LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 956, 25 October 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The e.s. Warrimoo, which sailed from Sydney on October 22, has od. board an Australian mail, which is duo hero on Wednesday afternoon, October 26. A mass deputation, organised by tho Kilbirnie and llosoneath Ratepayers' Associations, is to wait upon tliij Mayor (Mr. T. M. Wilford) at tho Town. Hall this afternoon, to ask that steps bo taken to improve tho tunnel communication between their districts and the city. In a circular that lias been distributed among j tho ratepayers concerned, the associations above-named suggest that it is only by continually bringing their needs under tho notice of the authorities that redress can be obtained. Our mail (says our Waihoonga correspondent)' got a rather bad mashing up last Friday, Tho Hautere bag, when thrown from tho mail train at To Horo, fell under the wheels somehow, and letters were, torn to fragments, newspapers pounded' out of shape and unreadable, parcels likewise. What loss settlers havo met with is hard to' ascertain, yet several who wero expecting letters havo had to bear up under their disappointment. Even tho way-bill was destroyed. On account of the operations of tho Maori Land Boards. and the amount of other land which has been thrown open for settlement, there has been a big rush of work at tho Auckland Lauds Officc recently. The pressure is very great just now, especially in. land' transfer . work, and is "taxing the' staff severely.The Minister for. Lands has just sanctioned an increase in the staff by tho addition of six draughtsmen, and these will bo sent north almost immediately. ■ ; The Petone Nav4ls 'are settling down to their sixteen days' training at Fort IMburne, Ngahauranga, with keen' enthusiasm, ana full parades are recorded for the morning and evening musters for exercises in fort manning, big-gun drill, and the other branches of the work of the garrison artillery. ' Tomorrow evening a mock court-martial will bo' held, when the officers and men will be given an opportunity of witnessing, the proper procedure for trials by these- courts, This morning an instructional series, foilr rounds, will: be fired from the big guns, at 6000. yards ■range. Lieut-Colonel G. F. C. Campbell, Officer commanding the Division, will act as umpire.' Service company practioo at the big guns will commence, on Monday next. ' The contract price of the now steamer for Lake Wakatipu to . be built by John M'Gregor and Sons, of Dunedin, is •£20,650. '' ' V A man and a woman' were arrested yesterday by ' Detectivo Cameron and Constable D. Shaw, on a charge of . stealing, lost Saturday, a bicycle valued at Xl 2, the property of Robert E. Savillc... •' The first .meeting of the creditors ' of Edward Lothian Chatwin, of Wellington, tobacconist, vrill bo held, at 11. a.m., on November 1,. . . .■' : As a result of the drainage operations in the.Piako swamp, an area of six thousand or seven thousand acres -will be thrown open for' settlement in January; next, and . a further area in April. Thi<) land, a Domioton representative was' informed, extends from ICerepuM to . nearly opposite Pipiroa, and lies between tho Piako ■ and Thames, rivers. It is said to be excellent dairying country. ,It will bo cut into blocks of-one hundred acres or a little over, and offered on the optional tenure..' ■ ■■ ■ , ; J We are.asked to state that for catering purposes ■ the ; ' names of guests : proposing ,to attend the, Trafalgar supper on Wednesday, night should be supplied to the hon. secretary of the, Navy League atth«i National Mutual Buildings by noon today. ■■