LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19485, 15 November 1926, Page 12

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

An exceptionally heavy sea struck the steamer Rimu when she was crossing the Hokianga Bar on Saturday afternoon, en route to Onehunga. The water swept over the deck and stove in the fore hatch. Some water penetrated into the hold, but no damage was done there. The Auckland Automobile Association advises that the road from Auckland to Taupo is in very fair condition, but that it is impossible to reach the National Park by the Taupo-Tokaanu Road owing to a washout. Repairs are progressing. The recent heavy rains washed the soft pumice away at a point about 16 miles from Taupo. where the road skirts the lake on a hill. A filling provided a temporary surface, but the lake washed it away and it has been necessary to stake the edge ot the lake and build a breakwater. The alternative route to the National Park via Te Kuiti was also impassable last week. Five head of pedigree cattle from Canada were brought to Auckland yesterday morning by the Union Company's steamer Waihemo. The animals include two Jersey heifers, two Jersey bulls and one Holstein bull. Two heifers and one Jersey bull will be landed at Auckland, the other animals being for Wellington. The .canting of an electric power pole had the effect of causing the ignition of the telephone in Mrs. Grice's residence in Hatea Street, Whangarei, on Saturday, but the fire brigade arrived before damage resulted. The electric wire apparently came in contact with the telephone wires and caused a short circuit iu the telephone mechanism. After iaying the duplication of the new cable between Fanning Island and Suva the cable steamer Faraday reached the Fijian port on Saturday. The vessel will land any superfluous cable at Suva and then proceed to Sydney. Through a condenser falling on him in the engineroom of the steamer Wingatui, berthed at Prince's Wharf, a fireman, Edward Coles, aged 25, married, was admitted to the hospital yesterday morning suffering from a fractured right wrist. His condition is satisfactory. Sydney Samson, a butcher, of Dominion Road, was found dead yesterday afternoon at his residence, 163, New North Road. A tube leading from a gas bracket was in his mouth. An inquest will be opened to-day. A large influx of visitors to Auckland is expected for Royal Show Week. Many breeders have already arrived, while several judges from the South reached the city yesterday.' Farmers from various parts of the Auckland Province, as well as other parts of the North Island, are coming north for the show. The weather was very unsettled and boisterous during the week-end. Heavy showers fell during the early hours of Saturday morning, but the conditions improved during the forenoon. Light showers fell yesterday and the sky was dull and threatening. The barometer fell to 29.65 m. on Saturday morning, but in the afternoon it rose slowly and last night the reading was 29.85 in. Inquiries are being made regarding the whereabouts of Miss Adeline Clarke, aged 19, of 1, William Street, Mount Albert, who left her home on Friday evening and has not been seen or heard of since. The girl left a note stating that she was leaving home, but she gave no particulars of' her proposed movements. Miss Clarke is tall and goodlooking and has dark,. shingled hair. She took all her clothes with her. Over 50 undefended divorce cases will be dealt with in the Supreme Court tomorrow by Mr. Justice Herdman and Mr. Justice Adams. Since the formalities of the law are not formidable in these cases from three to five minutes usually suffices for each case, and the list should be disposed of within a few hours. The unemployment situation in Auckland, which improved last week, has again reverted to a position similar to that of mid-winter. There were 621 men registered at the Labour Bureau at the end of last week, employment having been found for 62 men during the week. On the previous Saturday the total was 582, and the in the last week of October the aggregate fell to 555. Following on the news of the disappearance from their homes at Auckland of two boys, Noel Dick and Reuben Harman, the wife of a farmer at Glorit, about 20 miles from Helensville, found she had given shelter to the lads without knowing the circumstances of their escapade. Writing to the father of one of the boys, she states that the boys arrived at her door cold, muddy and tired at about nine o'clock on Monday evening. As stated on Saturday, the boys, who later left this farm, were subsequently located near Whangarei. The Whangarei County Council has decided to ask the Whangarei Borough Council to reconsider the selection of the site opposite a hotel as a location for the proposed building to provide a ladies' rest room, dental clinic, and Plunket nurse headquarters. It is contended that the area is too small, and that it is not desirable that the building should be situated near a hotel and taxi stand or adjacent to the railway embankment. The County Council would entertain purchasing a new site as part of its contribution, " It has been 3sked where the late Sir James Carroll secured his wonderful flow of language," said Mr. D. A. Strachan, when speaking at a meeting of the St. Andrew's Scottish Society in Inver- ' cargill. " I should say he gained it at the tribal meetings of the natives of his race. At those gatherings everyone is encouraged to speak and even if a child of five has something to say he says it. A naviete of expression comes naturally to one accustomed to speaking in the • presence of one's elders." Six men called to the jury who applied to the bench for exemption at Palmerston North last week had rather more good fortune in their pleas than usual; all were exempted. Two dairy farmers were in the number, and Mr. Justice Reed remarked that dairy farmers wanted some consideration iu these days; a man who milked cows morning and night was hardly fit to sit on a jury all day. Another citizen urged that his age, 66 years, should exempt him, and his Honour advised him to have his name removed permanently from the jury list, he being over the age at which compulsory service ceases. Radio topics, which usually appear in the KeralP on Monday, will this week be published to-morrow* (