LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1357, 7 February 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The postal authorities advise tbat s s Ulimaroa, which sailed from Sydney at noon on February 3. has on board an iVustralian mail. She is due to arrive here to-day.

A report, which has been put in circulation in Wellington, that .Mr. W. 11. Morton, City Engineer, is likely to be offered thu position of Traffic Malinger for (he Wellington Tramways Department, appears to bo without any foundation in fact. Air. Jlorton scuffed at the possibility of anything of the sort yesterday, when a Dominion reporter broached the subject to him. Ho did not think it was at all likely that the position would be oii'ered to him, and exceedingly unlikely that he would accept it if it were. The annual conference of the New Zealand Master Dakers' Association will commence its sittings in the upstairs commit-tcu-rooin of thu Town Hall at 10 a.m. today. There will be about twenty-five delegates present from all parts of the Dominion, and they will engage during the next day or two in an exhaustive consideration of a. variety of subjects affecting the baking industry. Mr. C. ,1. King, of Auckland, the secretary of the association, was in town yesterday completing his arrangements for the. conference. The social arrangements were left to the secretarv of the local Master Bakers' Association (Mr. 11. F. Allen). This afternoon all the delegates arc to be taken for a drag drive round the (Jueoii's Drive, breaking the journey at Lyall Bay, and taking afternoon tea at Island Bay'. On Thursday evening the visitors will bo entertained at a smoke concert, and (in Friday they will leave for Day's Bav at about 10 a.m., partake of luncheon' -it 0.-15 p.m., and will leave for lowu again at 1.15 p.m., in order that the business of Hie conference may be resumed -it 2.30 p.m. A movement is on foot (says our Cartertoii correspondent) to suitably recognise the generosity of Mr. *W. C Buchanan, M.1 , ., in giving the M'airaraiia ii Home for Incurables. The buildciifr which is situated at Greytown, is now neanng completion. Employees of the Wellington Meat Export Company and of the Gear Meat Co. other than slaughtermen, have formed ii union, and are seeking to formulate it now working agroemtnt willi their employers, which will involve shorter hours of labour it lid increases of wages. lie", preventatives of the parties have met in lirelinliuary contortiici', but the negotiations Imve not yel taken very definite shape, and.l hey are likely to extend over several day?. Eastbourne has been agitating for a liicli-prossiire water supply for some years past. A year ago it obtained a report on a water-service and drainage sclivine from Mr. ."Westayer, CM., bit!: owing to the cost the matter was shelved. But mid-summer always brings the old want to (he surface, and a petition is now in course of circulation in llic borough, which is to urge the council to take a poll of the ratepayers for a loan for a water supply. If the weather is line «. party of the advocates of the water service will make a trip into (lie hills to tho east of the borough to visit what is rcjai'dnl as a good source of water supply. It \va? announced at the nnnunl meeting of Hie Auckland (.ins Company Unit tin , company had decided, as soon as it could nblaili a piillicii'iit supply of the iicris--.il-v iipparfllilJi. to liglil. mill pxlinguMi all sired lighls by a mechanical means, and Urn lamps would be lighted every night, whether there Ije a moon ur not. This decision, it was added, hud pivru grout NitiM'action tc the local gov. nrp iny UudUo.

A site has boon selected for the erection ill ii new accommodation house at Mount Ciiok, ami ino-l of the material rorju i rotl tin- already been conveyed about twothirds of the distance. It is hoped that I'V Hie cud of (Ik- Uutl-ist I lie cifc ti.iii (if lli|. uulv Imiltllilg will bo vWI advanced. The- llliii. T. Mackenzie stiitHl ,v<Mwday Hint the Mount Cook house is paying just now, and that the existing acc:onii!iodnlion is inadequate to meet the demands made lipnii if. He also mentioned that a motor service has been istnblished between Kairlie «ml Mount Cook, and this week it will he open through to yiicenstown. The route goes through l.indi's 1V« to W'anaka, and cro—es the Crown f'atige and into Queenstown. Mr. Wigley has organised the -ervice, and (he roads are very Rood all through. A route liar, also been opened through to the West Coast from Mount Conk. A lout; bridge lias Ix'en thrown jiviT tho 11 uka Jiivef, lints have been built, and tracks cut io connect ttic Hermitage with the western system of roads. This will enable the more 'venturesome tourists to cross right, .through from .Mount Cook to the 'West Coast. They will be able to fob the Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers, and they will then have 11)0' miles o f road to travel through beautiful scenery to Hokitikii. Two men were arrested in Wellington yesterday o)l charges of absenting themselves wi tho lit leave from steamers. Olio h alleged to have left tlie Kaipara at Duiiodin on January 2.?, and the other (o have left the Opawa flt Auckland oil Aovomber 1(i, 191 1. When Brenimi's Vaudeville Company was being ferried from the s.=. Victoria to the wharf at Gisbonie by the steamer uatea last Saturday, Prince Charles, the chimpanzee, seized the mate of the steamer and .severely scratched his face and arms. When in Auckland the management of Hie 11. B. Irving Coinpany (J. C. Williamson, Ltd.) offered special prizes for essays on "Hamlet." In response no fewer than 58G essays were received, and it" has taken (he judges (which include -Mr. Jrvinpr) up till yesterday to conclude their heavy task. The results arc as follcMi-—Oliiss A: "What 1 know of J millet, I'rinee of Denmark" (open to children up to If, years of age)— First, Miss Marjorio Buckteron; second, JVliss Minnie l.ee. Class B: "Hamlet's Ideas and Reflections" (for those over Iβ years of age)— First, .Miss Klla Basteuj second, Jlr. F. Kins. On the run out from London to Wellington K.M.S. Kotorua was constantly in touch with the world's news by mean's of her wireless instruments. All the way across the Southern Ocean she was in (ouch with lUI.S. Miltiiulcs. As the third Test match was proceeding reports of the play were received niuch to the gratification of th-e passengers. A polo pony stallion, which was bred by H.I.M. the Emperor of Austria, is on board the Jioturmw consigned t» Mr. Murphy, of (lishorne. After being quarantined on Somes Island for the required lime the pony will be sent on to its destination. i During the voyage of the fioforua from London to Wellington a scrond-elass passenger, named Kobbrt Pant, aged 81 years, died from heart failure when the vessel was a day nut from Cape Town. He wns buried at sea. Tho Hotorua, which arrived at AVellington from London last evening, .brought 43 first, 68 second, and 428 thirdclass passengers. There were 71 assisted immigrants, 2.1 nominated, and 28 approved by the High Commissioner. The 71 assisteds consist of domestic servants, farm-hands, and wives rejoining their husband. It is estimated that the loss in wages, sustained by the trannvaymen in the remit, strike, will reach the neighbourhood of .tl(!00. The Hon. T. Mackenzie told a reporter yesterday Hint the increase of receipts over, expenditure at Hauluer was 25 per cent greater at tho present time than was the case last year. Boriiig is being carried out for fresh hot water supplies, and it is hoped that very shortly Hanmex will possess the largest hot water .swimming baths south of the Line. The golf links are largely patronised, and altogether, thn Minister savs, Hnniner is becoming one <jf the most attractive resorts in >7ew Zealand. The Roman Calfiolie priests of tho Archthorwe of Wellington, to the number ol alw.it eighty, are at present in lei rent at St. .Patrick's College, Cambridge terrace. The retreat is being con- ( need under the guidance of his Grace Archbishop Redwood, and the exercises are being performed 'by the Very H<. v . J'nlhcr Bahnon, of tho fiedeinptor'ist Order. A contract has l>ecn signed for the erection of public buildings' at Ilokitika J.he contractor is Mr. John Drake, of lireymouth, and the contract price is Inqnirics are being made by the detective department (says the Syilney "Telegraph ) in connection with the 'presence in Sydney of a man and woman who are thought to be identical with two foreign escapees, alleged to have left England in the latter part of last year, after having obtained several thousands of pounds for a Mexican gM mine. The couple wcro traced by Scotland Yard to various Continental cities, and, finally, to an Australian mail steamer, but' too late to effect au arrest, as the couple had already landed in Sydney. They are supposed to have brought with tliem a large sum in Bank of England notes, the number of which are known to the Sydney police, and which, if put into circulation, would probably lend to aii arrest. Four confederates were arrested in Birmingham in connection with the flotation which is supposed to have returned a sum of X5fl,l)l)il. The operations of tho .six, it has been ascertained, extended in various directions over a period of years, and in various parts of the world. The Queen Victoria ITomc for Consumptive Woiueu at Thirlinere (N.S.W.) lias hail (says the "Daily Telejjrnpli") lo resort to the desperate expedient of sending 40 out of the 48 .paticiits undergoing treatment back to their homes. There was no water at the hospital. A remarkable feature of the situation is that there is stated to be an adequate supply of water in the vicinity, but that the'hospital has been unable to obtain a drop during tho past week, on account of the drain upon the water-pipes—day and night—by local gardeners. All the facts wire given to the . Government, but the matter is also one for the l'icton municipal authorities. 'Whilst the hospital has been charged Is. ft), per 1000 gallons for its water supply, with a minimum supply of ISO,OIIO gallons per annum, the hospital has had to Miller because of the huge quantities used for watering the numerous market gardens which exist, in the locality, and. for which only •4d. per IOIIU gallons is tile price paid. Kven tlie thorny Jtoruceo negotiations have their lighter side. The lierlin correspondent of the '"l.'elegtapli" states that licit von Kiderk'h-Wneehtpr and JW. .lulos Cailibdu lTMiitly exchanged photographs as mementoes of the hundred odd meetings which were necessary before they reached a solution of the difficult problem set them. Beneath his own picture tho German Foreign Secretary wrote the dedication: "A liion ami aimable et eiiiicmi terrible."- Not to be outdone the French diplomatist, transposed the adjectives, and subscribed his photograph with the words "A inon ami terrible et enuemi aiurablo."

The letter-carriers' picnic a " ( ' sports postponed from last Saturday will now tiiiic place on February 11 at Day's Bay. A "Odd programme , has been arranged, jind, Riven a line day, an enjoyable outin;t should result. A Hag on fho General I , ;:--! Olliee will signify that the picnic is to lie held, lint, should the day prove wot, no llaj; will menu no picnic.