LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1011, 29 December 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The paying oyer of the stakes.in connection with ' the' Webb-Pearce boat-race was to havo taken place•at tho Opera House on Tuesday evening (says ' the "Wanganui Chronicle"), but owing to the abfenc-o from town of thp stakeholder, Mr. P. Webb-Jones, the ceremony did not take place. "One of our : greatest, difficulties in tho financial management of ..the union," - remarked -Mr. P. Shannon at the General Labourers' Conference, yesterday, "is the defaulter—tho man who refuses to pay his union fees or only pays under compulsion. The Act makes'provision for dealing with theso cases, but so. far the executive has. been loth to. have recourse to those potont measures for the recovery of- debt,. Still, the man who deliberately refuses to pay, his union.subscription.lias no claim to fraternal favour. In a union like this, with, a largo membership extending oyer the city and provinces, .these elusive gentlemen are very hard to locate. Indeed, in maiiy cases, when located, they htpso into a ftate.of ini personalis™ and deny their own names."

While the congregation at the Church of Christ, Warrnambool (Yic.)„ was waiting for. the preacher on Sunday morning, December 18, he was lying dead within a few yards of,the church. Mr. James Thomson, a resident of Warrnambool, had becu announced to conduct scryico at the church. He arrived before tlie commencement of tho service, but did not enter tho building.. The congregation waite'd for a while, but as he did not come into tho church a': search was mads, and he was found lying dead close to the church. Deceased was a : native of Kilmarnock, Scot l land, and arrived' in Warrnambool .81 year's ago.: Ho was formerly a member of the firm of Messrs! Phillips and Thomson, furniture warehousemen. He was TG years of age, and leaves a grown-up family of four daughters and one son, tho lastnamed being a doctor in London.

A request was recently made on behalf of the Government Astronomers- of Australia that . the Federal Government should contribute towards tho cost of a scientific expedition to Tonga in April next to observe tho solar eclipse. It has sinco been announced that Cabinet will grant J-500, and this sum will cover the steamboat fares. Every , State is to be represented, and the gathering at Tonga is expected to include leading astronomers from the whole of the world.

Mr. E. J. Carey, on behalf of tho Cooks' and' Waiters' Union, has written to employers in the four, sections..of the industry (restaurants, tearooms, oystersaloons and; private -.hotels),- :asking that employers representatives shall meet union representatives in conference on the afternoon of January 3 next, with a view to settlement of the existing industrial dispute. Alternatively, Mr. Carey asks-that the union may be notified .if the employers prefer "to refer the dispute to a council of conciliation. . If, as probably will be tho case, the employers prefer to immediately submit tho dispute to Mr. Haliy, Conciliation Commissioner, a special meeting of the union will be held towards tho, latter end of the week, ending January '7, to pass tho resolutions necessary in referring the dispute to the commissioner.

', There seems to bo a good (leal of dissatisfaction as to tho manner in which the Arbitration Act is administered, remarked tho chairman at tho General Labourers' Conference, -yesterday, but so far as Our union is concerned it has been a great advantage to us in preventing a serious fall in wages during tho winter of 1909.

The total suiii "expended in Wellington on buildings during 1910 was slightly in excess of the amount for the previous year. - Last year the total was 13ij, as against .£307,989. for 1909, an increase of ,£07,149. Tho distribution was as follows:—City, .£224,273;' Melrose, .£133,596; Wadestown, ,£5729; and . Northland, ,£11,540. Several'fairly largo city buildings aro contemplated. House-building is proceeding steadily on the outskirts of the - city. , - '

On Saturday night, December 17, the Maori Village concluded its Melbourne season. ' The large audience displayed great enthusiasm at Iwa's singing, and the selections of the Maori band. During the evening Maggie Papakura presented a large framed photograph of the troupe to tho Exhibition trustees. On tho succeeding Monday evening the Maoris wero entertained at n farewell dinner given by the leading Now Zealand residents in Melbourne.

Daniel Cooper, o£ Bundoran Station, South Australia, who recently won tho machine-shearing chatnnionship of Australia by shoarinpt 310 sheen ill a working day of ■ eight hours, has (says the Melbourne "Argus") been challenged for the cbnmpionslnn by Harry Livingstone, of Longreach, "Queensland, who claims to have shorn 300 sheep just as they camo in an ordinary day's work. ' Livingstono has lodged .£IOO deposit with Sir. John Wren as an earnest of the challenge to Cooner or any other shearer in the world to shear the most sheen in eight hours for .CIOM. Mr. Wren has communicated with Cooper, and is prepared to put up a suuslnntip.l purse, in addition to a big sulo wager. The contest: may be brought elf in, Melbourne.