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Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 159, 7 July 1926, Page 6

A woman, who was a passenger by the Limited express this morning,' Left her handbag in the train. A porter secured it, and was taking it along the platform to hand it over to the stationniastcr for safe keeping. Hftlfway along he encountered the agitated passenger who, observing her bag, made a dive for it. An official placed a retaining hand on the bag, and asked the claimant if slu; could name the contents. "Oh, yes." she replied, "there is a cheque in it for £3~>." "Well, let mc see it," said the official. The cheque was produced, and it was an open one for the amount stated. Grabbing her bag the woman made off the station platform, forgetting in her excitement to thank the porter who,had saved her money and property.

The Newmarket Fire Brigade received a call about half-past nine last evening to the Auckland Milk Company's factory in Arthur Street, Xewinarket. A fire had broken out at the back of the engine room, the woodwork around one of the boilers being alight. The brigade was able to suppress the outbreak before any material damage was done.

New Zealand from the point of view of the newcomer was shown to Rotarians by Captain E. B. Haiman, of Wellington, at Monday's meeting of the Wanganui Rotary Club. Captain Hannan explained how illness duo to war services had caused him to leave England, and go first to Canada, and then to Xew Zealand, in search of health. In Xew Zealand his only letter of introduction was ineffective, the addressee being away, so he went into the backblocks, yo" miles from Fcilding. Here, the first job was with a bush contractor, who went down with the 'flu. All he could pay his workmen was some tobacco and a dozen boxes of matches.

"But lie treated mc squarely," said Captain Hannan, "as six months afterwards he sent mc a cheque for £2." Captain Hannan's subsequent experiences were of various forms of outdoor work-, hard and disagreeable to the newcomer, but nevertheless strengthening and vitalising. After trying concrete work, '"towspanking," telegraph wiring and road work, he found that he was fitter :han lie had ever been before. "And ' i!, helped mc to acquire the colonial outlook," Captain Hannan concluded. "I like New Zealand, and J have not had a day's sickness since I came here." (Applause.)

The principle of using profits from trading departments for the reduction of rates, or rather for the purpose of keeping the rates down, was questioned very sharply by Councillor It. McKeen while speaking at Miramar on Tuesday evening. The .Mayor, lie said, had been faced with financial problems and had borrowed, last year, £20,000 from tlic electric lighting department. This year the £20,000 was not borrowed, but was taken, confiscated, and the problem was solved. Notwithstanding the. greater capital burden upon the department as a result of the change-over and the great expenditure upon plant, the lighting, heating and other rates paid by consumers were sufficient to bring about yearly prolits of £20,000, and, this year, £)!),000. Die principle of using such profits to keep down rates, started by the present Mayor, would, he did not doubt, be carried on in the future. But the principle was wrong; if a reduction was to be made, it should be made to the man and woman most closely connected with the department, the consumers.

"Drowning fatalities are all too common in New- Zealand, as will be seen from the following figures, taken partly from the New Zealand Official Year Book and partly from figures supplied by the Govern men t .Statistician," stated the annual report of the New Zealand Council of the Royal Life Saving Society, presented at the annual meeting at Christehureh last Thursday. "Auckland, total for five years (1921-2.3). 200, equal to 03 per 100,000 population Hawke's Bay, 42; Taranaki, 42; Wellington, 15(5; Marlborougli, 11; Nelson, 27; Westlaml. 22; Canterbury, 70; Otago, SS; Southland, 31. Total number of deaths, 719. With a spread of the knowledge of swimming and life-saving, this heavy death-rate from drowning ought to be substantially reduced, anil not until a large reduction has been effected can the society's work be regarded as anything like thoroughlydone. In this connection we must express our deep appreciation of the educational work of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association, which in 1924, the last year for which returns are available, issued no le-se than 12.539 certificates to school children learning to swim. As the number of proficiency certificates issued during the past season is only 448, or lose than U per cent of the possible total it is evident that we have a very long way to go before we attain the ideal of having every man, woman and child a swimmer, and every swimmer a lifesaver.' .

A peculiar accident is reported by our Dargaville correspondent as harm" occurred to Jean, the twelve-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. * S D Llewellyn, of Whenuamii, on Saturday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Llewellyn and their daughter had lunch at the Kaipara lea Rooms, and afterwards the father was carrying the girl, who is partly an invalid, out on to the footpath. " Lie stepped into a hole in the path -tumbled, anlj j MV . t]|c • al ing o ut of his arms, gripped her so tightly tiiat he broke one of her hip bones. The invalid was immediately taken into a chemist's shop, where she wus attended by Dr. Crump. Since birth the girl has been in and out of Rotorua , Hospital owing to there being something wrong with her hip. and she is to be sent back to that institution.

Concerning (he Amusements Park, which it is proposed to establish on the reclaimed land at the ea3t of the King's Wharf, the syndicate's solicitors wrote to the Harbour Board making an alternative suggestion to the right of renewal clause. This gave the syndicate the o)ition of extending its lease for a further three years at £4000, which is double the rental to be paid during the first five years. On the recommendation of the board it was agreed to adhere to the previous decision that the option should be for three years at £4000. The lease is to operate'from October 1. Mr. T. Bloodworth said he was still opposed to the lease. He would not object to giving the ground for such a public purpose; but he was strongly against leasing the ground to a syndicate for the purpose indicated. When a group of business men were discussing the level crossing problem in Wanganui, one gentleman declared that the OTily solution was to run the railway lines along a trench, permitting overhead bridges at each crossing. He pointed out that no matter what station site was finally adopted Wanganui would never be without a railway line traversing it, owing to the necessity for a railway service to the wharves. The construction of a shallow cutting would not, ha claimed, be a relatively expensive task, owing to the light nature of the soil, and could be performed advantageously as an unemployment relief work. The Ohinemuri Licensing Bench received rather an unusual application at its last sittinir in the shape of a letter asking for the position of barman at any of the hotels under the jurisdiction of the committee. The application was handed to the clerk with a request that it be forwarded to the proper quarter. Previous to the first sitting of the committee anxious inquiries were made at Waihi as to whether the committee would insist on the introduction of threepenny beers!

To be met by a woman walking in her nightdress and with bare feet was the experience of a young man in a Xew Plymouth street at a late hour on Sunday. Realising that the woman was sleep-walking, the young man procured female assistance, ami, after being awakened in the proper manner the woman was conveyed to Ler home.

-After a period of inactivity, Mount Xgauruhoc was showing signs of great activity on Monday. ]t appeared from T'aetihi to bo as active as it was during recent upheavals, large volumes of smoke lioing emitted.