LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Issue 88, 12 April 1924, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

"The Evening Post" will not be published on. Anzac Day (Friday, 25th April). ' . " There is a possibility of the once wellknown intercolonial steamer Te A'nau finishing her days at 'Wanganui, as the Harboui' Board is considering a proposal to purchase the vessel with the object of filling the hull with mud and sinking _it to form part of a,'wall in connection with the harbour scheme, states a Press Association message. The vessel is laid up at Dunedin, and negotiations are proceeding for -her purchase and towing to Wanganui. The temperature at Christchurch yesterday was 81.6 ia the shade, which is a record for April, states a.Press Association message. Since the magnetic observatory, was established in 1902 three record temperatures have been established this year, namely, 89.7 on 22nd February, 89.9 on Bth March, and yesterday's registration. Sir Maui Pomare, Minister of Health, laid the foundation stone of the new laumarunui Hospiial yesterday, in. the presence of. a large gathering of residents of the town and district, states a Press Association message. . The new institution will be situated oa high ground overlooking the town, and is to be fitted with- every modern appliance. Itie building, which is now partially erected, cost £45,000. Dr. Valintine. Director-General of Health; was present, and stressed the necessity of a .limitation being made in building new hospitals throughout the Dominion With improved roads and other travelling f- a•cilities,;it iwisV better .to have a few good hospitals ;he.'said, than a multiplicity ..of inferior: .ones. ■ Sir Maui Pomare;;3poke in.a simUar strain, mentioning- also -.that the- Department was favourable assisting boards ia the ■erecting .of.vmaternity homes. - ' ■ ■/ Consideration^'to be given the qirestion of .improving the bathing accommodation .at .Worser Bay when the current year s^estimates are being drawn up It.is also,the recommendation of the Reserves . Committee of the council that'the. question'of; providing two more rooms at.the municipal golf house ehall then be kept in" mind. with a recommendation madefy; the Reserves Committee, the .City, Council last evening decided that J sum- of .\fisoo should be placed upon the for the levelling and formation of ;,a play ar e a at the Lyall Bay Recreation Ground. . . In' order that certain necessary, alWvf^"f'P ay be made to- the switchboard at the Hams street power station, hghtmg and heating power will be cutoff in all parts of the city between 7a.m. and noon on Sunday. 'Morning tram services will not be affected, but church organists will apparently have to make their own arrangements for bellows power. An offer recently made by the Wel-™g-,r Cncket Association, to land in Wellington free of cost to the council, 100 tons of soil similar to that used on tne bansbrook Cricket Ground at Dunedm was last evening accepted with the thanks of the council. It is proposed to allocate the special .wicket soil as follows : 60 tons to the Basin, 20 to Kelburn Park, and 10 tons each to Anderson Park and the Kilbirnie Recreation Ground. ;1 • i ■ Formal notice 'was last evening given the City Council by Councillor W. J. Ihompson, as chairman of the Reserves Committee, of the committee's intention -to ask the council at its next ordinary meeting to pass a rescinding motion to delete that portion of-the Investigation Committee's report passed by the council on 27th March placing .the Director of Parks and Reserves under the City Engineer's Department, and to recommend that the reserves, baths, beaches, and zoo should be placed under the Town Clerk as heretofore. The lack of observance of the keep-to-the-left.rule was the subject of reference at last night's meeting, of the City Council by Councillor J. Aston, who said that it was certainly time that steps were taken to see that the rule was more rigidly enforced. The Mayor (Mr R.. \. Wright, M.P.) said that one of the main causes" of tho trouble was that people who kept to the left did not keep their ground when they met somebody coming in the opposite direction on the wrong side of the' street. Councillor A.' W. Parton, "Couldn't we get more xassistance from the Police Department?" There ought to be some choice pork somewhere on the Auckland market: On one of the trains held up on the Kaipara line during the floods (states "The Post's'" Auckland correspondent) there was a track of pigs. When the train was marooned the pigs soon felt the'pan^s of hunger, and made the night clamorous with their cries. - Some bright individual remembered that in the guard's van there was a consignment of Kaipara flounders, destined for the breakfast table of Auckland next morning. It was extremely doubtful when the train would be relieved, so the fish was sacrificed to allay the pangs of the pigs' Hunger. The meal was a great success. ' When the nsh was done some kind-liearted individual went foraging among the orchards close to the station, and he rounded up a_ whole lot of dessert apples, which the pigs munched with audible satisfaction. An interesting comparison of road pavement material is afforded by an exhibit in the Kodak Company's Willis street window in two blocks of actual pavement cut out of roads far -removed from each other. One is taken from the Hutt. road, and the other from a road .m Sante Jose City, U.S.A., the latter block having been lent by a New Plymouth resident who interested himself in the good road movement while making an American tour. An expert no doubt, would differentiate between the blocks after an examination, but to the man who stops to look through the window both blocks might have been cut from the Hutt road or from the Sante Jose road. The metal,, the proportions of fine to coarse, and the "mix" appear practical identical. The Sante Jose pavement, however, is laid upon-a bare clay foundation, the Hutt road pavement upon a solidly packed and powdered and rolled rock foundation. ' A correspondent writing to Auckland from Samoa the other day made the complaint that New Zealand manufacturers gave no' encouragement to planters jiiore particularly in the matter of cocoa beans, for they were importing a cheaper and. inferior article for use in their chocolates. That this is not borne out by facts is pointed out by an Auckland wholesale manufacturer of confectionery (says the "Star.") The , latest complete figures available are those in the volume of statistics for 1923. which gives figures for 1922. In that year 327.8191b of cocoa beans were imported from Samoa, and the next largest'totals were 290,2631b from British West Indies and 254,0161b from Ceylon, both highgrade sources of suply within the Empire. The Samoan bean is admittedly of high-grade quality, but requires blending with the produce of other countries, and should be much more carefully grudod to ensure v greuter uniformity than is found at present.

A new seam of excellent coal is being opened up at the Kaitangata mine. The temperature in Dunedin yesterday, in the full glare of the sun, was 120 degrees. - Early morning deliveries of milk are to bs continued by the City Council during the winter months. The West Katan, which.left San Francisco on the 9th' instant for Auckland, has on board for New Zealand 41 bags of mail and 398 bags of parcels. : • The Secretary, General Post Office, has received advice that legal time in Ureat Britain and in the Irish Free State will be put forward 60 minutes from 13th April at 2 a.m. A high level footpath is to be con-; strueted at Sutherland crescent, providing ■ the property owners are prepared to'pay half the cost! approximately £33. ': A case in' which tthe National Bank of New Zealand proceeded against Dalgety and Co. to recover damages for alleged wrongful conversion of stock was continued in the Supreme Court', before Mr. Justice Chapman yesterday. The Court reserved its decision.' The lowest tender for the South Otago Hospital Board's Balclutha Hospital is £53,000, and the Health. Department has declined to sanction the expenditure of such a large sum. The whole position is now being reconsidered, states "The Post's" Dunedin correspondent. A .request for information regarding the amount of milk being sold by nearby fanners in competition with the City Council was made at last night's sitting of the council by Councillor C. H. Chapman. He asked for the information in view of the fact that he had seen more milk ; floats about the city at the present time than was usual. -The chairman of the Milk Committee (Councillor W,. H. Bennett) • replied that 30 per cent, of the city milk was distributed by nearby farmers. " At yesterday's meeting of the Makara County Council a request was received j from the chairman of the Main Highways Board for an assurance that the maintenance of main roals already-proclaimed should be kept up by the council till definite arrangements were made, the board to pay one-third of the cost of maintenance as from the date of declaration. The council agreed to give the assurance. It was ' decided that steps be taken to have the road from Ngahauranga from Paremata declared a main road, and to ascertain the cost of improvement! sug-. gested in the Gorge road, as weE as to secure the advice as to whether to make a deviation in the road or riot. ._ Winter feed in most parts of Ota'go <s likely to.be far better than was at one time expected, the turnips having benefited by the rain,, of which the country has had more than Dunedin. There has, however (states "The Post's" Dunedin correspondent), been a shortage of early fattening feed, such as unft turnips and rape. This suggests a shortage of fat lambs for freezing. It is a matter of doubt how Ion" the recent great activity at"' the Burnside Works will kst. Many Central Otago graziers, early in the season, when the d;yness of the weather was causing anxiety, sold stock to Canterbury buyers for what it would" bring. . " An. unusual .feature' of the Wairakeishare case, (action and cross-action between Wairakei, Ltd., and Arthur Ueave), in Auckland, was the calling as a witness on Thursday, by counsel for Mr. Cleave, of Mr. Justice Eeed, who was chairman of the company prior to his elevation to the Bench Much amusement;was-caused in Court dnring the examination of this .witness, by the difficulty of keeping'the distinction be-tween;-the matters of fact and opinions ot a so distinguished -. legal luminary upon questions of law. Mr. Justice Keed, whom counsel generally addressed as 'your Honouri" or "sir," smillingly reminded his questioner over and ovVr again that, he was not in the witness box to give legal opinions, but merely to state his recollections as to facts