LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2391, 22 February 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

English mails, vsa Suez, and Anstra* lian nails, were brought by the Union liner Maheno, which arrived at Auckland from Sydney early yesterday morning. The southern portion of the mails will reach Wellington by the Main Trunk express this afternoon. As the little coastal steamer Defender was on route from Karamea to Wellington a mishap occurred to her boiler. The Anohor line's steamer Waverley hap[x>ned ,to observe-the Defender's distress, and subsequently towed the "lame duck" to sholter on Guard's Bank. Temporary repairs having been effected the Defender managed to como , on to Wellington under her own steam. Permanent repairs aro being carried out at Wellington, and the Defender has I)«en fixed to leave hero for Picton and 1 Hokitika to-morrow. The mystery associated with the fire which destroyed Thomas Adams's stationer's shop in Gisbonie on January 24 |ast_ has been cleared away by the confession obtained, by the police (states a Press Association telegram) from children who had been " playing with' taatohes and created the fire. At an inquiry in Auckland regarding the affairs of Charles Hill, solicitor, who had been missing for nearly a year, the Official Assignee stated that the polico bad not traced the defaulter, whose estimated deficiency was approximately £7500.. The lowest dividend payable would be 10s., but it would take years to realise the debentures.—Press Association. A i!6w six-roomed house at Waiiganui, owned and occupied by F. H. Wilkie, was destroyed by fire oil Saturday (norning (states a Press Association telegram). ' The insurances are:— House, £600 in the Northern TJnioil office; furniture, £200 in the Royal Exchange office. In the opinion of a visiting Amerieaa goologist, Professor J. P. Iddings, ample warning will be givett before any, of the latent volancoes around Auckland revert to activity. Unless water ia introduced into the throat of a; volcano, lie says, it is not likely to "go off with a. bang." Professor Iddings has for some months beea ■ studying, igneous rocks in the tropics, and ii farthering his Investigations in New Zealand. While in the South Island ha was much interested in studying the ancient formations at Port Chalmers and Lyt'telton. He is accompanied to the North Island by Dr. Marshall, Professor of Geology at the Otago Utiirer-* sity, and the two will thoroughly inspect the volcanic regions in the north. During the course of the private runthrough at the People's Picture Palace on Saturday morning a film became ignited. The fire brigade was called. The daniago was chiefly confined to the destruction of a quantity Of film. The mishc.p did not interfere with, tlis usual- sessions, which were fun off during the day and evening as. previously, advertised..

The Island Bay-Berhompore section of - tiio National Reserve have received advice from the City Council that their application for the .loan of Duppa Street I'ark for. drill purpdsed has been -grant* ed. Drill parades of the members of ■ this section will commence froni Tuesday next, February 23, and will"tak(j ' place on the reselve. The Wellington district secretary .of the . National Reserve in order . to facilitate tlie effective organisation! . and division into' military units • for training, is calling in all returns of enrolments in the several subdivisions of the district. . ■ ' . . } If the Unrivalled magnificence and. in-' finite variety of tho scenic country beyond Lake Wakatipu were more widely"known the call of the West would assuredly grip hundreds of athletic tourists who at present are content to follow the beaten path. Such is the emphatic opinion of Messrs. W. 'L. Logic, \Y. R. Sinclair, and Mrs. W. R. Sinclair, of Dunedin, who, with Guide J. Edgar, have just completed a walking tour from Elfin Bay to Paradise. Quartermaster-Sergeant Kerr, of tlie 32nd Battery Royal Field Artillery, who was mentioned in a- recent dispatch from Sir John French, had a strange experience in the South African War. He was officially reported killed, and the insurance money was "paid over. When he reached home at Littlebampton he found a tablet erected to his memory.' '

The need for preserving the tush' around Lake Rotoma, near Rotorua, was pointed out to a reporter by a gentleman who has recently spent a holiday, in the locality. Tho bush 1 it was stated, is in its natural state, with a profusion of shrubs, varying widely inysolour. A' Presa representative was informed thafc tho scenery would be utterly destroyed unless the' Government secured an area one mile deep, all round the. shoros -of the lake, as a reserve. This, it was remarked, must be done promptly, as the owner of the bush will-most likely resort to burning in, order to earTV out a contract. It was stated that Lake Rotoiti was fast losing all its old charm on account of the bush being cleared from the shores, and it was to be hoped that Lake Rotoma- would be preserved; from <i similar fate. Good rainbow trout fishing was to be enjoyed in the tatter place, the fish eaUßht this season:;weighing from 4lb. to 131b. The fish, were all in good condition. The. Methodist Conference of New Zealand will be opened in ChriatchnrOH oil Thursday next-. '1 here will be no conversazione this year, but instead a monster old-fashioned' Methodist tea. meeting in the Salvation Army Citadel* This will be followed by a big missionary meoting, at which Dr. <**rge Brown, veteran missionary, will be -ne principal speaker. Tho conference will have to deal with tho question of the modification of the itinerant system. On this question the synods have given a divided vote, and the decision of . the conference is at present an open ques-

ti° n - '■ . ■ ' _ 1 According to a prominent Stratford had nßent, never in the history or Stratford—tk> war .liotwrthstanding---bas business in bis line been so brisk. Specially has this been the case, ho says, sinco tbo beginning of tbo_year. During last woek_ liis iirni had put through commissions amounting to £600. Tbo transactions extended over a wide al-ca, being connected with land in the "Waikato, farms in Tariki, and around Stratford, as well as town property,' and big stock deals.

"I have suggested' before, and I still suggest, that in these land exchanges there should be appointed a valuer who is the agont of ueithor party," remarked His Honour-Mr. Justice Cooper at the Supreme Court in Auckland on Friday. His Honour added that three or four valuers should be appointed by the Government and provision made to the effeot'that an exchange of property should not be ; concluded Until a bertificate as to the value of the properties had been obtained from one of these Government Valuers.. . Thft number erf men ivho develop "cold feet" after enlisting is stated by thß Chfistchurch "Evening News" to be surprising. It quotes, for example, the result of a recent ChristchUrch recruiting campaign. Two' hundred meii applied for service; but t only 105 attended the nledical examination: But this was Hot all, for of those ivho were passed by tho doctors, 20 failed to appear again. As i the recruits, are riot sworn in ilhtil they reach Treiltham, the authorities have no control over these backsliders. At an early hour on Saturday mom-, ing a girl in the employ of Dr. Cowie, of Masterton, heard .the window of the diiiing-room open, and saw a man entor. . She crept stealthily out of the Window of her own room into the streetj Without awakening the household. Tbd police were informed, and wero soon on the spot, with others', arid a search revealed a man hidden behind the door of the sitting-room.. He was a remittance man named Samuel' Wall, who has recently been in stfaitoilod circumstances. He had helped himself to supper, and. changed his boots for the ddctor's, but otherwise he had done little damage. Two Justices later-ill the day sentenced him to .three mouths imprisonment.—Special' correspondent.

Great preparations are being made by ijie Natives of the Aotea and Kawhia district to entertain To Rataj the Maori King, and his retimie i during his visit next month. The Kawhia "Settler" says this will be the first official welcome Mahuta's successor will have received from his subjects in this district, and one of the subjects to be discussed will be his recent visit to England. , Somo amusement was recently caused at the Auckland' , Supreme Court • by one of" tho witnesses who appeared in the compensation' case relating to the Gillies estate. He was an estate agent, and somo eighteen , months ago had prepared a scheiAe for; subdividing the property. Examining, counsel asked for an Opinion as to What method Of sale.would have.been the most profitable to the owners. The witness mentioned two methods, whereupon the Judge reminded him that he had been asked for aii opinion as to the best method: "Wejl, then)" was the further reply, "I should say to sell it for a. park." When the ripple of laughter', had subsided, the witness explained that he was prompted in his-answer by the fact that there Was a popular demand in Auckland for parks. But this only caused further merriment. ' - .

The genus boy in the Picton ; district does not.always fly the right flag when he trades in birds' eggs (says the "Marlborough. Express"). A member of the Road Board stated on Tuesday that he had found out oije ingenious lad in the trick of inking starlings' eggs, which are not; wanted, and _ palming them off as thrushes' eggs, .which are a marketable commodity.

■ There are very few big halls that are not, when empty or nest door to empty, acoustically ' defective, and our To to Hall has long been considered to be unsatisfactory in that respect.. This defect is not bo apparent in the large cathedrals, which are' not usually of the box-like formation of a.-large concert hall., The great cathedrals at Home and on the Continent are not as a rule one vast unbroken space, but the interior is broken up by pillars, the reredos, the. raftered ceilings, aild other architectural elaborations, but the . modem town hall, unless fairly well filled, is never, quite satisfactory,- and •. in the case of Wellington is veTy bad indeed, though crystals have been hung on wires and curtains hung at the back of the gallery. It would not be a matter for surprise if the stamped metal ceiling has something to do .with the. defect. As steel o'aiulot absorb the sound,-, it must reject it, and so the clash. <>f the ascending and descending sounds produces a blurred effect that blunts all musical definition in forte passages. The City Organist has evidently noticed the defect complained of. Olio of his programme notes on Saturday evening concluded as follows:—"A fine example of Karg-Elert's gorgeous harmony is to be found on the last page of this Work, hut' owing to the peculiar _ acoustical properties of this . hall it might sound, somewhat heavy."

Tho playing for the Duthie Cup by teams representing - the, Wellington, Lower Hutt, and Wanganui Bowling Clubs at Wanganui Was rtdfc_ without benefit to the British and Belgian Fund. One of the Wellington Club's representatives, _ who is given to. milch quiet meditation on the green wheil not teach-' ing the young idea how to sprout, happened to be the Owner and wearer of a very tattered and generally disreputable Panama hat. On arrival at the railway station on the departure of the visiting riuks from Wanganui, it was suggested in a spirit of raillery that the old lia.tr should be sold by auction for the bonefit of the British and Belgian Fund, whereupon an auctioneer was at once appointed, and to the amusement of a largo crowd of people the old hat was sold over and over again, and finally as the train gave-warning ,of its intention to move Wellingtonward, it was knocked down to Mr. J. Foster for 10s. The auction realised the sum of £11 Bs. 6d. for the fund.

His Excellency the Governor has aocorded his patronage to the New Zealand tour of tho Plimmer-Hall Patriotic Comedy Company, which commences in [Wellington on March 20.

During the past week the "Magpies" at His Majesty's Theatre, through the medium of a clever little finale, have been successful in collecting the sum of £17 los. for the War' Relief Fuuds, and they intend 'to continue their efforts in other towns they. are to visit Tinder the Brennan-Fuller management. Oil Wednesday nest the "Magpies" are to make a street appeal, and to that end will tour tho city on a. decorated lorry, singing patriotic,songs and selling the dolls -which tliey have been using in their "Toyland Bazaar" sketch, buttonholes, etc. Air the money _so collected will bo paid into the British and Belgian Distress Fund. On Saturday afternoon, when further moneys were collected at the matinee, the children present were delighted to receive as presents dolls which the •members of tho Company bad dressed. At Everybody's Theatre last evening. Mr. J. Reacl, secretary of the TJnitcd Federation of Labour, delivered an address taking for his subject "Bees and Drones, Workers and Exploitation." 'An. unusual visitor in tho form of » young penguin'was found swimming up the Avon in Christeburch near • the Hereford Street Bridge on Friday afternoon. The attention of passers-by was soon attracted, and a younw man waded iiito tho stream and caught tho bird. Penguius have on occasions appeared off Lyttclton Heads, and have even como up the harbour, but this is, according to the "Press," the first occasion where one has taken the long journey across the Sumner bar and up the Avon to the city. It could , hardly have, come any ( other way. Tho penguiij was shown t<i .Mr.-J. Drummond, of Christchurch, who is a well-known authority on New Zealand birds, and he declared it was. undoubtedly a'rare specimen. It is stated by tho "Standard" that A couple of Palmerston North carrying agents contemplate going in for niotorlorrics. this decision having been influenced by the high price of chad, and the big upkeep of lorry teams. '' ohaff has been quoted at £G 10s. j>er ton at Martoa. •

Owing to the largo number of steamers which have been -captured, sunk, or otherwise - thrown out of commission since the outbreak of the war, shipping companies are experiencing considerable difficulty in securing suitable vessels to load at New York for New Zealand and Australian ports. According to advices received by the New Zealand agents for the United States and Australasian line (says the Auckland "Herald ). there is a probability that the tonnage from New York will not be so largo as lias been 'the case since the Panama Canal opened for traffic. Efforts have -been made for over a month past to charter a steamer to load for New Zealand, but without result. The scarcity of tonnage is chiefly due to the capture of German vessels, which; prior to the war, played a prominent part in the carriage of cargo from Now Yorlc to Australia and New Zealand.

The Railway Engineers in camp at Tufakina' River have teen putting in some good work. ; Practice m barbed iriro entanglement and trenching work has been given, and on , Friday a sixfctostle bridge was built, across the river. The camp was inspected on Friday by Colonel Hiley (General Manager of Railways), Colonel Tate (Officer Commanding Wellington Military. District), and Major Morrison (General Staff Officer). Tfie new road formation Work on the Parapara Road, which will link TVaUgantfi with Raetihi and the Trunk country,, is progressing favourably, and a start has been made .with the construction of the HapokapokU Bridge. Plans, have been prepared for the construction of the Okura" Bridge. .Repairs have been effected on dither .side of the Mangawhero Bridge, and culverts throughout will be Inserted at once. ■ Jt fs pressed td clear tlid Jia.tn.biwi track from the .Parapara end through a the WaKßSnui River.