LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1349, 29 January 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tiie Maheno, with Ensli.«h and Australian mails, arrived at Auckland at 2.30 p.m. yesterday. Tho Wellington portion will arrive by the Main Trunk express this afternoon. Twenty-on! , pupils of the Wnnja.nui Collc;;iale School wore candidates at the rcceiil New Zealand VniviTMly matriculation examination. Of these IS were successful. Jn addition, the Wanjjamii Col-■-■lini'd fourth place on the junior scholarship list. It i= probable tint the petition against the return of Mr. }\: M'Calbni, as moml)?r for Wairau will be heard on March 18 ami sub-cnuent day?, but this dattylins not be?n definitely fixe:!. Mo=t likely Ilv? r-mrh will ocnipied bv Sir Jc-hua Williams and Mr. .lustice Chapman. The- schools in the Wellington Edurathn District will reopen this morning, nfrer a recrs? of six weeks, the term of the midsummer vacation. v ci'v tramways advertisement in this i=Mie draws (lie attention of the public to the valuable facilities offered by tho institution of the freight-car service. Parcels, cose? of fruit, ami packages may now be. left nt any of the depots mentioned for h-aniniis'-ion to other parts of the city. Full particulars may bo gained n'n'application to the head office of (lie Decarlment, Harris Street-, or by a telephone ring to Xos. 2131, 510, or 1300. The Wellington Garrison, Wan.janui Harrison, and 'Wellington Tramways Bands came back from the contest hold recently in Ghristchurch, yesterday mornin?. The State schools in tho Wellington Education District are to reopen to-day, af'er the summer vacation. \ mvsterious fire, occurred in the lamp room 'of the Thonidmi Kaihvny Station at 12.20 p.m. yesterday, as the rc-ult of which the contents were pretty badly damaged. The room, which is an apartment'about Cft by 12ft., and a portion nf the main sbtion biiiMin?, was visited by on? of the officials sit 11 a.m., but lie u°cd no lH.it, and could not offer a snsrercstion as to how the place cau»lit fire, unless it aro-e from r-nontaneous combustion. Had the outbreak occurred in tho middle of tlie ni'ihf. it is conceivable that the statio'n building might have suffered considerable damage. An unrehearsed effect, quite in keeping with the uncanny nature of the scene, was introduced into '"ITamkt" at tho Opsin House on Saturday eveninjr. It was at that stige in the play when, in a pale, mystical lijrW, the ghost of Hamlet's fa'tlipr droned out ronoreiif-ly: "Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand, of life, of crown.' of (|i]c-;n, at once dispatched," when a l»ns fi'.'.iverin? moan was heard in iho family'eii'dr. imd even a?- the ghost continue;! to narrate l'.ov: he eanie by his unlh'te-v end. 'be mcrimn.c enntinuod with weird ■'.•fleet i'rnln lira: , the roiling of Iho theatre. It was Fiibfcqnently learned thnt one of the audience had boon seized villi a fit, and had had to be removed Dr. Pollen rendered temporary assistance to the sufferer.

A Lower Ilutt motor-cyclist had a lucky escape yesterday. He was riding across tliD Unit Jiriilgp, wlu'ii his machine took charge and crashed at a high speed through a fence, knocking oil' several boards. The rider escaped with merely a lew bruises and liis machine received but little damage.

The curse of Babe! lies heavy on New Guinea. 'Mr. .lanius K. Lidiiiard, (he English traveller, who is al present visiting Wellington, slated in the course of an interview, 'tli.it within the limits of a Papuan resfioii (iftv miles square, ho had found no' lever than seventeen distinct languages and dialects in use. Motu, the language spoken Ky the natives of the district about Port Moresby, has been made the literary language, and it is inl-j Iliis tongue that tin , Bible has been translated. Crude as the languages and dialects of New Guinea am, they are not so -poor in as might be imagined. Mr. Liddiard, who has mastered nine of the dialects, mentions that he found, somewhat to his surprise, that Motu, (he Port Moresby language, contains words and phrases which translate literally into such expressions as "darling eliilil," "liasliful liiaiilcii," "hospitable man," and "good-humoured man." ' These phrase? seem to indicate that even the cannibal miml is capable of traversing some of tli« liner ranges of feeling and sentiment.

Detective Cameron and Constable Price have arrested a man who is to appear at the Magistrate's Court this morning to answeV a charge of the theft of £.\ 10s. on January 20, and ,CIS 7s. lid. on .lannary 21, from Albert Gooch, a carrier, living at Kilbirnie.

Two mishaps which befell delivery carts on Saturday resulted in their drivers being badly injured. John Woods, 19 years of age, residing at 212 Taranafci Street, fell off a baker's cart and received concussion of' Die brain. He is at present in the Public Hospital, and has regained consciousness. The other man was John Henderson, single, aged 22 years, living at 222 Ingestre Street. Henderson is a butcher, and the cart ho, was driving got upset, with tho result that one of his legs was broken.