LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1577, 22 October 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The annual "terms" examinations nt Victoria College concluded yesterday, and tho results will be announced shortly. -

A Wellington resident who recently visited Sydney, was struck with tho manner in which Oxford .Street had been widened to half its width again, mid more so by tho fact that every veramlnh belonging to tho premises oil the new side of ihat thoroughfare, is built on tho cantilever principle, and there is not a supporting polo from one end to the other. Ho did not. know if it wns compulsory to build verandahs in that style in Sydney, but after noting how it cleared tho street of encumbrances, he was of opinion that it would be a good thing if it were so; not only in Sydney, but in Wellington, where the city streets are so nariw. Ihe only person," ho wound up, ' who would miss (ho verandah posts Hint cumber of footpaths, would bo the man who had taken 100 much strong

A lady parishioner confided in the vicar of Taknpuna (the I!«v. W. G. Monckton) that she had to read a paper upon a subject of which she had absolutely no knowledge, lho vicar replied—so ho said at a missionary meeting at Auckland on'Fri-day-Hint it could not bo easy to speak about something with which om« was unfamiliar. "Whereupon," said Mr. Monckton, sho replied with that subtle flatwry that only a woman- can use: 'Well, it seems to come very naturally to you.'" J. he ftudienco wns convulsed.

Admiral, Sir George King-Hall, in an address at Granvillo (Now South Wales) on October 13 referred to a remark made that he woiild.be leaving Australia in Juno next, and the British Fleet would then be withdrawn. They were quite mistaken who took that view/ho said. Ho would bo going away to some other part of tho world/but another British ndinirnl would take his place, and the Australian fleet would be a unit of one Imperial fleet. As to the.talk they heard about Australians not taking.to tho sea, it vas moonshine, said Sir .George. So , iimny were offering that he had to undcrmnil his own ship to provide men to droll them. All the reports he had spoko hijfhly of tho Australians and- their attention to duty. They had all reason to bo rroud of them. (Applause.)

This morning two lads will appear before the magistrate—one to 'answer a charge of theft and the oth'er'a charge of receiving stolen money. The young persons were arrested in the city yesterday by Detective Andrews.

"In Takap'.inn recently," said the Rev'. W. G. Monckton, at a recent meeting connected with the Auckland .Anglicru Synod, "it was a favourite pastime to coll a public meeting for every alternate Wednesday. Ono meeting would be to protest against the tramway timetable and the next to advocate the formation of Tnkapuna i-nto a borough. Still tho timetable remains tlic same and Talcapvna is not yet a borough. However, as the Frenchman would, say 'Honour is satisfied.'" .Much laughter.) Thi6 remark was made in ridicule of the present day popularity of public conferences and royal commissions. One day on tho gum fields of tho Far North there arose a dispute between a Maori o.nd a pakeha'concerning tho meaning of the word "Eureka." The Maori maintained that it signified "to go fast," while tho pakeha claimed that it meant a washing machine. "Reference to the priest,' 'said Archdeacon Hawkins at a recent meeting at Auckland, "showed that neither had an accurate knowlcdgo of Greek. I daresay, however, that you hav'6 heard of the 'Eureka' brand of washing machines, nnd you should also know that the Maori knew of the word only as a name- of a racehorso, which certainly did go fast." (Loud laughter.) The resolution moved by Mr. Glover, seconded by Mr. Semple, and carried, at Saturdny afternoon's open-air meeting of the federation of Labour, has been crbled to Mount Lyell by Mr. Glover. It vos worded as follows:—"That this meeting of Wellington citizens tender our sincere sympathy to those who aro suffering and heart-broken through the loss of relatives and loved ones by the dreadful disaster at Mount Lyell."

The Great Western Railway Company has brought into use at Snow Hill station, Birmingham, two machines which; remarks "Tho Railway Times," England, if they fulfil expectations, are likely to revolutionise tho present system of printins; and issuing railway tickets. For some timo the Prussian and Hessian State railways have secured the most satisfactory results with'the invention, which is known as the "Roffina." Tho booking clerk, when requiring to issue a ticket to any station, takes a blank card, places it in a slot in tho slfding carriage, and moves the latter along until the pointer is opposite the alphabetically arranged namo of tho required station. He then depresses a handle and the ticket drops out, printed with the names of the issuing nnd destination stations, price, date, consecutive number, class, etc., while an automatic register of tho operation is made at the samo time.