LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1288, 17 November 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The agreement belireen fho City Council mid Ih<! Tramways' I-lmployn's L'uion, fliTiingcd l>v Iho (.'oneiliation Hoard, was formally approved by the council last evening. Tho details have already be" published. The Mayor (Mr. T. M. Wilfonl) said that ho whs highly pleased with tho result of the negotiations, which was another score to the credit of the Conciliation Commissioner (Mr. V. Hally). The increases, roughly, amounted to J.'l'iUO per annum. The shop ami sevon-roomed dwelling occupied by .Mr. Win. Cook, linirdrcssoi- and tobacconist, was discovered to bo on fir» at.S.-l.'i lastevening. The brigade reached the .•-not snuirtly alter receiving Hie cn.ll, and subdued tho (lames before they got a very firm hold on the building. A portion of (he shop and its wmtniU wore Ijadly damaged by fire, and tho hnirdrossing s>)oon was damaged by heat and smoke. Tlio building is the property of M>. James Lockii'. The contents were in-ured iu the Yorkshire Ofliw for .£125. The cause of the fire could not be ascertained. Captain Scott's Antarctic vessel, tho Terra Xova, lias been docked nt LyttoHon. On coining out this morninj,' the work of takiuy aboard a large quantity of stores mid equipment, which will bo brought to Lyttelton by the New Zealand Shipping Company's liemuera, duo (hero (his morning, will be proceeded with. Further consignments will be landed by the Corinthic and Opawa, which are expected in the course of a few weeks. A shipment ■will also arrive in Sydney shortly by the .steamer Wismar, and it will be transhipped into one of the intercolonial boats and brought to Lyttolton. The crew nf the Terra .Nova have plenty of work before them preparatory to sailing on December 15 for the South, but there is every reason to believe that everything will bo in readiness by the date mentioned. Tho City Council last night accepted tho tender ot Messrs. John Duthio and Co., Ltd., for the supply of iron pipes and fittings for drainage works in the Harbour Board's reclamation, near Waterloo Quay. The total estimated cost of the work is X'3ofl(l. but the city will recover the cost from tho Harbour Board and the Government. Last night Ihc City Council agreed to the Mayor's suggestion to re-namc tiro Solomon's Knob reservoir the Morton dam.

Tlio Wellington City Council has' decided to charge the Orphans' Club the full schedule charge for "their concert in aid of the hospital funds, and to make a donation of .£3 ss. towards the fund. Questions bulked largi'ly in Mr. G. Laurenson's address at Lyttelton on Tuesday evening, unci one of them evoked shouts of laughter. It was a query as to whether the member was iu favour of penalising hoys and girls abroad unattended after 8 p.m. Mr. Laurenson remarked that it was not long since some missionary laws had been repealed in tho Islands. One was that no young man should walk out with a young woman after dark unless ho had a lighted torch in his right hand. He was of opinion that if tho law were in ibrco in Lyttelton tho Sunnier TCond on a fine night would resemble a torchlight procession. This proposal ho thought was worthy of consideration.— "Lyttelton Times." Tho Tourist Department has decided to commence operations at an early (Into for the exploitation of the supply of _ hot mineral water at Hnnmor Springs, indicated as being present by the Kcv. H. Mason, the water diviner. A Gin. boro will lie put down, and the work has been entrusted to Mr. J. W. Home, a wellsinker of long experience, who recently •uink six wells at Morvern. which had been located by tho Ecv. 11. Mason. In reply to representations which hnd been made, the Hataitoi Municipal Electors.' Association is to be informed by the City Council that it cannot see its wot to'introduce a Vi\. train fare from Kiibiraio to the General Post Ofiico. The Under-Secretary of Public Works, in a communication to the Masterlon County Council, slates:—"As there appears (o bv n slight misapprehension on tho part of some local bodie3 in regard to the items where flic amount offered is on necount of a larger sunv, I have to inform you Hint in all such cases the larger sum mentioned is available for expenditure; thus, where a vote of .£250 is provided on account of, say, .£IOOO, tho Minister will bo prepared to authorise up to .€IOOO so soon us satisfactory proposals are submitted. The reason for allocating the smaller amount is that, generally speaking, it is not anticipated that more thtm that sum will come fo charge before March 31 next. If, _ however, local bodies are in a position to tarry out, and claim for, work to the extent of the larger amount .before March 31 next, such claims will lie duly met."

Bonuses to conductors for the quarter ended October 13 last amounting to jC3I Is. Sd., .wero authorised by the City Council last evening, on the recommendation of the Tramways Committee.

The officers of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society lire at present busily engaged in distributing trout fry amongst tho streams of Hie Wellington district, and in some of tho ■fishing waters in Itawko's Bay. Altogether -100,000 brown trout mid l>oo.ooo of tho rainbow variety are lieing liberated. The work will bo completed ia about ten days.

An anonymous donor lias presented Hastings with a s?t of Cambridge chimes, which will ring out the hours tunefully from the Post Office tower. Tho bells have been east by Taylor, of Loughborough, Leicester (England), and are bring installed by Messrs. W. Littlejohn and Son, of Wellington, who made tho clock. Tho hour bell weighs 12 ewt, and tho four bells for the melody aggregate 21) cwt. A Riloucing arrangement is being providod, by which tho chimes will bo muted during certain hours of tho night, if found necessary.

The tender oi Air. John Wood has been accepted by the Onslow Boroush Council for the erection oi' n hall at Kiiamlullnh. The amount is .£I2OB 10s. Other tenderers were: Messrs. W. H. Kimnio, ,SIS 3; T. Page, .£11)01); Meyer mid Illingworth, .CISG7; .1. C. Brown, £1423; Norling and Qninn, £U29; ami 11. 11. Knight, .£1439. Air. A. Campbell, of Wellington, in replying to the president's welcomo (o the visiting delegates at the Federated Builders' Conference at Auckland, reminded (he delegates that one very important matter of business—in his opinion, the principal question to bo considered—was the working of the Industrial Conciliation and .Arbitration Act, on which he trusted the various delegates would bo prepared to express their opinions. .Speaking personally, his own firm were working under no fewer than thirteen awards at the present time, and he could assure them that there was room for a verv considerable difference of opinion in the interpretation of the different awards.

An application from the Bijou Pictures Ltd., for permission lo jrivs Siml.'ir per forniances and lo take uo t collection whs declined by the City Council lasl evening.

I An extraordinary affair occurred on tho trip of a coach from Jlairini to To Airamutu Station (wriles the Hamilton correspondent of flip Auckland ".Star"). Tlio coach contained two passengers, one ft pakeh.i and one a Muoi'i. Tho former, who had a whisky flask containing formalin for disinfecting purposes, jokingly handed the ila.sk to the Maori, inviting him to have a drink, and whilst his head was turned the Maori took two or three moutht'uls of a 10 per cent, solution of formalin. The coach at the tiuio was near Dr. Reekie's residence, and tho victim was quickly taken there. Within live minutes of the occurrence the doctor had a stomach pump at work. Tjic Maori is now progressing favourably, ami is believed (o be out of danger, though badly burnt internally. Dr. Ifaekie says ho was just taken in tie, and in another ten minuios would liayn lost his life as the result of a foolish joke.

'flip principle underlying mutual preference between masters and men in the innftor of omployment was condemned at (he. Builders' Conference at Auckland on Tuesday. Mr. \Y. 11. Bennett, of Wellington, said tlio iron-masters had gone to Court, .and attempted to make an award embodying this practice and binding men building steel frame works, who liad 110 jxirt in the making of the award. 'J'ho Km plovers' I'edoralion took a strong .sl-and against ii, and the Court upheld their objection, deciding Hint employers cniihl employ men how and when they liked, :ls long as 1 hoy paid tlu> awaril rates of wage-'. .Steel frame buildings were coming into such large use that itj would have been a serious matter if builders had been tied down in that way. Mr. S. I. Clarku (president) supported Mr. Bonnetf> remarks, and said the federation required lo be on the watch to wovent such a practice crcciiijiß in,

During the month of .September, 1911, the arrivals in the Dominion were .'tiß.>, ami the departures 21)15, as compared with 251)1 and 225!) for (lie corresponding month of last year. The bull: of tlio arrivals came from the- United Kingdom (9117) and New South Wales (172:!). The greatest exodus was also to Sydney, for winch port 2017 people left New Zealand. The arrivals at the port of Wellington were 1801), and tlio departures 1338. The Public Health Committee of the City Council is arranging foi- a eonfer•oiu:l' with tli" Public Health Derailment and tho Agricultural Department to discuss matters connected with tho city milk supply, and hopes to report on tho matter to the next meeting of tiio council. The estimated population of Kew Zealand on September HO, exclusive of Maoris, was 1,014,201. The Public Health Committeo of the City Council rejxirted to the council last evening that it had written to the Public Health Department requesting it to consider the advisability of having fish cleaning declared an offensive trade, by an amendment to The Public Health Act, 1908. There will bo a sitting of tho Supremo Court in Chambers this morning when the order of tlio civil cases will be fixed. There arc nine divorce cases set down for hearing, including one boforo a jury. Nineteen civil actions aro to be heard, one. before a special jury, two before a common jury of twelve, and two before a common jury of four.