LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1152, 13 June 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

By R.M.S. Athenic, due at Wellington this evening from London, there are coming G3 assisted immigrants. Of the number '16 are adults and 17 are children. Included among the adults arc 28 domestics and 9 wives rejoining their husbands. Asked last evening whether ho woul 1 support the presentation . f a second Dreadnought to Great Britain, Mr. J. P. Luke, M.P., returned a decided negative. The presentation ol trie ship now being built, continued tho member, was politically engineered. "I think they (th.: Government) got such a scare last time," he concluded, "that they are =haking in their shoes now. They have quite enough to do at present, looking after their own business without giving away any more Dreadnoughts." Yesterday a deputation representing the AA'ellington branch of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and consisting of Messrs. C. M'lntyre (president), and the secretary of the branch, waited upon the Tramways Committee of tho City Council with reference to alleged over-lapping of the Society by the Tramways Union. Tho members! of the deputation stated that, under a rule of the City Council, fitters, blacksmiths, turners, and other tradesmen, members of the Engineers' Society, were compelled, on joining the Tramway service, to join the Tramways Union. They asked that this rule should bo varied. Tho society, according to tho deputation, considered it a hardship that men who had belonged to its ranks for ten or fifteen years, who had to pay Is. Cd. per week in contributions, and received benefits, such as sick pay, out-of-work pay, and pension, should have to pay fid. per week to another union from which fhev derived no financial benefit. The society, it' was stated, had written to tho Tramways Union, asking whether tliat body would be prepared to .acecpt a nominal sum of, say, ss. per year from members of tho society. To this letter no reply had been received. The deputation had therefore been instructed to ask the committee to have the rule, above referred to. varied. The committee advised the deputation to put it-- repre<--pntati«'is in writing. They would then be considered. "Kilbirnie is going to be a big place." remarked Mr. .1. P. Luke, M.P., last evening, "and Evans Hay will bo the great manufacturing centre of New Zealand." In the Old Country, Air. Luke continued, places bearing a strong resemblance to Evans Bay were the scenes of a great shipbuilding industry. The foreshore of the bay offered as good facilities for that class of work as any part of Now Zealand. The dangerous practice of driving without lights anpears to be very prevalent on the Ilutt Road at present. Tho AVellington Citv Council has deemed it necessary to draw the attention of the Inspector" of Police to the matter, and has also invited the Tetone Borough Council to co-operate in suppressing the nuisance. Tho Pctonc Council has aereed to assist.

It is not unlikely that tickets of a new style may shortly bo adopted by the Corporation Tramways Department to replace those which, under the system in vogue, are torn from a block and handed lo the passenger. The .selection of a suitable ticket is from every point of view a difficult matter. The system in vogue in Wellington is simple, hut rather cumbrous. A very different system has lately been adopted by the London County Council. A single universal ticket is employed, which is marked oft' into a number of divisions, 0110 for each fecton on the tramway routes. The conductor, 011 issuing a ticket', punches the name of (lie section in respect' of which a fare has been paid. Similar tickets were tried in Xew Zealand some time ago, but were abandoned. It was objected that a conductor, pressed for time, was liablo to punch (he wrong sections and so give rise t'o confusion. Whatever changes may be introduced in Wellington it is probable that they will embody a system of cancellation. On most of tho large English tramways, and in this country, on the Duncdin system, a rule is enforced which provides that any conductor shall be liable to instant dismissal who lakes a fare without issuing a proper ticket, or issues a ticket which has not been cancelled, in the presence of tho passenger, at the i'ime of payment. At the, present time there is no such rule in Wellington as there is 110 system of cancelation in respect of ordinary cash faro tickets. Probably tho omission will be made good.

Mr. G. H. Jackson, of Wellington, has contracted to supply the City Council witli painters' materials, during tho current year, at schedule rates. Unsuccessful tenderers were Messrs. Smith and Smith and "R. Tingey and Co., and the Stewart Timber Co.

The Post and Telegraph Department has imported 0110 of T. Kendall and Sons (London) Posl Office Savings Bank deposit acknowledgment form-folders, a most 111 genious machine, and one which has for years done good work in the London Post Office. All depositors in the Pest Office Savings Bank in New Zealand are aware that for all deposits over £1, an acknowledgment is made out and forwarded to them from the head office (accountant's branch). This is the check the head office has on all its branches, inasmuch as if the blue receipt or acknowledgment form docs not arrive within a reasonable time, tho depositor should at once institute inquiries as to the cause ot its non-receipt. The English machine's capabilities I>3gin with feeding itself from a pile of filled-in forms. The form is lifted to tho folders by a steel plunger, which gums the form as it picks it up by the adhesive it supplies. The form then passes through the machine, diminishing in size as it receives the attention of lialf a dozen pairs of folders, and finally emerges neatly folded and gummed down. Tho machine is able to fold twentyfive per minute, as compared with the three a minute by the hand system of folding now in vogue.

At'a meeting of the Astronomical Section of the 'Wellington Philosophical Society to be held in the Museum this evening, Mr. E. D. Bell will read a paper on "The Magellan Clouds."

Dr. Arnold Izard, president of tho Wellington Boys' Cricket League, has received from his Excellency tho Governor a handsome silver cup, ivliich his Excellency, as patron of the league, has given as a challenge cup. The cup lias been wen for the first time by the Boys' Institute cricket team.

The members of tho Wellington Presbyterian "Women's Missionary Union are holding a conference in St. John's Class> Koom, "Willis Street, this afternoon, ani: also to-morrow afternoon, when addresses will be given by prominent sneakers on various aspects of tho mission work in which tho union is interested. At 5.45 o'clock this evening a public tea will bo held in St. John's Schoolroom, tho surplus funds from which will be devoted to missions. This evening, in the Kent Terrace Church, a missionary rally will be held. From 7.30 to 8 o'clock Mr. Gaudier will give an organ recital, which will include "The Halleluiah Chorus," and from tj p.m. the meeting will be addressed by Mr. Kaye, of Christchurch, the l?cv. A. T. Thompson, of Masterton, and Messrs. J. G. W. Aitken, and A. P. Webster. Tomorrow evening a similar meeting will be held in St. John's Church, Willis Street, where for half an hour before the commencement of tho meeting Mr. J. Maughan Barnett will give an organ recital. Every effort has been made to ensure successful meetings, ami large gather ings aro anticipated.

Visitors and residents of Wellington will find the Juno number of "Bradshaw" a very useful little pocket guide, as it contains all the time-tables, and full information in reference to tho best places to go for an enjoyable day's outing. This handy little book is procurable from newsagents for one penny.'