LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2395, 26 February 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A's the annual picnic of the Corporation staff is to be "held to-day at Day's Bay, tlie Town Hall offices will be closed for the day. Tho Municipal Zoo at Newtown Park continues to grow in tho most encouraging' manner. At yesterday's meeting of the Reserves Cominiitee of the City Council, it was reported that the following donations liad lately been received Oiie pair, 'of partridges, one male goat, two pairs of white-browed swallows, two white-naped honey-eat-ers, one ring-tailed opossum,_ two female pile bantams, one hybrid (cross between a weka rail and a common fowl), one blue penguin, and a number of Japanese newts (for the Aquarium); At the meeting it was decided to purchase in Sydney (in conjunction with the Wellington Zoological Society) a pair of zebu, in place of the flamingoes that were to have been purchased. The Petone hairdressers have raised the price of haircutting from 6d. to 9d. for men, and after noon, on' Saturdays this increase will apply, to boys also. - The Western. Australian Government, owing to scarcity of fodder, has purchased 6000 tons of Argentine maize, ateo 1500 tons of lucerne and 3600 tone of bran and pollard. Dotective Abbott arrested a man in Wellington yesterday on warrant on an allegation of-/having committed forgery and uttering in Auckland. He will appear before tho 'Magistrate's Court to-day. "Tho Blenheim police havo- arrested another man alleged to liavo somo connection with the fire .at the White Horse Hotel, Ngahauranga. The Master Bakers' Union notify in this issue that tho price of tlio 21b. loaf will be sd. from Monday nest until further notice, ' •'

Residents of Fairlie Terrace (KeJ*. burn) will learn with interest that tiff city engineer will endeavour to makea 6tart next week with certain work! promised in that quarter, mention of whioh was made by Councillor Frost, at the last meeting of the City Council.'

A notice in the Gazette last night was to the effect that as the local, authorities of the boroughs of Petone and! Lower Hutt had failed to declare what working day in the week should be the, statutory closing day for shops, thei Minister of Labour 'had appointed Wed-/, nesday to be- tho early closing day.

A return published in tho Gazettei !)n S o ni sht shows that for the year 1914 i /0,360 males, 13,020 and 42661 children, a grand to?al of 37,646 ar-: rived iin New Zealand' from oversea! ports; 8579 came from the United! Kingdom, and 26,967 from Australia.. 9 departures for the year were 32,506,; and the excess of arrivals over depar-i tures 5140. The estimated mean population of Kew Zealand (exclusive oftMaons and residents of Cook and other. 1090 329 or 10 year 1914 was

A general meeting of the Wellington; Unamber of Commerce was held Testerday, the president (Mr. C. W. Jones)' presiding. The object of the meeting: was to., select a candidate to represent the payers of dues other than on ships, on the Wellington Harbour Board Theselected candidate was Mr. R. E Sinclair, son of the Hon. J. D. Sinclair. '

Men the jury was bem?-empanelled-at the civil sittings oftlo Lyttelton 011 - Tue6day > a sexton, applied for exemption on the ground, tliat ins l duties made it impossible for' him to attend. Asked why he could' not serve on the jury the applicant meutioned something about cleaning lamps. This did not satisfy His Honour jUr. Justice Denniston, who wanted toknow if there were no more valid reasons. The applicant then stated that if a funeral came along ho would be< needed. "But surely," said His Hon-' ?u' r ' ' funerals d oll ' 4, suddenly appear at the church door without warning?"After a little reflection the applicant admitted that he generally had a little notice of fajneralsj but not always of baptisms and "marriagos are sometimes. very\ sudden." His Honour said he did not altogether like the application, hut ill view of the vision of funeral pro* cessions suddenly appearing or children' tor baptism or these marriages," he would grant it.

Japanese tramp 6leamcrs are (Bays-, the .Sydney "Daily Telegraph") finding l profitable employment in the oversea' trade, and the arrival of two' big: steamers at Sydney oil February 18, oho flag of the Mikado created' some interest at the port. The arrivals' were the liwanta Mara and the Harima an'- Both vessels brought large consignments of superphosphates for ■ the Commonwealth, and the Kwanta Maru also had lines of general cargo ,on board. The K.wanta Maru formerly sailed under the British liqg: she was' then known as the Wakool, of Lund's-, line, and did a considerable amount of' trooping during the South African War. Ilie Hanma Maru was originally on old: ■ ar *d 0. liner. As the Borneo she was for some years employed in the : Eastern trade by the P. 'and 0.. Com-'' pany, before being purchased by theJapanese. The Salvation Army War Belief and Swnn geJl aM u t n ', has . 110 l v. reached w9OOO. Ihe latest donations include a> sale of sheep, Farmers' Union, per J. .Kamsden, Kumeroa, £247 65.; W F Knight, Dannevirke, £100; L. EL M Hardy Ashhurst, £100; J. Holden, y gfnnevu-ke, £100; J, Sidey, DunediZ *100; F. B. Cowper, Dannevirke, £50.Miss L. Williams, Dannevirke, £25: F : J. N. Mackie, Kumeroa, £30; J. Link- 1 later, Palmerston North, £25; W H Gaisford,- Dannevirke, £20; 51. A... Harding, Palmerston North, £20. It was reported at yesterday's meet-, ing of the Reserves Committee of the City Council that the Zoo gate receipts from February 1 to 24 amounted to £55 7s. 3d. . Messrs. Collie and Wells, representing the Island Bay division of the National Reserve, approached 1 the Reserves Committee of the City. Council yesterday afternoon with the request that the division be granted permission to drill on Wakefield Park for one night • a week. Assurance was given the deputation that a favourable recommendation would be made to the council, and also that permission to. use the dressing sheds would also be granted. The Lyall Bay division of tie National Reserve are also to be given permission to drill on the Lyall Bav Park.

The. World-wide war fever has gripped' the children of Melbourne, and,/ as in,' Europe, is bringing destruction in its, wake. During the p^st, few weeks, youthful warriors in the city have been) waging battles royal, British v. Ger-j man, in the city parks and gardens.] They have dug trenches in the sward, j they have used the turf for bullets and' grenades, they have built barricades.! of the ' foliage of trees and shrub's, and] incidentally they have caused the parksj and gardens committee to put two men? on work every evening, smoothing and tidying the scarred battlefields. The: committee has also issued a circular appealing to parents to prevent further! damage. , Rifle shooting at Karori may next J year be practised on a mnnicipal rango,; as the Borough Council intends to takoi advantage of the powers (for establish-, ing rifle ranges) conferred on municipalities by Section 304 of the Municipal'' Corporations Act, 190?. On February, 11 the Town Clerk (Mr. W. F. Eng-i land), at the direction of the coun-) cil, wrote to the Minister of Defence;' (the Hon. Jas. Allen) notifying him of' the contemplated intention to have a ; range in the borough, and asking if j the Department could send out ail offi-: cer to inspect and report on the site; selected. The Minister replied express-, ing his pleasure at the move about to] be taken by the council and statins j that the Commandant of the Forces J would arrange for an officer to visit Ka- • rori on a suitable date to inspect the; site. At Tuesday's .meeting of thej Borougli Council it was decided to for-; ward a letter to the Commandant ar- ! ranging a date for the inspecting offi-! cer to meet the borough engineer. '"Thai sooner we get to work on this the better," said the Mayor (Mr. W. T. ffil-. areth). "The range can then probably, ba made available for next season."

Regarding the recent attack by two Turks on n Broken Hill excursion train, | the following official statement was issued in Berlin, where the news created great enthusiasm: —"A notable success lias been achieved by our. arms in Au&tialia, near Broken Hill, where a force of Turks surprised and .put to flight a superior force, .which was being transported by rail. Forty! of the enemy were killed and seventy wounded' the casualties among the Turks being only . two killed. Broken Hill is an important mining centre and port on the we6t coast of Australia. Toe success of our arms practically 'assures, the control of the valuable metal mines in the neighbourhood, and leaves the way open for . an attack on Candbris, the capital of 'Australia, and its most strongly fortified centre, although owing to the flooded condition of the country, an attack may be impossible*until next .spring." A well-known Coldstream fisherman, engaged in whipping the stream at the mouSi of the llangitata at the weekend, had an exciting' half-hour's sport when landing a big lolb. trout, states ; the "Ashburton Guardian." _ The minnow he was, using hooked in the tail of .the fish, which immediately made . up-stream. ■ After taking out several yards'of line, the trout turned downstream again, jumping into the air and dropping back into " tne water with a big splash. Going over the ripples an exciting tussle took place, but, thanks to a strong line and' careful playing, the fish was safely landed. It was in splendid condition^' ' being _ thirty-two inches long and eighteen inches round the girth. The _ same angler .caught a 121b. fish some distance up-stream, as well as several smaller 01tC3.. t ;The desire of some Auckland factories t<i work their hands for a smaller number of days per week, at'a daily wagefixed on the basis of the weekly rate at present in force, was mentioned in >th© Arbitration Court-on. Monday, by Mr. C. Grosvcnor,. secretary of the lAuckland branch of the ■ New Zealand Employers' Association.. Mr. Gro'svenor urged that the commission appointed under the Regulation of Trade and Commerce Act should be asked to modify the Shops and Offices Act to enable this to be done. His Honour Mr. Justice Stringer stated'that if . the factory owners ooncerned would draw, up their rea- ■ sons" for making this request, submit them to someone representing the -workers affected, to enable the latter to state their case, and then forward-the complete documents to the commission, the matter would be considered.