LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1679, 20 February 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A statistician has been at work in a country papor, and ho writes:—"lt may surpHso many people who scoff at bowls to know that there nro at present in Mew' Zealand. 11,000 people who are trying to 'kiss kitty,' and that tho property they hold in bowline greens is worth from .2300,000 to J2{00,(l00."Ten boxes of gold, valued at X60.W10, were brought to Wellington by the Manuka from Sydney yesterday.; A Supplementary Crazetto issued yesterday contains tno formal declaration of union between the Methodist' Church of New Zealand and tho Primitive Mcthi odist Connexion in Now Zealand, which was signed in tho Wellington Town Hall on February 8, Tho union of tho boroughs of tho city of Auckland and Parnell is proclaimed in a Supplementary Gazette issued yesterday. An old Thames minor who worked in many of tho mines .in the early days of that field, namely, Mr. Neat Campbell, ■died on Tuesday at the residence of his nephew, Mr. Gill, of Ponsonby, Auckland. Deceased was a single man, 72 years of age. He was the son of tho la to Mr. Donald Campbell, of Waipu,, and came out with, the first ship bringing tho Nova Scotian settlors to . Now Zealand. . ' A letter addressed "His Majesty, King of Australia, Sydney, Australia," reached tho Commonwealth' Chief Secretary's Department on February 12. This was not because Mr, M'Gowen is supposed to ans-wcr to tho address, but it is here • that "blind" letters, as they aro termed, are forwarded. Mr. F. A. Coghlan. Unair-Secretary, on opening tho letter found it was from * school girl in ft Moravian institution, at Mount Tabor, Barbadoes, who asked his Majesty to give a present to her teachers, A reply will probably be sent correcting the young writer's somewhat hazy geographical and monorchia! knowledge. In his latest communication to the Department, the Administrator- o£ 'the Northern Territory (Australia) states that ou his. recent overland tour by mo-tor,-one of the matters which he kept'in mind was tho choosing of a'site'for the future capital, , which .would, be, fairly equidistant from the various ports of the future, sucli as the. Victoria, Alligator, Liverpool, Roper, and MaCarttiur EiVer mouths. "I am of opinion," wrote Dr.. Gilruth, "that the best site would ( be about' the' headwators of the Roper Kiver, in the vicinity of Bitter Springs, where the soil is of- excellent' quality, and .where there is a' large anil permanent water 'supply,' T.his site is practically on the 1 overland telegraph line, 'and is almost certain to'be on the; transcontinental line/'■',

Tho report : of the Acting-Government Statistician, Mr. H. A. .Smith, for 1912 shows that on December, Sl'tho population, of tho Sydney .metropolitan area was 094,800. Of tliis number tho city contained* 116,400::tfrfd > th<§"¥ub'tirbs '578,000. f-TIK! increase during the year- was 88,000. The city jwpulation,' largely owing to the demolition of condemned dwellings, , decreased by 2400, and -tho suburban population was added,to by <0,400. The number, of, marriages, .during ..the year, was 8923. This total is no fewer 1 thaiv 1283 in excess of the .figures for tho previous year, and is the highest'marriage rate yet recorded, being 23 per c<;nt, abovo the previous five years' average. .The births numbered 20,140, which iB also, the highest rnt% ever recorded - ip the metropolis, and is 14 ! per. cent, above the -average. There were ,7081 deaths. This fate is above that for tho previous yeari and; is 8 per cent, above the average for the previous fivo years, which, however, were all years of exceptionally: low mortality. -. • ■■'

Much has been said (but very little has been done) in connection with the for- 1 mation of approaches tbj, the new Hutt Bj-idgt. So far the approach "to the bridge from the Wainui side of the Hutt River has Won completed, but the formation of the road connecting the'approach with tho Lowry Bay Road, has - not -' been touched. . . • Brooklyn- school-children and their parents journeyed to Day's Bar yesterday, the occasion being thevannual school pionic'. The day borne beautifully fine, the outing was much enjoyed. A big sports programme was successfully gone through. . . ■ Fruit .in, fairly large quantities .was brought to Wellington, by the Manuka from Sydney' yesterday. Tho line consisted of about 800: cases.: Included 1 in tho shipment were IGO of Australian grapes. The remainder of'the shipment consisted of lemons,, watermelons, pine, apples, ,and orangbs. ■ . ' A Sydrieyite who paid a visit to the North Island of New Zealand recently advises his fellow citizens, ,through. the Sydney "Sun," as follows!—". >'- .. . L would advise-those who can spare a few weeks to take the boat to New Zoalan'd; and they will spend.an enjoyablo time! in the North'lsland." . ■ . A well-attended meeting''of supporters of the Saturday half-holiday movement was held in tho Trades Hall on I Tuesday evening, Mr. E. J. Carey presiding. Reports received showed that there wire in hand roughly 1300 signatures, and that there was every prospect of. obtaining tho number required to malce the, petition effective; Acoording to the new roll, there will be at least 3000 names of bona-fido municipal voters required to be attached to the, list, but at last night's meeting it was decided to obtain 5000 signatures in order to leave a safo, margin, and guard against irregularities. ' Tho petition .will bo presented at tho, latest, approximately, on March 20.. . During the meeting members spoke in appreciation of the benefit accruing from the adoption of thft Saturday hatf-holiday, and stated that where, •ever the week-end holiday, had been instituted, many former opponents had been converted .to the? principle. . THE "TRIUMPH" STILL ON TOP. ■ The Christchurch-Kaikoura-and-back record still stands to ■ the credit of Mr, Q. B. Brown and his full roadster "Triumph," and the now 'reoord made last Thursday has been buried almost as so«n as it was born under tho crushing weight of two hours and twenty-one minutes. The principal features of Mr. G. B, Brown's groat ride on Saturday havo teen given full publicity, On, Bth February he rode alone. Some capital was mado out of the fact that on a previous occasion he, was accompanied by anotherridor, and, though the precedent thus sot has been followed, in the subsequent attempts upon the reoord by riders of machines other than the "Triumph," Mr. Brown decided to demonstrate his faith in "Triumph" reliability by riding alono. He rode tlio- samo full roadster threespeed "Triumph"'as ho rode when he established tho reoord on January 17.' The only difference in the conditions was that ho knew the road. It must be remembered that this Cliristchurch-Kaikoura ride was suggested by "Triumph" competitors presumably as a cotirso on which their machines had a better chanco against tho "Triumph" than any other. Tno ootirso evidently docs suit their machino—when their machine is going well—but it quite as evidently suits the "Triumph" just as well,, a lid a iji'cnt deal better. So tho result of this little sporting controversy has been to establish the 'Triumph" as the best "cross-country" motor-cycle, as well as .the best Speed machine, the best machine for reliability, and the best for hill-climbing. Tho latest "Triumphs" are now, to hand; prices: fixed engine, ,£7O! free engine. .£80; three-speed, .£B7 Ids. Adams, Limited., Christchurcli. Branches, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Agents, Sutherland and Rankine. Welling'ton, and Tourist Motor Co, Hastings.— Advt,

The annual meeting of the Ne*' Zealand branch of the kmpiro Press Union, tho Newv Zealand United Press Association, tho Newspaper Proprietors' ■: Association, nnd the Master Printers' ! Association will bo held in Auckland' next week, The following directors oE the Press Association left Wellington for Auckland by the Main Trunk express today:—Messrs. Georgo Femriok ("Otago Daily Times"), G. S. Smith (D medin "Star"), P. Selig (Christchufch tress"), and L. Blundell ("Evening Post") 1 Mr. W. H. Ataek, manager of the association, also 'went north by tho came tram. Two interesting operations' hav< been performed at tho Auckland Hospital recently. A young mpn from To Arolia was admitted to tho institution sufferinii from the effect of having swallowed his faleo teeth, which were subsequently located. A long tube, with an clectric lijiht attached to the end, was introduced into tho part affected, • and the obstruction was removed. The patient recovered quickly. Another case of a similar, but; more serious nature, was also dealt with. A constable stationed at Huntly swiillowed his teeth, and was 1 seriously ill for some time at the Hospital,'.although hit teeth were not located, ho has nevertheless been successfully treated, and has teen able to resume his duties. . V