LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2421, 29 March 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Ulimaroa, from Sydney, will arrive at Wellington late this evening with a small English and an Australian mail for Wellington. The Sydney boat to Auckland left tho same day as the Ulimaroa, and does not carry a mail for Wellington.

A pair of zebu, the Indian sacred bull, arrived in Wellington on Saturday by the i'aloona. They come from Melbourne, and are for the Wellington Zoo, half the cost of purchase having been borne by the City Council and half by the Zoological Society. They- are very handsome animals, and arrived in oxoollent condition,

A good deal of money goes up in smoke. The latest detailed list of imports to ftew Zealand concerns the month of October. ' In that mouth we took in £28,273 wortli of tobacco, £3642 worth of cigars, and £39,515 worth of cigarettes. Those sums total £71,430.

The expenses of Mr. J. W. Muuro in connection with the by-election for Dunedin Central totalled £165 9s. 6d. Mr. StathamV expenses were £138 os. 9d. During the stay of the steamer Tainui at Lyttelton a number of drums of oil

disappeared. On Friday, says a Press Association telegram from Christchurch, the police visited the premises of Rudoe Anderson, sailmaker, and a well-known resident. He denied all knowledge. The search seemed hopeless -until the police discovered an aperture in the ceiling. Inside were eleven drums. .The police subsequently arrested Robert Hempstalk and Thomas Jqnes on a charge of theft of the drums, and Anderson on a oharge of receiving stolen property. They were all remanded till Wednesday. representatives of the Wellington Dairy Farmers' Association and the Wellington Licensed Milk Vendors' Association have agreed to meet the Mayor in conference at the Town Hall this evening over the proposed rise in the prico of milk. Tho meeting will not be open to the Press. A Trade Supplement issued with the Monthly Abstract of Statistics, which the State Statistician produces, shows that during the ten months ended October 31, £18,816,437 worth of goods were imported to New Zealand. The imports for the month of Ootober were valued at £1,610,128. The following nominations have been received for positions on tho Soft Goods Employees' Union: —President, Mr. A. J. Humphries; vice-presidents, Messrs. T. Plant, A. H. Wheatley, H. Bonner; secretary, Mr. A. W. Croskery; treasurer, Messrs. A. L. Ileni, D. Constable, T. Plant; committee, Messrs. Clapshaw, Watts, Mawson, Ernkine, Jionner, Hem, Legce, Wheatley, Bravbrooke Mathieson Power, Allan, A. L. Kelly, and Goyder. Beer, ale, and stout to the value of 33,333 gallons was imported to New Zealand in October, according to the latest Trade Supplement. The vnlue of tho importation was £6544. During tho ten months ended Qctober 31 the quantity imported was 264,368 gallons, valued 'at £52,591 Mr. Clement Wragge says: "A big disturbance is going on in the sun, measuring about 15,000 miles in diameter, and a smaller one is adjacent, about 7000 miles from edge to edge. This certainly means an alteration of the wireless wave-lengths operating between the sun and the earth, and is a sure sign of improving seasons in New Zealand and Australia."

The death statistics compiled respecting February number tl"e deaths in the cities as follow:—Auckland, 60; Wellington, '14; Christcluirch, 40; Dunedin, 39.

The depth of Lake Wakntipu lias frequently been a subject of speculation According to one who is occupied on the lake daily, soundings were recently taken, a depth of 21'Wl. being'piumbed. in the December quarter of 1914 there was a decrease in the number of criminal cases taken before the Magistrate's Courts of the Dominion as compared with the cases taken in the December quarter of 19Lit. In the three months of '1913 tliorc were 11,852 eases, and in the 191-1 quarter 11,1-19 eases On the civil side there was an increase in the amount' of litigation referred to the Jlajistratoa,

Ths Totalizator Commission (Messrs. G. Hunter, M.l\, and T. H. Davey) lelt Wellington on Saturday to tour tilts Nelson anil .Marlborough districts. They expect to report as to the allocation of tho 33 additional totalisator permits by about tlio end of April.

Crown lands to the extent of 030,185 acres were thrown open for sale and selection in February: also 444!) acres of land for settlement land, 145,625 National Endowment land. The total acreage of all lands opened was 7lsU,!>Gi). In January 2(5,634 acres of Crown lands were opened.

It was stated at St. Gerard's Church yesterday that the Redemptorist lathers in Wellington had received ad- \ ice from the headquarters of their order (in Europe) that although there are many members of the organisation in the firing lines thoro have been only eight killed, and none of those aro K IeS n S ' .^ lle brother was captured by. the Russians in Gaiicia, but was ro leased and allowed to go home and perform ius daily duties, an action wliich is referred to as a very generous one. Among those held as prisoners by the jjermans aro three priests of the order, they were well treated, and are allowed to administer to the members of thai* Church who are among the prisoners, it is said that the Roman Catholid soldiers held as prisoners where these three priests aro number 14,000. The Order has been very fortunate in that churches owned by it in towns which nave experienced hghting have suifered very little damage.

Ihe relative qualities of the thoroughbred and trotting horse were discussed at the annual meeting of the Waikato A. and I'. Association, when Mr. H. E.Tristram suggested that a section: should be added to the schedule for trot/ting horses. At prese.it, he declared, the judges had eyes for nothing but tho thoroughbred, so th-u if a i rotter was entered in a roadster class (bt>nig eligible for no other; t l e award, where a thoroughbred was also entered, «as always given, to the iattoi though it was by no means the jectjr hcrre, and compared with a good trotter was not really a roadsUr at all. li. seem»d to the speaKer that the present day, ji'dge saw no further tlnn a lacehorsn— long, lanky, weak-backed tlijpgo—for the whole lot of wiii-h he would not esr change one f s ood trcrtar. The speairer. moved a resolution in the 'direction indicated, which wis carried uniiumcu6ljv

A party of small boys from Ponsonby, who had been amusing themselves by, playing "Germans," came before Mr. P. V. Frazer, S.M., in Auckland. It came out in evidence that six of the nine boj'B before the Court, and a number of others, bad a very hot engagement, with elay clods for ammunition, and that a. factory which was beside the scene of the battle shared the fate of the Reims Cathedral, ten panes of glass being shattered. A war indemnity of half-a-crown apiece was collected from the parents of the half-dozen delinquents who had been caught, and tho mock warriors were promised an ignoble birching the next time they allowed battles to cause damage to neutral property.

Under the auspices of the Social Democratic Party, Miss England lectured in Everybody's Theatre last night on the growth of the modern city and its civic institutions. Especially she spolfo on the development of local government, and her remarks had general reference to the approaching local elections.

"The first session of the new Parliament will be opened, probably, towards the end of June as usual," says the New Zealand "Herald." "A suggestion has been made that tho Government might be inclined to summon members to an early consideration, of the national affairs, but. it is more probable that the opening of Parliament will be delayed until the representation of districts, still in dispute, has been decided. Several technical questions raised during tho trial of the various election petitions have been referred to tho Full Court,'which has decided t-o hear argument ujion them one April 12. After tlie Court has given its judgment the trial of the petitions has to be concluded, so that it will probably be the end of April before the' Election Courts give their verdicts. It is .not unlikely that one or more bv-elections will be necessary, so that a final deteimination in the matter will not be reached until the end of May." An extraordinary bowling feat waq performed at the Basin Reserve on Saturday afternoon by C. Robinson, the New Zealand representative fast bowler, Playing for Central against Old Boys, Robinson sent down six overs, five or which were maidens.' In the other oyer three scoring hits were made off him. one four and two threes. If ha could have eliminated those' three_ hits he would have a record for the innings of five wickets for no runs. As it is his live wickets cost only. ten runs. The New Zealand flying machine—the "Britannia"—which was presented soma little time ago to the Dominion by the Imperial Air Fleet Committee, 'England) has been sent to the front b$ the New Zealand Defence Department, states the "British Australasian." In South "Westland it is almost inn possible to procure the labour uecessarjt for performing the road and other works of the County Council (says an exchange). The principal reason assigned is that milling operations have proved so remunerative for some time thai they absorb all the available men in thei district. • A rather remarkable feat was per* formed nt the Napier Municipal baths on Monday by a Maori lad. The scholars of the Napier West School werei swimming distances for certificates sented by the Royal Life-Saving Society, and amongst tliem was J. Kara, who possesses only one leg. He 6wam 3200 yards, and, according to a spectator, could have gone on much longer, only, the water was too cold. Tt is now certain that a poll will ba taken in Dunedin at the date_ of th 9 municipal elections on the question of a! Saturday half-holiday for shop assistants. The executive of the local Saturn day Half-holiday Association have been: very busy of late obtaining signatures to a requisition for a poll. As a requisition for a poll must contain no less than 10 per cent, of the electors on the municipal rolls of the combined district, the association were faced with fli'o task of obtaining some 3700 names. They have been successful, and a few days ago had almost 5000 names itt sight.

The following aro tho present holders of scholarships within the gift of the Board of Governors of the Wellington College:—Messrs. W. D. P. Kitchiug ■ (Rhodes, £10); H. K. Corkhill (Mooro, £10); W. B. Fisher (Rhodes, £10); E. T. Hogg (Moore, £10); J. H. Allen (Turubull, £10); A. W. Smyth (Turnbull. £7 10s.); A. C. A. Caldwell (Turnbull. £7 10s.); P. K. Bryan (Levin, languages, £4); W. F. Shirer (Levin, - science. £4). In each caso the amount mentioned is tho annual valuo of the scholarship. Tho annual _ returns of members' v names, which industrial unions are required by statute to send to the Labour Department have almost all been received. Every year finds that a few unions have not responded to tho call for a return, but trns year ninety per cent, of the organisations have already scut their lists in. The' Department thinks that- there can be very few now really outstanding. Two months' notice must be given of intention to cancel the registration of defaulting unions, and this notice will probably go forth very shortly. If on the expiration of the two months' period the Registrar is satisfied that the union has ceased to exist, he is entitled to presume that it is defunct, and strike it off the register. Last year there were about twenty unions whose returns were outstanding when tho final notice was issued. but in tho end only five totally failed to supply tho required particulars. and as these had become defunct they,were ruled out. The returns came in better this year than in any previous year.