LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1330, 6 January 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Postmaster-General announces that pustago 1o Tahiti and othor places in J'YoneJ) Oceania is reduced to Id. per o■/,. as from In-dav. At a meeting of the supporters of Mr. It. A. Wright, ex-M.P. lor Wellington South, hold in the rooms of the W.C.T.U., Constablu Street, Newtown, last evening, it was resolved to tender .Mr. and .Mrs. R. A. Wright n "social" at an varly date, and a committee was set up to make the necessary arrangements. -Mr. J. Castle presided.' Detective-Sergeant M'llveney and Delective_ Bailey arrested a man named Wm. Kennedy yesterday, 011 a charge of breaking into (Houston's bond, at tilenheim 011 December 2-1, and stealing therefrom five boxes of tobacco, 59 packets of tobacco, 41 cases of ale, a ease of whisky, and two eases of brandy. The total value of the goods is set down at .Col. The close acquaintance with racing terms and the devious ways of tlio turf which were exhibited by the Rev. Howard Elliott, of the Mount Eden Baptist Church, in his eyideneo before the New South Wales 'i'otnlisntor Commission, sitting in Auckland on Wednesday, proved an interesting surprise to members of the commission. Mr. Elliott, who had explained in his opening remarks that he oucc lived at Ascot (Brisbane), expressed his views upon betting and racing in a lucid and ready manner. This led the chairman of the commission (Mr. R. 11. Lcvien, 11.L.A.) to jocularly remark: "I'm sorry I didn't meet you at Ellerslie yesterday; we might have had a little wager together."

At last a real touch of summer! Wellington looked all smiles yesterday under the influence of a cloudless sky and ft soft breeze from the balmy south—a striking contrast to the gloomy days of drizzle, which cast a meteorological shadow over the city, nud, indeed, the whole of the Dominion. The effect was soon noticeable in the numbers wliicli boarded tho ears for the seaside. The beach nt Lyall Bay yesterday afternoon bore quito a holiday aspect. Hundreds of youngsters dug and delved in the sands, whilst their elders either splashed about in the snow-white combers or sprawled at ease on the genial sands, forgetting for a brief hour or two the rattle and roar of the busy city over tho hill. All the bathing and picnic sheds which the City Council has erected on tho beach wero fully occupied as long as the sum was high in the heavens, and the other improvements, including the now parade, came in for much favourablo criticism.

"Thei'e are those who are somewhat discouraged at the result of tho Local Option poll (says the liev. J. Cocker, in un (irticlo in the "New Zealand Primitive Methodist"), but. there is no need for disappointment. It is true that in a number of electorates the local voto has decreased or failed to grow as in tho past, but it .must be remembered that tho vote has been taken under entirely new and different conditions. Many men have said, 'Give us the chance, anil we will "go (lie irliolo hog," wo will voto to clear the country of the traffic in intoxicating liquor.' As a result of years of education tho conscience of tho people has been educated, so that now they aro prepared to banish the traffic from tho land. Por years the reduction vote was a live issue, but this ceased to bo popular, ami at the 190S poll only a few thousand votes in the whole of the Dominion were recorded in favour of reduction. Realising that it was no longer a livo issuo ill many of the electorates, the temperance people advocated its being dropped. Local No-License has, in the minds of many of the people, taken the place of tho reduction issue, and lliey have preferred to vote oil the wider issue, and not to ileal with the question piecemeal, and had there not been a National Prohibition vote taken, probably soino ten or a dozen electorates would have readied the three to two majority in favour of No-License."

Tho Government hydro-electrical engineer (Mr. Evan Parry) and his staff have now taken up their quarters in the old Stamps Office, a small wooden building, in the rear of the big .Departmental building on Lambton tjuaf. The Stamfis Office was gutted by fire during tho last session Of Parliament, and the Department is at prosent temporarily accommodated in the Wairarapa Farmers' building on Lambton Quay, but it is intended to find permanent quarters for it in a fire-proof building, which is to be erected in Sydney Street. The Native Department is to be accommodated in the same building. Parliament voted A'sooo towards the cost of the work (hiring last session, The completed building will cost about .£9OOO.

Cabinet lias authorised the acceptance of tenders tor tlie Ngaiahu and lvoutou cuts (Waihou River improvement). These works are intended to straighten aud clear tho channel of the Waihou River, in tho Thames district, which at present runs in a winding course, frequently obstructed by tailings, brought down by tho Waihi River, one of the tributaries of the Waihou. Other tenders which have been accepted aro for tho construction of new Public Works workshops at MAiH Tucjiiwiti)! ox[) jo pne 'pirßppiiy Bridge (lvaihoura County).

As a step towards greater efficiency, it has been decided to detach from tho Fifth Regiment, N.Z.I. (Wellington Rifles), the two companies at tho liiitt and Petone, and placo them on tho establishment of the second battalion of tho Ninth (East Coast) Regiment, N.Z.I. (Lieutenant-Colonel llislop), the liend(|\iarters of which aro at Napier. The Ninth will now include fifteen companies, eight of which will form the' first battalion of the regiment at Napier, and tho other seven (including Hutt and Petone) the second battalion, witli headquarters at Grevtown, under Major A. B. Charters. 'i'ho Fifth Regiment will then comsist of a single battalion of eight companies, and will bo attached, on mobilisation, to the Wellington Const Defence command, under Colonel G. F. C. Campbell, tho Coast Defence Commander.

Negotiations between the Harbour Ferries Company and its employees, who seek an increase of wages, are, at the moment, practically at a standstill. Yesterday, Mr. E. Zohrab, manager of the Ferries Company, notified Mr. G. G. Farland, who had written asking for a second conference, that his letter would bo laid before a meeting of directors of the company, which had been convened for Monday next, before Mr. Farland's letter came to hand. It is understood that tho case of tho'ferry employees will bo considered 011 tho same evening, at a meeting held under tho auspices of the New Zealand Federation of Labour.

Steady . progress is being niado with tho erection of tho extensive workshops and stores for the Union Steam Slup Company at Evans Bay. The contractors have suffered from delays in the arrival of material consequent upon tho dislocation of tho transport sen-ice in London during the late strikes, but it is expected that the work will be completed within contract time, in May next. Tho power-house, which supplies tho energy for tho various departments, has been finished, and is now a going concern. Of the three large blocks of buildings, the foundations of No. 1 block, which is to contain tho boiler-ship, blacksinitliing, fitting and general _ engineering departments, have been laid. Half the framework of tho No. li block—shipbuilding, sa\vmilling, general stores, sailmaking. joinery, offices for tho engineering staff —is" up, while tho integral units of the steel framework of No. .1 block—a big stores depot to hold everything from a lieedlo to an anchor—have been prepared ready for erection.- Something over HOO piles were used for tlio foundation work of the buildings.