LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2206, 20 July 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Riverina arrived at Auckland from Sydney _ yesterday. The vessel brought English (via Suez) and Australian mails, the southern .portion of which should reach Wellington by the Main Trunk train this afternoon.' The Minister of Public Works (the Hon. W., Frasor) will to-day turn the first'sod of the Featherstpn-Martin-borough railway. ''.'',- The "at home" tendered by the members of the Ministry and; the Wellington Women's and Men's Political Reform Leagues in Sydney Street Schoolroom on Saturday evening to the delegates attending the annual conference of the New Zealand Political Reform League was of a mbst enjoyable and enthusiastic character. Mr. H. F. Von Haast, president of the Wellington branch of the League, was in the chair, and offered the_ large audience advice as to organisation and equipment during tho coming election campaign. Among those present wore the Hons - W. F. Massey, J. Allen, W. H. Berries, A. L. Herdmau, and'F. M. B. Fisher, and Messrs. Nosworthy, Lee, and Bell, M:P.'s.\ Messrs. Michel (Westland) and Hamilton (Awarna) delivered addresses, which were much appreciated.: Features of the evening were the addresses by Mr. Mangakahia and Chief Mita H. Taupopoki. representatives of the Maori- race. Their speeches moved other Natives presont to break out into a haka. A'Mr. Charles Road, a resident of Lvall Bay, was admitted to the Hospital' on Saturday night suffering from slight injuries to his head. The injuries were caused through a collision with a tramcar. Tho following havo received the appointment of sergeant-instructors (on probation) in the New Zealand Permanent Staff:—A. W. Hendy, No. 1 Area, Auckland; A. Williams. Canterbury District; J. Beaumont, No. 47 Area, Dunedin-:' J. C. Dudson (-sergeantmajor), No. 20 Area, New Plymouth; Sergeant-Instructor J. H.. Olney, promoted to Staff-sergoant-major. The following sergeant-instructors having completed their period of probation, have been confirmed in their appointments: —It. S. Tuckoy, T. Vbyce, and S V. Massey A familiar figure in and around Wellington some year's ago in the person of "Gcorcki" Lett died in Auckland on Friday last. . Of recent years' "Oeorgie" had become almost, as familiarly known about Auckland, and ho di°d at thr> Hospital there under somewhat peculiar circumstances. As a result a post-mortem examination was t.n be held there on Saturday, and an inquest in tliq afternoon. Shortly after 5 o'clock on Friday afternoon Constable ■Randall saw Lett hanging on to a win-dow-sill of a Queen Street shop. . He. was apparently tho worse for drink, and as a consequence the officer took him to the watch-house. It was then discovered that, thoufih he had Wn drinking, there was something radically wrong with him. Dr. Goldstein was summoned, and ordered his immediate removal to the hospital, where ho diet! at 11 o'clock. ' Tho funeral of tho late Takarangi Mete Kingi took place yesterday afternoon (says a Press Association telegram from Waiiganui). Deceased was buried with military honours. There woro about five. thousand people present, including loading Natives from all parts of the North Island.

"Wo wont through a fence, over a wait, up on to the roof, and in by a window," said a small boy in the Juvenile Court, Auckland, on Friday (states the "Herald"), in explanation of how ho and a companion gained an entrance to a shop from which they stole some sweets. Ho said the other boy had told him that that was the usual way of getting into tho shop, so he went with him, not thinking that he was doing anything wrong; Mr. F. V. Fraze'r, S.M., said it was rather more than ho could 'swallow." Tho boy must have known that such a method of entering a shop for honest purposes was unusual to say the least or it. The lad was admonished, and the probation officer will keep an •eye on his behaviour in future. It seems almost incredible that until Thursday there should have still been residing at Orakoi 'a Maori woman who was an adult at the time when the isthmus upon which Auckland is built was tho property of hor tribe, with • no pakeha resident upon it (states the Auckland "Stir"). Mrs. Katene Rowiti, who died at Orakei on Wednesday at the great age of 101 years, was married many yeara ago to-William Rewiti, who, with the chief, "Paul Tuahere, was one of the owners of tho Orakei block. Mrs. Rowiti was one of the original tribe that sold the site of Auckland to the Government, .aud has seen the town grow from the. time when tho first pakehas landed' in the Wait'emata to found the' capital of the colony. ' It is strange to'Vtliink that-all these yearsthere should still have remained' a Maori woman who . also was " present when the sale was made about 1840,. •when Caotain William Hobson. first Governor of Now 'Zealand;' founded Auckland, airs. Rowiti leaves about 30 descendants, and for many years did Christian work amongst her people. Yesterday, Detective Dempsey arrested, at Khandallah, a -young man, who will appear in the Police Court thin morning on a charge of theft. ; At the annual meeting of the Wellington Headmasters' Association Mr. W. T. Grundy was re-elected chairman and Mr. Bary secretary. The formation, of the Feilding District High Schools Senior Cadets (No. 14 Company, Wellington) has been approved of -by the Defence Department. At a meeting of tho directors of the South Taranaki Shipping Company held at Patea, it was decided that as Mr! W. Bennett (manager of the company) had resigned to take.' up another position, to close the Wellington branch and place the local agency m tho hands of Messrs. Dalgety and Co. •'■. A lad who was taken to the Wellington Hospital on Friday to have a small bullet extracted from his left hand tells 'a. somewhat remarkable story. He sayl that he was walking up Buckle Street on Friday morning when he-suddenly felt a pain in the palm of his hand, and found' that a bullet had wounded him.. The bullet, which is considered to have come from a pea rifle, went almost right through tho hand, but missed the bones. The boy ca,n give'no idea as to where the missile was fired from. The' dry canteens' at the recent Takapau camp have yielded a revenue of •£4OO to the Defence-Department. ', The revenue has been distributed the various units as follows, after a deduction of £40 given to Messrs. M'Parland and Dwyer,. contractors, _ as compensation for the'premature closing of tho camp -.—Fifth Regiment, £44 16s. 4d.; Ninth Regiment, £33 19s. ' 2d.; Eleventh" Regiment; £58 ' os. 5d.; Seventeenth Regiment, £39 2s. 2d.; Second Mounted Rifles, £26 ■ lis. 'Bd.; Sixth Mounted Rifles, £30 .Bs. Bd.; Ninth. Mounted Rifles'.,£32,l4s.: 4d.; Signal Company, -£2 55.: 3d:;; Signal Troop, £2 4s. 7d.; No. 4 Ambulance,' £6 75.-3d.; No. 8 Ambulance, £4 175.; No. 4 Companv Engineers. £4 17s. 7d.; : R.N.Z.A., £3 Os. Id.; Artillery Brigade, £18 9s. 9d'.; Supply' Department, £13 Is. 7d. The monthly meeting of the Island Bay Electors' Association was held on Thursday evening, there being a largo attendance of members. Dissatisfaction was expressed at the small amount pro-vided-on thei. estimates for the main culvert, the completion of which has been strongly advocated by, theassociation. The Tree-planting, Committee reported that arrangements were well forward for.the planting of Mersey Street, and all present agreed to join tho ."working bee" which is being organised for-that purpose. After final ments have been made for this workby the sub-committee, it_was authorised to invite all residents to.join the "working bee." ' -'• . Charles James White, a boy of sixteen years, appeared before the Chief Jus-, tico (Sir Robert Stout) in the Supreme Court on Saturday/morning to. be dealt with for having broken a, probation order. It was reported to the- Court that Mr. E. Arnold, of the Prisoners' Aid Society, had interested himself in the matter, and that arrangements had been made for the lad to be sent to his grandfather, if His Honour approved of that course. The suggestion was accepted, and the Court extended the probation'order <■ for one year, arid gave White to understand that be must remain with his grandfather during that time. •-.,', . , ' • - ' It is reported, states an Auckland paper, that'last Sunday night's southbound Wellington express ran .into a railway jigger on the main lino in the vicinity of the'Tuakau station. ' The jigger is,stated to have' been securely locked when left by some platelayer's in the station yard on Saturday afternoon. The .collision resulted in the jigger being smashed to matchwood, but no damage whatever was sustained by the train, which proceeded on its jour-: r.ey, after stopping to ascertain if anyone had been injured. The police are investigating tho matter, which, so far, remains a- mystery. , In regard to the statement published in Vancouver (states tho Dunedin correspondent of a Christchurch paper) that the steameni Niagara, Makura, and Marama are to bo fitted as armed merchantmen! tho general manager of the Union Steam Ship Company, Dunedin, states that up to the present ho had received no intimation that the Admiralty proposed to take suoh a course, although ho had heard rumours to that eifect. Last week a representative of a Christchurch paper was shown an invention by Mr. J. H. Newiyn,' of Christchurch, for the purpose of overcoming the difficulties of railway transport when two or three different gauges are in use in a country. Mr. Newiyn has devised a carriage bogey with which it would be possible to vary the gaugo according to the system over which tho carriage would pass, the two different gauges being linked up and the change being mado automatically as the train passed from one system to another. A doublo rail prevents derailing while the change is being made, and it also works the locking apapratus. .Mr. Newiyn's invention is as yet only in the model stage, but when inspected it was worked very effectively. Ho has approached tho Governments of oountri-s which have railway systems of different gauges, ' notably those of Australia and India,, and ho has hopes. of his bog«y being given a .trial. Ministers of tho Crown as a rule .get more "kicks than halfponco from those enthusiastic people who are always clamouring for grants of one kind" or another for the improvement of their district. Occasionally, however, Ministerial efforts do not _ pass unrewarded, as witness tho following communication to the Hon. W. Frasor from the Marlborough Roads and Bridges Lcaguo:—: "At their annual mooting fo-day the league was unanimous in expressing their gratitude to you for your services to them during the past year, and also wish to tender their sincere thanks for what you have promised to do during the current year.—A. J. Murray, president."- > ' ,'

An interesting collection of pictures illustrative of Maori life in the early (lays of tho Dominion will bo on exhibition at the Museum from 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. They are by General Robley, and were executed by him when, ho was a lieutenant in the 68th Regiment engaged in the Maori War in the Tauranga district in 1864 and 18C5. Passengers by Monday's midnight Main Trunk express had the experience of witnessing a particularly picturesque fall of snow when between Horopito and Raurimu (states the Auckland "Star"). At first the flakes were of a'light flaky nature, but when the higher level was reached the' snow was very thick and lay_deep on the ground. The Waioutu Plains were a magnificent spectacle— the white expanse presenting .itself to tho gaze for miles and miles. The view was most striking when ! crossing the viaduct, the falling' snow being visible for hundreds of yards descending upon tho .tops of the huge trees. It was a beautiful sight that attracted tho at l tontion of ,all the passengers.