LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Star, Issue 18926, 28 April 1925, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Messrs J. C. Williamson, Lid., have sc- i cured an option by which they will control the company which at present owns the C'olisonm Theatre,- Queen street, Auckland, on which a large sum has already been expended. The work has been delayed through lack of capital for the past few weeks. If the arrangement is concluded £30,000 will.be spent on the completion of one of the finest theatres in Australasia. A further report on the progress of the oil boring operations in Taranaki issued yesterday'”states that at Moturoa, there is a good show of oil at 930 ft. It is proposed to cement the casing and to tost the sand for oil. The mayor (Mr C. Todd), at last night’s meeting of the St. Kilda Borough Council, stated that for Lie year ended March 31 sixty new dwellings had been erected, and for the year 1924 seventy dwellings had been built. Further, approximately 260 houses bad been erected in the borough area during the past four years. It an average of four people resided in eacli house, the increase m the borough’s population for theso four years would be an additional 1,000 people compared with the census figures of 6,084 for 1921, making the present total over 7,000. The council had now reached the maximum of £450 payable by Government subsidy, and for the past year it.had received £435. The outstanding rates for the past year represented 1-4 per cent, of the total levied. A fresh valuation of the borough had been almost completed, and would probably ho available for the coming year. The new valuation would rectify many inequalities in value,. The successor to Archbishop Julius as the Bishop of Clnistchurch will be appointed in June. About thirty names have been discussed in connection with the appointment, and letters have been written to Australia and to England in connection with some of the names, but no formal steps can be taken until the Synod meets on June 9. Mr E. B. Grace, secretary of the Otago Football Association, in a letter to the St. Kilda Borough Council last evening, stated that he. had been directed by his executive to submit the following proposal in place of its previous proposal ox six months ago:—(1) That tho council grant tlio Otago Football Association a fifteen years’ lease of Culling Bark; (2| that the rental he fixed at £2O a year. T lie matter of erecting a. pavilion on Culling Bark had been gone into very fully during tho week, when it was decided that it was impossible to raise the requisite amount in (he meantime. The cost of a pavilion erected in wood and suitablo for such a building would approximate £SOO. Tho association’s architect advised that cheaper timber would not bo durable. The council decided to grant a yearly lease at £25, and that the matter of granting an extended lease would be gone on with when the Otago Football Association was in a position to erect a pavilion. The first Polynesian Anglican. Synod will be opened by the Briraafe of JS T ew Zealand (Archbishop Averill) a.t Lcvnka next month. Previously Fiji was under tho control of the Bishop of London, and was administered from England. At tho last General Synod of New Zealand, however, it was decided that Fiji, under the description of tho Diocese of Polynesia, should come within tho province of the church in New Zealand. Tho Primate, who will be accompanied by tho Rev. R. George Coats, will leave for Suva by the Aoraugi on May 12. After attending the Synod at Levuka, which will occupy about two days, he will proceed to the island of Vavau on a visitation. He will return to Auckland by the Niagara, which is expected to leave Suva about Juno 22. A statement was submitted to the St. Kilda Borough Council last evening showing that from April 14 to April 20 1.,954,000gal of water had passed through tho largo meter and 10,000 gal. through the small meter. From April 20 to April 27 2,422,000 gal had passed through the large meter and 12,000 gal through the small meter, a total of 4,3f6,000gal and 22,000 gal respectively for (ho thirteen days. Ihe cost of tho water was £lO9 19s. Tho Police Court, Auckland, was occupied witli charges of burglary against Daniel Flynn, also known as -Mike Flynn, and Robert Heaton Munro, the charges against both conjointly involving goods of the value of £1,296, and those against Munro involving £386. Detective Barling, who arrested Munro at Frankton on April 6, said that tho assistance Munro gave the police resulted in the recovery of hundreds of pounds’ worth of stolen goods. Munro stated that Flynn had been closely associated with him in all the crimes involved in the present charges. Flynn, in a. stnetment to the police, detailed visits io various jjlaces with Munro, and said that he regretted having committed the offences, and was prepared- to render alt possible assistance in clearing matters up. In a statement to the police Munro said that, whereas Flynn alleged that he (Munro) did the actual breaking and entering on his own, in some cases a man could get into some of tho places without outside help. “ When Flynn first met me,” said Munro, “ he gained my confidence by the fact that he said he had broken 'into several places prior to my meeting him. Foolishly, I thought that he could not be caught by the police, and 5# consented to help him in other burglaries.” Mr Moody intimated that both the accused would formally plead not guilty. They were committed to the Supremo Court for trial, bail being fixed at £SOO each. A charge against Elsie Lovegrove of receiving stolon goods was adjourned for a week. At tho meeting of tho Otago Acclimatisation Society last evening several speakers advocated the removal of protection of stoats and weasels. The opinion was expressed that the time was ripe for renewed efforts in this direction, and it was eventually decided that their increasing depredations bo brought under the notice of the Minister of Internal Affairs.