Local and General.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIII, Issue 21, 8 January 1923, Page 4

Local and General.

The Postal authorities have received advice from Vancouver that the R.M.S. Makura. which, left Vancouver on December 27, for Auckland,* has on board for Now Zealand 602 bags of mail. The body of the late Mr, Hugh Beetham was brought into Masterton on one of the wool wagons belonging to Brancepeth. The same vehicle, drawn by horses, was used at the funeral in place of a hearse. A much desired feature has been introduced by some of the Rotorua motor companies, -who have instituted cheap hour trips round the town and its environs in the evenings. The innovation is evidently appreciated. A certain amount of price cutting is going on in the transport line there just now, and competition is very keen. There is a large number of visitors in the town at present. Messrs. Clere and Williams, architects, have received instructions to prepare plans for a big structure for the A.M.P. Society in Wellington. Some years ago the society acquired the property, immediately to the north of their present building in Customhouse Quay, and it is over this land, as well as that occupied by the present building, that the new structure, will extend. This will give them a block with 120 ft. frontage* to Customhouse Quay by 136 ft. to Hunter street. The building will be seven storeys in height, and therefore one of the largest, if not the largest, in Wellington. At the meeting of the Patea Hospital Board to-morrow, Mr. Sutherland intends to bring before the board the necessity of a half-way institution between th© hospital and the gaol and asylum to meet cases which should be sent to either of these institutions, Magistrates on various occasions have commented on the need for such an institution, and on more than one occasion Mr. Wyvern Wilson. S.M., while in Wanganui, spoke in similar strain when dealing with cases brought before him. Mr. Sutherland has in view the idea of circularising all local bodies, boards, etc., with the object of stimulating interest in the matter. Dr. Ada Paterson, School Medical Officer, Wellington, who has been on a twelve-months’ trip abroad, visiting Great Britain ,the Continent of Europe, the United States, and Canada, is due to arrive in Auckland by the Makura on the 12th inst. During her trip, Dr. Paterson represented the New 'Zealand Department of Public Health at the International Congress for the Protection of Women and Children, held in Paris early, in July last, and at the thirty-third congress of the Royal Sanitary Institute, held at ’Bournemouth later in the same month. Six hundred bowlers will participate in the tenth annual championship tournament of the Dominion of NewZealand Bowling Association, which will begin in Auckland on Wednesday, and will probably extend over twelve days, Singles, pairs, and rink contests will take place in the order named, and as there will be 300 of the best bowlers from other parts of New Zealand competing with as many of Auckland’s best trundlers, some very fine play shoqld lie witnessed. It is interesting to note that two rinks of Queensland bowlers will take part in the tourriament. A Longburn farmer says the outlook for farm produce has only to be briefly contrasted with that of January, 1922, to realise th© welcome nature of its improvement. We then received 11/for lambs, 6/- for fat ewes. 1/- for butter and 4d for crossbred wool. Now lambs are worth 27/-, ewes 20/-, butter 1/8 and wool 9d. A simple ealcula' tion will show that in these four items alone the improved prices represent an addition to the spending power of the Dominion of £10,000,000 sterling. Just enough, in fact, to pay the interest and sinking fund of the public debt of New Zealand, and to leave two and a half millions towards alleviating the private indebtedness of the producer which is just about the proportion in which he may participate in these improved conditions. Ttventy-fiv© million pounds and a life-long reputation for fair dealing behind every insurance policy issued bv the Alliance Co. See Geo. Hartshorn, Hastings agent.*

Patrick Helean, aged 34 years, residing at 34 Forbury road, Dunedin, was found lying across the rails at the Green Island station on Saturday night. Both ( legs were fractured. Ho died in hospital an hour after admisA Dunedin telegram states that Andrew Craig, aged 60, attempted to commit suicide last night by placing a gas tube in his mouth, but becoming unconscious he slid from the chair, removing, the tube. He is now recovering in hospital. He has been in poor health for some time. A book by the Dowager-Countess of Jersey, on “Fifty-one years of Victorian Life,’’ is reviewed in the English papers. In it she passes in review the countries she has visited. New Zealand she found so richly endowed with treasures and beauty and strength that she thought it must have waited while Providence bestoSved gifts on many lands and then have received special bounty from each store of blessing, . Two parties of English tourists ar rived by the Nigara on a visit to New .Zealand. Mr. Edward Gray, F.R.G.S., has brought a party of 19 visitors, who are now at Rotorua. They will spend three or four weeks in the North Island, and will then proceed to Java, China, and Japan, and will return to England via Canada. This is the third world tour Mr Gray has conducted. Seven English travellers comprise the other party on the Niagara. A thunderstorm burst over Napier on Saturday morning at 10.30 o’clock and rain continued to fall until well on in the afternoon, 117 points being recorded up to 2 p.m. Several streets in the tow-n were flooded, the water being particularly deep at the corner of Hastings and Tennyson Streets, but it soon subsided when the rain eased off. The water carried a large quantity of stones and silt onto the tramline at the top of Shakespeare road and the cars were held up for a while. A remarkable Jcature of a thunderstorm that broke over the Nelson district during the holidays (states the Nelson “Mail”) was the big size of the hailstones at Stoke, some being as large as a thumb nail, soft in the. centre and covered with ice. Fortunately tho large-sized ones fell sparsely and consequently did little or no damage to the young fruit. The orchardists had “the wind up, ’ ’ and it is stated that many of them could be seen watching the storm for half-an-hour with their hair standing well on end. The following is a return of the business transacted at the Napier Magistrate’s Court for the quarter ended on December 31, 1922:—Civil: Oases tried 180. amount claimed £2718 3/7, amount recovered £2423 2/5, plaints entered 336, total amount sued for £5416 17/9. Arrests: Males 67. females 1. summons cards, males 159, females total 234; sitting' days 47, orders made (other than judgment summons) 10, distress warrants 19, judgment summonses 63, orders made in judgment summons 32, warrants of commitment 5, civil fees paid in stamps £298. When the Wiltshire wa? wrecked there was no one more keenly concerned regarding the safety of the crew and their welfare after they were brought to Auckland than Lady Jellicoe, and she again demonstrated her interest in the ill-fated steamer when she visited tho rooms in Elliott street, Auckland, where the salvaged cargo is stored, preparatory to being submitted to auction. Her Excellency, who was accompanied i by Mrs E. Riddiford and Captain A. j Mundy, A.D.C., was particularly interested in old china, Doulton ware, and fancy linen goods, and made several purchases She was very much taken with a book of photographs depicting the history of the Wiltshire. “J. have more women patients than men in the chest hospital where I work, because woman make themselves susceptible at the dictation of fashion.’’ This statement was made by Dr Alexander, a specialist in pulmonary disease, in a lecture at the Institute of Hygiene in London. “The low-necked dress may be suitable in the summer,’’ continued Dr Alexander, “but in the autumn and early wintqr is is dangerous. A woman may often be seen facing the sun, tempted by the sunshine, and feeling‘warm in its glow. Meanwhile the northwest wind is stabbing her in the back. No one would expose the kidneys. The lung is more vulnerable and more dangerous, yet fashion decrees that it must bo exposed by the low r -necked dress.” The present position in regard to fireblight in tlie Auckland district was described on Tuesday last by Mr G. A. Green, a member of the local Fireblight Committee. He said that tho blight was now fairly prevalent throughout the Waitemata County and in other Auckland districts, but the outbreak was not regarded as very serious. In every instance it was still shown by observations throughout the district that pear trees were more subject than apple trees to infection, and some types of a Dpi© trees were more prone to attack than others. On some of tho districts the blight appeared to be more virulent in one season than in another,\ and in this respect the experience of America was being reproduced. It was quite evident, added Mr Green, that the main basis of elimination was the cutting out of hawthorns and of all infected twigs and branches bpre tho ‘ ( ooze ’ ’ or suppuration stage’was reached. At the Hastings Police Court this moiniiig, before Messrs. C. Hughes and G. Land, Justices of the Peace, a man named Herbert Dunlop pleaded guilty, to charges of drunkenness and using obscene language in Maraekakano road last night. Sergeant Hogan said that at about 10.30 last nignt the police received a telephone message 4 frdm Mr. Kitt’s residence, complaining that the man was outside the house creating a disturbance and using filthy language, and he was accordingly arrested. Nothing was known against accused, who was all right when sober but went mad when he had taken drink. He (Sergeant Hogan) asked that a prohibition order be issued against accused, who was convicted and discharged on the charge of drunkenness and fined £3. or 14 days’ imprisonment, on the charge of using bad language. A prohibition order was also issued against him.