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Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 62, 13 March 1924, Page 4

For the second year in succession there will be no sitting of the Assessment Court at Newmarket. This was regarded at last night's meeting of the Newmarket Borough Council as indicating the very satisfactory nature of the assessments. Only two * objections had been lodged with the town clerk, and both these had been withdrawn. The valuation figures were now £02,225, which would probably he increased at the end of the year by at least four or five per cent. The inadequacy of police supervision at Newmarket was adversely commented upon last evening at the meeting of the Newmarket Borough Council. A councillor stated that on a recent evening, when telephoning for a policeman to j quell the riotings of a drunken man, he j was informed no policeman was avail- j able. Yesterday morning the shortage of police officers was again evidenced when Sergeant Rock had to go on street duty owing to the four policemen being engaged in other duties. It was decided to apply to police headquarters for additional men. It transpired from statements made by the works manager of the Birkenhead and Norlhcote Gas Company. Mr. A. Neal, at the public meeting at Northcote last night that at present there is no legal standard calorific value for gas in New Zealand. This anomaly, however, would, he said, be remedied in June, when the Gas Act came into operation. This Act regulated the calorific value to consumers, which was reasonable for efficient lighting and heating. Examiners would be appointed under the Act for the different centres, whose decisions would he final, and delinquent com- , panics would be dealt with. This was, i he contended, in the best interests of consumers and suppliers alike. i At the official reception tendered to j visiting bowlers yesterday at West End speakers vied with one another in declar- i ing the hospitality of the different centres. Mr. J. W. Hardley. president of the Auckland Centre, said the hospitality of the Taranaki people was "out on its own."' "One gentleman." he said, "who visited Taranaki upon the occasion of the last tournament enjoyed it so much that he declared it was even better | than his honeymoon. Personally, he did , not think they could go that far. but j he felt sure the three thousand bowlers j in Auckland would do their best to give I the visitors a right good time." Mr. A. \ K. Smart, president of the Taranaki Centre, in responding, said that Taranaki bowlers always looked forward to coming to Auckland. Instead of bringing eight rinks, as on a former occasion, they had brought twelve. He congratulated the West End Club on winning the Dominion championship ahd bringing the banner to Auckland. Mr. E. Crowley, of the Tauranga Club, also added his congratulations. Throush the sagacity displayed by a fox terrier a caretaker and his wife, who were asleep in a burning house in Mcl bourne, were saved from being burnt to death two or three weeks ago. Files brought by the last English mail shows that a cat's sagacity led to the dis- ' covery of a gas poisoning tragedy in a Surrey cottage, and in all probability saved the lives of two persons. The cottage, is occupied by Mr. Brooker, a gardener, and his wife. In the early hours of the morning Mrs. Rrooker wai awakened by the eat licking her face. There was a strong smell of gas in the house. Roused by his wife. Mr. Brooker went down stairs and opened all the doors and windows on the ground floor, fie found that all the taps in a room occupied by his wife's sister, Netta Mary Eddridge (23), had been turned full on. and the young woman was lying in her bed dead Mr. Brooker is convinced that if the cat had not wakened his wife by licking her face, they would have slept on and have shared the fate of Miss Eddridgc. Letters and telegrams found in her hag are expected to throw light on the tragedy. \ serious accident occurred near the Ve'como Hut, on the Copeland Pass oute from Westland to Mount Cook, on - 'riday last. Miss Harrison and Miss Vnderson. of Christchurch, were, at the 'it awaiting the arrival of a guide from , the Hermitage, when Miss Harrison, liter leaving the hut to procure some irewood, fell and fractured both her . cneeeaps. On his arrival, late at night, , he guide found that Miss Harrison "s . • i"-ios were serious. He made his way . '"ring an exceptionally dark and]. stormy night to Karangarua, 12 miles': away, travelling over extremely heavy I country and flooded creeks. He arrived I at Karangarua at daylight. Dr. Rair.l \ was telegraphed for. and he left Hoki- I tika, which is 120 miles from Karangarua. on Saturday morning. He arrived ! ' at the hut on Sunday night. Ho I attended to Miss Harrison, who on < ' Monday morning was carried on a stretcher to Karangarua. under difficult ; ' conditions, by relays of South Westland ' settlers. On Tuesday she was taken' 1 by a dray to Waiho, a distance of about ' 28 miles. j At a meeting of the Arts and Science], faculty of the Otago University, Dr. Jack (Professor of Physics) referred to the passing of the late Mr. J. W. Tibbs. ! formerly headmaster of the Auckland' , Grammar School. He spoke of him as ' one who had exercised great influence for good in framing the educational laws ; of New Zealand, and who stood as an example of the wonderful power over, : young lives which a good teacher might ' have. i ,

! Application was made this morning before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., at the j Magistrate's Court for possession of a ' I tenement. Mr. Biernacki, who appeared j for the applicant, said the tenants were , ■ not in the house, but holding it against I the owner, who wished to live in it [herself. She was at present paying j£3 per week for the board of her ' I children and herself. Mr. Hunt made ' an order for possesion o nor before the 21st instant. Costs were allowed against the tenant. The officer in charge of the Dunedin Tourist Office stated yesterday that he understood there had been a falling off in the volume of tourist traffic this year for the whole of New Zealand, but there was no "slump" as far as Otago and Southland was concerned, where the season had been a good one. Riapo Kaka, a Maori resident of Awanui North, who had been residing with relations in a house in Victoria, Street, died there on Tuesday. An inquest, was opened before Mr. F. K. Hunt. S.M., at the hospital morgue this morning, and, after evidence of identification had been taken, it was adjourned. Residents in Kemuera, Epsom, Mount. Eden, Mount Albert and Kingsland districts require to note an advertisement in this issue bj- the Auckland Electric Power Board. The alternating current is to be cut off from ft a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, 10th, pending important alterations. An educated Chinese vendor of vegetables in Palmerston North, ever ready to respond to questions at the door, says (relates th e "Manawatu Times") that jin a Chinese city of Palmerston's size the wealth poured down the drains would yield a return of garden produce worth a quarter of a million sterling per annum as a fertiliser, and when so utilised would leave no room for disease. The delegates to the first annual conference of the New Zealand Grocers' Federation concluded their business yesterday afternoon. This morning the visitors were taken on the harbour for a trip in the launch Waitemata lent by the Auckland Harbour Board for the occasion, and this afternoon they were driven out, to Titirangi, where they were the guests of Messrs. Bycroft, Limited, at afternoon tea. One town in the Dominion which consistently beautifies its streets will take a further step shortly. Flowering cherry j trees are to be used for beautifying I Parsons Street, at St. John's Hill, Wanganui. The trees have been maturing for the past two years in the borough nursery, and are now large enough to transplant, which will be done this coming winter. "Brazil nuts are cheaper in Dunedin than in most parts of Brazil," was the surprising statement made to a reporter by Mr. F. C. Glass, missionary, who has spent 32 years in that country. He explained that the nuts grew in only a small portion of the northern part of the country, and that they were nearly all shipped to Europe. Owing to the large extent of Brazil, which occupied half of the South American Continent, and which held one half of the population of South America, not one Brazilian in a thousand had ever seen the nuts growing. The "British Medical Journal" heads I its current leading article, "The Definijtion of Drunkenness," without, however, supplying a definition, but urges that such is necessary in view of the development of motor transport. "Everyone (agrees," states the journal, "that the ' drunken motor driver constitutes an ! unnecessary danger, which calls for drastic suppression, and magistrates are tending to deal with such cases more and more severely. But the severer the I punishment becomes for being drunk when in charge of a car, the more necessary it is to have a clear definition of What constitutes drunkenness, and the civil laws expects medical men to be j ready to give an opinion in such cases. , Unfortunately there can never be any clear, scientific definition of drunkenIness. . . . The crucial question whether ja man's brain is so clouded that he is [unfit to be in charge of a car is one | which must be decided by common sense, land scientific tests can give very little help." As an example of the wonderful fertility of parts of the Hauraki Plains, it is worthy of note that a twelve-acre paddock at Rawerawe, sown in clover in mid-November, was cut for hay early last month, and it is now ready for the second cut, there being a splendid crop, estimated to produce about twenty tons of hay. A large party of tourists, returning from Mount Cook, are staying at Ashburton. Interviewed respecting the com- ' mereial travellers' remarks regarding inadequate hotel accommodation, each one expressed satisfaction with the Ashburton houses.—Press Association telegram.