LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1383, 8 March 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The postal authorities advise that the s.s. Maheno, which sailed from Sydney at noon on March 6 lor Auckland, has on board an Australian mail, also an English mail, via Suez. The Wellington portion is due to arrive by Main Trunk on Monday next. Sir Joseph Ward, who is, going north to-morrow has agreed to turn the first sod of the Waipa Railway and Colliery Company's line at T« Akatea, on Tuesday next, at 1.30 p.m. The line is to have a length of five and a half miles and will extend from Ngaruawahia, a station on tho Main Trunk line, about eight miles north of I'nankton Junction, to the company's works at Te Akatea. Tho line is to be constructed to Government standard and gauge. The contractors entrusted with the task of building it are Messrs. Donald M'Lean and Sons, of Wellington. They commenced operations on January 20 lost. Mr. W. M. Hanmvy, chairman of directors of the Waipa Company, and a number of Wellington shareholders, will attend the ceremony on Tuesday. Mr. Evan Parry, Government hydroelectrical engineer, is at present on a visit to the Makuri liivei, near Pahiatua. There are cataracts on the river which are regarded as a possible future source of hydro-electrical energy. Mr. Parry is expected to return to Wellington this evening. The statuary which is to surmount the main doorway in the new General Post Office building was originally expected to arrive in January last, but it is not now expected to con'ie to hand in less than a couple of months from the present date. The Post Office building as a whole is not likely to be absolutely finished for a couple of months yet. Externally it is practically finished now, but a good deal of inteniul finishing work remains to be done. Probably the statuary over the doorway will be in position before the Post Office is opened for the conduct of business. A bawl rotunda is to l>e. erected at Island Hay during the. next city financial year, at a cost of about ,C 175. The sum of 10s. per week for one year has been grunted to the widow of a late employee of the Wellington City Corporation. The free use of (lie Town Hall lias boon granted to the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society for a. meeting to be held with a view to quickening public iliteral in l| u . society and its work. The City Council decided last evening to inform'a number of petitioners for Hie improvement of Hixon Grove that as the owners of the Grove will not contribute towards the cost of such work, it cannot concede lo their request. The council also decided to refer Hie question of repairs to private street-; and righU-of-wav to the .Municipal Association of New Zealand for consideration at iU uc.\t loiilei-eiioe. !

".MUs-oning the .lomihs" is M„. unkind wav in ivliich Hie "Pnd-a County Press" describes Hie la-li of reconstruction nptin which Sir .lu-epli Ward is reported („ |j,, bending the powers ol his intellect.

The Government architect has prepared plans for u now bulk store for the Post and Telegraph Department, It is to be erected on Hie reclaimed land between Waterloo Quay and the King's Wharf. It: will lie of two stories high, in brick, with a length of 439 ft. and a depth of about 30ft. The. motor by-law proved n stumbling block to the City Council last evening, and it adjourned "at 10.50 o'clock without having completed its consideration of that measure. A number of items of business figuring on the order payer remain to bs transacted. These will be dealt with at a special meeting of the council, which is to be held on Tuesday next at 4 p.m. During the past fortnight twenty-three applications were received by the city engineering department for permission to erect, alter, or extend buildings. In eighteen instances plans wero examined and approved and permits issued. The value of the work authorised was ns follows —C'itv, .1:2080; Melrose, .64013; total, JC7293. Complaints are still rife in regard to the slowness of the suburban train service, and n deputation from Lower Hutt is to interview- tho Minister for Kailways on the subject as soon'as a suitable date can be arranged. One complaint made is that the .stops at ICniwarn and Ngahaurauga aro unduly long, and cause such a serious waste of time that five minutes could be cut oil' the time allotted to almost any of the suburban trains. A joint meeting of Hue trustees and governors of St. John's College, Auckland, has resolved that tho Bench of Bishops be asked to consent to the establishment of a Marsden Centenary Fund, the money to ba devoted to the completion of the premises of St. John's College. At the beginning of 1915 a big function is to be held in connection with the. Marsden centenary, at which it is hoped that Bishops from England, Canada, and Australia will bo present. It is requested that the money then obtained should be devoted to the'fund. At the present time there are. 22 scholars and students at St. John's College. His Excellency tho Governor has been pleased to approve of tho formation of the 2nd Battalion, 9th Regiment (Wellington East Const Kifles), with headquarters at Masterton. The Government offices throughout New Zealand will observe Monday, March 18, as a holiday, in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, which this year falls on the Sunday prior to that date. The City Council Inst evening extended by six months the time for which n wooden structure, owned by the Union Steam Ship Company, is to be allowed to stand at the corner of Tarailaki Street and Hnllcy's Lane. The company is to be informed that no additional extension will be granted. During the coming year a sum of money is to be set aside by the City Council to defrav the cost of erecting street nameplates in , tho outlying districts. The council last evening recommended its Uy-laws Committee to insist upon the proper numbering of houses in tho outlying districts. The registration of tho Otago Coalmincrs' Industrial Union of AVorkers under the Arbitration Act has been cancelled. Aj notification in this week's'"Gazette" forbids money orders or postal correspondence being dispatched to tho AngloAmerican Specialists' Company, of 40 Place de Brouckcre, Brussels, Belgium. A branch of the Government Lifo Insurance Department (life and accident) was opened at the Post Office, Taradale, Hawke's Bay, yesterday. 1 _ The tender of Mr. Thomas Latham, of Gore, has been accepted for tho orcction of a post office at Balfour. The contract price is .CG99 15s, The Morningtoii Estate Company is to be required by the City Council to provide the necessary sewers and water supply at their new road at Morningtoii. Tho City Council lias recognised tho Marnnui Surf Club as a life-saving club operating at Lyall Bay beach. Last night the council voted a sum of I'so towards the erection of their club-house on tho bench, tho site and nature of tho building to-be approved by the City Engineer. Last night the City Council refused to the Athletic Football Club permission to use the Basin lieservc on Saturday, March 16, for the challenge sjiorts meeting, but granted the club the right to use Anderson Park for the sports, with the right to take up a collection. Cricketers who are a little short of equipment have been in tho habit this season and other seasons of making the picket fences bordering- the Basin Reserve do duty for nets by placing the wickets close against them. Some of the fences have suffered through the practice, and now notices are to be placed in the reserve warning cricketers not to do it any more. The attention of the Cricket Association is also to be drawn to the practice. ' The Fiiiaus prophesy death, and according to Kev. \)'. Deane, from Fiji, w;ho spoke at the annual meeting of the Methodist Foreign Missionary Society in Sydney last week, a native nearly always dies once he has prophesied his own end. There was a woman, the missionary said, ■who' said she was about to die.. The Fijians always put on' clean clothes when they are going to die, and this woman asked her husband to bring her a clean garment. The husband picked up tho first garment he found and gavo it to her. The.woman donned'it, threw herself prostrate, and peacefully closed her eyes. A little later, someone said "the corpse move*,'' could he examine tho body, he asked. The husband agreed and it was found that the woman was alive. ''Why did you come back'?" she was asked. Her reply was: "I could not go to Heaven in my husband's shirt." The wooden premises occupied by Messrs. Preston and Co., pork butchers, in Willis Street, are about to be demolished to make way for a more modcm building. The new building which is ■to be erected in brick, three stories in height, has been in part secured on lease by Messrs. Preston and Co. " The property belongs to the estato of the late Mr. A. A. Burnett. The question of the election of a licensing committee for Wellington _ Suburbs was under consideration by the No-License League at its meeting last evening. It was pointed out that the liconses under ordinary circumstances would. only last three months, and it was thought the local bodies would bestir themselves to prevent a contest on tho score of expense. The meeting, however, decided to select a ticket for the poll which takes place on March 12.