LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1380, 5 March 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The postal authorities notify that the post anil telephone otlice at Island May has boon moved lo a more central site, anil is now situated in the premises of Mr. Clarke, chemist, Cornwall [street.

The election of four members of tho Teachers' Classification and Superannuation Board, lo represent tho teachers of (he whole Dominion, closed yesterday, but as all ballot papers posted yesterday are eligible, tho voles will not be counted until Tuesday. Among the numerous telegrams received by Mr. Massev, tho lieform Leader, during the Into session of Parliament, tho following, which refers to the I'ayne incident, deserves notice for its epigrammalic point: "Yonr slip was that of a man. Your recovery was that of a gentleman." Tho Main "Trunk express was twenty minutes late in arriving; at Auckland on Friday morning, due to the fact that the engine, winch was dragging two carnages over the average, was unable, to complete the ascent of tho incline from Greenln.no. The train, in its initial run, got about half-wav when it suddenly came to. a standstill. The result was that it had to run back to the Grconlane station. Another attempt was made, and after a hard ten minutes struggle the obstacle was surmounted. Assisted immigrants to tho number of 53 will arrive in New Zealand by R.M.S. Turakina, which is due here from London, via wav ports, this week. They include 39 adults and 20 children. The adults chiefly consist of wives rejoining their husbands, domestic servants, and farm hands. The township of Upper Hutt now has a population of 1059 souls, 59 inore than entitles it to become a borough. One. of the speakers at the gathering held yesterday, in connection with the opening of the new Town Board offices, expressed a hope that it would not be long before the township became a borough. According to a resident, who is thoroughly in touch with local opinion, the expectation is unlikely to be realised for some time to come. The citizens of Upper Hutt, he stated, wero by no means eager to adopt the more dignified title of borough for the reason that in a town district the general rate was limited to 15d. in the X, whereas, in a borough, a general rate of 3d. in tho £ could be struck without the special sanction of the ratepayers. At present, if - the Town Board desires to strike any rate in excess of lid. in tho ,6 it must take a poll of the ratepayers, and tho latter, according to our informant, are disinclined to in any degree loosen their hold on the public purse-strings.

The craving for something now affects tho travelling public just ns much as it does any other section of tho community. The new steamer Mauugauui, which created such a favonrablo impression on its first visit to Wellington, will arrive here from Melbourne, via the south, on Friday next, and will leavo tho same day for Sydney direct. Although her accommodation is extensive, every berth in the saloon has been booked for tho run to Sydney, and her complement of passengers is likely to be a record. In yesterday's Dominion it was stated that the Maitai had to cease work at Rarotonga on February 23, and leave a good deal of tho cargo behind because it canio on to rain. The reason for tho vessel's sudden departure, according to the captain's report, amounted to more than a downpour of rain. A big sea came up, and the conditions were such that the

lines which held the launch (by which the i'ruit-laden barges are towed) had to be cut through to save the launch. For sixteen hours after leaving Rarotongn the vessel encountered vcTy severe weather, which must have been faced had tho cap-

tain taken the risk of remaining in the roadstead.

The Kilbirnie ratepayers and their sympathisers intend to again urgo upon tlio City Council the desirability of making a commencement with the reclamation of the Kilbirnie Recreation Reserve. At tho next meeting of the council a deputation will wait upon them with this object. The expenditure of JJ2OOO has been promised time after time since tho money was voted by the ratepayers, and swallowed up by the other reserves, but up to the present "very little has been done. The central position of this reserve should, it is urged, recommend it to all residents of the city. A penny should carry those desiring to visit it either from Courtenny I'laco or from tho State School in Newtown, when the Constable Street lino is linked up with Kilbirnie. Councillor Cameroii has an item on the order paper for next meeting of the council, with the object of getting the Constable Street line extended. At a special meeting of the City Council to be hold on Thursday evening, part of the business will be to consider a motion: "To adopt a Special Order'accepting a surrender of the lease of Sections 115, HIS, and 117 Lambton reclamation fronting Lambton Quay held by John Fuller and Sons, and to grant to tho said John Fuller and Sons a new lease of tho said premises for tho term of the existing lease to come and unexpired from May 1, 1912, at an increased rental of JE9OO per annum with the right to successive renewals for periods of fourteen years in perpetuity at a ground rent to be fixed by valuation, subject to condition that the first renewal shall.contain a covenant to build within eighteen months from the commencement of tho term of tho samo and that the lease to be granted and all renewals thereof shall contain such covenants as shall, in the opinion of the City Solicitor, be necessary to preserve the license to sell fermented and intoxicating liquors now existing in respect of tho said premises." This motion refers to tho property known as tho Club Hotel, on Lambton Quay, one of the best-known hostclrics in tho city.

The following notice of motion was given at Friday's sitting of the Methodist Conference in Auckland by tho Eev. J. W. O. Burton, of Now Plymouth:—"That we, the ministers and delegates of the Methodist Church of Now Zealand, hereby place on record our earnest desire for peace between nations, and the establishment of arbitration as the only rational and just method of settling international disputes, and we hereby pledge ourselves to employ every legitimate means to advance the cause of the brotherhood of the human race and the abolition of raco hatred between civilised people. Further, wo view with alarm the growing tendencies towards militarism as embodied in recent legislation, so contrary to the teaching and example of Christ, and wo emphatically condemn tho Compulsory Military Training Act of 1909, and plcdgo ourselves to work for its repeal. We hereby convey to our Methodist brethren in all countries our heartfelt longing for the peaceful settlement of all immediate differences and assure them of our Christian love, and we trust that tho true Christian spirit will govern our relationships in tho future." In his address at tho pponing of tho Methodist Conference 'at Auckland on Thursday last tho Rev. G. W. J. Spence (tho retiring president) said: "Tho returns of the religious census, as published by tho Government, proved disappointing so far as tho Methodist Cliurch was concerned. They represented that during tho quinquennial period they had mado practically no progress. Those who, know tho true position saw at once that someone had blundered in compiling the returns. This had since come to bo known. For example, in his own borough of Palmei'ston North, where tho Primitive Methodist Church was not represented at all, and never had been, the Government statistician gave that denomination credit for over 400 adherent?. A similar-mistako appeared in connection with tho returns, for Lyttelton, where some 130 Primitive Methodists were supposed to bo found. Several circuits in Wellington district furnished evidence of the same confusion. These were examples of errors whii.h must have been made all over tho Dominion and were, of course, sufficient to account for the untrue position in which the Methodist Church was placed boforo tho conntry. Unusual activity hnd marked th? Church-building enterprise during the year. Mr. Ppenee believed that their achievements in this direction constituted a record. The returns showed that 1!) now chinches had been erected,, while nine additional places of worship hnd been sanctioned by the Church jJiiililiiig and Loan Fund Committee. Sonio of these were now in course of erection. Five commodious parsonages had been built, tinrl schemes for four more had been approved."

Our Wanganui correspondent states that there will be no election for a Licensing Cowmlttflfl iti HiA.t district Uni year, The old oomailttoo bai boon elected unofipoKU,

An advertisement in another column gives the full particulars of the names of the candidates and the different polling places' for the election of a Licensing Committee for 'Wellington Suburbs. Mr. Salmon, tho returning officer, has completed all the necessary arrangements and appointment of tho various assistants for (Tie different places. The date of the poll is fixed by tho Licensing Act, and is to be on Tuesday, March li. It will interest those concerned in tho world of moving pictures to learn that the firm of West's, which controls many picture theatres in Australia and NewZealand, has secured the sole agency for Australasia of the products of Patho Freres, the well-known Parisian firm of picture manufacturers and the patentees of natural-colour kinematography.