LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 55, 2 September 1924, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

"Many people have been subjected to shocks ther.e," stated Mr. D. M'Laren, 'when urging the Roseneath and Oriental Bay" Electors' Association to approach the City Council to press the necessity of a street light being placed in Grass street by a clump of shrub. Only recently, he_said, a woman had been badly* frightened by stumbling over-the legs of ,a prostrate intoxicated man. : "I" dislike very much, other people taking away from me the name of being a working man. .It does not mean that I must work with "my hands ;>if I really work genuinely, I am sas much entitled to be called a working man as anybody else," remarked Professor - John Adams, the eminent educationist, in an address at St. Andrew's- schoolroom, "last evening.;. '.-..: — : "My visit has been a Very joyous one. You are a very hard working; serious people, with intermittent laughter that is very joyous to all concerned. Tou are rather like yo.ur weather—mostly sunshine," said Professor John Adams,the well-known educational authority, replying to a vote of thanks for his'address on "A Liberal .Education" last evening. '■■•_■■..- '•■■■'■■.. A.little homily on the prevalence of credit/was got off by Mr. R, R. Scott when pleading for a "prisoner at the\Supreme Courb this-morning. -PriaonerXhadsecured credit on false pretences; and appeared in. Court as a result.l Mr. Scott said it seemed strange that credit should be given a man like this. Business men'who gave credit; so/easily as .'some "of them did nowadays were more hindrance than/help to the community. People lived outside fcheir incomes as a result of the ease with which they obtained credit. The continued^ existence of the practice of giving * credit to all and sundry was a'deterrent to thrift, and mighty ultimately ihe^n the difference between poverty and wealth to many people. , .--.-"■ , .':. ■ The well-known' Auckland ferry steamer Eagle (has been withdrawn from active service after -being in' commission for various periods for nearly forty years. The Devonport Ferry Company has decided that the steamer is no longer suitable for ferry service, as she has been superseded by much more up^to-. date vessels. The.Eagle and the Osprey were built in Scotland in-1886 for the Auckland-North ,Shore "Ferry Company." which was then running in opposition to the present company (states the "New Zealand Herald").., The two steamers were brought to Auckland in sections on a sailing ship, and then rebuilt- at Devonport. After six months' service the two steamers were taken over by their present owners. Both the Eagle and the Osprey are paddle steamers, but the remainder of the company's fleet are double-ended. screw-driven vessels. Another vessel of the' latter type is being built for the company, and v*llbe ready for service early next year. There was a remarkable collapse on Friday afternoon in\ the Supreme Court az Gisborne of what'was known as the motor-fire case, the. Judge interposmg to-instruct, the jury to return a verdict of not guilty. A taxi-driver, Ralph Hankms, was charged with destroying' a motor-car with'intent to defraud the company. The case .rested chiefly on the evidence of two country schoolboys, who had told a graphic story of what they said they had ■ seeH-.,- After cross-examination had proceeded, eliciting some contradiction the elder boy, aged ,11, collapsed, and had to be' removed from' the Court (reports' a. correspondent). The ' brother, ■■ Wd nine, then gave evidence, but before-the cross-examination Honour Mi. Justice M'Gregor asked the Crown - Prosecutor if there was any other evidonee of the accused : S ettirig fire to the cay .except that of these two boys. Mr - olai^J-: N<J. your Honour." ( His Honour;.. Do you think you could ask the .jury;to convict on their evidence?" Mr Nolan; <I v do;n6t ask them to convici',' joi^Honour His Honour, addressing the^ury;. I think, gentlemen, you-had better return a verdict of not guilty The, boys 'are evidently romancing:'' Mr Wauchop -(for the defence): "I would point out your Honour,..that the jnost remarkable thing is that each boy is giving .the original story of the other " ed, and the accused was discharged .A^few years ago the Corporation-yards, at Clyde quay, were something of which> the Corporation was more or less hearti y .ashamed, untidy to-a, degree; with' the untidiness that follows upon- ye;-s and years of cluttering up with old junk that would probably be useful some day A cloan-up was decided upon, not before Us time, and that clean-up is still goiiig forward but there is comparatively little, tq : be done now. One of the most recent improvements has been''the level-.lmg-offof a very considerable area immediately behind the new, Corporation ■motor workshops for the better storing of pipes, etc., belonging to the waterworks department, and this new State will enable-the small area at present still in a clu*fcered-up .state to be at last brought into ship-shape ■ order. Stables,-''stores, 1 workshops, and stacks have been improved very greatly within, the last year or so, but the "ancient engineering shop still carries "on ' for * f.ew nlonths longer; money has been voted,/ however, for. the- building oj .jsomething more reasonably convenient, and up to date. The old "destructor chimney, which stood idle for the best [ part of/twenty '.years and was not felled because everyone was satisfied that comeat had.boon, used-'in laying its bricks —-good, hard cement which would not chip away—is now also almost a thing.of the past, for the cement was merely limo I mortar after all, and the men engaged 'in bringing the stack down, brick by brick, have been able to make quite rapid progress. The-Hundred odd thousand bricks thus obtained will be used in continuing' the yard wall round the I depot, and perhaps also in helping on j ; thet building programme-. !

Slight damage was done by fire to the bedrooms and ceiling of an eight-roomed house occupied by Mrs. Lydia Vine at No. 279, Cuba street, on Sunday afternoon. ;- ' '.','" The Roseneath'"and. Mount) Victoria Progressive Association will consider the following notice of motion v at its monthly meeting on Wednesday next: —"That in the opinion of this association the City Council shopld. revert to the ward system for the election of councillors." \ "Mr. J. A. Nash, M.P., president of the Manawatu. 'Agricultural and Pastoral Association, has been advised that ilia Excellency the Governor-General will attend and open the Royal Show on Wednesday, sth November, and will be accompanied by Lady Jellicoe, His Excollency has also accepted an imitation to be present-at. a smoke concert to be held in'connection .witfiHhe show., i The engine of a goods train jumped the points at Halcombe yesterday and* held up the mail train from New Plymouth for about twenty minutes.- Fortunately .another engine was available, and the trucks attached to the derailed engine were removed, thus leaving the i main iine clear. The fore-end of the engine'which had caused the trouble was completely off the line. The time lost by the mail train was practically j regained by the time the train reached | Thoriidon. - . The Christeliurch. City Council's new offices, said to be the finest in Australasia (reports the Press Association), were officially opened to-uiglit, when, a number of -prominent citizens and; excity officials were present at the invitation of the Mayor and;councillors. 'Congratulatory messages were forwarded by the GovernorrGeneral, the Prime Minis- I ter, and the Minister of Internal 'Affairs. The offices were erected^ at a cost of1 £75,000. „./ .' '" Approximately- £10,000 worth of worn silver has been collected by the Christchurch branch 'of the Bank of New; Zealand, "and it will be sent to the Royal Mint of Great Britain. This sum (states the Press Association) represents Canterbury's cpntribution to the campaign for the withdrawal from.circulation of worn and mutilated silver coins, \vhich' began about six weeks ago, when the New Zealand Government received advice from the -■ Royar Mint of Great Britain that* it would allow full face value for~ the return of defective coins of all denominations! ',: A start was made yesterday morning with the widening of Molesworlh street by setting back the southern kerbing by sbqufc eighteen inches, -thus allowing, a, clearance of ten feet six inches between the nearer tram rail and the kerb. The first work to be done will be the moving back of street poles, and as it is the in-, tentipn of the Corporation to reduce their number as far'as, possible, poles on. the oth.gr' side of the street will also be shifted in some/ instances in order that poles may stand in pairs across the street for the better^carrying of overhead gear, and so making possible the reduction; in the number 1 of poles required. A e'er-. tain_ amount of alteration will also be carried out in the arrangement of wiring in order that poles may do:double duty, carrying several sets of wirefe in-, some cases'.' " ''"' '• ■ ..■■;■■■■■ .'.. ■■-•'. ;; ', A deputation from the Ly all Bay Bowling and Tennis Club waited upon | tbe__,.<Finance Committee of .the ; : Cityvj Council yesterday afternoon to complain 1 about a .sand-drift nuisancej not the j main sand, drift, but a minor nuisance'!' fromxthe.north, ; whereas the big drift is fromfthe; south.. The. speakers^, pointed out that the club's, property w;as suffering considerably, and asked-that the;council should-take steps to blind with clay or earth. the sand which it removed from Apu crescent and the badly affected are^, 'after each big" southerly blow, and spread upon the Recreation Ground, since the; northerly carried it southwards again on to the green. They suggested that if the council wpuld grant, permission they might: round' off their street frontage in such" a manner that the northerly itself would help' to clear Apu. crescent and would carry the sand right past their'greens to the Recreation Ground. A.'reply will be made when the-proposals have beenlookedinto by the committee and engineers. It was stated that Jt is the- intention of the council to blind the sand placed upon tho Recreation Ground very shortly. • For the reason that he could no longer: compete with the younger men on the wharf, -Michael Higgins applied1 in the Magistrate's Court - yesterday afternoon to have a maintenance order ina'de in his favour against-his wife. 'Plaintiff, who is 76 years of age,- said he married.in 1892,: but for the past eighteen years he and his wife had -. been living apart, separation having been mutually agreed upon. Three years ago he applied for a pension, but that had refused on the grounds that his wife had means, -and a second application had been treated likewise. He said he had been working on the wharf, but in the last six'months had only earned £2 9s 4d. His ; wife,(he alleged, "had property in the city, and had no dependants. Plaintiff's wife, Mary Ann Higgins, admitted owning a blocK of city property. Shortly- after their marriage she said, her husband obtained the license of the Clyde.Quay Hotel, "but," she added, "he never, worked; he was almost useless." Mr. P. Jackson: "You had the money, but the license was in his name?" —"Yes!" "For the past. 26 years'," said defendant, "he/has never': given me/anything to keep me, and ~J don't - see why I should keep him." "After' consulting with counsel in regard 'to- the particulars of the property,'his Worship (Mr. Of" R. Orr Walker, S.M.) said "he/did not think on the .evidence that an order could be made. .

A Cahtornian radio concert was heard by hstenere-in at New Plymouth on Saturday evening, every item being disAt a meeting of the Court of Convocation of Victoria College last evening, All. is. iiichelbaum presiding, it was re*si S?" -the motion of Mr- S. Fair:-J-hat the Court of Convocation stronfrlv approves of the; appointment-of a Com-■----mission Jto inquire . into the whole system of working and organisation of the Aew Zealand University, and to make recommendations for any improvements that it may think, desirable; and 'that this Court, is of opinion that tfe chair^ man of such Commission should be an acknowledged authority on university organisation, and should come from outside New Zealand." The Health Department has received the following notifications of infectious diseases for the week ended for the hospital districts named ('the "fig-: ures for the previous week being given in parentheses) : —Hawkes Bay : Tubercjjlosis, 1 (0); pneumonic' influenzaj' 1 (0); pneumonia, 4 (0); erysipelas, 1 (0).; VVaipawa: Scarlet fever, 1 (0); puerperal fever, 2 (0). Taranaki: .: Diphtheria, "i (10); puerperal fever, 1 (0). Stratford: Pneumonia, 1 (1). Haweva : ■.Diphtheria, 4 (3); 1 (0).: Wanganui: Diphtheria, 2 (3)., Palmer-' ston North: Scarlet fever, 1(0); dip"htheria, 8 (6); tuberculosis, 2 (1); pneumonia, 1 (2). Wellington : Scarlet fever, 2,(1); diphtheria, 5 (10); tuberculosis, 6 (2)- oxAthalmia neonatorum,' 2 (0). Wairau:\Scarlet fever. 1 (0). Nelson: Diphtheria, 2 (1). v The larger mechanical trencher pur-chased-by the Corporation, and now. biv. mg set up at the Clyde quay yards, :s very different in design from the trencher at present at work at Karori. ]n place of caterpillars it has1 abroad "steeltired, wheels fore and1 aft, in place of an internal combustion motor it is driven and digs by steam power, and in place of a multi-bucket circular cutter it has one large bucket drag-cutter, but' upon a brass plate in a promineiit position upon the machine is the slogan, "'lt gets there and digs." If the slogan is based upon hard fact,- and" presumably, it is, otherwise'the manufacturers could not poinf to a long list of recent sales, .the design—and ugliness— cannot greatly matter. The smaller machine has certainly justified ife purchase by the fasti pace'it-has maintained in trencliiog Karori's roads. The great part bf ; its work, as far as water services are concerned, is now completed at Karori, but drainage wofk /is ■ still ahead, ami there is work' ahead /again at Onnlow, where /trenches are being cut by hand, if no further trenching is to be "done at Karori. v r . ... . . • >.' -