LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 93, 22 April 1925, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

"The Evening Post" will not be published on Saturday next (Anzao Day). A return presented to the .Lower Hutfc Borough Council at its last meeting showed that good progress was made in building operations - during the past year, 248 permits having been issued, to a total value of £119,155, and comprising 100 dwellings and shops. Last year tho totals were 109 dwellings and shops, representing £109,607. The borough is growing at nearly four times the rate of the year 1919-1920, and a better class of house is being built, the number of concrete and brick houses almost equalling the number built of wood. During the year 124 new water connections wore made, and 118 sower connection services were laid. A • party ■ of ■ 349 immigrants, including SO domestics, arrived by the Athenic a-t Auckland yesterday, states a Press Association message. The great majority are from Scotland, and most of them are young. Those bound for Wellington and all other destinations except Gisborne left by train last night. The Gisborne contingent sailed early last evening by the Wainui. "The milk department of the City Council, is in a more nourishing condition now than it has been, for a long time, and. I can say that that position, will be reflected in the bal-ance-sheet to be presented to the City Council on Thursday," remarked Councillor W. H. Bennett in his election address at Kelburn last night. "I can say, too, that we will be able to put away £2000 towards the reduction of the over-capitalisation of the department, and wo are going to put aside £2000 to provide a new site for a muchseeded factory. The balance of the money will be returned to the people in the form of cheaper winter milk." The desirability of beautifying the city by planting trees on the Town Belt was stressed in a recent address given by Mr. J. Read, who is a candidate for municipal honours. If proper attention wero paid to forestry, Wellington could bo made one of the most beautiful cities in the Southern Hemisphere, . declared Mr. Head. Trees that were planted could also bo used as limber when they matured. This could be done without taking away from their beauty, as modi orn forestry experts dealt with forests I in such a way that their scenic value was not destroyed. This would also lead to the absorption of labour very frequently during stack seasons. The difference between a moral obligation and a legal obligation was remarked upon by a debtor in a uasfi before Mr. Bartholomew, S.M-, yesterday morning, states " The Post's " TJuncdin correspondent. Tho solicitor for the plaintiff quoted a judgment in an English 1 Court to show that there was adifference in point of law, and he proceeded to draw an analogy between the case to which he referred and the incurring of a liability of £15 for taxi hire by the debtor in order to visit his dying daughter. The Magistrate, however, held that by obeying a natural impulse tlie debtor had not given his creditor an argument. Against his actions it would have been different, said the Magistrate. If the money had gone on races, a holiday, or any luxury. Asked by an "Otago Daily Times" reporter whom he regarded as the most popular authors, Mr. W. B. M'Ewan (librarian of the Dunedin Public Library) replied that the question would be difficult to answer at random. The old authors, he stated, held their own. The public taste for Dickens's books was enormous, and was well maintained year after year. Whereas thfeequarters of Scott's or Thackeray's books would always be on the shelves, threequarters oE Dickens's works would be out on loan. Strangely enough, Mrs. Henry Wood's novels were always in demand. There was always a demand for .both the novels and essays of Robert Louis Stevenson. The 1 inquiry for books of poetry, plays, biography, and travel, was well maintained.' Plays had become exceedingly popular recently. The demand for books of the type written by Zane Grey was insatiable. Mr. M'Ewan replied in the affirmative to a question whether much interest was taken in Shakespeare's works. In the reference library, he said, there was about 130 volumes dealing with Sbnkespeare, and they were widely used. He had found that when a book was to be shown, on tho screen there was a great demand for it, mid for books by the same author/

Twelve tickets of admission to Athletic Park each Saturday are granted by the Wellington Rugby Union to returned soldiers who lost a limb through war services. "The weather in the Ross Dependency," said Captain G. S. Hooper in an address at the Rotary Club luncheon yesterday, "may be summed up in a few words: Sometimes beautiful; many fogs, and occasional blizzardE." The Education Board has announced that school term holidays will be observed from 15th August to 29th August (inclusive) this year. Between these dates the annual teachers' certificate examinations will be held. The Dunedin " Star " reports that Mr. J. R. Hamilton, who defeated Sir Joseph Ward for the Awarua constituency in 1919, will contest the seat again this year against Mr. de la Perrelle, the sitting member. Mr. Adam Hamilton, his brother, will in all likelihood endeavour to retrieve the defeat he suffered from Mr. J. C. Thomson in the Wallace electorate. Breakages, according to a report made by the Hospital Committee at a meeting of the North Canterbury Hospital Board, are a heavy item in hospital maintenance. The replacement in crockery, it was stated, amounted to between £600 and £700 per annum fstates the "Press"). It has been determined to obtain a return each month of the breakages 'in every department, with a view to ascertaining, if possible, who were principally responsible. A noteworthy feature of Dr. W. S.. Robertson's address on infantile paralysis at the Red Cross rooms last evening was his reference to the improbability of another epidemic occurring in New Zealand for the next four or five year. The reason given was that practically all children have now been exposed to the infection and have either a- natural or an acquired, immunity; consequently a fresh epidemic is unlikely until there is a fresh number of susceptible children. It is the intention of the PostmasterGeneral (Hon. J. G. Coates) to issue a new stamp in three denominations in connection with the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, which is to be opened at the end of the year in Dunedin. 'me denominations will be halfpenny, penny, and fourpenny, all the one design, but in different tones. The design is being drawn by Mr. H. Linley Richardson, R.8.A., the Wellington artist. ■ : Speaking of the Fresh Air Home for children on Cashmere Hills during his address at the annual •meeting of the North Canterbury Hospital Board on Monday, the chairman (Mr. H. J. Otley) quoted Dr. Blackmore as having said that if he could get enough of such homes in the rest of the country, he would undertake practically to stamp out tuberculosis among children. The chairman remarked that any expenditure which could have such a result would be well worth while. A contest between the Timaru Harbour Board and the Timaru Borough Council Was settled by an Appeal Court decision delivered yesterday. The dispute concerned rates amounting to £299 3s 4d, claimed in respect of land formed as the result of the erection of sea walls in connection with the harbour works. Some of this land was leased, and some used for harbour works. The portion concerned in the action was neither offered for lease or in use by the board. Judgment was given in favour of the board. A motor-lorry -with a hoy cyclist hanging on behind, a milk cart, and a tramcar became uncomfortably mixed up in Willis street yesterday. In order to avoid the cart, the lorry driver swerved his machine sharply past, throwing the boy off his balance, and leaving him and his cycle oh the road. To avoid the boy the driver of the cart also swerved out, and collided with a tramcar. There was a great crash, and the tramcar suffered, but, fortunately, no great damage was done. As far as can be judged no small boy is convinced that it is dangerous to hang on behind till the danger overtakes him personally; so also certain elderly ladies insist upon steppiiig off trainears with their backs to the driver until they have had at least three falls. Salmon fishing 'in South Canterbury has been very, irregular this season, and comparatively few fish have been caught (states the "Timaru Herald"). , The biggest "bag" secured by a local angler consisted of forty fish, the fisherman who secured these having been lucky enough to visit the Rangitata river when runs were on. It is understood that netting in that river, for commercial purposes, lias proved a failure, only one salmon having been netted. Of the seven seasons that it has been permissible to fish .for salmon in New Zealand, only two have been good ones, and anglers are now beginning to despair of salmon fishing in New Zealand ever becoming what it was thought add hoped it would become. While keeping an pye on the big things that gain much publicity, such I as the running of limited expresses and the provision of better sleeping accommodation, the Railway Department is now continually introducing smaller innovations calculated, to make train travelling as comfortable as possible. Ono of these innovations was the provision of travelling tea counters on some of tho main stations, so that the rush to the refreshment rooms would be minimised. Another has just been introduced at Thorndon Station. Travellers on the Auckland expresses may now hire pillows at a nominal rate for use in the ordinary carriages. These have proved very popular, and each train produces a demand lor twenty or thirty pillows. AVhen speaking on the Ross Dependency at the Eotary Club luncheon yesterday, Captain G. S. Hooper, Nautical Adviser to the Government, stated that a problem /which caused some trouble in respect to navigation of Ross Sea was the comparatively little use that could be made of the magnetic compass, unless the instrument was a very good one, owing to the proximity of the South Magnetic Pole. To overcome the difficulty, it was first suggested that a gyroscopic compass might be used, but owing to the high latitude it was not considered advisable, as the directional properties of the gyroscopic compass became greatly diminished as the axis of the earth was more closely approched. It had, however, been found that directional wireless apparatus was very useful for navigation purposes. In his address at Wadestown last evening Mr. C. H. Chapman (candidate for the Mayoralty) said that in his opinion the Corporation had a most' capable set of officers and workmen. There was evidence of good team work and that was as it should be. A council employee was in v different position to the-man working for a private employer insofar that he was directly working for the citizens and not for private profit. They were justified in expecting the very best service, and were getting it in almost every case. Indeed, in his opinion, the staff was never more efficient than at the present time The Investigation Committee, of vbHi he was a member, found after careful inquiries extending over many mouths that there was little to complain about He certainly would not s<find for incompetence in cither the heads of. departments or members of their various staffs. It was economy to pay such salaries and wages as would attract the most competent.