LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1644, 10 January 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The master of the barque Eos (states a Gazette notice) has reported to tho Engineers of Ports and Harbours at Melbourne, that ho passed a patch of broken and discoloured water, apparently shallow, about two ships'; lengths long and one ship's length wide, of! the New Zealand coast, in latitude. 30-57 south, longitudo 169-50 east. •

A Dannevirke legal firm is reported to have ■ received the following letter from an anxious native; "Having the greatest opportunity of writing to you, Why I am writing to you to ask if, my lan(l is settled or not. Let me know at once as soon as possible. For I am longing to hear what is going to bo happened.

One of the Siamese papers recently published tho following advertisement of the merits of its ware:—"Tho news of : English we tell the latest.' Writ'in porfectiy style and most earliest. Do a murder get commit, we hoar and tell oj it. Do a mighty chief die, wo bublish it,' and in bordei's of sombre. Staff has each one been college, and writ like the Kipling and the Dickens. We circulate every town and extortionate not for advertisements, Buy it. By it."

Tho commission, consisting of Messrs. A, Macintosh and J. H. Hosking, K.C., which has been appointed to inquire into ™ ™port upon the working of the Public i m, ' first meeting yesterday. To-dfiy witnesses will be examined •n D 7 °^ er themselves. The commission will turn from time' to time, as convenience dictates, from the examination of to an inspection of tho working of the Public Trust Office.

• The Hon. R. H. Rhodes, Minister in charge of the Tourist Department, states that the holiday tourist traffic for this year will probably show a satisfactory increase, The Department's through-booking 6Chemo is growing in popularity. A return of tours booked during this holiday season 'shows an increase over the bookings of .the previous year of ,£1986, although the period covered by'tho later .return is two days' shorter than that of tho period 111 1911 with which ft comparison has been instituted.:' Bookings from December 16.t0 December 31, 1911, totalled .£3845, and bookings from December 18 to December 31, 1912, amounted to J85830.' t' l ® races, near Millthorpo (A.S.W.), Erio Rosser, aged 124 yearn, was dashed against a tree-and fatally in'iurcd. ilie lnd rode several houses, although his mother warned him not to. In tho last rcico of tho meeting the boy : was well in front, but when nearing the post he seemed to lose cohtrol of the horse, and it swerved off the course; The boy was attempting to pull ■ the - horse back, when ho was dashed against a tree, and Itnockf • I°?,' , *? n "."W' ■UP : was ins a frightful state. At the inquest the coroner mqde severe comments about tho race: meeting. He said that it was an unregistered meeting rand no notification I. had ken given to tho police. j'i A man will appear-: before the' Mnristh« ri'] S charged' with Wait » Gl »dstono bag and its con-' tonts, belonging to Frederick Payno, an overcoat belonging to, Frank 'Brady' and a suit-cn-sonnd contents belonging to George M Carter Accused arrested' jesterday by Detective Mason,.

A successful canvass of local tradespeople was made at Mastorton on Wednesday for Bpeoial'donations for*. the forthcoming show, of tlie and P.-Associ* tion. .• •

Yesterday Detectives lewis and Andrews arrested a man. on a charge of his having •doserted, from the j German , man Cormoran. when the vessel was in Wellington Harbour.

. The Government training ship Amokura returned to Wellington yesterday after visitihg tho Eaglan and Kawhia regattas. She leaves to-day for an instruction cruise in Cook Stmt.

The general excitement. prevailing oa the Auckland waterfront at tho moment of tho dawning, of 1013, stimulated four young men to such an extent that they broke a nro alarm, anticipating that the turn-out of the brigado would add to the excitement. But what tlioy did not anticipate, at any/rate at the time, was that their .behaviour would lead them' to appear in the Polico Cotyrt to answer a Charge ; of having/.without* adequate reason, broken tho fire alarm.' It'was pointed out to them that their, conduct was both foolish ! and ."dangerous, , considering the crowded state of' the streets.; They were convicted, and ordered to . pay ' costs amounting to -Ei lis. ,

A peculiar caso was oalled on for hearing at the Magistrate's Court. '-."Christphurch, when Walter Charles Cropp -proceeded against' tho Mayor, councillors, and citizens of tho city of Christchurch for having allowed people to occupy the passage-ways at a theatre during an organ recital. The caso lay in thovfnet' that tho informant ;was in.tho employ of the 'council, which thus virtually proceeded against itself. . Mr. Frazer, w)io appeared for tho complainant, said that the case had been called in order to give publicity to .the fact that it was against .the byl!Uvs for people to, occupy these passageways.: The action-was, therefore,'-practic-ally a collusive one, .but, owing to the difficulty of proceeding : in such- a general way, he asked to withdraw the charge by of both parties, when , information would' ba . laid < specifically ngainst someone who could be held to-Ixj liable. Mr. J. Jamieson, who was on the Bench, cautioned Mr. Frazer on the fact that the abortive action had. needlessly taken up tilts time of the Court, and he allowed the information to bo withdrawn.

The umbrella (according to an Auckland papor) has m'any functions. It!is occasionally -utilised for shop-thieving, as tho following, incident, which took place bn Christmas 1 ! Eve, indicates. , An assistant observed (l woman eyeing soma breadKnives rather carefully, and l all of a sucldon the umbrella was brought into position, and the article iH question found ia secluded,place in tho folds. The manager was at onco informed of tho thieving, and went up to the woman, .and was met with enthusiastio wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Ho took the umbrella,, - ana found the knife inside. The woinau blamed her little girl, for the theft, but an eye-witness saw the whole affair. ;

The rapid progress of Whangarei was referred to by Mr. A. L. Dixon, ' town clerk of Whangarei, in an interview with an Auckland Herald" representative on Tuesday. Last year, 80 new houses wero erected in the town, and many more are now in course of erection. In, the town and its immediate vicinity, a great deal of subdivision is going on, The council is spouting a loan of .£20,000, and a vigorous streets' policy is being adopted, 'two electrio lighting sohe;aes,. the Wainia falls schome, estimatod to cost JC85.000,and a local scheme, to. cost about JC12,000, are now receiving the council's consideration. A water extension scheme, to .cost JC2+.OOO, ■ and a drainage extension f&heme, estimated to cost .£IO,OOO, are also being considered. Tho Town Hall, which is being erected at a oost of ,£II,OOO, is fast Hearing completion, while municipal abattoirs,' costing '£5000,.are now practically completed. , '