LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1730, 22 April 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The rush of people to see the battleship on Saturday afternoon and Sunday caused exceptionally heavy loading on the city trams on those days. The authorities were not very well prepared to cope with tho rush, and there wero hitter I complaints in consequence by passengers. ! Tho receipts on tho trams on Saturday were ,£622 12s. 2d., and for the corresponding Saturday last year tho receipts wero ,•0159. On Sunday the takings wero .£362 Bs. Bd., as against <£233 3s. 7d. for the same Sunday of 1912. Tho total of .£362 for Sunday has only onco previously been exceeded, anil that was on Easter Sunday. last, at carnival time. "Everything is working perfectly," remarked tho head ol' ono of the big local freezing companies yesterday when asked how matters wero now proceeding at the works. Tho maximum output is being maintained and tho companies could not kill more sheep if they wanted to. Altogether conditions on the boards are reported to bo much more satisfactory than they have been for many years past. The first drawing for .£25,U00 worth of debentures, to repay part of the £100.000 Wellington City Improvement Loan of 1879, will probably take place.during tho week commencing September 22 next. This loan is repayable by the city iu four instalments of .£25,000, and this drawing is for the lirst payment, which will bo mado on September 19, 19M. Nearly, a year will elapso after tho drawing before the payment is made, bat some arrangements havo to be effected and tho investors must have Eonio notice. There wiil bo other repayments of <£25,000 each in 1919, 1924, and 192'). It is very probablo that all tho moneys required io pay the loan will bo availablo from tho nuking funds, and that it will not bo necessary to raiso any new loan. Yesterday morning a mau named Robert Hutchinson, n newsagent at Petone. who fin the usual v;av) visited the railway .station at 4 a.m. with his horse and trap, was engaged in getting his papers when the horse made off. A search was mads all over tho valley, but no trace of tho animal or eart could be seen, and it was thought that tho "turn out" bad been stolen. Subsequently, however, two men brought tho horse and cart home. A country correspondent of tho Sydney "Daily Telegraph" tells a story of a ninemontfi'old heifer, which recently developed symptoms of illness. As the animal could not be cured, it was killed. A post-mortem revealed the fact that the stomach contained. a table cloth, a veil, a child's nightdress, a buckle, some hide, a safety-pin, and other odds and ends. Apparently tho heifer was martyr to indigestion. Savs the "Fiji Times"Professor 31'Cfellan, of the Honolulu Board of Supervisors, says that tho mongoose is dving out in that place. A species of wood tick is destroying the reptile by stinging him so severely and often that he scratches himself to death, and they are fast disappearing. There are plenty of peoplo trying to glow folws around Suva who would give a warm welcome to the wood tick if it travelled this far.

A tiremaii named Walter Bennett, on I lie steamer Essex, was admitted to tlio Wellington Hospital last evening suffering from a wound in the lliroat. According (0 particulars supplied by the police, ho is alleged to liavo .■ipprojiehod tiio second engineer of llio Essex with a request for money. Tlio request was refused, and Bennett: I hereupon secured a razor and inflicted a. wound 011 his throat. Tlio doctor of Uie steamer Hawko's Bay attended liim, and had him removed to tho Hospital. It is understood that Bennett liad been thinking licavily of laic. The wound is not considered serious.

Auckland residents have been perturb<vl during ihc last few days by a tuvsterioiif. but very unsavour, odour, which has become unpleasantly noticeable over largo portions of (110 ciiy. So had Was tho smell al Xcwton thai one resident took up pari of tin) flouring, of his house in search of .1 supposed dead cat, and al. Jit. Eden, slates our correspondent, a somewhat, similar occurrence is reported. Nothing has been discovered so far to account for the trouble.

The Conciliation Commissioner (Sir. P. Ilally) sat with a Conciliation Council yesterday to investigate the dispute between tlio Ueneral Labourers' Union and tho Local Bodies. Corporations, and other employers of labourers in and around Wellington. Tho assessors for tho union wore: Messrs. P..O'Koefe, .T.'lfuwy, and M. J. Kcnrdon; and for tha employers, Messrs. W. t'ergus-on. 'I'. 0. Fox, and P. 0. Mace. Mr. W. A. W. Grenfell appeared as agent: for tlio employers. The first business of tho council was to consider tlio list of parlies cited. It appeared 'hat the list was very far from complete, mid mostly at Ike instanco of tlio employers' assessors, tho names of several other employers were added. Tho assessors objected to tho citation of ono or two men in an industry while other men engaged in tho sanio industry, and employing general labourers, were not cited, it was finally agreed to adjourn tlio hearing of the caso until April 28 to permit of the list being made more nearly complete.

Now tho Commonwealth Government has tit last established wireless communication with Papua, it is astonished (says tho Sydney "Telegraph") to find that it answers a public convenience. Tho Importance of this station lies in tho fact that it affords t.ho only means, outside the ordinary cervices, of reaching tho territory. Already tho revenue exceeds that for either tho Melbourne or the Sydney installation. For tho week ended February 25, 781 words v;ere transmitted; for tho week ended March 1, 2291; and for tho succeeding weeks, 1958, 2515, 1604, 1840, 0120, and 4200. Tho longest message, which was for a commercial firm, was 2000 words. As tho communication is within tho Commonwealth jurisdiction, tlio rate is 3d. a word. For mossases outside tlie Commonwealth area; such, as telegrams to <uul from ships, tho rate, whio'i is goTerae.il by international convention, is lOd. a word.