LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1647, 14 January 1913, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

"Blank" is the only sort of ticket which the cooks and'waiters have, drawn after trying their fortunos in tho Conciliation Council. Final hearing came on yesterday morning and certain proposals were submitted by. the representatives ■of the union. These were duly considered by tho hotelkeopers cited and tho ultimate reeult was that tho licensees' delegates came back to the council and intimated:that they Could not accept the terms offered. Their principal'objection was to the preference clause, and as they refused to grant preference tho Council did riot go on with the other terms. Unless one side or the other holds out the olive branch in the meantime, the whole thing will become a case for tho Arbitration Court. ; .' •'' Thieving reported locally, unless checked, will result in Foxton gaining an unenviable notoriety (says tho Hanawatu "Horald")i Thefts of poultry and, vegetables are of common' ocoiirrence. Recently a &noak thief turned his attention'to the,school garden plots, and gathered in vegetables which were being reserved for show purposes. Considerable thefts are also committed in and about tho wharf, and from the rear of business 'premises. ',' Several deputations which'have waited, upon, tho Minister for Railways and the Ministor for Publio Works during their tour of the East .Const railway, route have nrged that, the;; Government should'' take over the control of main roads. The Hon. W. Frasbr, Minister for Publio Works, in. replying to such a request, said that various reforms of local government methods were in contemplation •in the.. GovornmontV Local Government Bill. Ho was unable to tell them what the provisions of the Local Government. Bill were to be, but ho drew attention:, to tho fact; that local'bodies were concerned with tho expenditure of money received from rates, while the Publio Works Department,expended chiefly borrowed, money. It would certainly not be a wise policy/to spend loan moneys on repairs and maintenance of roads. The difficulty expressed in tho requests was a serious.one, which would hdvo to be met in somo way. ''■'•.. When , a "Gisborne • Times" reporter visited the Star of Canada on Friday, Mr. Langlands and his men wore busily employed salving machinery, from the engineroom. A couple of pumjis have already been unscrewed from their bed-plates and hoisted up through the engine-room skylight, with the aid of a winch and tackle. In tho "'tween decks'^a big oil engine coupled to a pump was being cooled off after a long run, for the wator is nearly all pumped out of tho engine-room and after-holds. What little water remains is surging about, showing that the vessel Is afloat astern, and is only held by her bows. A diver is to mako", a thorough examination of the forepart in a few days. Tho attempt to salve the steamer herself is postponed only until special gear arrives.. . ' ■. , .:.,- It was represented' by a deputation which interviewed the Hon. W. F. Massey at' To Awamutu on Friday that much more land than.necessary had:been set aside for the purposes of the mental Ihospital and reformatory near Tokamvi. It was urged that a good deal of useful dairying country was being wasted when it was required for genuine settlers. ■ Mr. Massey took a special note .of the complaint, nnd intimated,that probably some of the land might bo thrown open. '■■ A visiting angler who has been fishinp in tho Kakahi for sotno -little time, h«! a narrow escape tho other evening fron' certain death. He had been trying foi trout till a late hour, 1 but when dark' ness set in ho turned for homo. H< had climbed tho track that led ,up fron the river, but soon lost his way: in th< manuka 6crub—a very easy thing to d( in tho neighbourhood 'of Kakahi. Aftei wandering about for a considerable time and still failing to, strike an exit to tin road, he had tho curiosity to strike i match in order to look at his watch anc find out how much time he had spent ii his attempt fo get out of the maze. Or throwing away his match still aliitht 1m was thoroughly startled to see it fall 80ft to the river below. Had lie' taken an .other step'before striking his match thi nivlor would certainly have been killed Ho" then sat down and' waited for dawn

The Tholma Peterson concert at Levin m Friday night was successful. Although tho audience was not so largo iw it Otaki, tho programme, on tho whole. ivaß bettor, and Miss Petersen was heard to bettor advantage. ' ' At about half-pas eleven o'clock yesterday morning the Firo Brigade was summoned to a house of seven rooms (No. 2) iu. Boulcott Avenue, close to St. Mary of the Angels' Church, owned by tho Very Rev. Dean CTShea, nnd occupied by MrMartin lSllcr. A spark eot fire to some rubbish in a box in the yard, and tho Homes spread to tho building. The brimdo suppressed tho outbreak before much damage had been done,