LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1191, 28 July 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Postal authorities advise that the s.s. Maheno. winch sailed from Svdnev wt noon on .July 26, for Auckland, Ims on board an Australian mail, also an mail via Suez. 'i'he "Wellington portion will bo duo hero by Main Trunk lino on •Monday next, July 31. A question of wages arose at the City Council meeting last night. The Finance and J.roperty Committee recommended that an-increase of (id per day should bo granted to the engine-drivers at the drainago pumping station. At present thev"•receive 10s..per day. Councillor Fuller a%ked the reason of the increase. The Actin"Jlayor replied that other men had sot. the increase, and these men had applied for it, and it was thought only fair to givo it to them. Tho Baths and City Reserves Committee ol tile City Council -reported to last night's meeting of the council that they had received a letter from tho Society for the lrotection of' Women and Children with respect to children frequenting the baths without being under proper guardianship, lhe committee wero forwarding a copy of the letter to the custodian of tho baths with instructions for him to take steps to prevent children being in the baths too long at one time. The cabstands in -the citv havo been fixed as follow by the City Council:— Lambton Quay, fronting Government Buildings (2 cabs); Whitmore Street (I): Balance Street (2); Hotel Cecil (2); Lambton Quay, in front of Public Trust Oflico (2); Stout Street (G); Brandon Street (-1): Panama Street (t); Featherston Street, at Lambton Quay (8); Taranaki Street (4); (jhuznep Street, east of Cuba Street (- 1 ); and Ghuznec Street, west of Cuba Street (2); total, 42 cabs. Councillor Fuller attempted a forlorn hope at the meeting of the Citv Council last evening when he moved that in future all reports, excepting those relating to tho purchase of. properties should bo issued to councillors, and to the press, simultaneously. Supporting his proposal, Councillor Fuller declared that lie had been perfectly astonished at the way in which confidential reports were published in the papers. He did not think that these, reports were given out by members of the stall. Probably tTiev* were got from councillors. Councillor Fletcher: "lie ought to withdraw that!" Having mentioned in detail a number of v<C ports marked "confidential" that had appeared in the press, 'Councillor Fuller stated that unless something were done to put this matter on a proper footing, jn> would give every confidential document sent to him to the press. After all, ho contended, these reports dealt with public matters, and should be given to (he public. -'The motion lapsed tor want of a seconder. Regulations for the control of the opium tradio (particularly in regard to opium in a form tjiat can bo converted inlo for smoking) appear in -this week's Gazette. In this week's Gazelle appear regulations made under Section l(i of the Licensing Amendment Act, 1010, which concerns the poll for determining whether liquor shall.be supplied to' Natives ill certain districts (under tho Maori Councils Act, 1!)II0). The question to be asked electors is:—"Do you vote that liquor be supplied to Natives of the district:" The eleclor ! has tn writo the word "yet'' or "No" I opposite tliis question. i

The members of tho Parliamentary Press Ga I lery hclil their annual meting yesterday afternoon. The relirin;( chairman, Air. ,1. ,1. GiTtflUi (Wellington) presided. •Mr. I'. Hell (Unm-diii) wai- elected chairnuin lor the year, and Mr. (.'. E. Wheeler (Wellington) vice-chairman. Un the suggestion of the retiring chairman, a committee was appointed to prepare a permanent historical retard of the Press Gallery.

Professor Hunter delivered a lccture at the Wellington Arts Club la.-t evening on "Sen.-o-Material in Aesthetics." There were a fair number p-osont, and the lecturer received a very attentive hearing.

By the liuahine, which arrived from London yesterday, two draught stallion* and a filly came to hand in perfect condition. Tliev are consigned to .Mr. .1. W. Harding, Mount Vernon, Waipukurau, llawke's Kay, The vessel al-'J brought two Pomeranian dogs and a bulldog. All the animal • will spend the required time in i|»;u'Hiilnu\

A branch of the Chief Stewards' Industrial Union of Workers of New Zealand has been formed in Auckland (states the Auckland "Star"), and already lias a good membership and a sound linancial basis. The local secretary is Mr. A. G. Egman, and tho meetings are held oil the lust Monday in each month. Very cordial acknowledgements have been received by the central executive in Wellington, from both the Union Company and the Northern S.S. Company. Mr. W. Jacobs, secretary to tho Wellington branch of tho Union, writes as follow:—The above union was registered in November last, and has made exceedingly good progress, both financially and in obtaining members. The chief stewards' object is to obtain confidence and just treatment from their employers, and, in return, to endeavour to give every satisfaction possible to gain the employers" and travelling public's confidence, by strict attention to their several wants._ Mr. Ci. Hussell is president of the Wellington Chief Stewards' branch the members of which hope to work in peace and harmony in all their transaction s.

. At' the meeting of the Union Steam Shift Company's directors, held at Dunedin on Tuesday, last, it was intimated that Captain R. E. Smith, of the Mokoia, retires from tho service, bavins reached the age-limit. The Ixiard agreed, he being one of the old captains, to make liim a liberal retiring allowance, and to pre.sc-.it him with a timepiece. Captain Smith went to sea in 1562, and traded to the Mediterranean and the West Indies. He came, to New Zealand in the Queen 800 in ISG9, then sailed for England in the Christian Jl'Ausland. Returning to the Dominion in the s.s. Zenlandia, he worked the coast on the Lady of the Lake, trading to Catlins and the Jlolynoux, then bccame chief officer of the Ino in-the same trade, a'nd left, to join the Union Company as second officer of tho Tairoa in August 1877. llis first command was tho Beautiful Star, then in turn of the Tairoa, Oniapere, Poherua, Ovalau, and Taviuni (six years in tho Islands trade), and became master of the Mokoia eight years ajo. On occasions he has relieved as master in nearly every one of the company's big ships. His carcer as a master is remarkable: 27 years' service and only one mishap, when the 'l'aviuni in thick weather touched a reef at Tonga, but v;as so little damaged that she came to New Zealand on her own screw.

Little cognisance was apparently taken ot levels when some of Wellington's! streets were laid down. I'roof of ihis lias been found in wood-blocking the streets. One case in particular is Customhouse Quay, which is uot such a very old street. At the corner of Harbour Street and Customhouse Quay the preliminary work of taking tho level for the wood-blocking of the last-named thoroughfare has disclosed tho fact that the crown of the street was above the level of the footpath on the western side, and even though the tram track is laid below the level o£ the old crown, there instill a sharp fall to the western water channel, aiul as it is dangerous for liorsm traffic to "nko" the surface of wood-blocking to any extent, owing to the risk of slipping in wet \Veathcr, the work of blocking at that point presents some little difficulty. It is understood that when Customhouse Quay is woodblocked, the cabstand at the Bank of New Zealand corner will be removed to Hunter Street, as it is not considered advisable to have cabstands on arterial traffic thoroughfares. The condition of this cabstand was sharply commented on recently in a critical.article on municipal' Wellington, written by Mr. Nisbet (Town Clerk 'of Sydney). Yesterday Detective Mason arretted a. man, who 'will appear at the Magistrate's Court this morning charged with receiving goods valued at .£7, alleged to hav.e been, stolon from the Mew Zealand Railway Workshops. At the end of 1910 the number of contributors to the teachers' superannuation fund was 32+7. The annual rate of contribution paid as at the end of the year was over ,£37,300. The number of retiring allowances in force at t'lie end of the year was 270, representing an annlial charge of over .£14,261. These included: Ordinary allowances, 158, representing <£11,437; allowances in medically unfit cases, 21, representing .£1408; allowances to widows, 47, representing JC6II; allowances to children, 44, representing i£Bos~. The balance at the credit of the fund and invested by the Public Trustee at the end of the year was ,£152,149. The average rate ot'.interest earned by the.:investments at the end of the year was 4.09 per cent. The magistrate was Dr. M'Arthur, counsel for the plninl'itf was Mr. A. Blair, and counsel for the defendant Mr. J. J. M'Urath. Tho ca.se was to be adjourned, but neither of the solicitors had mentioned the matter of the new date. The S.M. waited a while, and then queried: "Well, when shall we three meet again?" ■ Over 402 third-class passengers arrived in Wellington hv the Huahinc from London yesterday, included in which were 103 "assisted*."' Of the latter 118 wore adults, and 35 children. Passengers nominated by friends in New Zealand numbered 32 adults and 35 children, and 36 adults were approved by the High Commissioner in London. Thirty-nine domestics wero included among" the passengers and three farm hands. There were nineteen wives on board who came out to rejoin their husbauds. Oiie death occurred on the voyage of tho Iluahine between London and Wellington. A second-class passenger named Mrs. Wood, who had been suffering from bronchial trouble, died when the vessel was a week out from London. "Are any steps being taken to prevent advertising on fences around the city?" was a question asked by Councillor Cameron at the meeting of the City Council last evening. At present, he added, fences bounding the Botanical Gardens, and in a great, many other places, were being disfigured. The Acting-Mayor replied that tho practice was certainly objectionable. It was sometimes a little difficult to detect the perpetrators of the nuisance complained ot, but a lookout was bciiifj kept by Ihe council's officers. The proposed erection of a one-horse stable in the Botanical Gardens near the Road gavo rise to an extended discussion at the meeting o£ tlio City Council last evening. A number of councillors opposed tho proposal, but, eventnally," their objections wro over-ruled. Tho erection of tho stable will proceed. The tender of Messrs. Briscoe and Co. for the supply of east-iron pipes and fittings has been accepted by the City Council. Tho erection of a bath-house at 'Lyall Bay was again considered by, the City Council last evening, when the Filiation Committee recommended that the project bo postponed to a future date. Councillors Cameron and I'nller advocated lac prosecution of the work. Councillor T'ro*t recalled that the original sugge*. lion had been to charge hall'-eost of the balh-lmuse to the tramway account. The! isMie of the Uiivemment draft regulations had mi disturbed tramway alTairs that the tramway account could not now be burdened as proposed. The' erection of liie bath-lumso imi-( need.-, therefore, be allowed to stand over. The ree-ommondatinn of the committee was adopted. During the fortnight ended July L's, mil, 32 applications wore ' received by the City Engineering Department for permission to erect, aiter. or extend buildings. In 2(i instances plans and specifications were examined and approved,' and permits issued. The value of the work authorised is as follows:—City, 4UDS2; Melrose, .£1782; Northland, .£375; Onslow district. .£415; total, .£6OBI. If you get a chill, with sore throat and tightness of the chest, don'l wait until you are laid up, but tackle it with "Nazol," which grips it quicker ami more efVectnally than most remedies. Sold everywhere. Is. 6d. bottle of 60 dotes.—Advt,