LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 962, 1 November 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Military Court of Inquiry will commence its sittings at 10 o'clock this morning to consider certain charges which have been laid against a sergeantmajor of the Wellington District Instructional Staff. Major J. E. Hume, R.N.Z.A., Officer Commanding the Permanent Force detachment at Wellington, has been appointed President of the Court,. and associated with him will be Captain Syman, R.N.Z.E., and Lieutenant Standish, R.N.Z.A. The Acting-Minister for Public Health iB being asked by Mr. Poole, M.P., "whether, in view of the number of sailors, firemen, and others overcome by the use of bad liquor in the various ports of- the Dominion, he will take steps to have" a proper examination of the liquor supplied so as to prevent a good deal of sickness, and trouble to the people who are responsible for order and efficiency." The Banks Meat Company, which has been engaged in the meat business for many years, ceased slaughtering yesterday.. The closing is the result of the establishment of municipal abattoirs and the law governing them. This sets out that no slaughtering for local consumption may be allowed at any place other than, the municipal abattoirs,, except at, such places where slaughtering for export trade is carried on. The" Makarn County Council had issued the license, but following on the Hon. T. Mackenzie's decision (baseil on the opinion of the At-torney-General) the council found itselfin the position of having to annul tho license. This was done on October 14 and the company's right to slaughter terminated yesterday. Mr. Field, M:P., is asking the Prime Minister whether tho Government will do its best to give employment to all efficient officers of the public sirvice who .were retrenched last year, particularly those who are married men with families, many of whom are suffering real distress, resulting from such retrenchment "I was standing on the back of a tram the other day," said, the Eev. Chas. White, M.A., at the Congregational Union in.Sydney recently, "when a plan shouted out to me, 'Hullo Wowser. X lilted my hat to him and he lilted his ito me. It seems to me that there is a tremendous outbreak of irreverence '15 these days. We find that we are insulted in this way continually. 1 dont know how much there is behind it; but we have to fight this word 'wowser' down. I dare say it won't stick, but there is the irreverenco that we have to contend with. Tho contract for a three-story steelframe and brick building to be erected in mid-Willis Street for Mr. A. F. Craven, photographic artist, lias been secured by M'Lcfm mid Gray. Tho architects are Messrs. Hoggard and Price, and tho contract price is .£3OOO. Sir Joseph Ward has agreed to receive a deputation from the Presbytery of Wellington on Monday, November 7, at 11 a in., to lay before him matters affectin" tho position of Presbyterian missionaries in the New Hebrides. The Eev. J. M'Caw, of Hutt, is convener of the deputation. The following M.P.'s have agreed to help in the deputation:—Messrs. t*. M. Thomson, Sidey, Malcolm, Herdman, Laurenson, Allen, Massey, and the Hon. T. Mackenzie. The Colonial Sugar Kefining Co. has this day reduced the prices of all sugar five shillings per ton. j Dr. Henry, in a letter to Mr. Holmes, of Wellington, states that the Wanganui mission is greatly moving the town, 'i'ha hall, which accomodates 1200, is packed every night. The press of the town are helping in every possible way and there are a great many confessions. Tho wet and windy, weather is delaying the building operations in connection -with tho new General Post Office considerably.' It is impossible, of course, for the men to work in tho drenching: rains which have been so frequent of late, and it is also impossible to work during the prevailing north-westerly gales. The fear in the latter regard is that tho weight ■of the lilt and the sail-pocket the corrugated iron donkey-house presents to the full force of the galo.M it veers round might prove too much for the castings on which the standards of the gantries rest, in which case there would 1 be bound to bo a smash. There are now 100 mensteel workers, brick-layers, and stonemasons—employed on the work, and therefore it is a rather serious thing when tho rain descends and the winds howl. Th'e contractors state that there: is work for a few more stone-masons at present. Tho three-story drick building in Willis Street, formerly known as Paris House, and lor some time occupied as a restaurant, has been purchased by Mr. Frank Shaw, chemist, of WeUington. The property, which has a frontage of 19ft. to Willis Street, was purchased for about J2BOOO (including tho building) from Mr. P. B. Loughnnn, of Hamilton, Waikato. Mr. Shaw intends to make it the headquarters of Messrs. F. Shaw, Ltd., a limited liability company now being iormed to take over the several pharmacies established in this city by him. In addition to the ordinary meeting, a special meeting of tho City Council is to be held on Thursday evening next. The nppointed business, is to make and levy a special rate of one-seventh of a penny in the £, on the rateable value (unimproved) of all rateable property within tho city. Money thus raised is to provide interest and other charges on the loan of ,£IOO,OOO authorised by a poll of ratepayers ou August 3 last. Works upon which tho loan is to be expended are: The duplication of the main from the Wainui reservoir to the city; the provision, of a distributing reservoir; the construction of a bridge over the Wainui River; tho extension of city reticulation and the diversion of the existing main, to the now Hutt Kiver bridge. Tho concrete work of the new dam at Solomon's Knob will be completed about a month hence. Some further time will be expended in clearing away vegetable growth and rubbish from the internal basin, but the reservoir should be ready for the storage of water' before the end of the year. The dam has already been subjected to a pretty severe test. During tho recent flood the reservoir basin was filled to a height of thirty feet from tho bottom of the wall. Needless to say the stability of Mr. Morton's masterpiece was. in no way disturbed by the I immense load of water which it bore thus early in its career., A valuable fea.turo of tho new dam is that the storage capacity of the reservoir which it barricades can if necessary be largely increased at comparatively slight cost. As now designed the skeleton wnll has a flat top 11 feet wide, but, should occasion demand it, the sloping face of the dam can bo carried a further vertical ' height of ten feet. Tho storage capacity of the reservoir could in this way be much more cheaply increased than by removing tho rising ground in its basin. Mrs. Eollcston, Hair Physician and Toilet Specialist, has returned. Appointments may bo booked for tho latest and most scientific Hair and Face Treatments, Electrolysis, etc. English, American, and Continental experience, i Willis Street,. Wellington. ..'Phono 1599.— •idvt