LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1545, 14 September 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Tvhale without an onnco of oil in its C ? r «' lS3^ s surely a c «»'°sity. The crew of tho New Zealand Whaling Company's Uakiura relate that a whalo 80ft. lone, rather bedruggled looking, but of fair sizo, was brought in by ono of the company s vessels to Bnssoll to be boiled down. Pli« customary cutting-up process was gone through, and the parts put into the boilers, but not an ouuco of oil could be obtained, and it turned out that thu whalo had marks on it which suggested that it had be«n shot on a previous occar sion, nnd that it was suffering as a result from somo form of blood poisoning ■which rendered its flesh and fat useless Ihe Mayor of Onehunga. (Mr. John Howe) performed a pleasing littlo ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, when he presented Mr. William George. Evans, "ft younjj resident of Huia, with tho 6ilver medal of fho Royal' Hnmnno Society of New Zealand for his bravery in going to the rescuo of tho four occupants of the ill-fated yacht Vnlkyrie, which capsized in a gale near Puponga in the Manukau on April 2, 1912. This was not tho only occasion on which Mr. Evans had rescued people from a watery grave m tho Manukau. On tho occasion in question, i Air. Dvans put out with his launch in a heavy sea ami gale, nnd brought the four occupants of the Vnlkyrie to tho shore, although, unfortunately, one was dead, havinj been struck by tho boom when tho little vessel capsized. .

In tho opinion of Councillor !R. Fletcher, who intends to movo accordingly at the next meeting of thp City Council, tho time "is opportune for tho City Council to favourably consider a scheme for a more economical, speedier, and modern service in connection with the transit of passengers niul traffic by means of electrical traction and utilisation of the municipal tramways whereby tho Harbour Board ■ wharves and railway stations should be linked up by direct triunwny commiinication with all the suburban districts, on the contemplated cessation oi the present Te Arq railway service. With the above object in view, a conference," he suggests, "should be called by tho City Council, consisting of representatives of the Government, City Council, Harbour Board, and Chamber of Commerce, including the Chief Government Engineer, corporation and Hnrbour Board engineers, to consider the proposal." •

In the House of Representatives yesterday, Mr. Speaker rrad a letter .which ho had received from the Committee which hnil in hand (ho carrying out of a proposal to make a presentation to Sir jeseph Ward, to mark the. occasion of liis retirement from tlui ollice of Prime Minister, offering lo present a portrait of Sir Joseph Ward, lo be hung in Hip. lobby of llio House. JIo thought it advisahlo'to bring tho matter before the members. The. Leader of tho Jluuse, the Hon. XT. ].\ Jlasspy, moved that tho portrait lie iccoived, and that tho Speaker or (lie Homo Committee should decido where it should bo placed. I'ho motion was carried, i

During (he hearing of a case before Ifv. C. C. Kettle, S.M., at tho Auckland Magistrate's Court, a witness/happened to mention in her evidence that she kept a diary. In answer to a question from the Magistrate, sho stated that there might bo something in the diarv bearing on tho case which was being heard, but that she could not bring to mind any such , entry. Mr. Kettle then said that tho best way out of the difficulty would be for the witness to produce tho diary in Court. To this the witness made some demur, and made, mention of tho private nature of tho entries. Dospito the fact (hat tho Magistrate, assured her that no ono but himsolf would sco tho diary if it was produced in Court, tho witness showed such an obvious reluctance, to having tho diary produced that eventually tho niatter was dropped.

Yesterday Wellington detectivea made several arrests. Detective.Haaunond arrested a man on a charge of desertion from the steamer Tongariro; Detective Cameron apprehended a man at Wuikanao on an accusation of theft, committed in Wellington; and a Duncdin man was taken in charge by Detective Abbott for alleged wifo desertion.

"The French Government is trying to civilise the Tahitian by teaching him itrench, says Mr. Edmund Mitchell, who arrived from Tahiti on Thursday. "I think they are on the wrong rrack altogether, for the simple reason that their contact with outsiders is with those who speak English. On. the one hand, they nave the steamers, papers, and magazines from Australia and New Zealand,, and on tho other hand from San Francisco, and the shortest cut to civilisation would be to teach tho natives English. Tho place is, of course, a French colony, and pride of colonisation dictates.a schooling in French, but environment is dead against that course."

The Men's Brotherhood Pleasant Sunday Afternoon gathering this week promises to be most interesting. Dr. Truby King, of tho Health Department, will locture on tho subject of "Sanity and In-sanity-Relation of Health in Body, Mind, and Morals." Dr. Valentine will bo in tho chair. Tho meeting will he open to men and women. It commences at 3 p.m. in tho New Theatre, Manners Street .

The management of Tiny Town is extending an invitation to inmatos of the various charitable institutions of AVellington to attend the afternoon performances at the Town Hall on Monday and Tuesday next. A telephone communication from the secretary or manager of the homes to Messrs. B. Smith or A. Linley, at the Town Hall, announcing the number that are being sent is all that will be required to ensure admission.

Notice of motion has been, given by Councillor Fletcher for tho next City Council meeting as follows:—"That it is desirable that a scheme of superannuation for the employees of the corporation bo established on tho lines of the Local Authorities Superannuation A,ct, 1908, and Amendment Act, 1912, and that with this end. in view tho council hereby, resolves to obtain as soon as. possible on actuarial report on tho whole question, showing what respective contributions from the corporation and the employees aro necessary to afford reasonable benefits to tho contributors, as well as to make tho scheme financially sound."

To-night's torero of the Wellington Savage Club is to be held in the Concert Chamber of tho Town Hall. The final korcro of the reason a fortnight hence- is also to be held iu. the Concert Chamber.

In yesterday's Dominion- there appeared a. paragraph referring to the pilfering of fruit which goes" on: at times on the wharves. In the paragraph Mr. Munro stated that the fruit merchants 'hnd been consulted on tho matter, but they had replied in effect that he need not worry so long as he got a 'clean receipt for the delivery of tho fruit. Upon being seen yesterday, Mr. Brown, of Laery and Co., and Mr. Ton-nsend, of Townseud and Taul, both stated that they had never replied in the above strain. Mr. Brown states that he has been against the pillaging foryears, because- it is a great loss to tho firm. Regarding the supplying of emp-ties,-Mr. Brown states he has always supplied the necessary "empties" for the surplus fruit. He is of opinion that if the inspectors would revert to the old system of examining the fruit—that is, opening the caso on tho top, bottom, or sides, and just examining a. row of fruit, or more where necessary—it would help to a very great extent to put a stop to any fruit going astray.