General News.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18670, 20 April 1926, Page 6

General News.

The conference between the General Committee of the Canterbury A. and P Association and the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce on the subject of wheat values is to be held to-morrow afternoon.

Tho tramway track relaying operations in Victoria street will take two or three weeks to complete. Tho tract on the south-western side is almost finished, but there are several crossovers that will have to be removed afterwards.

The secretary (Mr H. Worrall) of the General Labourers' Union reports that fewer men are applying for jobs, and that, duo to the publicity given to the presence of unemployment two or three weeks ago, there haß been a demand for men for all kinds of work, employers evidently having put in hand a fairly considerable amount of work. The last of the 701b rails in the Lyfctelton tunnel are being removed at pre sent, and 1001b rails are being substituted. By the time this work has been completed it is hoped that the points and crossings, required for tho new lay-out in connexion with the uew station at Lyttehon, will be ready. If so, a start will be made with the wo.'-: at Lyttelton.

In view of the census being taken to-night, the officer .in charge of the local arrangements was kept busy yesterday with callers at his office in the Post Office buildings in Hereford street. Respecting some districts where the sub-enumerators had not delivered the census schedules yesterday, a reporter was told that they would be delivered some time to-day.

Iu order to reduco the over-load on the Lake Coleridge power station on Friday evenings, the Electricity Branch of the Public Worte Department is arranging for the Tramway Board's standby plant to be put in operation every Friday evening. This will be continued, possibly, till the now generating unit at the power-house is put into commission in July.

Investigation of the cause of the death of the trout in the Avon about a fortnight ago is still proceeding, but nothinjr definite ia available yet for publication. The suefpstion that the discharge from flour mills was the cause practically Ims been abandoned, and attention is being directed to the character of the discharge into the river from drains between the Hospital bridge and the Montreal street bridge.

A meeting of the creditors of Donald Martin McFadgen, fruiterer, has been set down for 27th inst.

A motor-lorry loaded with two pianos smashed a large piece of plate glass enclosing an advertisement on a post outside The Bristol Piano Oo.'s premises yesterday morning. The lorry struck the post while backing into the right-of-way. An enquiry was commenced at Palmerston North yesterday afternoon into the incident which occurred last week, when the Limited express from Wellington narrowly escaped collision with another train at the Palnierston North station. Proceedings are being held in camera.

Infectious and other notifiable diseases reported in the Canterbury and West Coast Health Districts during the week ended noon yesterday totalled 30, as follows:—Canterbury: Scarlet fever 4, diphtheria 9, 7, pneumonia 3, puerperal septicemia 4, infantile paralysis 1. West Coast: Scarlet fever 1, tuberculosis 1. No deaths from notifiable diseases were reported in either health district.

The fishing season will finish at the end of the month and will be followed by the shooting season. Very few hags were landed during the week-end, and what fish were caught were generally poor in condition. Most anglers are now turning their thoughts to snooting and are getting their gear ready for April Ist, when Lake Ellesmere and other haunts of waterfowl will again resound to the crack of sportemen's guns. * There is no connexion between the recent displays of Aurora Australis and seismic disturbances, according to Mr H. F. Skey, of the Christchurch Observatory Mr Skey states that the eruption of Mauna Loa at Hawaii was not recorded in Christchurch. for the reason that volcanic activity is confined to the higher regions of the earth's crust, and are, as a rule, localised. Volcanic dust played no part in the auroras, which were due to solar activity. A 14-year-old boy, Keith Ward, of 20 Bury street, St. Albans, was cycling home on Thursday evening when he was knocked over by a motor-cynlist. The accident occurred at the corner of Bealey avenue and Springfield road. The mudguard of the motor-cycle raught Ward in the right groin, where he was badly injured. The motor-cyclist left him lying in the middle of the road until he was picked up by a passer-by, who took him home. Ward's condition is still serious, but he is recovering. The final big excursion of Canterbury school children to the Dunedin Ex hibition left by special train yesterday morning. Fifteen cars were necessary to accommodate ,the 740 who travelled. Of the total, 408 came from North Canterbury schools —Oxford, Cust, Raugiora, Waikari, Kaiapoi, and Belfast. Two small parties were picked up at Hornby and Rolleston. Next Monday, two parties, each of 30 or thereabouts, from Hokitika and Cobderi, will travel to the Exhibition. '

In his report on the year's work at the Upper Sanatorium, Dr. W. Aitken, the medical superintendent, stated that the sanatorium routine and treatmenthad been carried on as in the past. Certain forms of treatment recommended elsewhere have' been given a clinical trial, and here it might be stated that in the treatment of lung tuberculosis, the general hygienio and dietetic treatment, which is the basis of sanatorium treatment, still stood far in advance of new methods of treatment put forward in the last ten years. Waterfall Corner, about half way up the Lyttelton road from Sumner, was the scene of a motor accident on Sunday. A car crashed through the fence and was very . badly damaged, the driver, Mr E. Rowley, of Irwell, having a lucky escape from serious injury. Noticing that he was running out of petrol, the driver attempted to turn his car round to descend the hill. He backed into the feace, and the weight of the car smashed the fence down. The car went over and fell a few feet before striking a large boulder. It came to rest momentarily and the driver jumped clear before the car again fell. It dropped about thirty feet and then ran downhill for, about two hundred yards. The car was not insured.

Tests are still being nlado with the driving of concrete piles on the site of the proposed Selwyn bridge. None of the tests mado so far has been satisfactory; piles have been driven a certain distance through the shingle in the river-bed but have not got very deep, and it is desired to ascertain if they can be driven to a depth that will remove the possibility of the shingle being washed away during floods and leaving the piles without support. Tenders for the work closed some time ago, but none has been accepted pending the' result of theso tests.

St. Andrew's Church, founded 70 years ago, held anniversary services on Sunday, the preacher for the day being the Eev. E. N. Merrington, M.A., Ph.D., the minister of the First Church of Otago. Speaking to the younger members of the congregation, Mr Merrington said that St. Andrew's was the mother church of Canterbury, and he wished them many happy returns of the birthday of their church. He spoke of the similarity of the texts from which were preached the first sermons of the Eev. Charles Fraser, at St. Andrew's, and the Eev. Thomas Burns, at the First Church of Otago. Both ministers preached of the forgiveness of God, and the Presbyterian Church had always preached that. For his sermon Mr Merrington took the text, "Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands—thy walls are continually before Me."—lsaiah 49, IG. Comment has been made regarding what is considered to be the out-of-date methods being employed in preparing the site of the new railway marshalling yard at Middleton. This work consists of levelling a portion of the site and filling in another portion, and it is being done with horses and drays, by scoops, and by men with wheelbarrows. Mr J. McNair, District Railway Engineer, stated yesterday that the methods employed were the most economical in view of the character of the work. The levelling being done consists of stripping a lew feet and would not, he said, j-istify the expense involved in bringing the Department's steam excavator from tiie West Coast. The Department did r.ot possess any tractors, but was quue prepared to hire some if it could bo shown that they would do the work better than it was being done by present methods. The character and extent of the work did not justify 'he expenditure on expensive plant. No one can cet better service than that given by J. Heywood and Co., Ltd., either as furniture removers, Custom House Agents, or General Carriers. —6

Hundreds of packets of the best typewriting paper—as good as new—usual price 7s 6d to 16s 6d per packet, Isitt's Fire Salo price 3s and 4s 6d per packet. Offices, Ministers, Students, aud others, this is your opportunity. —6