LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1004, 20 December 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The postal authorities advise that the s.s. Moeraki, -which left Sydney at 2 p.m. oil JJecembcr I",.has on board an, Australian' mail; . She . is duo here on Wednesday forenoon, December 21. Mails that left Wellington on November. 11 by the s.s. 'Moan?, and connected at Sydney with the Naples mail per R.M.S. itciana, arrived in London on Iho after-noon.-of- December 17.'' • The Ist'Battalion of tho Wellington Rifles has decided to go into camp on the Karori . Recreatioii ■ Grounds from January U to 23. Sleeping Volcano: Our Maslerton correspondent s'tates {Wat nn important meet-! in'g of tho 'Masterton Navy League Was to be held last .evening. The recent contretemps in connection with the school excursion to Wellington was the subject to be discussed.--Tho new. Othki railway station, a handsome roomy building, the one which has replaced- the, place burned down, .was opened f6r business yesterday. Further .itorrespohdenco has taken place between Messrs. .Ilerdman, Wright, and. Fisher, "M.P.'s, i\nd tho Hon. J. A. Mil-' lav, .with regard to the decision of tho Railway Department not to allow holders of privilege tickets to travel on thothrough expresses 1 between . ,IG. and January 3. In the course'ot a letter to Mr.'Fisher, tho Minister says: '-'Railway passes' not available by express trains, and. have not beeli for years, were discontinued o'wiiig to continued- com-, plaints from public, Who said they were crowded out by free-pass holders. All passenger trains other than express trains aro open to them. I regret it js impossible, owing to large number railway employees entitled to passes (which is largely in 'c'xicss of number when, it was stopped) to permit men travelling bv express trains during rush of holiday

Machinery nt the Waingawa meat freezing works was set in motion on Saturday last, says our Masterton * correspondent. Everything ran very smoothly. Killing begins to-day. Says our Masterton correspondent: Ah Lop, a Masterton Chinaman, took his sons with him to China, but did not bring them hack. They were natives of Masterton, and were educated in the local school. Being able to sbeak English fluently, they had no difficulty in obtaining responsible positions under the Chinese Government. A case of alleged shop-lifting will lie investigated in the Magistrate's Court this morning. The fine weather of last week brought grist to the tramway mill. The takings for the seven days ended on Sunday totalled jC2785 ISs. 4d., as compared with •E2510 10s. 2d. for the corresponding week last year. The total, increase was .£245 Bs., 2d., tho highest day's takings being on Saturday, when the cash receipts totalled £525 Bs. Bd. The Sunday morning .special cars carried in all 629 people. The case of Gjni Angelini v. Carlo Antico, a claim for .£224 45., under an agreement, will come before the Chief Justice (Sir lioliert Stout) at 2 p.m. to-day. The Hill will case will be resumed at 12 O'clock before Mr. Justice Cooper. The Chief Justice will liold a Chamber sitting at 10.30 a.m. next Thursday. Eastbourne residents will shortly be invited to vote upon a water supply proposal. A sub-committee of the Borough Council is now engaged in drafting particulars of the . scheme. These will be conveyed to ratepayers by circular, and also at a public meeting, to be held on January 28. A poll upon the proposal will be taken probably about the middle of February. Building operations in-Eastbourne for the past six months considerably exceed tho total undertakings for any previous period of similar extent. .During the half-year about 35 permits, 1 to erect, alter,- or extend buildings,. have been issued. About twenty' permits were issued in respect of dweumghousas and buildings of similar importance. The total value of work authorised is in excess of JGGOOO. It is anticipated that the public hall which is being erected at Eastbourne, for Mi's. Forbes, will bo finished within a week or two. Among health fads that find a certain amount of favour nowadays is sleeping in the open air. The practice, however, involves a certain ioss of security, and lays a sleeper open to the experiences from which he would be safely shielded within the'four'walls of a bedroom. ■ This.was borne in upon a resident of Lyall Bay the other evening. Being minded to revert to tho habits-of his primitive forbears, lie prepared a couch on the' yer-, andah "and turned iri filled with a gratifying sense of achievement. In the early eerie hours he awoke, with a sense of nightmare oppression, to find an enormous head moving and snuffling at his face. After some moments of'"weird expectancy," the awakened, sleeper emitted a yell that woke the echoes and aroused the household. The horse, for the enormous head was that of an exploring . equine, made a hurried departure. As i'or the scared one, ho made a", resolution. Henceforth he will sleep inside.

Delay is being experienced in the transformation of thu Six ■ box tramcsrs into cars of the combination type owing to tho trucks not being available. It was nnticipat&d that two of tho cars ■ would have been converted and placed. in commission by Christmas. The bodies of tho cars are ready . and' are simply awaiting the arrival of the trucks. The cars should bo running,early in ,the New Year. In meantime the : tramway authorities' ;i'ie| two cars short. .. ~ •»!-:«*. v : ' The tender of Messrs. P. R. Baillio and Co., of Wellington (,£643), for the supply of economises for the city electrical department was signed' yesterday. Tho unsuccessful tenderers were E. Butcher, £715 4s. 6d.; Stevenson anil Co., .£713; and John Chambers, i®49 12s. In order to cope with tho holiday traffic on Monday next arrangements 'areMing made by the tramway authorities to run the ordinary full-day-servjee.. The : Sunday,.traffic, will bo. as usual. Aro-.lights, of the Jandus type,,,giving: 300(1 candle-power, haTe recently been erected at the corner of' Co'urtenay Place and Kent Terrace, the corner of TaranakiStreet, and Courtenay Place, ..and the corner of Willis Street and lambton Quay. Lamps ■of a similar pattern aTG to bo erected at Veitch and Allan's corner, and at tho Government railway station. One will also probably be set up in the Post Office Square. Steady progress is still being maintained in the extension ■of electric- lighting connections in the city and suburbs. Questioned yesterday as to recent developments, .the Lighting Superintendent :,(lIr..Y.Geo. -La'uchlan)."stated -.that 78i'new 'connections,. were made last month, as compared with- 40 for the corresponding month last year. Taking the present month up to Saturday last, the new connections total GG, as • against 50 for' the whole of December last year. Last December, it may be mentioned, was approximately 50 per cent in advance of aiiy ! previous December. The suburbs in which the advance is-beiilg thado most consistently are Hataitai, Kilbirnie, and Ngaio. The electrical department iias just completed tlie erection of twelve new street lamps at Karori, and finality is now being reached in tho erection of 30 new- street lamps a.t Onslow, Attention is directed to the political meeting tb bo held at Brooklyn this evening. Mr.' R.- A. .Wright, M.l 1 ., will deliver a post-sessional address in Fullforj's Hall at 8 o'clock, when ho will review and criticise the work of the session.

• • Giving evidence in a case in- the Magistrate's Court yesterday, a veterinary . surgeon stated that it' was no" uncommon thing to find draught horses in tho city suffering from ringbone and side-bone.