LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 9, 11 July 1922, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Postal authorities have received cable advics-from San Francteco that the R.M.S. Tahiti, (which'left San' Francisco on the 7th instant, for Wellington, has on board for New! Zealand 1294 bags of mail (including 929 from the United Kingdom) and 1116 bags of parcels.

The latest firm to heed the Mayor's appeal on behalf of those who are distressed through unemployment is Messrs. H. Baldwin, and Co., from whom a gift of one ton of potatoes, is acknowledged. The Mayor has undertaken 'that this gift, together with others, will be distributed amongst the most deserving. . „•

A scheme for beautifying vai-ious parts of the borough is at present being carried out at Lower Hutt out of the Poppy Day fund. On the motion of Councillor A. M'Bain the borough, council last evening decided to spend a further £40 from the Gala Day fund in carrying out improvements to the steam running through the recreation -ground.

"It is as remarkable as it is significant," said an educated young Maori to a Manawtu Times representative, "that Otahuhu should be the scene of the reported discovery of the new wood borer. It should be remembered that the origin of the name of this place— Otahuhu—indicates clearly to the Maori that it was the original home of the borer. Probably local climatic conditions favoured its growth, hence its Maori name, Otahuhu, a feast of raw grubs."

The margin of -utility of the old Volunteer Fire Brigade Station, with hose-reel, bell, etc., on Upland-road, is not very wide, as its services are not often required. In cases of outbreaks of fire it is but a short distance to the first station in the city. At last night's meeting of the Karori Progress Association, Mr. Sykes suggested that the incoming committee should jtako up the question of forming a fire brigade. The opinion was expressed that the fire brigade equipment at Kelburn might be available.

An • echo of the dispute between the boroughs of Lower Hutt and* Petona on the question of 'the Lower Hutt borough building ita own gasworks, was heard at the last meeting of the Lower Hutt Council, when the council was informed that Mr. A. Ford, gas engineer, had, issued a writ against the council for the sum of £1795, alleged to be due to him for work done and advice given. Mr. E.<P Bunny was authorised by the council to act as its counsel.

The day of the. pheasant is past, said Mr. H. H. Ostler at a meeting of the j council of the Auckland . Acclimatisation Society , -on Saturday. It was extremely disappointing, he said, that despite the large amount spent by the society on rearing pheasants these birds were fast becoming scarcer. For the future, unless some small bird could be obtained, sportsmen would have to rely upon Californian quail. The society, he thought,* should secure about fifty Virginian quail which had been successfully acclimatised and breed from them at the game farm.

Discussing the question of raising a loan to meet its antecedent liability, the Lower Hutt Borough Council last eveumg decided to leave the matter in the hands of its finance committee. In replying to an application to borrow the. amount required' at 6 -per cent, for Ten years the Public Trustee had replied stating that he could not accept a shorter term than 20 years. Councillor Brasell considered that the council could make better terms elsewhere, and that opinion being general among councillors it was decided to leave negotiations in the hands of the Finance Committee. Councillor Meldrum. desired to know why 2 per cent, hacr been fixed for the sinking fund when Petone had arranged for 1 per oent. The Mayor (Mr. W. T. Strand) said he preferred a larger sinking fund, and would have liked the amount fixed at 3 per cent. .

"The first salary cut this association frankly admitted was justified within certain limits, which the Government in some cases exceeded, but that is not the position to-day (states th<\ Public Ser vice Journal). Mr. Massey, in a. happy burst of optimism, recently stated.that many people could now glimpse the sun behind the clouds. If he expects it to burst into full glory at the expense of Public servants, and thus to prohibit them from their reasonable share of its gleams,, then he should realise that the hand of every Public servant that counts in this country will be against him. This should dot make any statesman worthy of the name hesitate from carrying out his duty, but class taxation by the simple means of unjustly carving into the salaries of servant? of the State does not come under this heading."

The annual report of the Karori Progress Association stated: '.'Following the recommendation of the last annual meeting much has been done to secure a tramway or motor-bus service between the Kelburn cable car and the Karori tunnel. ... A motoi ohar-a-banc service was commenced over the route, but on account of the weight of the car and other matters, a permit could not be obtained, so the running of the service had to be discontinued. It was subsequently determined to push the claims of Karori and Northland for a tram service aoross Kelbuxn, and the purchase of the Kelburn tram undertaking by the city.", The Mayor (Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P.) assured a deputation that waited upon the City Council in regard to the matter that the council had the matter in hand and the representations made would induce the council to proceed rapidly with the question of securing a shorter route.

A tribute to the efforts of thie Prime Minister, Mr. W. F Massey, in bringing about the arrest of the men concerned in the alleged theft of the auxiliary yacht Raata, was paid by the Mayor of Auckland, Mt. J. H. Gunson, at the Ponsonby Cruising Club's distribution of prizes ((states the Auckland Star). Mr. Gunson said that the owner of the boat, Mr. W. Standieh. had been unable to get the police to do anything toward its recovery, and he, Mr. Gunson, had placed the matter before the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice "Mr. Masse.r," continued the Mayor, "got to work, with the result that the police were now about to ' leave for Australia to bring the men back to Auckland." He thought the yachtmen j and launch-owners of Auckland were greatly indebted to Mr. Massey for the steps h» had taken in connection with the recovery of the Raata. This announcement was greeted with applause.

An innocent motion appearing on the order paper of the Diocesan Synod yesterday, suggesting approval of a proposal to reduce the number of lay representatives to the General Synod to three, was responsible for a good deal of amusement as the result of a speech by Mr. J. W. Henderson, of Karori. Mr. Henderson opposed the motion, and in doing so remarked that clergy did too much talking in church councils. "If'we had a Hansard," said Mr. Henderson, " 99 of the pages would be from clergy and one page from laymen." (Laughter.) Mr. Henderson said that clergy sometimes seized on a subject like a text, and proceeded to preach a sermon about it. "Silence is sometimes golden," remarked Mr. Henderson, amidst much laughter and cries of "Hear, hear," from the clerical members of Synod. Mr. Henderson characterised some of the speeches of clergy as "circumference" speeches—they went "round and round." (Laughter.) The, motion, which h'tid been proposed by Mr. W. M. Maclean, was overwhelmingly defeated. . . ■ i

Fruit growers in the Hutt Valley who dread the encroachment of nreblight will appreciate the fact that the Lower Hutt Borough Council has by- special order declared hawthorn a noxious weed.

The number of signatures required to form a power board for South Canterbury (2407) have be«n received (states a Press Association message from Timaru), and a petition containing 2827 names has been taken to Wellington by the chairman of the Provisional Board (Mr. T. L. Hart), and formally approved. ?A meeting is to be held at Timaru to take the necessary steps for the formation of a board. , , Mr. Poynton, S.M., gave a decision in the Magistrate's Court at Auckland yesterday that the games known as "prize dart" and "help your neighbour" are wholly games of chance. David Livingstone, who was charged with having conducted the^e games at the Winter Show, was fined 20s, a nominal penalty, as^the prosecutions were test ones. Leave to appeal was given. v , A correspondent, " M.H.," writes: "On the Ist July you published in the Evening Post a paragraph on 'What is' the greatest height (or depth) a man Fas fallen and lived?' You mention the case (among others) of MajorGeneral William York Moore, who commanded the troops in Dominica in 1848. While riding nome in the dark, he spurred his horse over a hedge that, guarded the cliff edge, and fell 237 feet upon the rocks below. In falling he stuck to his horse, and this saved Ms life. The accident caused partial paralysis for a time, but he eventually recovered complete health. I have in my possession a silver-mounted pipe which he gave to my father, to whom he was much attached, with, this inscription: — ' Major-General W. Y. Moore to Capt. George Harvey,' etc. My father used often to tell me of this occurrence when I wasa girl at homo, and it was most interesting to read the account in your paper after this long lapse of years." ..,■■■