LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1486, 8 July 1912, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Violoria, with an 'Australian mail only on board, arrived at Auckland at 5 p.m. yesterday. Tho Wellington and southern portion of tho mail will reach Wellington; byvthW'MainV Trunk e« tins afternoon. ' ' ■ ■ • ~ Tll « Education Commission commences its sittings in Wellington to-day at 9.30 riffi™ H^'i 00 tll ° Education Office, Mercer Street. Tho evidence of the chairman of tho local Education Board mid its inspectors, tho Principal of tho Training College, tho Director of the iecjinical School, and representatives of tho We ington District Educational Institute will be taken first. ' All those interested in Arbor Day are iwlf* i to * iJ ? n i a , m «°ting convened U<™a Hall) on Wednesday evening next. The miniature municipal fish marlcot which is being jammed between the weighbridge and the Naval Boatshod on Jorvois Quay is now well under way. Tho brick walls are up four or five feet in height, and some of tho window sashes areV ready m position. Tho market should bo pretty well ready for occupation at the end of tho month. Tho Postmaster-General, accompanied by the Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Departnient, visited souio of tho suburbs of Wellington on Friday, and decided that it would bo a great public convenience to liavo a slot telophono placed in a call cabinet in each of the' following places :-Post Office Square, Reserve at Oriental Bay, Eoseneath, tram shelter f-'Hatoitai, and m the ground of tho lulbimio Post Office. A Departmental officer is now at work locating Bites for slot telephones in other parts of the Welling on suburbs. Tho placing of the=o machines in call-cabinets will be a distinct advantage do the public, on tho ground that they will 1m available day and night throughout tho year, whereas it they wero placed in business premises or m post offices tho publio could use them only during the hours when those places are open, and thus in tho event of sickness or accident thoy could not readily bo taken advantage of. Tho Minister has directed that all tho cabinets aro to bo lit by electric light, which can bo provided at a small annual cost. He is satisfied that these, telephones ore going to prove a great convenience to the residents in tho suburban districts. The callcabinots will, it is stated, bo of pleasing design, and au ornament wherever the? are placed. '

Wo aro sweeping tha vice from San Francisco as fast as tho work can ]» (long, said the Rev. Gcorgo Burlingham, 01 ban i ran Cisco (o.passenger by the Marania to Auckland), to on interviewer in Auckland. "Tho authorities wish to mako San li'ancisco a safo city for people to come to, for wo expect hundreds of thousands of visitors to our 1915 cxposinon to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal. Barbary Coast, tho great block of evil and lowest vice of. tho world, will.soon, we hope, bo unknown. Inat is all that is wrong with San Francisco. If we could sweep Barbarv Coast away wo should not feel ashamed'to talk of our city. It would lose the name of' the Paris of America.'"

About thirty years ago the bleached remains of a man's body were found hanging from a tree in tho bush adjacent to tho Harbour, tho supposition being that tho man had committed suicide. Iho skull and other bones wero removed to Onehunga, and buried in the lock-up yard. These remains were recently disinterred by some men engaged in excavating the foundation for a new lock-up. Dr. w. J. Scott has .applied for possession o< them on behalf of tho local branch of the St. John Ambulance v Association, in order to havo them articulated and used by the medical gentlemen for demonstration purposes when engaged in instructing' members of tho association.

Tho following havo boon nominated for officers of tho Waterside Workers Union: President, Mr. F. Curtice; treasurer, Mr Thos. King; secretory, Messrs. It. Sim-n-omls and H. Wallace. Those nominations are understood to be those of tho anti-Federation of Labour facti6n in the union. Mr. G. G. Farland will also be nominated as secretary on behalf of the federation party.

Mr. Charles MncMahon, one of tho proprietors of Uie New Theatre, in Manners Street, has returned from a visit to Sydney. Ho states that.tho New South Wales capital is still booming, thanks to the breaking of tho drought. Matters theatrical were never better. Mr. J. 1). Williams has opened a. wonderful amusement resort m George Street, called'tho Crystal Palace, winch includes a picture theatre, n largo restaurant, dozens of slot machines, riflo ranges, and ovory manner of sideshow, and it is attracting enormous crowds, day and night. The picture Imsin.°« in Sydney (still holds n, firm grip on ins affections of to© inaay, and oil tho' .ijwalroi wotr dolus weli, j

Tho following resolutions have boon adopted by the Wellington branch of tho Railway Officers' Institute:—"(l) That this special general meeting of the Wellington branch of tho N.Z.R.0.1. protests emphatically against the action of the Hon. tho Minister for Railways in not

giving effect to tho recommendations of the Parliamentary Railway Committee, and will heartily support any steps which our executive niny tako in the matter, and consider that tho action of Hio Hou. Minister for Railways (in ignoring theJveoin mediations of tho Parliamentary Railway Committee) is tending to undermine, the loyalty of tho First Division of the Borneo. (2) That, in tho opinion of this meeting tho time has como wheal tho Appeal Board bo so constituted that its decisions should bo made final, as tho action of tho Hon. Minister for Railways in vetoing the unanimous decisions of the Appeal Board in tlixeo recent First Division appeal'eases, without oven giving any (reasons for so doing, has reduced tho Appeal Board to a farce, and has caused grave dissatisfaction and consternation amongst all grades of tho service."

Sixteen truck loads of kauri timber and what is claimed to bo one of the finest planks that has come into Wellington for years—lft. Gin. wide, 9ft. long, and 2;n. thick-has just been landed at the King's Wharf from tho West Coast Kauri Timber Company by tho Holmdnlo, which mado the trip down from tho Manukau in thirty-eight hours. Mr Onyon (tho West Coast Kauri ' Timber Company's representative) states that the fine plank of kauri—which shows tho dimensions to which the kauri grows— may be seen by any of the public interested in woods at tho Railway Stores (Cable's old foundry). Customhouse Quay.

Those to whom a close view of a lighthouse is a novelty only have to visit Victoria Street East to see ono in reality in course of erection. This is not the old stone structure style of lighthouse, which lends itsolf tho picturesque treatment by artist and photographer, but a modem cast-iron strucuTe, mado in sections and strongly bolted together. This lighthouse, to be plaoed at Castlepoint, is being erected in the foundry yard of Messrs. Luko and Co. It is to bo sixty feet in height —six sections of ten feet each. As there are now five of the sections in position, a very good idea can be obtained of what a lighthouse is. Within the cast-iron cylindrical structure there are practically six stories—four for residential and two for tho lantern and 6tores. Tho lighthouse is now orected with tho'exception of tho lantern section, which has to bo properly glazed before being erected. With this enormous amount of metal embedded in and clamped down with huge bolts, the storms may howl and buffet as they like without disturbing the snugness of those within. The contract specifics that the lighthouse must be erected on tho firm's premises before tho Government will tako it over. The work should be completed this week.

At a recent ■ meeting of the Wellington City Council it was decided not to iiavo the city revalued this year. It is under stood that a motion to rescind that resolution will be moved by a councillor at a future meeting of the council, and that several membors believe that it is a mistake further to postpone this important matter. When the city was last valued Wellington was on tho top of the "booni" wave and as houses could not bo got for lovo or money, and suburban lands were realising as much as £W per foot, the values had naturally leapt up to a very high level. Now that values are approaching a normal standard, it is considered by several councillors and loading citizens that tho city should undergo the process of revaluation. , Mr. Ames (city -valuer) is himself of this be. lief, and points out that the work would i? ! '2-1 very loast six months, so that if it were ordered to be done now, the result could not be mado availablo for uso until next year, so that by not going on with it now a revaluation of In i 7 , ls not li!ce,ly to occur before 1914—unless the council changes its mind.

The people of Auckland have the satisfaction of knowing that they have a well equipped fire brigade to protect their homes in timo of need (writes our correspondent.) /-The. .latest addition to the equipinenris 'the' huge escape ladder, iffJiiohmiuountotl'mpojii a-nmol&rtfor trans■poffiati6lir'purpose4! towen^to'si'height of 87 feet when fully extended. Tho ladder has been lying idlo until tlio present, but the necessary. batteries will now bo installed and the machine will bo ready for use when called upon. It is worked entirely by electricity, and no manual labour « needed (as was tho case with the old ladder) to erect it to its groat height. In Mse tho current 6hould fail, however, provision has been made for tho working of the machine by hand. Stockowners'in the north are grumbling because they havo to pay unusually high railway freights for their stock (writes out Auckland correspondent).' The line between Te Hana and Koiwaka has recently been completed, but until it has beten proved sate and free from 6lips it will be maintained by the Public Works Department, which means that farmors will have to pay 15s. a truck extra for tho carrying of tkoir stock. Tho matter has been -placed in tho hands of the Auckland Railways League, which has made representations to the Minister for Public Works, asking him to make a concession in the bigh rates at present ruling.

An interesting: ceremony took place in tho Missions to Seamen's Churoh last evening during the evening service, when the members of tho Seamen's Guild made their annual renewal of thoir vows. After the admission ceremony of two candidates tho whole of the members present came forward, and in the presence of the congregation .renewed their obligations. The missioner (Mr. P. S. Shell) gavo a short resume of the work of the guild, and thanked the members for tho valuable assistance they had given to tho mission and, to himself personally since ho had been in Wellington. In his sermon he dwelt on the need for more brotherliiiess in tho world.