LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 991, 5 December 1910, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tlio Maheno, from Sydney, with Auss tralian mails, English and American 1 mails, via Vancouver, and English 1 mails, via Suez, arrived at Auckland at 6.30 p.m. yesterday. The Welling- : t<ln portion of the mails will arrive by the Main Trunk express this afternoon. 1 A five-roomed houso in Grafton : Street, Roseneatli, owned and occupied ' by Mr. Chas. Johnston, was burnt to the ground a few minutes after _ 11 I o'clock yesterday morning. The build- . ing was insured for £300 in the State Fire Offico, but the contents wero not insured. The adjoining wall of a threeroomed dwelling was also ruined by the ilames. The owner is Mr. J. Woods, of Lower Hutt. The number of loans that havo been applied for by local bodies, and provisionally approved, but not paid at the tirno of the coming into forco of tho New Zealand Stats Guaranteed Advances Act, 1909, wa-s 21, and the amount, £29,650. Tho amounts of such loans that wero paid bver under the New Zealand Stato Guaranteed Advances Act totalled £8896. Tho amounts for which provision is mado under tho Local Bodies' Loans Amendment Bill are:—Kawhia County Council, £2500; Masterton Borough Council, £700; Eketahuna County Council, £200; Waipa County Council, £250; Lower Hutt Borough Council, £10,000; Rangitikei County Council, £1300; same, £800; samo, £1100; Waipa County Council, £60; samo, £200; Okaina Bay Road Board, £1000; total,- £1S,000.: . Before dispersing on Saturday, tho mombers of tho Parliamentary Press Gallery met tho Prime Minister for . tho purpose of thanking him for his kindness to them during tho session, and also to wish him/ bon voyage in connection with bis forthcoming visit to tho Homeland. In the course of his reply Sir Joseph .Ward expressed the opinion that it would bo a remarkably good thinj* if one or two New Zealand journalists wero also sent Home to attend tho Imperial Conference and the Coronation ceremonies. Ho suggested that arrangements might well be made to secure a special news servico from London to the Dominion, through tho Pacific cable, during the time that tho conference was sitting. Tho ordinary servico was a good one, but on such special, occasions as tho conference, tho people of Neiv Zealand did not, under tho existing conditions, got what ho thought' they wero entitled to—a full report of tho proceedings. Special representation of . the kind would bo for tho benefit of tlio Empiro as a whole, and also of New Zealand. Tho Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science will meet, in Sydney this year, during the period January 9-14. A provisional list of papers to bo read' at the meeting will bo issued shortly. On January 11, Lord Chelmsford (Stato Governor, New South Wales), patron of tho associa-. tion, will give , a garden party to members attending tho meeting, 'while other functions in honour of the occasion will'also be arranged. Those who . pro-, pose to attend the meoting aro invited to send in their names and subscriptions (£1), to tho local secretary of the Stato in which they reside. Tho local secretary for New Zealand is Mr. C. Coleridge Fnrr, of Canterbury College, Ckristchurch, for whom Mr. It. Speight has been acting. Professor T. H. Laby, of Victoria College, is president of the astronomy, mathematics; ! and physics section of tho association; Professor P. ■Marshall, of Otago University, is president of tho geology section ; Mr. Edward Tregear, Department of Labour, of tho anthropology and philology' section. .Tickets of membership will entitle the.holders to ai> tond all meetings and .entertainments held under tho auspices of the association, ,aud to a copy of the association's report. Many hundreds of people wero : tempted out to Lyall Bay by tho ' brilliant weather of yesterday morning. When they reached tho bay they found a high tido and a great southerly swell, and; as a consequence, a magnificent sot of rollers of tho best quality— high-breaking, and unusually fierco in their "follow through." Hundreds were bathing, and moro hundreds "browning" in the sandhill basins, or ■, exercising on tho beach. Several ladies, . instead of using tho dressing-shed, did ' their undressing and dressing' among ' tho' sandhills. j Further- reference to tho gift of Royal i relics to New Zealand by Mr 3. Maslin, of London, was made in tho House ot 5 Representatives on Saturday evening, c It will bo recalled that the gifts wero a mado in recognition of the offer by ] Now Zealand of a Dreadnought to the ( Royal Navy. Tho Prime Minister said i that it had been decided that the gifts I should bo located in the Genoral Assem- 1 bly Library in tho meantime. At r a later- dato lie said it could be de- ( cided whether they should go to tho v Dominion Musoum. t Speaking in tho House of Reprcsen- i J tatives on Saturday, Mr. Wilford, M.l\ H for Hutt, Complained that an English T visitor had commandeered tho Waihaha a stream, which is in the Taupo district, c for fishing purposes. Ho said that tho visitor claimed to havo got a leaso from f tho Natives under which he: had tho exclusive right to fish tho stream. It . was hiS opinion that the Natives had ■ no right to givo such a lease. Would 11 tho Hon. Mr. Carroll ex-plain Fho post S1 tion? Mr..'Carroll said that ho had r< made inquiries into tho matter.: Thcro i.i was nothing on record to show that the $ Natives had given any such lease to any Europeans. At any rate, tho ownership was such that no such lease could bo S1 given until tho matter came before tho JLand Board. . • 1:1 ri For the best and most modern Hair 111 and Complexion Treatment, Jlrs. Rolleston, who has just returned from England and America, is recommended. Highest S |] Jiploina for removing snoerfluons hair, t), Vibro-mnssagc, Hairdressing, Shampoo- ping and Clipping. 4 Willis Street (over m Oorroll'sJ Tel. 1555.—Advt. yj

i A meeting of the Licensing Commit- . tee for the Hutt district will bo held at i the Magistrate's Court) Lower Hutt, at ; noou to-day. The. statements published in New : Zealand that boys emigrating from l England under tho Sedgwick scheme ; > would receivo Government grants > i amounting to £400 at the eud of five j . years, to enable them to buy land, aro ; , officially denied. It was stated in the . ! House on Saturday that the Govern- ( ' inent had received a cablegram from , tho High Commissioner as follows: — > ' "Sedgwick boys. Your telegram 29th • ® November. Nothing known here of . statement as to Government allowance ! I to acquire land." ' A man named Thomas Thomson wa3 i brought to Wellington, under custody, from Dannevirkc on Saturday, to answer to a charge of having on or about November 24, 1910, received tho sum of ISs. in terms requiring him to account for it to one Wm. Grey, and failing to do so. • Mr. Joseph H. Williams, a very old I resident of Hawke's Bay, passed, away ■ at his residence, Havelock North, on 1 ! Thursday night. The deceased gentle- j - man, who was only 56 years old (says \ ; the Napier "Daily Telegraph"), was j : . tho fourth son of Mr. Edward Marsh j ■ Williams, at one time Resident Magis- j trato and Judge of tho Native Land \ I Court, who died at To Ante some time ( ago in his ninetieth year, and ho ar- j 1 rived here in tho year 1875. Ho man- f | aged the Erimley Estate for many i ' years, and, on tho property being sold, lie'went to live in Havelock. He took s an absorbing interest in tho Hawke's j Bay Agricultural .and Pastoral Society, ] of which- body ho was president _ for j many years, and his brains, his time, , and his purso were always at tho com- , mand of any proposal which had for , its object the advancement of matters . agricultural or pastoral in Hawke's , Bay. His death removed a familiar j . and popular personality, not only from ( i Hastings, but from the Dominion, as l he was known and esteemed in both [ islands. He. is survived by a widow j . and four daughters. ' Owing to the heavy sea at_ Island Bay, the swimming carnival which was to liavo been held ou Saturday was unavoidably postponed. 1 Slowly but gradually man is being i robbed of little privileges here and there, which, though not amounting to much iir each individual case, servo to show the working of the minds of some (.Torn en in respect of tlieso small indulgences. There happened to be a small knot of women waiting to board a tramcar yesterday, and two of them made for the smoking compartment, next to • ' tile motorman. "That's a 'smoker, 1 ' ladies!" said the official civilly. "Oh, is ! it?" said one of the ladies, hesitating. 1 "Never mind about- that," said the other, "got in. Lot them do without their smoking I" And she bustled'her companion into the crowded smoking apartment, though there was room in other parts of the car. Detectives Lewis and Andrews on Saturday arrested a man on a charge of having committed a serious offence. Ho will appear before the magistrate this morning. It is anticipated (reports the "Otago Daily Times") that tho scheme now being carried out by- the Government for the irrigation of the Steward Settlement, North Otago, will be completed t about the middle 'of_ January. Tho c scheme, which comprises a main canal q and distributaries of a total length of 1 about 70 miles, with the Waitaki River as the source of supply, wil sclrve to r irrigate about 22,000 acres. It is .un- q derstood that the Otago Land Board will shortly take steps to have a Water l Board set up to control the distribution y of tho water and maintain the races, etc. ■ Tlio annual distribution of prizes in ® connection with the. Wellington Technical School is'to take place in 'the Concert Chamber, Town Hall, on Wednesday evening. His Excellency the ■ Governor has been invited to attend.