LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1519, 15 August 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Save for the big pile of machinery and debris under tlio opening iu the ceiling ol llosfrs. Whitcombe and Tombs's shop, the ground floor has beea fairly Well e-leareu of ashes and rubbish after the recoht fire. The glass bobkeaSes have been removed in case the other half of the thoroughly todden ceiling 60llftt>s$s. The firni's new printing house and factory ill Fcathcrston Street is being got into working Order, and in a very Jitfle time the. equipment there will bo riot far short of that which suffered so severely in last week's conflagration. Dr. Nemnaa is to ask tho Minister for justice if he will placo a sum oh the Estimates to provide for the. ercctioa of a police station At Kilbirnie, The. Government has under consideration A. proposal to appoint an inspector or inspectors of alcoholic liquors for s.ilo in the Dominion. At a meeting of the Hutfc County Council, hold on Tuesday last, tome discussion took place when tho estimates' for tlio year were brought down. Tho -total estiin.i'.cd ,I'oceipls were .£17,818 18s. 7d., tho principal items being:—ltatcs; .£6500 H. lid.; Uavcrnmont grants (estimated), J25170; Government grants (amount due cstiliKit.Hl), JiMG-i; --illiwdy, .£ll7O 5?. The rstiuiiitril expenditure totalled .£19,36-1' Ills.ltd., lravins a dsficieney of ,£1515 15s. 2d. Tho principal iioms of expenditure wore: (lovernment prAnts, .£5170! outstanding nceaunta and liabilities at Mnroli .11, 191:;, XIOBO 125. 3d.; overdraft, JMSfti 7s. 4d.; mails nnd maintenance, etc., Epuni ,H0H!l, llorokiwi .EIISG, Mungaroa .UISU2, Wornui-o-inata ,£9oO, Wlmreroa ,£IOB2, Plihimer-ton-PftUantanui fload and Plimmertou Streets .£l5O. ' Tho Minister for Laiids (the , Hon. W. I- , . Ma«se.v) lids promised to make in(|uirits rc'canling suitable, lnml for fetllement in the Ituntwvillo nnd Mnngivwekii district's. At present nniw is under offer. . Having l;?on informed by his officers that it would cost many 11iou;;iik1s per I iMinuni tn intrnihici! the system of cari'.v----in-,' I'liilln-n up to five your;, of :iyv> ii-w i aiid lli'Jri! between the ages ot (ivn ami I t'liiii'lci'ii yp.iv- at. i|iia.rler-Mles mi the I roilwiiys of the Dominion, the Minister fur l!u"il*.iy« ««.•• ili'-i;it|ii\ mil I" imiki' itny Lcoacosiiou in tho directioa indicated*

The Minister for Defence (the Hon. James Allei), replying to a question addiossed to liim by Mr. Kseott (Pahiatun) in the House of Iteprescntntives yesterday, said the Government had decided to grant l'reo niihvny passes up to 100 miles to competitors at, rille meetings, as formerly. The. Acclimatisation Conference ytstwday rciolvod: "That (he (iovermnent; lie recommended to open the shooting season each year, but for tiro months only, such two months to bo fixed by the'local societies."

The annual dinner of the Wellington Suburbs Defence liiile Club wns held in tlio Alexandra Hall, Alwl Smith Street, last, evening, Mr. E. Cialliehan presiding. During the evening the successful competitors ;it la.st year's rifle meeting were presented with their prize* by tho chairman. Amongst those present; wero (he IJou. .Tamos Allen (Minister for Defence), Mr. 11. D. licit, M.l'., and Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Luke.

The issun of season tickets-to persons travelling on the railways second class, nil'h, the Mine proportionate inductions (is are granted to first-class passengers, was suggested by Mr.- Okey in a question addressed to tho Minister for Railways, yesterday. Mr. Iterries replied that provision, was already made in the' tariff for tho issue of first and second-class season f'ckets. Whore, however, tho rates for secondclass tickets exceeded the prices of the all lines annual tickets, which had been fixed on mi exceedingly low 1;a-sis, the passengers were given the benefit of the lower rate It. was not proposed to issue sp.coud-class all lines tickets, a.s in order to do so it would be necessary to increase the existing rate-, which were unrcmuncr.itive. On lh<> motion of Mr. long (for Sir Arthur Ouinness) it was agreed by the Houso of ftcpresentatives yesterday that; a copy of the. contract for the construction of the Otira tunnel on tho Midland railway .should bo laid before L ho House. "Tho timo has come," said Mr. L. 0. n. Trim), in his presidential address to the Acclimatisation Societies' Conference yesterday, "Ivlion fhq Government should consider the question of engaging for a certain number of years an expert with a scientific training to coma out hero and study our fish, and adviw> us what to do to keep up the standard of our fishing." A deputation from tho Horowhenun County Council, introduced by Mr. J. Robertson, M.I 1 ., waited upon the Minister for Public Works (the Hon. W. I'raser) yesterday. They stated that if the Government granted an amount of .£IOO or .tuOO, (o construct a bridge over the Makahiki Stream, near Levin, tho County Council would form the roads and the approaches to the bridge. The Minister saiil he would like to help tho deputation if he possibly could. He suggested that (he County Council put their promises in writing, He would consider the application when the Public Works Estimates were under consideration. Dr. C. X. Johnson, L.D.S., D.D.S., editor of the "Dental Review," Chicago, and chairman of the Commission appointed by the Chicago Dental Society to examine the teeth of school children in Chicago, is passing through Wellington to America, on his way back from the Australian Dcutal Conference, held at Brisbane. Tho Commission has examined more than 30,000 children attending tho .schools, and it is claimed that tho result has proved thai between (15 and 98 per cent, of the children were suffering from dental trouble. Proni what he had gathered in Xow Zealand, he had concluded that tho percentage was jilst as high here. In Chicago last year 8000 children "missed their grades" (failed in examinations) chiefly on account ol illnesses entailing absence. A great proportion of the.so cases were directly attributed to dental complaints. That entailed a cost of between' ,£40,000 and .£50,000 in putting those children through their grades once more. Three, dental infirmaries had been established in Chicago, and just before ho left, Mr. Julius Ros;.nwald, a public-spirited citizen, had volunteered, to equip another seven infirmaries for the treatment of the teeth of .tho poor. In addition ho had offered to maintain thorn (including the payment Of salaries), which will mean an expenditure of 10,000' dollars per annum.

In-'-Hie , ' H6use' l bf' Representatives' : y£s-' terday, Mr. E. Newman, member for Kaiigitikei, gave notice to ask the Prime 'Minister, "Whether tho Government will this session introduce legislation to provide for the inspection .and control of all bridges built and maintained privately as well as all public bridges?" Ho adds tho following explanatory note: —"At the adjourned inquest, held before Mr. J. P. Aldridge and a jury of six, concerning tho death of Ernest Pink, one of tho victims of tho T'tiku Bridge disaster at Hautapu, Mr. Sydney Mail , , engineer to tho Rangitikei County Council, staled that ho had recently examined llio bridge- nn behalf of tho county. He found the cables corroding, so that the bridge was wenkeued. Hβ reported to the council that extensive repairs would be necessary. The accident was caused by corrosion. A verdict was returned that the deceased met his death as the result of the bridge giving way, and a rider was added that the attention of the Government should bo called to tho necessity for a system of inspection and control of all bridges built and maintained privately as well as all public bridges."

The monthly meeting of the Yorkshire Society was held last evening, the Eev. Mr. Sykes presiding. Jlr. JUockton read a budget of news from Yorkshire. The announcement was made that the amiual dinner of tho society would be held on September IG.

At (he invitation of the inventor (Captain Attwood, of the local shore staff of the WcstpDrt Coal Co.), a number of shipping pcoplo assembled at the rooms of tho Merchant Service Guild yesterday morning to witness a demonstration of a patent dovico for launching life-boats from a vessel. Included amongst thosepresent were local marine architects and surveyors of ships. Captain Attwood's idea is to do away with the old-lashioned method of lowering the boats from deck to water by means of block and tackle. For the purposes of tho demonstration ho used a fairly largo model of a steamer having three decks. On tho lop deck were a number of miniature boats resting on trolleys. By moans of this model it was shown that the boats could lie wheeled on rails to tho side of tho vessel ivith case. On each side of the steamer is a clmte (thero can l>e moro if necessary). This chute is built into tlio fide of the vessel's hull, and extends from tho top deck to below tlio water-lino at a certnin angle. A feature of tho idea is that when the boats have to be launched people on board tlio vessel can all be seated in tliem, aud wheeled along on these trolleys to the opening of the chute. Here the trolley noes dowji a slight incline, and is jammed ngainst tho top end of the chule. Tho inlpact of the trolley causes tho lioat to move into the mdUth of the aperture, and, with the assistance Of rollers and the incline on which tho chute is built, the boat descends to the water, ai\d is launched apparently with ease. The .chute is 50 constructed thai it is Open on the. iide piitei'most from tho ship. It is also built at an angle so that no matter _at what speed a vessel would be travelling the boatr, could always lx> launched. It is also held by the inventor that the facilities for launching a boat in heavy m?a aro greater under his system lunn by t.he ordinary method. Those present at the demonstration' spoko favourably of tho invention, and it is Captain Attwood s intention to put his patent fioforo Homo authorities. A question was raised as to whether tlio building of, tho clvute or chutes into the fid? of a vessel would weaken its structure, but local opinions held that this Could be provided for.

One trial will prove Hie advantage of "Camp Coffee" more thnn si whole page Of talk. J.'!ense dol-Arlvt. Mv J. W. Macdonnld, solicitor to the Public Trust Offico, will deliver to the Wcilinirlon .Accountnuts' Association the second lecture in his series on /'The law, anil duties of executors,, administrator?, ■and trustees under wills." . ■Vn ndvertis oment elsewhere.. in Hii» issue states that Messrs. Lewis and Co., Wangaimi, have a variety of choice country properties for sale., The death has occurred at his residence, West Lodße, Windsor Castle, of Mr. Thomas llurnlmm, wlin, fur seventeen vears \vn s tin; Sovereign s coochuian nt Windsor. Mr. limnhani, who was sixtyono vt-.irs old, was sui/.ed with u iit ot apoplexy, mid died sliorlly nfter<rar'.ls. Tho Nawil Inhnler i« a siiißle coiilrivanc!, l>y which "NA7.OL." i< uvnporntpd nuil inlialed so tlinl it eirriiiates freely "XA/,01." tiilten in thi< w.«y eiives cold in (be Il'ninl, liiflnciiM, and Throat Troubles very Quickly,