LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1438, 13 May 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Owing; to tho late arrival of the Sydney mail boat Victoria at Auckland' last evening the Wellington and southern portion of tho mails missed the Sunday overland express, and consequently will'not arrive in town till to-morrow afternoon. ' Tim English mn.il, via Vancouver, arrived in Wellington on Saturday evening by the Main Trunk train," writes a correspondent, "but tho letter delivery office closed at 5 p.m., and those who ore not rich enough to rent a private letterbox are debarred their correspondence until Monday morning, or over 40 hours after the arrival of the mail in the city. Noiv, do the people set the benefit of the large subsidies paid towards these mail services?"

A vouth named Lawrence Thomas, 17 years' old, is in thf WelliiiKton Hospital puft'eriiiff from burns ami wounds 011 She head. It appeal* llmt- lie was doing something to an acetylene gas generator when tlia gaa Mp!o«M, Tiwmo* roiudra at la?

"What a gigantic corporation the Canadian Pacific K«ilway Company is," remarked Mr. Harold Bcauchamp to nn interviewer, "and how wisely and taeft'u'llv it exercises its great power! As the'owner of thousands of miles ol railroad, millions of acres of land, numerous hotels, fleets of steamers trading in tho Atlantic and Pacific, and on the lakes or inland seas of the Dominion, its revenue— slighilv over X25,0f10,<)00 per annum—almost equals that of Canada itself.

The following extract from Hie ''Labour Journal" just published shows that immi"rtin(s who have recently arrived have been readilv absorbed :-"The ovcTsra boats. Corinthic and Komuera, were met as usual, advice given to the new arrival* and departmental address cards distributed. It is pleasing to say more girls found their way to the office tlian usual. Fourteen out of the 25 domestic workers who arrived by tho Corinthic were pieced ill employment by the otticc. They were a pariiciihirly capable class of voting women, am! almost without exception lied Hid requisite training for domestic ltorlc." Tho new Adclphi Picture Theatre in Willis Street is to be formally opened bv M'- \. J'- H'Tclmnu, M.P., on Tuesday owning of next week. At the conclusion of I lie performance, the directors intend l.u give a supper in honour of the event in the Cafe Continental. The funds of the local centre of Hie fit John Ambulance Association have been augmented by a substantial donalion from Mrs. S. A.Jthofos, Lady of Clmce nf the Order or St. John of Jerusalem, who has sent a cheque for £10 to the treasurer. The committee will be glad of further help from those interested m Iho organisation of St. John, as it is particularly needed at present.Siivs the Svdnev "Sun":—The leader of I he Palace orchestra will probably object to a repetition of an unrehearsed incident in (he last night of "Bonnie Mary. In She bedroom scene the hero and the villain striipgle for possession of a revolver which, in Iho usual course of events, Die'hero secures. On the night in question, however, during the scuffle, the revo'ver Hew over the footlights, bumped the forehead of (he conductor, and hit a member of the audience. Few people noticed the incident until the gentleman who hod caught the flying weapon walked down to the stage, and threw it back, whereupon the hero, Guy Hastings, confounded the villain amidst great enthusiasm.

In an advertisement published in this issue Mr. A. K. Fulford draws attention to his candidature for the scat vacant on fho City Council. ■ The scenery encountered in the journey across Ihe prairies by the Canadian Pncilit: Hallway is described by Mr. Harold Urauchsiinp as dreary beyond description. "What sti'ito the traveller," he said, "is the wretched nature of tho shacks occupied bv settlers, and tho fact that, little is done to beautify these homes by the cultivation of ■gardens or tho planting oi trees. Commenting on this, I. was informed that most settlers considered iv waste of time and money to cultivate tno aesthetic, their chief object being to amass a competency and get to a more congenial climate with the least possible delay. Small wonder when one consuiers the awful blizzards these pioneers have frequently to face in tho winter."

A cable message received in hydney from Mine, de Cisneros, now in >>ew lork, announces that uniong tho artists to accompany her to Australia and New Zenland is Mr. James Liebling, a noted cellist. The name of Icibiing is famous in music in the United States. Two of the family, JOmil and George, are pianists, as well as composers. James Liebling, who is to visit Australia, is the 'cellist of the group. A further artist named by Mine, do Cisueros is M. Paul Dufault, a lyric tenor, who has been associated with the contralto in many of her own brilliant operatic seasons. The prima donna and tho other artists in her concert company will sail from San Francisco on May 0 by .the steamer Maramn. According to a New South Wales paper, the wholesale slaughter of opossums in Now South Wales is causing alarm in official circles, ' Tho eagerness with which tho little animals are hunted is due to the value of their skins as merchandise. Tho eastern slopes of New South Wales aro the only districts in which the opossum abounds to any extent, and it is only a matter of time, under present conditions, when he must disappear altogether. A proclamation is in force affording protection up to June 80. A further proclamation has now been issued prolonging tho date till December .11,

Mr. Froggatt, of tho Linnean Society, toid the Royal Society, at a recent pithcrinj? in Svdnoy, souio amusing experiences of his when in Mexico. A certain notability gave him a letter of jntroeiuetion to his brother in the country, wiio, lie understood, had a largo hacienda, which answer's somewhat to a station in Australia. Mr. Froggatt packed up ms evening clothes, and after 6ome difficulty found an Indian to paddle him up the river in a dug-out canoe to the nearest point to tho hacienda. After lengthy wanderings, said Mr. Froggatt, he arrived at a small hut on the top of a hill. This was the plsce. The room he occupied, and which the whole family occupied, consisted of four walls and a roof, without any windows. About jholf a dozen fowls slept under Mt. Froggatt's bed, a number of peons reposed in the roof, and his host and his wife had a corner of the room partitioned off by a curtain. It is needless to say Mr. Froggatt's dress clothes did not leave their valise, but he at least obtained a truly intimate insight into Mexican life. Messrs. Walsh and Veshnren's beautiful Bleriot monoplane, which was damaged on tho voyage from America, has now been repaired, and with Mr. Schaef's locally-built and now greatly-improved monoplane, is to be seen at the Colonial Motor Company's garage, in Courtcnay Place. No charge is being made for admission. This morning an inquest will ho held concerning tho death of an infant, who was found dead in its cot in a local receiving home on Saturday. The German Inderal Council has Adopted the draft of the new Nationality Law, which makes the loss of German nationality more difficult, and its resumption easier than before. It is provided that a German residing abroad who has iiot performed his military service before tho end of his 31et year shall lose his German nationality. The total number of German emigrants in 1911 is stated to have been 23,500 as against 25,531 in 1910.