LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

! The weather was very stormy on the ' west coast yesterday, a fresh west-south- : west gale blowing. There was a very rough sea on the Manukau Bar, which was unworkable for outward bound shipi ping. The Riniu left Onehunga at four I o'clock yesterday morning for Raglan and i Kawhia, but she anchored at the heads to wait until the weather improves. The bar last night was workable for inward-bound shipping. A half-holiday will be observed in the city and suburbs to-day to give everyone an opportunity of visiting the Royal Show at Epsom. The response by the business section of the community to the appeal that a half-day be granted has been particularly gratifying to the Royal Agricultural Society and should ensure the popular success of its fixture. Housewives should note that butchers will close at 12.30 and bakers at 1 p.m. to-day. A donation of £IOO to the fund of the St. John Ambulance Association was made by the Auckland Hospital Board last ovenins- « Plums made their first appearance this season at the Auckland City Markets yesterday and realised up to 9s a case. Although of small size and questionable quality, supplies were soon exhausted. The first plums suitable for eating purposes should be marketed next week. The trouble with the stokers on the steamer Kaponga was settled yesterday afternoon and the vessel sailed for Napier after being delayed for 23 hours. The objection of the men to the chief cook was waived after they had conferred with the local secretaries of the Seamen and Firemen's Union and the Cooks • and Stewards' Union. The oook retained his position on board, but four of the stokers, at their own request, were paid off. The holding of the Royal Show in Auckland this week makes it interesting to recall that to-day is the first anniversary of the opening of another function of Dominion-wide interest, the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin. The opening ceremony in each case was : performed by the Governor-General, Sir ' Charles Fergusson. A motor-cyclist, Mr. Welton Hunt, aged 21, of Burcli Street, Mount Albert, sustained injuries to a leg and shock through falling from his cycle in Symonds Street last evening. A 13-year-old boy, Gordon Gilberd, residing in Old Lake Road, Devonport, collided with a motor-bus while riding a cycle in Old Lake Road last evening. He was thrown heavily, and sustained concussion and injuries to one hand, lie was semi-conscious at a late hour last evening, but his condition is not serious. An advertisement appeared in yesterday's issue of the Herald for two crosscutters, three all-round bushmen and one hauler driver to work in the North Auckland district. They were to meet the employer in the entrance' corridor of the Herald office at eleven o'clock, and by half-past ten there was something in the nature of a traffic jamb in the corridor. There was a goodly proportion of Maoris, all wondering volubly if they would be chosen to fill one of the six positions, and there seemed to be also o large number of country visitors to the Royal Show. "The employer's interview with his prospective employees lasted well over half an hour, and it was a worried man .who announced the six to whom he would give jobs. A striking feature was the number of obvious city dwellers among the applicants, belying the statement that men will not go into the country to work. Evidently bush work is more popular than everyday farming. An absolute denial of a statement that an applicant for appointment as a probationer at the Auckland Hospital had been appointed before her turn was made by the chairman of the board, Mr. W, Wallace, last evening. Mr. Wallace said he had personally investigated the case and not only had the girl not been appointed before her turn' but she had had to wait eight months for her appointment. The duplication of the Pacific cable is now almost completed. ■ Advice was received by the Auckland office of the Pacific Cable Board yesterday that the Dominia, which has been laying the cable from Bamfield, the Vancouver terminus, to Fanning Island, arrived at its destination at eleven o'clock on Sunday morning. She commenced laying the shore end of the cable on Monday morning. The Faraday has duplicated the cable between Fanning Island and Suva, and is at present laying the shore end at Suva. She has stiil 436 miles of cable to lay northward to where the intermediate section is buoyed. The section between Suva and Auckland was completed in 1923, and very shortly the whole duplicate cable will be rea<ly for testing before the ' first service message can be flashed across it. A fuller explanation of the proposed permanent construction of Balmoral Road in concrete and bitumen was made yesterday by the Mayor of Mount Eden, Mr. E. H. Potter. He referred to the statement of the borough engineer that the putting down of the whole road in concrete would involve additional expense. " This additional cost would only affect the bitumen section," he said. "If we we.e to put down the whole width of the road in concrete the two borders that w© propose laying in bitumen would have to be excavated and consolidated, ihis would mean a considerable increase in cost over and above the cost of material." A movement has been started to form a town clerks' guild in the Dominion. A circular letter on the subject was received from Stratford at Monday evening's meeting of the Pukekohe Borough Council, stating that the support of individual local bodies was sought, with a view to the approval of the Municipal Association being later obtained.. The tovra clerk, Mr. J. F. Deane, explained that such a guild would insist on its members attaining a certain standard of proficiency before being qualified to hold certain positions as town clerks. The Mayor, Mr. John Routly, said the guild should mark the career of town clerk as a distinct profession and should do good. The council gave its approval. The New Plymouth Technical College was advised in a congratulatory telegram from the Minister of Defence yesterday morning that the college team had again won the Earl Jellicoe shooting trophy and led in New Zealand for the senior Imperial Challenge Shield. This is the third successive occasion on which the trophy has been won by the Technical College. The Senior Imperial Challenge Shield has been held twice by New Plymouth schools—by the Boys' High School in 1916 and by the Technical College in 1924.