Page 6 Advertisements Column 5

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 28, 3 February 1913, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL _ Negotiations for the purchase of con« Biderable areas of Native land are proceeding, the Native Minister (the Hon. W. H. Herries) told a Post reporter thia morning, and will be completed without delay. Meanwhile, the work of unlock' ing the Maori lands vested in the boards is proceeding satisfactorily, as shown by the fact that duiing the past six months over 200,000 acres have been alienated by way of sale (about one-third), lease, and timber teases. The chief difficulty in the way of settlement is still the lack of sufficient surveyors to carry out tha work nccessaiy to the partitioning of the blocks, but every effort is being made to overcome the difficulty. Next session the Minister hopes to bring down a Bill of a machinery nature to still further facilitate the settlement of such lafide as the Maoriß are willing to dispose of. Mails which left Wellington on 2?th December, per s.s. Mannganui, and con* nected with the Brindisi mail per R.M.S. Malwa, arrived in London on 31st I January. I Rather an uncommon sight was wit* nessed on the Island Bay beach yesterday. jFour of the local fishermen went out into the strait in their oil launch ! about daylight, and returned at 3 o'clock in the afternoon with one of the biggest takes of fish ever seen in the bay, viz., about 300 large grower, hapika, bass, hake, and three sharks, the largest one weighing between laJ and 130 lbs. Lines fifty fathoms (300 feet) long, each with ten hooks baited with herring and mackerel, were used, and it is almost needless to say that the boatmen were obliged to work exceedingly hard to haul in such a quantity of large fish Their launch returned to the bay almost gunwale down, and the operation of unloading the finny cargo was viewed with the greatest interest by * a large crowd of local residents and visitors. Tho few crossings put down by the Petone Borough Council on tht. Huttroad are evidently having the desired effect, for already motorists are complaining of these obstacles. They havo the effect, the motorists say, of limiting their speed to about ten miles on hour. Some good advice was given to the V.M.C.A. boys by Mr. W. Hopkirk last Fnday night in an interesting address which he delivered to them on the sub' ject of "A Pencil." During the Eastei? holidays the boys' camp is to be held on Mr. W. H. Field's grounds at Waikanae. For the past two years the boys have held most successful and enjoyable camps there, and Mr. Field's contmued generosity for the use of his land and wool sheds is much appreciated. At the time a number of business premises in the city Were broken into a, week ago, it was suspected that the burglaries were the ' Work of small boys. Yesterday, Sergeant M'Crorie and Constable Bencher arrested three small boys at a fruit shop in Manners-street, and they will be charged with the theft at the Juvenile Court to-morrow. Two of the boys are brothers, aged eight and nine years respectively, and the third is only eight years of age. Meanwhile, the children have been handed over to their parents. Arßangements were made by the Wellington Motor-cyding Club to continue the competition for the SutherlandRankine Cup last Saturday by holding a petrol consumption test. Owing to the short notice given, only four riders turned up at the appointed hour, and tho competition was postponed. An effort will probably be made to get it off next Saturday. The course will be twenty-five miles long, and will include Karon, Makara, Ohariu, Johnsonville, and Ngahauranga. Recommendations for 5 new agreement between the City Corporation and its general labourers are to be submitted by the- City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morten) to the Finance Committee of th© City Council to-morrow. The conference between the parties concluded on Saturday afternoon. Agreement was reached, on certain of the clauses in the men's demands, but the City Engineer declined to commit himself on thewageß question, beyond undertaking to submit recommendations to the Finance ' Committee. The demand is for 1» 3d an hour for all labourers, whether permanent or casual; the present scale is 9s 6d a day for casual labourers and 8s 6d for permanent hands. "The question of creating an Appeal Court, consisting of three Judges, instead of assembling all the Judges in Wellington "to hear appeal cases. Bay* the Auckland Star, "ha* frequently been under consideration, and probably some action in that direction will be taken in the near future. It is pointed out that in England three Judges deal with appeals, and that the High Court of the Australian Commonwealth formerly consisted of three Judges. Five Judges how constitute this Court. The New Zealand practice of taking all the Judges from their circuits is inconvenient and costly, and tho work all round could r probably be done more economically and efficiently if the Court of Appeal were differently .constituted." His Honour the Chief Justice, in reply to a Post reporter, said he could sny nothing with regard to this suggestion., The Government is being urged by the Farmers' Union to repeat the experiment of bringing out another draft of "Sedgwick" boys. In a letter on the subject, Mr. E. C. Jack, Dominion secretary of the union, refers to the bringing out of the batch of fifty lad? under the Sedgwick scheme two years ago, and he goes on to say ;—"The Labour Department undertook the ! supervision of the lads during the term of their engagement, which averaged about three years. The Government de- j cided to test the quality of the lads for twelve months before bringing others. The Department, We understand, reported very favourably, but nothing further was done. Mi*. Sedgwick is still hoping that arrangements will be made for a further lot, and he has advised us that he can guarantee an even better selection than tho laßt. There is a great demand for boys of 18 to 21 years for farm work, and there can really be no better class of immigrant, as they readily adapt themselves to our conditions. We j hope you will see your way to include this in your scheme, or if it more directly concerns the Minister of Labour, to urge him to repeat the experiment." Ladies will be particularly interested in the special bargains offering by Kirk* caldie nnd Stains, ' Ltd. All the 'model , gownß are now marked at half-price and less.-^Arlvt. Customs entries made and passed by j expert men. Goods forwarded or ported. Shipping and forwarding agents to all jiHrto oi' tho world. The Coloniiil Cany, ing Company, Ltd,, 107-109, Custom' lio&es-flaKfr-AdTfci " i