LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1061, 25 February 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

•- ■ — Tlio Postal authorities adviso that the s.s t Mnheno, which-sailed-from .'Sydney iat 2 p.m. on the 22nd inst. for Auckland, has on board an Australian mail, also tho English mail, via Suez. Tho Wellington portion should reach here by Slain Trunk express on Monday. "I have already cailed the attention of ,the Government and tlm SolicitorGeneral to tho unnecessarily embarrassing condition of tho law in this con- ■ ncction," romarked Mr. Justico Chapman at the Banco sitting yesterday, referring to the fact that v(hen a judge mado a fixture for the hearing of a case, ho must take it himself. Tho remarks were mado apropos of an application by Mr. J- O'Shea (City Solicitor) that a provisional dato towards tho end of March should bo fixed for tho hearing of tho compensation 1 case Piko and Date v. tho Corporation. His Honour said ho did not know tj'iat ho would bo in'Wellington'about tho date suggested. A further application will be made next week.

Councillors Smith, Frost, M'Laren, Luke, and Fitzgerald havo been. appointed to represent tho City Council on tho Technical Education Board.

The cost' of house rent, as compared with the average wage of the casual labuurer, were strikingly illustrated (luring the hearing of a court case yesterday. Three of the, witnesses called were the'wives of labourers. The first deposed that her husband earned £2 a week on in average, and out of this £1 10s. went in rent for a six-roomed cottage. The second witness, with her husband and family of two, rented a two-roomed cottage for which they paid 10s. a week out of earnings of £2 a week. The last of the witnesses stated f)'.iat she and her husband and one child rented two rooms, the average earnings of tho head of the house being only £1 10s: per week. When the civil action, James Flowers v.. tho Wellington Wharf Labourers' Union was called on in the Supreme Court yesterday, Mr. O'Regan, who appeared for the defendant union, stated that the chief witness, Mr. D. M'Laren, had been called away to Patca in connection with the' strike there, and would not bo in town I hat day. Mr. Justice Chapman took the opportunity of remarking that in such cases coun- : sel should acquaint the Registrar of the Court of tho position. If this was not done, tho judge sometimes found that ho had to join tho ranks of tho unemployed occasionally owing to the postponement' of fixtures made in advance. The case was furt|ier adjourned. . The new St. Helens Hospital, which is to be built on the eastern • side of Coromandel Street, Wellington, will be of two stories, in brick. There will bo three wards on the. ground floor, and six in the upper story. An isolation ward is also provided. An eight-foot verandah will run round both floors. Tho building will be fitted witli two electric lifts. It is expected that ten or twelve months from the letting of the contract will seo tho building completed. Space will be allotted in the Botanical Gardens to the.collection of about three thousand native plants and shrubs which has been purchased by the City Council from Mr. Travers, of Kilbirnie. Most of tho plants belong to the smaller varieties of our native flora. 1 They were collected in various parts of, New Zealand. . A.'-musical programme'for the farewell garden party to Sir Joseph Ward, which is to bo held in the "rounds of. Parliament House oil Wednesday, afternoon next,: is being' arranged by Lieutenant •Herd, of the Wellington Garrison Band. The catering will be carried out- by Godber's Limited.' The committee entrusted with the management of details has now practically completed its. task.

The Wellington Harbour. Board has, accepted the tender of Mr. C. F. Pulley for the removal of the maze of-piles from the dock site at To Aro._ The contract price was exactly in 'accord with the estimate of the engineer (Mr.' J. Marchbanks); viz., £1000. • The declined tenders were as followWm. Glendining and Co., £1325; J. G. Jarrait, £1513; Donald M'Lean and Co., £1796. . . : , lij connection with the New Zealand Rifle Championship Meeting at Trentham .it: is notified : ' that . competitors may now obtain practice on the mouuds on Monday,' Tuesday, aild Wednesday of next'week. 'The range will be closed on Thursday, the evo of the opening day.. • . - 1;. , . Tho Anglican Church at Petone was pretily decorated last evening on the occasion of the annual harvest thanksgiving service. . Special services were preached by the Rov. T. H. Sprott, of Wcllinston, to ai very large ■ congregation. - ' '•- •: : ;. - ■.! : Mokoia, s.s., will'make. an excursion to tho Marlborough. Sounds at Easter. She leaves Wellington'on April 13, and returns on April 18. , The tender of Mr. J. Trevor (£4092) has been accepted for the ; contract for the additions to 'the Wellington Girls' High School building. '.r , Some ancient bits of -totara, wonder- ' fully preserved, have been brought to light T)y an excavation in Post Office Square, near' the Queen's Chambers. It has been judged necessary, before ■going on with the work of wood-block-mg the Square, to remove a large storm-water culvert, lying: under the ■roadway at _ the spot. indicated, , and replace it with one .of concrete. . Tlie. present culvert was built of totara, and • although, r as stated. 1 the timber has been in position for-forty years, it is in a wonderful state of preservation, somo of it being as good as ever it was. The. excavation has also brought to light somo of the' ironbarlc stringers used in the-construction of tho first part of the Queen's Wharf. These timbers, like. the totara, are psrfectly preserved, and have matured so well that they can be sawn through only with a great deal of difficulty.

The Fiji "Times" says: "Wo understand that revenue returns for 1910 are highly satisfactory. The duty paid at cacti port shows a very substantial increase over the- figures for 1009. . Tho increase for Suva is about £8300, for Levuka £9600, for Lautoka £5900, or a total increase of about £24,000 for the three ports. We, understand that only a small proportion of this increase is to bo ascribed* to the new tariff, so that wo can only accept tho figures as further ovidence of the steadily increasing trade and commerce of. the colony. The figures for- Levuka are "extraordinary, representing an advance of nearly 50 per ccnt. over 1909.'/, .

The Napier-Wellington express was an hour late in arriving here last evening owing to a eteam-pipo on the engine blowing out at Porirua.