LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1645, 11 January 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr. M. Mlean, senior partner of the firm which recently relinquished the Otira tunnel contract, passed through Wellington yesterday oh his' way south. He will return to Wellington- next week to confer with tho Minister for Public ■Works. The Public Works Department is carrying dn tho work at Otira until fresh tenders can be let. Tho Government have taken over Mr. W. H. Gavin, who was principal engineer to the contractors, and appointed hinl to cany on the work, under the title of resident engineer. Mr. Gavin is. an old employee of tho Publio Works Department.

Police officers arc at present making a round of the hotels in the city, > inquiring how many barmaids are employed in tho various houses,, who they are, and whether they aro registered or not. This is being done purely, for the purposes of keeping a record of . tho barmaids actually employed. It ia understood that later there will be a, prosecution to test the effectiveness of the amending Act of last year, whioh was designed to prevent employment of unregistered barmaids in private bars, : .

, Whiio stacking timber in tho! yard of Bail<jy and Arcus at Petone yesterday, a married man, named Charles 8011, slipped and fell, and sustained concussion of the brain. Ho was' attended to by Dr. Harr dinpf, and afterwards removed to his home. Bell is about .85 years of age. and resides at Bolton Street, Potonc... At 9 o'clock last night tho unfortunate man was still unconscious. . :•',..-

The latest Auokland "attempt" is thuß dealt with by the "Taranaki Herald":— "The 'Auckland Weekly Nows' must bo complimented upon.its enterprise in so quickly obtaining and publishing photographs <if the- Waitaan'ga Falls, but our conteinpjtrary ought really .to'study, tho geography of the Auckland province. Tho falls; are described as 'on tho Tangarakau River,, Ohmra district, Auckland,' ,ahd again as' 'still another great tourist* attraction in the Auckland; province'.' As ft matter of fact, they are nowhere near .the Auckland . provinco-r-fully.l twenty miles in a etraignt line to' .the' nearest point. 'From New Plymouth ill a straight line they, are not.much more than forty miles/ Our. contemporary will be claiming Mount. Egmoiit'next as a.scenio'attraction of !the Auckland'province."

Two calls to fires wore received yesterday by tho Municipal Brigade. At 12.28 p.m. a gorse fire htPolhill - Gully.. - rifle range claimed attention.: At 5.82 p.m. tho call was to Kilbirnio, Crescent, where a, six-roomed dwelling, occupied by Mrs. Anna, La Rocho, was on fire.' Tho kitchen walls had suffered to some extent before tho flames were extinguished. It is understood that the firo wae caused through some linen being aired before a pas stove,, The buildlng.which is owned by Mr. Wm. H. Phillips, 12 Ferguson Street is insured in the National Offico for but, the contents aro-not. insured. '.'• ...

It is expected that the work of.improving Parliament House grounds fend; altering the i neighbouring streets will be completed in July or August next.. Ai present about sixty men are employed on the works. The new Museum Street has been cut out of tho clayi but a good deal remains to bo.done upon it. The old Mu-' seum Street is upon a higher level, and steps will havo to be made on tho approach to tho Dominion Museum, which will now stand a street-breadth back from the roadway. The crop of oats which was grown upon the newly-formed lawns surrounding Parliament House has been dug in, ond Before, long the plots will bo town with grass.. Even by the end of June, when Parliament assembles, '. tho work will be so far advanced that a olean.and comfortable approach to the buildings will be available from fell directions. The outer wall which surrounds the grounds is being finished in rough-cast. 1 'A suggestion was lriido last session; that the wall should be', finished in tuck-pointed brick, ■ but, it is donsidored that rough-cast will harmonise better with the granite and marble in which tho new Parliament Buildings are to bo constructed.,', Tho wall is to bo surmounted by an open-work iron railing, and entrance to tho grounds will be by way of three or four ornamental iron gates. Possibly the. contractors .will-be at work upon the erection of the new buildings when Parliament next assembles/The present expectation is that tenders .will be invited Before,tho end of this month,',

"Owing, to tho lack of domestio help farmers' -wives are having- the lifo of "galley slaves," says 'a writer in tho "Tapanul Cottrier," ; "What with the task of rearing big families, milking cows, baking; cooking, and household chorea, the lot.of. the farmer's wife is not a happy one at present.' Servants or; lady-helps,on the farm are almost ah unknown : quantity, land lucky tho farmer's wife who canoomIprise her toil within 16 hours out of the fl in the present busy seasoni No wonder, tho: married women soon look : old when their working hours are beyond all reason." Sixteen hours' toil per day is out of' the question, and yet, this kind of , white slavery is generally practised on ninny • farms in Tapanui district." '<-,'.■

' Some interesting statistics have been compiled in connection with the advance of education in- the Hawko's Bay district during tho past few years'. The. average attendance for the last quarter was 345 greater than the average attendance for the corresponding period in 1911.' Despito the fact that .there' was a large amount of ■; sickness\ experienced, particularly no? ticeable in June and September, another pleasing"-feature ■' was the .'.fact'-that the percentage of attendance—S9.7—was the highest the llistrict has known. In 1907, the registration average was 9109; now it was .10,829. /On- December 81, the : roll showed that thore were 11,131 ohildrcn under the control of the board, an increase of 500 oh the previous year. This, 6ays the Napier "Telegraph, is • abundant,evidence.of the \steady growth) of the district.. ■'"■■ v . .

Tho "Wyndham Farmer" Btates that two anglers beheld an unusual 6pectaole ono day during the holidnya, wnilo indulging in trout-fishing on the lower waters of the Mimihau Stream, .Suddenly a heavy commotion in still water near the bank startled the anglers,' who noticed. a' good-sized trout being roughly "handled." . Closer investigation proved that a monster eol had seized the trout bv the head; biting into tho fish's oyo, anil was literally drowning it. A lad accompanying tho nnglers jumped into the water and frightened the eel away. Tho trout, which was in its last throes,. and was easily captured, proved to bo a twopounder.- What between Shags and eels, to say nothing of the guddlor and the sportsman, the "spotted beauties" have a bad timo of it. -

At a timo liko the present, when tho dignity of tho firemen on a steamor is being impressed upon shipowners, it is of interest, says tho Auckland "Star," to look bock and see how tho position of tho workers has improved in Now Zealand since 1810. Here, for instance, is a copy of an advertisement that appeared in the "Now Zealander" of that year:—"Three of my hired servants being absent from my employment without leave, anyone employing them will bo prosecuted with tho utmost rigour of tho law." In this conmay bo mentioned that tho'first strike occurred in Auckland in 1848. It was amongst the Maoris working at rood-' making. The authorities had deducted from tho Maoris' wages tho cost of the rations supplied, so they went out 'on •strike, claiming they were not slaves, and 6hould bo treated as white men. Over 200 Maoris went out, but oven in those days there-was a minority of 40 who remained at work. Tho wages paid tho Maoris was 9s. per week.

Tho possibility of, bringing two gallons of cold water, to boiling point within 27 seconds will doubtless be received by some with incredulity, yet it is being daily performed at tho Greymouth Hospital. Binco the installation of the steam boiler , for driving tho electrio plant, tho authorities have been enabled to make several desirable improvements about tho wards, but one of tlie. most useful is' an ingenious contrivance designed by Mr. Joseph Pletcher, the District, Health Officer, whereby the old and costly method of heating water by, gas has been done away with. The new arrangement consists of a ooppor receptacle capable of holding two gallons of water,, fitted into a slightly larger vessel Into tho intervening space'steam is forced till the pot soon presents the appearance of a boiling cauldron. During a recent visit of inspection by tho board members, a test of tho heater was inude, and general surprise was'expressed at the rapidity with which the water was brought to boiling point. One gentleman, per medium of a- stop-watch," timed the operation and found that it occupied exactly 27 seconds. —Greymouth exchange.- . '

. Mounted oh a, two and a '.half-Tjorsß power torpedo motor-cycle, and travelling at a fairly uniform rata, Mr. E. R. Godward (says the .''Southland Times. Jrodo 41 times round the quarter-mile track at the Caledonian Grounds at Invcrcargill on Monday afternoon. ' Tho occasion was the testing of an invention framed by Mr. Godward, whereby tho consumption of petrol is diminished- to' a very surprising degree The results obtained at previous tests had been mado'known, and their nature: aroused curiosity ii> many? cases and. incredulity in others. The. test was' carried : out : under ,the., strictest scrutiny.:- The-nature of the! apparatus by which the saying ib effected' has not- been -disclosed,- as Mr. 1 : Godward maintains that it ib as yet only in the experimental 6tage. ■ From external appearances \the: engine ib practically unaltered.,' The petrol and oil-tank- is slightly ' larger than' tho. o.vorngo tank, and a pipe whereby hot air is drawn off the cylinder into the tank is':tho'main, alteration in tho mechanishv There'was a fairly 6harp brcc-zo blowing when' tho tost wasi'mado,' and the rider . ran an oxtra lap in order to satisfy critics that he had covered'tho required distance. Ho did a fullton miles, at an averago speed of 'about','22 miles an. hour, and it was foundithat 3Joz. of, petrol had been used, equivalent to a,run of 457 miles per gallon. A test with kerosens over a ,fivc,mile run at'an average speed of 20 miles an hftur worked out at 30z.,'0r equivalent to 206 miles per qallou. ■ After • tho latter: test the 1 ignition plug ! was removed, and it was found to bo quite I free'of carbon deposit, a fact Vhiclv, will bo- noted with surpriso by. many nuitorists.

There is reason to believe that tho moose liberated intilie West Coast fiord district are thrivingvhnd breeding. This is tho latest evidonc?, supplied-of the success of tho attempt mtido to acclimatise the moose; and sportsmen will be keenly interested to learn that tho animals seem to bo doing well.—Grcymouth "Star." ,-■

Bearing in mind-the excitement causod a, year- or two ago by the alleged appearunco of a mysterious air craft at Kelso. the'.SimleUri.tuWlanWcri.al /.visiter passed over Dunedin on Wednesday ' ovening (says tho:"Otago Daily Times'), must, of necessity, bo, received, wfth a, considerable, amount of caution. A group 'of: men gathered outside the Terminus Hotel at 0.30, however, with- tho purpose,'of- viewing, something that was sailing overhead;' The man'who first saw the, visitor, a boarder whom a-representative, cf this paper interviewed, stated; that he'was. in the commerciar room: of the hotel,'- and he saw coming from tho direction of tho harbour something of tho shapo of a boat. He 'immediately advised others, and they went out. ; into the street'to mnko a further inspection; 'An employee of this, office who;, happened to pass at the, time, states. that no ■' saw. something moving southivai'd;'and -disappear, but-at' that time it was very small, and tho .shapo was not well-defined. In nil probability, however,.the publid will:not hove another opportunity: of viewing this mysterious stranger. - ■■.•,-' -.'•-•.' ' ;:. '■;

The Publio Trust : Commission, consist: ; ing of Messrs., A. Macintosh and J;. H. Hosking, K.C., held .its first formal Bitting yesterday, and oxaminrxl sovoral witnesses. To-day the commission'will sit until 1 p,m., and next week it will probably sit at night as well 09 in the daytime. A correspondent, whoso letter appeared'in Tee Dominion yesterday,, complained ttait the inquiry, of tho commission was not likely to be effectivo if tlio sittings were confined to Wellington. A reporter who. inquired into tho -matter yesterday,gathered that the determination to sit only.in Wellington had been como to deliberately; and after duo thought.' In'the'first place it is open to anyone, in any part of the Dominion, to forward to the Commissioners, in writing, criticisms of tho Publio Trust Office, or suggestions for its improvement. Letters of this nature have been invited by advertisement, V and aro promised every attention. It has been, suggested that private persons would' bo put to great expense in coming to Wellington as.' witnesses,, but' on the other hand the expense to the country has to, bo'considered. One of the Commissioners,l when ho-was interviewed a few days ago, stated that everything,done by the Public Trust Office went through the head offieojn Wellington. Tho agents in Other parts of tho Dominion had no power to varyprocedure on. their own initiative; whatever they did,was done under instructions from Wellington, and tho head office kept a oomplote record of oil outside transactions, as well as of thoso entered into locally; It was on these and similar grounds that the commission determined to confine ita sittings to Wellington. ■ Like other bodies of its land, the commission has power to sit in other parts of the Dominion if its members should think it necessary to do soj but tho Commissioners hold that no such necessity exists,'

Announcements 'regarding to-morrow's ohurch services Will bo found on page 2 of this issue. ■.;•■'