LOCAL' AND GENERAL.

The Mayor acknowledges receipt of 4 donation of 5s from "A Workman" towards the funds of Professor Bickerton's committee. . _ • 1 The Telegraph Department has been' advised from Berne that communication with Mozambique. Majunp-a. Madagascar and Reunion is interrupted. The Heathcote Road Board has decided to. accept the suggestion of ihe Ohnatchurch City Council that Hilla Road, Opawa, should be renamed Port Hills Road. - . "Moneylenders are always treated rather harshly in Court," said' Mr W R. Haselden at the Magistrate's Court this morning " but they are entitled to justice. Judgment for plaintiff." ' 'The river. report states that at nin* 0 clock this morning the following river* W6r li. * Lear , : — Ashley, Waimafcarhi (north branch), Selwyn, Waitaki,- Opihi and Ashburton (mouth). The rest df the rivers were dirty and discoloured. The fortnightly meeting of the Oak of Sydenham Lodge, No. 15 of Druid* was held in the Friendly Societies^ » Hall on October 14, A.D. Brother! , Gales presiding. Correspondence wasU received from the Perseverance Lodge* 1 altering the official visit to October 2?. : Reports were received from Brother ■ J. Weir with regard to the meeting* of.; the United Friendly Societies' Benevov ' leht Association/ and from Brother Philpott with^seferenoe to the Druids', , annual picnic. A hearty vote of thanks " was passed to the delegates for their reports. "~ "You show no consideration for ti--l Magistrate whatever," said Mr W. R.<<* Haselden at the. Magistrate's Court « this morning. . '/Unfortunately thoselawyers who get on the Bench never go ■<■ back to the Bar. If I were to go back again I; would behave very differently;, _, It is very hard to hear when conversa^ " tions are going on to the right of you : and to the Jeft of you." As twelve "*' o'clock, was striking, Mr laardremarlc-^ ed, "Is this C&urt very hard to hear ' in; your WorshipP" "Yes: it is," re-. ;jr plied the' Magistrate, " and it is still v >'■ worse when.: the -clock is striking and; '• all sorts of noises are going on around: 1 * s • The fortnightly meeting of the Stair of Linwobd r> Lodge tfas held in'^ the Oddfellows' ; Hall dn Tuesday/; evening; Af ter : the ordinary busY ness ' had '' been transacted th* 1 lodge closed, for the purpose of 'eiiV,^ tertainlng the members of the Ladies' Golden Link Lodge and their friends jtf a fiocial, Dr Inglis, N.G. of the lodge,':' welcomed the. visitors, expressing the y~ hope that they would enjoy a pleasant evening. Visitors were present front Wellington, -Timaru, Ridgley and Stf i Albans Lodges. Songs were given Hbjf^ : Mesdames Dorm and Cumberland And Messrs H. Smith and Dorm; recitations '' were given' by Miss Mitchell and. Dr ■• Inglis, and a mandoline duet waft ' played by Messrs Fuller. -' According to Mr C. J. Parr, chairman of the Auckland Education Board, there is one thing in which New Zealanders are behind the times in regard to educational facilities. "In NeW Zealand," said he, at the opening of > the new Remuera school on Saturday, "boys and girls leave school at the ago of thirteen, or fourteen. In Ger* ■* many, and America, however, they are - 1 compelled to go to school up to a much later age, and thus -are enabled, to amass a great deal of educational knowledge that they woulfl soon forget if ty*ey left school earlier." "I sincerely; hope," added Mr Parr, "that before long we shall have in thiscoun* try continuation schools, which chik dren will be able to attend up to the agd of seventeen." . The Auckland Education Board re* cently had a letter before it complaining of the severity of, ' punishments meted out by a country master. The writer said- thai he had made it his ; business to watch the master through ' 1 the school window, and had observed that his deportment was such as to decrease the respect of the pupils for him. To this the writer attributed, the, severe punishment which the maar. ter fV>und>it necessary to mete out. The '■ "Herald" reports: that the Board did hot express much sympathy with it* correspondent, and after raising the ! question of whether he could be prose* cuted for trespass, passed a resolution^' expressing confidence in the master and; , disapproval of the tactics adopted b£ • the correspondent in watching him. Employers throughout New Zealand, says the annual repbrt of the Weljtiiig-:; ton Builders and: Contractors'. Association, in consequence of recent decision* arid utterances in the Arbitration v Court, are .reconsidering the granting ~ of preference to unionists. Resolutions ... have been adopted by various asaocia- '■'". tions of employers that they should. , not agree to. preference under any 6|rcumstances. This will be the policy of the Association wherever practicable iix ; the future. Mir H. Broadhead, secretary of .the Canterbury Employer^. "Asr ■ eociation, when seen by a reporter" yeai terday, said that there was no concerts ,• ed movement amongst employers gener-J ally. in. New! Zealand in this direction, '" but that most employers shad alway« t , objected to> the principle of preference to unionists,, and j many of them had strenuously opposed it." \l'\.l Some time ago a sea-bird, called ttor T red-bill, or " torea," was found wotiiMU ' ed on the beachi at Foxtoh. It {-*»•:-• given to a child at Palmerstan Nortibj- ! and it is now the valued and *6speoted '""' tenant of a Palmerston North garden. A writer in the "Maaaw^.Dayy Times" states that before tb* bird arrived, the garden was the abode "of" numberless slugs and snails, but Siftce,' the stranger has got in its flue work, slug and snail fairly shudder at the r thought of its gleaming eye, and-the;-worms wriggle at the > m«t» mention;'" of its long, sharp red bill, whfch foroes its way four or five inches into the • ground and. brings up something ©very time. When th» bird was first taken to the town, it found so many snaila that it fcould not get through them in one meal. It then began to store them, putting them into its dish of water, to b« consumed later. An interesting m illustration, of the force of habit Hes in. the fact that it spends the night m the centre of the lawn-, as far from cover as possible, in the same way as it spent " the nights when it lived far out on .the . sands. The Timaru Hospital Board spenttwo hours on Tuesday discussing the Hospital Bill. Waimate ttembfers strongly objected 1 to the provision do- : ing a way with the independence of the Waimate Hospital as a separate institution, but the B&ard as a whole agreed that the hospital would never be closed and that it was no use objecting to the clause. The franchise for combined boroughs and county districts was strongly protested against as a repei tit-ion of an unwise arrangenient that the Timaru Harbour Board is seeking to get rid of. ■ Objection was made to the clause giving the Governor power in certain cases to appoint a medical man as a member of a board. The members said that doctors were not good business men, and they would only aot when they had axes to grind. Objection was taken to the numerous limitations of the powers of boards by the discretion of the Minister, especially in regard to the higher appoint* ments, the limitation of subsidies and the, consultation required on smatl expenditures. Clause 82, terminating the special agreements among . contributing bodies for the maintenance of infectious diseases hogpitftte* waft alaO objected to*

Dr Bradshaw, who still has sickness In his family, will not be able to give «n organ recital on Saturday afternoon. Aooording to the "West. Coast Times," a letter posted in Hokitika took seven days in reaching its destination, Arahura. about five miles distant. !The people 01 that district are now awake, and are agitating for a quicker service. An alarm of fire was given from Church Square. Addington, last evening, at half-past nine o'clock, but no signs could be seen of a fire, and nobody could h& found who had given the alarm. The motor chemical, triiich we*<i ont, returned to the ntafcion within seventeen minutes of the »ii. An elderly man suffered somewhat at the hands of a cyclist last evening. He was crossing the pavement between Broadway's corner and the Anglican Cathedral, when a passing cyclist, ran Into him and knocked him down. Neither of the men was much injured, Mid the old man. was put into a cab ij. the cyclist. An improved pattern of household ftafe has been patented by Mr W. Craig, of Wellington. The safe is of metal throughout, and is made in two shapes, circular and rectangular,. By the use of perforated zinc in the bottom and in the top of the safe, with » perforated tin plate as an additional ihelf, a continuous current of air through the safe is obtained. The president of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce (Mr F. M. Warren) has written thanking the Christchurch Domains Board for placing the gardens at the disposal of the Chamber for the entertainment of the Chamber of Commerce delegate on Saturday, and also expressing the pleasure of the delegates at everything they saw in the gardens. 3!bis evening the return challenge billiards and cards tournament for the. Hopkins-Hollis Shield, between the anembers of the Lyttelton Club and those of the Christchurch Cycling and Mo|or Club, will be played in the rooms of 'the former, club. In the first round of the tournament the Christchurch Cycling and Motor Club gained 927 points and their opponents 739. The annual demonstration and prepeutation of prizes in connection with tivs schools of the Christchurch Presbyterian Sabbath Schools' . Association will.be held in the. Choral Hall to-mor-row evening. The prizes for the Assembly's examinations will, be presetittid, and each of the various', (schools will provide an item for the programme. . An- address will be given by the Rev ft. W. Jackson, of Southbridge. At the meeting of the Christchurch Diocesan Synod yesterday afternoon* a letter was read from ' the secretary of the Young Men's Ghristian Association, stating that thfe Association had mtych pleasure in placing the privileges of the Association at the disposal of the members of the Synod during their stay in Christchuroh. A hearty rote of thanks was accorded to the members of the Association. ..'... On the motion of the Itev R. F. Gar-. beijt, the Christchurch Diocesan Synod yesterday passed a resolution heartily congratulating the Rev W. W. Sedswick, vicar of St Luke's, and his parishioners Upon the success that had attended his ministrations ih that parish, and expressing a fervent hope th«+ he would long be spared for the ministry of the church in Christchurch aw. the diocese. " These cases have to tye watched very Carefully," sfcid Mr W. R. Haselden at the Magistrate's Court this morning, in connection with a case in which a tenant was sued for damage to his landlord's property. "A landlord should not hold back until the tenant leaves the place and then bring a claim for damage, neither on the other hand should a tenant think he can damage the landlord's property and escape the penalty." The Hope of Christchurch Lodge, No. B. 1.0. G.T., held its usual session in the Manchester Chambers on Tuesday, Sister Wiltshire, V.T., presiding. The report of the special session of the District Lodge was adopted. Greetings were received from the Pride of Wakanui Lodge. Brother Williams, from the Hope of Harben Lodge, West Coast, was admitted as a member. The programme for the evening was a Dutch auction, presided over by Brother H. H. L. Whitcher, D.C.T. It is very seldom tJhat a witness will give the correct and desired answer to a question, and the laborious, methods that have to be employed were! frilly de^ m'onstrated at the Magistrate's Court this morning. In a civil case, where damage to a kitchen hearth was under discussion, tile witness said that the top of the hearth was made of compo. In reply' to the Magistrate, the witness said that compo was a. strong mixture of sand and cement, used for top-dress-ingi. .'■', Continuing his questioning, .Mr Haselden asked : " What was the hearth built on? Was it encased in wood?" " No," replied the witness; "it was level with the floor." "Yes, of course it would be level with the floor; but I want to know what was underneath it. -What was under the coinpo?" "Concrete," replied the witness. ' r And what was underneath the concrete," asked the Magistrate. "Oh, the earth," said the witness, the light finally dawning upon him. "Why Douldn't you say that at first P" said the* Magistrate, to which the witness did not reply. jftr.F; de J. Clere, of Wellington, in a letter in the "Dominion," suggests that .members of the Carabidse • family of , beetles should be introduced into New Zealand to deal with slugs and snails in the gardens. He says that one authority, M. Michelet, declares that they never do any harm, but are "perfect rural constabulary, day and night, without holidays or repose,_ protecting our fields. They are occupied entirely in arresting thieves, and they desire no salary but the body of the thief himeelf." Mr Clere believes that the kindred family of the CincindeHdse are nearly as valuable as a means of keeping in check the increase of slugs Mid other pests. The beetle known to Bfiglish boys as the "ground beetle" is one of the commonest of the Carabus family, and he says that it could easily be shipped to New Zealand in one or all of its four stages of existence, either j as egg, larva, pupa, or perfect insect. Its advent and complete colonisation, he declares, would probably be worth thousands ot pounds to the dominion. A rather remarkable letter was shown to a "New Zealand Times" reporter on Tuesday. It had been thrown over from a ship near Cape Farewell in January last^and on Tuesday it turned up again in Wellington from the Chat- ' ham Islands. The letter explains itself. It runs as follows :—" This bottle was thrown over from the Mapourika when bound from Westport to Wellington, on Sunday, January 17, 1909. Who finds this bottle pleaso communicate with the following: — F. O. Weine, Haitaitai, Wellington; T. W. Twist, Northland; Wellington." When th.c Ripple arrived at Lyttelton • day or two ago from the Chatham Islands the letter was part of her mail, »nd on the back was the following:— " Picked up- on the_ coast about four miles from Waitangi, about a month »go, apparently not long on shore— Charles Wishart, Chatham Islands, October 6." From Cap* Farewell to the Chathams is about five hundred miles. The bottle must have crossed through Cook Strait, and then travelled 'to the south-east nabil it step* 1 the .Cbathams.

A man named A. Cogle was charged at the Lyttelton Polip^ Court this morning with having commtfc~»d a miisance in Norwich Quay on &w6urday night. The evidence for the prosecution lacked corroboration, and the charge was dismissed. Mr C. Ferrier, J.P., occupied the Bench.