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Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 292, 10 December 1925, Page 6

Berthing reservations for immigrants up to the end of February, 11)26, total 4250. According to advice received from the High Commissioner's Office, approvals for intending emigrants from Britain to Xew Zealand are now averaging one thousand per month, as compared with 800 per month for this period last year. It is stated that migrants who have found it necessary to borrow their passage money from the Imperial and Xew Zealand Governments on a "fifty-fifty"' basis are repaying their loans satisfactorily.

The Mayor of Northcote writes: "1 notice in last night's 'Star , a report that the Northeota waterworks engineer, Mr. John Williamson, had made a recommendation to the Northcote Council that the Auckland Provincial Water Board Bill should not be signed, but that the council should support the formation of a general water board. The recommendation w-as made by the Legal and Finance Committee, and not by the waterworks engineer."

When the interpretation of the Freezing Workers' Award was before the Arbitration Court this morning the point on which the court was asked to give a decision was whether female workers in the preserving department should receive the same rates of pay as the men. The union contended that under the existing award they should, and. Mr. Sanderson, for the employers, in opposing the union's contention, said that the demand appeared to be part of a policy advocated ,by a large section of the representatives of workers who claimed equal pay for female and male workers. It was the thin edge of the wedge for a general demand for such a state of affairs and, in his opinion, if upheld by the court, would seriously affect;' industries where a large number of females are employed.

Work will begin shortly- on the construction of a new Normal School in the grounds' of the new and magnificent Training College at Mount Eden. Inquiries at the office of the Education Board have elicited the information' that the old Xormal School in WellesW Street will not be abandoned, as has been rumoured, and that there is more i than sufficient need for two such schools

• While walking across Khyber Pass Road this morning Mr. A. McLaren, road foreman for the Newmarket Borough Council, was knocked down by one of the Auckland Touring Company's buses. Mr. McLaren was taken to the hospital, where it was found he had received severe bruises, but not sufficient to keep him in the institution.

Signwriters are still amongst the most sought after of local tradesmen, says our Dunedin correspondent, and the acute shortage of the past three months continues. During the rush period of the Exhibition competent signwriters were earning from £15 to £20 a week, whilst many painters averaged between £12 and £15 a week.

Now that all vegetation is making rapid growth with the warm weather, it behoves the owners of hedges to keep them trimmed. This duty is neglected by many people. In one part of Green Lane there is a very long stretch of hedge that encroaches fully three feet into the street. This compels passers-by to walk in Indian file, and furnishes a most annoying illustration of the lack of consideration, or even decent tidiness, on the part of some people.

If a man is the owner of a dog that doesn't belong , to him, is he the owner also of a horse that doesn't belong to him? That's what worried a youthful householder at the Kogarah Police Court, Sydney, one day last week. He was fined 10/ for not registering a dog. He explained, without effect, that his house had no fence round it, and that the dog, a naturally affectionate little animal, had just sort of attached itself to the place. It wasn't his dog at aIL "Ten shillings," said the magistrate, firmly. "Well, there's a hort>e that's always straying round my place, too," said the bewildered defendant. "Does that also belong to mc?" On this point the law was discreetly silent

Two victims of minor accidents were admitted to' the Auckland Hospital yesterday afternoon. Arthur Leslie Green, aged 19, had his coat caught in a machine at Sanford, Ltd., where he was employed, but escaped with not very serious injury. A painful mishap was suffered by Harold Thompson Joll, a farm employee, aged 23, of Pukehuia, Whangarei. He was sewing up a bale of wool when the thread broke and the needle struck him in the eye. Last evening: William John McCormick, aged 54, collapsed when going to the city with a party. His condition was reported to-day as improving.

The Controller-General of Prisons notified the executive committee of the Hospital Boards' Association that Cabinet has approved of the payment for maintenance and treatment of prisoner patients in the hospitals at the ordinary rate. £3 3/ per week, from April 1 next. For some time past only 30/ a week has been paid. Consideration was given to a number of other matters, including hospital board borrowing, wife deserters and enforcement of maintenance orders, which will form the subjects of further representation or report to the conference of the association in Dunedin in February. Arrangements for this conference were put in hand.

Several "stowaways" are being accommodated at the Turakina Health Camp, and they are probably the best advertisement that Dr. Elizabeth Gunn has for the beneficial work she is executing in connection with delicate school children that have been left to her care. It appears that these youngsters took it upon their own initiative to turn up at the camp on the opening day, ,and they arrived with all the necessary equipment for going under canvas. Two of the "stowaways," as the genial doctor terms them, "attended last year's camp, and were so favourably impressed with the treatment meted out to them that they could not resist the temptation to join their schoolmates and return for more.

The Dominion Executive Committee of the Hospital Boards' Association recently brought under notice of the Immigration Department cases of nominated immigrants who had come upon the relief lists of various boards. The Under-Secretary of the Department yesterday attended a ■ meeting of the committee at Wellington, and explained the full circumstances and the action taken by his Department in each case. The members of the executive expressed their satisfaction with the efforts of the Department to relieve the boards of the burden of these cases. They further decided to offer their congratulations to the Government upon the relatively few instances of recent occurrence where failure to make good had eventuated.

An incidental point of interest to travellers on the tramears cropped up in the appeal case heard this week, when it was mentioned that among other instructions issued to conductors three years ago. it was stated that the jingling of coins by the conductor was objectionable, and should be discontinued. Instead, conductors were instructed to call "Tickets, please!" in a firm voice. Which recalls to those who have been travelling for man}" years on the local trams, that the aggressive jingle of coins with conductors used to gong their way through cars has nowadays faded away to a bare whisper.

A novel excuse for exceeding: the speed limit was given in the Magistrate's Court at Christ church by a motor cyclist seen driving through the city at a speed in excess of that allowed under the by-laws. While going through the Cathedral Square on Sunday morning, he stated, he unwittingly ran into a swarm of bees. Numbers of them settled on his coat, and, in his efforts to shake them off, he opened the throttle until the machine was doing 45 miles an hour crossing Manchester Street. The high speed proved efficacious, and he reached Fitzgerald Avenue unscathed, the bees having left him on the way. The petition filed by Mr. W. J. Joyce, solicitor, on behalf of Mr. J. O'Brien, against the return of Mr T. E. Y. Seddon as member of Parliament for Westland, contains fifteen points on which the petitioner relies, including dual voting, infringement of the secrecy of the ballot, votes wrongly disallowed by the returning officer, votes recorded outside polling booths, that a number of voters entitled to vote at the election were refused ballot papers, and other alleged irregularities.

The old game of counting "eribbage hands" from the numbers on tram tickets has been almost forgotten by reason of the almost, universal adoption of concession cards on the trams. A new pastime now with holders of tram cards is comparing cards to see the proportion of inspectors' snips to conductors' clips on them. Usually there are about three snips to every twelve clips. When the snips and clips come to something like equal proportions on a card, according to a statement made in the Magistrate's Court recently, the holder of the card (if a reg|lar traveller) may take it for granted that the eye of authority has him marked out as a leak in the revenue.