of the wills of the following:—Rosetta Emily Hooper, of Christchurch, spinster; George Gibson, of Cape Fotilwind, farmer; Emily Hoag, of Kawa ICawa, married woman. Orders w.ere also granted to administer ' the estates of the following:—John M'Kay, of Geraldine,'farmer;'William Henry Shillito, of Wellington, farmer; and Frederick Henry Lowe, of Wellington, carpenter.

To convey any adequate notion of what a million really represents is a difficult task, but Mr. Robertson, -jeerotary to the Post and Telegraph Department, essayed it at a social gathering on Saturday evening, when speaking of the expansion of Xew Zealand postal business. _ It would take anyone, he said, five or six weeks, working eight hour* a day, to set down a million strokes tn paper, and by that time tho wrist of the writer would bo in need of surgical attention. Again, it would take one man ten weeks to sort a million letters if he sorted thirty per minute, a pretty fair speed. Multiplying this task by 151, one gained some conception of' the burden of work that fell on the men and officers of tho Postal Department in New Zealand.

The tender of Mr. John Moffatt has been accepted by Mr. John Swan, architect, for the erection of a new Marist Brothers' School in Tasman Street, which is to lake the place of the existing school in Bouicott Street, to be closed a littlo later on. The plans of the building were described in these columns some weeks ago. The closing of the city school has been brought about by the gradual movement of liie residential population to the suburbs, and particularly to "Wellington South, as the demands of commerce and industry have made themselves felt in and about the centre of the city. The building scheme also includes the erection of another school in Hawkestone Street, which will accommodate the Roman Catholic youth of the Thorndon district. The contract price for the Tasman Street School is ,£3376 lis. sd.

Mr. Hutton, retiring Chief Postmaster, mentioned at the mail-room "social" on Saturday evening that when he came to Wellington in 1903, he was assured that the erection of the new post office would proceed straightaway.

late on Friday evening Constable Snow was summoned to a house, No. 2i Cambridge Terrace, where lie found that a widow woman named Mrs. Smith had locked herself in a room. After some persuasion the constable induced her to unlock the door, and discovered a pool of blood on the floor, and that the occupaut was suffering .from a severed artery, above the elbow, and was very weak from the loss of blood. Dr. M'Lean gave temporary aid, and the woman was then conveyed to the hospital. It is further alleged that the. unfortunate woman took an eggeuoi'ul of chlorodyne.

"Lighthouses"—the new euphemism for Sunday liquor traders—arc still shining under diHiciilties, tin; pullce vigilance, especially in Sergeant Kntiedge's district, being very keen. Yesterday the Sergeant and Constable • MMvelvey made a swoop on a suspcctcd "lighthouse," and the suspect will now have tho opportunity of proving ins imiocenco or otherwise to tno magistrate.