LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2271, 3 October 1914, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

r A! disturbance by two civilians near the Duke of Edinburgh. Hotel last night led to their being arrested by Constable M'lntosh. While they were being conveyed to the station the younger of the two broke away and darted like 3 hare down the street. Constable Rot;' ell fortunately happened to be handy, and taking charge of the cjther man gave Constable M'lntosh an'opportunity to pursue the runaway. The race was an exciting one. Pursued and pursuer were both fleet-footed, but unfortunately for the former no fell near the Clarendon Hotel and was captured. Both men will appear in Court this morning.

The Supremo Court action, Lucinda Caldwell v. the Union Steamship Company, in which the jury disagreed at the last civil sessions, is to come on again at the next civil sessions, beginning on November 16. Mrs. Caldwell's claim was for £1000 compensation for the death of her husband, Thomas Caldwell, a wharf labourer, who was killed in an accident on the wharf.

All the cases of objections to' the valuations of city leaseholds which. are not specially 6et down for hearing on Monday next will bo taken by the Assessment Court to-day. ■, „,

Fire completely destroyed a sevenroomed house at Ngaio at about midday yesterday. The occupant, Mrs. Proberg, was absent at the time, and the house was burned to the giound. The owner is Mr. P. Hatton Miller. There was an insurance of £550 on the building in the United Office.

_ "Yes, drunk, but under extenuating circumstances," was the preface xo'.a little story told by an offender for insobriety in the S.M. Court yest-erdav. ''May 1 explain?" he inquired politely of the ISehch. Reoaving just as.polite ah affirmative" in reply,' the accused," without, pause or "stumble, related the following:—"I was in my room last' night, when at about 7 o'clock a man jumped through my window, assaulted me, and cleared away with my bottle of beer. Immediately I went down to the police 6tation to lay an information but- —" (hero the raconieur paused impressively)- ''they no sooner '"nrd me speak than they tool: me outside- and arrested me." : Accused did not appear to realise in thi slightest that there was a suppressed air 'if mirth from the whole court, and just waited —apparently for sympathy.- It came. "Seems to have had a whole series of misfortunes," remarked luspector Hendrey, smiling broadly. "No doubt you were drunk," remarked the Magistrate "I was drunk—drunk at 'omo," e-aid the accused. "Ten shillings or 43 hours," replied the Magistrate. .

Information has been received from tlio New Zealand Public Works Department that in consequence of the war tho Federal architectural competition, whicli was announced some time ago in connection with the now Commonwealth capital at Canberra, has been withdrawn until a moro favourable season.

The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke), Councillor Fletcher, the Rev. AV. A. Evans,' Messrs. H. 'Morton, and L. M. _A. Rearden wero present at the meeting of the executive of the Wellington- Distress and Unemployment Committco, held in the Mayor's room yesterday morning. About half a do2<>n cases of distress, attributable directly to tho outbreak of war, came up for consideration, tho whole of them hoiag cafes in which ?o}ief was required ry tho wives and families of British reservists. Mr. Moston, of the Labour Department, stated that within tho past few days ho had sont about sixty men away to the country wliero work was. waiting for them. Ho informed tho meeting that the unemployment was very little above the normal for this time of tho year. At tho end of tho month, when the wool commenced to arrive, there should bo more work offering on tho waterside. There wero a, few cases of unemployment brought jibout through the changed conditions resultant from tho war, whicli wore being helped as far as possible.

Th© rainfall in Wellington last month was only about-an inch and a half, tho average for September being 4.24"inches. Rain fell on sevin days last month, tho maximum fall being 0.42 inch (less than half an inch) on September 1. Between September 4 and 24 only one point was registered. The record fall for any previous September was 10.36 inches in 1863, and tho lowest was 0.60 inch in 1910. The Government Meteorologist reports that, the barometer is now very high everywhere iii New Zealand, and is likoly to continue so for a few days. Fair weather with cold nights will probably prevail until oarly in the coming weak, when a chango is likely to tako place.

A man was arrested by Detective Cameron yesterday afternoon, on a charge of stealing a quantity of brass fittings 255., the property of tho New Zealand Fixtures' Supply Co., Ltd Ho will appear in Court this morning.

Having considered the ovidenco taken by tho Collector of Customs at Grey, mouth concerning the wreck of tho Ka'i. raki, which occurred on tho night of September 20, tlio Marine •Department has decided taat a magisterial inquiry is necessary. Tho nautical assessors have not been appointed yet, nor has tho date been fixed for tho hearing.

Messrs. Sanders Bros, are tho successful tenderers for the erection of tho gar. ago premises to bo erected next tho Occidental Hotel, Lambton Quay, for tho Public Trustee, as executor for tho T. G. Macarthy Estate. Tho building will bo completed early in tho New Year, and is to bo occupied by Mr. J. E. Fitzgerald., Mr. J. M. Dawson is tho architect.

Christchurch paperß state that at Wednesday's meeting of tho local City Council the Electrical Committee re-; ported that Mr. J. Crombie Scott, the' city electrical engineer, rosigned his position on September 29, and desired ; to retire from tho council's service at the expiration of one month from that; date. Tho committed recommended' that tho resignation be accepted and ! that the committeo be .authorised to grant Mr. Scott a testimonial relating' to his services with the council. In order to fill tho vacancy thus created, tho committee requested ponnis.iiou to advertise in the Dominion and Australia, for the services of an electrical engineer at a salary-of £750 per annum increasing to a maximum of £900 per' annum. *

The milk vendors of Napier have fixed the price of milk at id. a quart It is anticipated that' there will be a shortage of feed this summer unless ram comes vory shortly.—Special Correspondent. '

The Sydney Woolselling Brokers' Association has decided to consider tho question of auction sales on October 8, two days after the opening of the next London wool sales, when some idea of the demand for a fair proportion of the- ohp can perhaps be formed.

Walter Diniiie, formerly CoramisBlO 3*F , of , ??1"» for.New Zealand, has petitioned Pairhatnent.praying for com pensation and a pension for eleven years service for the New Zealand Government. ■ The Petitions Committee yesterday reported that after considering.the matter tho* had no recommendation to make.

• Amongst tho Government Bills which : have not made their appearance in Parliament this session, but which will probably be brought down before the end of the session, is one dealing with the proposed development of the iron industry, at Parapara. The' Prime Minister states that tho negotiations in re-> gard to the matter have-been continued, and that as soon as an agreement is arrived at a Bill will be introduced. "I have no doubt," Mr. Mas-' sey said yesterday, "that if it had notbeen for the war something would have' been done in the matter before now"

The oreditora in the -bankrupt estate of- an Auckland, olerk on Wednesday carried a resolution expressing sympathy with him and recommending that he Tie granted his discharge. The circumstances of the bankruptcy were peculiar Ui that the liabilities to unsecured credii tors totalled a little over £4000, the assets being nil. The bankrupt ascrib. Ed his failure to the mining slump of four years ago, when all the companies in which he held shares went to the wall. The resolution was moved by Mr. J. G. Eestcll, who said that the bankrupt had acted honestly, paying small sums to his creditors out of his wages as he was able. Ho would probably have gono on in this way for an indefinite period if 'some of the creditors had not sued him. The motion was seconded by Mr. F. Wilson Smith, and carried by £855 to £179 on a monej basis.

For some time past the Canterbury Trades Labour Council has sorted a nominal existence only,- says t-no Christchurch "Press." A year or two ago many of the unions which were affiliated to the council oancelkd their affiliation in order, in some cases, to affiliate with the Federation of Labour. As a "consequence the council lost quite three-quarters of the unions which previously belonged to it, inoluding the larger unions, such as the drivers,' and the general labourers Recently the council has been reorganised in the direction of deciding to become a district council of the United Federation of Labour, with, the result that a large number of the unions, including the drivers'and the general labourers',' haveireaffiliated with the council. At present the rules of the council are being revised as a preliminary .to greater activity and more direct participation in labour matters in Canterbury.

The effects of the ,war upon the.;country homes of England, are described in interesting style in a letter received by an -Auckland resident from a ladderrespondent who had been staying in',Essex. Writing on August 14 she states that some farm-houses and the towers' of %wo churches had been blown up, as they might have, served as landmarks for the enemy. "Spies are everywhere," the letter states. "A German spy was caught in the grounds here the other day, and we are twelve miles from Colchester or Ipswich, quite in the country. In Devon spies have been caught |in remote villages. Prices went up I enormously when the war beganV s but I have gone down. Petrol is a [substitute is being 'great niercy. .-. .Before the war I went to seo an old lady at Felixstowe, who had a nice house and superb gardens on'the cliff and terrace walks cut in the cliffs. Now I fear they are occupiedby'guns, and her house "blown up, as it was a landmark."

■ That the immediate effect of the war will bo to open up great now markets for Australasian meat is tho opinion hold by Major Norton, managing direc-. tor of tho Bristol and Dominion Producers' Association, who is now in Auckland. Major Norton stated a few days ago that as soon as tho military and agrarian party no longer governs Germany—and as one knowing tho country intimately, ho believed that the Socialist Party would tako control as soon as the war was ended—the country would Welcome tho: importation of foreign meats. ■ Five-eighths of the German population was starving for meat, tie believed that tho war would cement a closer commercial relationship between Britain and Franco, , and' Mat British moats would bo' more freely admitted in future-to the meat-hungry l'rencn. The increasing demand for this class ot produce would bo, of course, all in favour of the producer, and he urged Australian and New Zealand farmers, m their own interests, not to lose control of their export trade. If &<>S .«*, tho growing profits to which they were justly entitled would go into the pockets of speculators and trusts.