LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13745, 9 May 1908, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Aj-pfiovAt was expressed by serial <itr , men yesterday .it lite suggestion made by > the Mayor, at the City Council meeting ' .■% on Thnwdjy night, that ex-Mayors of the city should bo appointed aldermen und«r ; the Greater Auckland x;hein'«. so thai their A'<~ knowledge and experience of municipal life | could still be availed of for the benefit of the city, as a whole. The general opinion ; Wi.'i that such a prop;*?.*!, if carried oof,, would strengthen the civic life of Auck- , * land. Tlx; Mayor (Mr. A. M. Myers*, in ' 1 the course of conversation with a representative of thi* journal, said that when * city in its early history made mistake# they were easily rectified, but when ,i thy grew it was only by proceeding on brtud, progressive, sound lines that jti:-ti<e could be done to the great heritage that was undoubtedly ours. If, tinder the Greater Auckland scheme all "the members of theGreater Auckland Council were to retire, '' e'i bloc, as might possibly happen, . the the aldermen would always l»c a safeguard, and would lie a hie to give the city the i ; benefit, of thiir long association with city matters- .TV. appointment of aldermen from the ranks of the ex-Mayors would also be an inducement to men of the right stamp to t~e*k the highest- position in municipal life that the citizens had to bestow.' The Finance Committee will meet. next Tuesday week to discus the proposal. " The Scarborough of New Zealand" i* . the opinion that Mr. C. Walinutt, tho officer-itt-Crge of the Auckland Tourist?' • f Depart has formed of the Kaiekare Bay and surornnding district, which he, has jus: visited, in order to.see he possibility »if establishing a round tourist ' trip. The, place is easily accessible. Front Auckland Jluia is a. 22-mile drive, along a. fairly good toad, thence across to the beach ,:s a tine bridle tack of about, four miles. Driving along the coast some tin# glimpses of the Manukau Harbour are ohtainalie. and the track strikes Hie beach at- the North Head. Front there to Kate. knre Say is a magnificent, six miles stretch of he»< h. which at low water is a firm and spcecy road for vehicles. The feature of the ioast line at this point is the grand-sir and • ruggediKss of the scenrr.yl I?light, aloi>* the cliffs rise perpendicularly to a •height of about 500 ft, and their side*. arc covered with the ' beautiful jK>hutukav.a, or Christmas, tree. 11 desired, it is possible to make the return journey to Ati^k. land by road, and the drive it. -.veil worth taking. The air at Karekare Bay is wonderfully cxhiliVatitig, and the jocupouii-.* tpujitics of the. district can be recommended to all those who arc run down, ui in need of a change. Although this beauti*f«J and health-giving spot is ?«> near to Auckland it is not so well known i«j citv residents as it deserves to be. 'Owners of motor cars should he careful. Ticre has been a good deal said lately about the excessive speed at which cars are sometimes driventhough His Excellency the Governor was good enough to champion the cause of the Auckland car in this respect the other day. But if our motor cars do not travel like lightning it would seem, at. all- events, that they sometimes pay but scant respect to the roads they travel over. At the meeting of the Waitemata County Council yester- — day the engineer reported that si certain ' amount of damage had been done to Sunnyside Road through a motor car ha v. ing been driven over it-. Ho had written (o the owner, asking him to make good, 'the damage done, but the request had been 1 refused. The Council decided to take legal . ; proceedings against the owner. 1 The question of guarding the Grey c*»i- . 'lection of books and other .treasures in the. iAuckland Public Library from destruction or damage by tire was referred to by Mi. • Henry Shaw at the annual meeting of the • Leys Institute last evening. " This collection," he said, "has been in peril for the past 20 years, and it is in peril now. If it were destroyed it could never lie renewed ■ and the City Council would be execrated from one end of New Zealand to the other, . for the collection is more highly thought of in the South than in Auckland itself." If ~[■ a, fire once got a- start in the building, ho said, it would bo like a furnace, and no* ' thing could save the public's great literary heritage. " They ate very careful about , the.city archives.' Mr. Shaw added, but ' I do not think we. would miss those if they were destroyed." ■> In pursuance of the \.\V.C.A. move- ■ ' nicnt. which is doing among young women : 1 an equally desirable work to that being ! done by the Y.M.C.A. among young men, _ a sale of work will Ik; held this afternoon, | in aid of the debenture fund, in the grounds of Mrs. J. L. Wilson, Lower Re- - muera. 'Ihe sale of work commences at | 1;30 p.m., and conveyances will meet the j trams at Victoria Avenue during the afternoon. Much interest, is being taken in the | matter by, the friends of this admirable institution, and a large attendance is anticipated, / 7 " Life is too short for a man to sell himself body.and soul to his employers," said '■> a witness at the Arbitration Court yesterday, in answer to a question put by the manager of the Devonpoit Ferry Company ' as to working hours. " Well, why. don't ■■ ' you git another job?" asked Mr. Alison. 1 " There is one good thing about the com--5 pany," responded the witness, "there are ' no g/owlers amongst the officials." . A for, - ; mer/ employee of the company, who now directs the operations of a two-horse ; ploagh, said he was well satisfied with his . ' new Wot k. "Arc you a member of the • union." he was asked. " I belong to notlnng, thank heaven," said the witness. Speaking at Hokitika on Thursday mvii- ' tag, .the Prime Minister made spcuial mlliik sion to many contemplated reforms in the J Post and Telegraph service, especially the H early establishment of wireless telegraphy. i The expectation of the Auckland Society ' of Arts that it would be able to hang ;•!! ' the pictures that have been for a -nd. c for the forthcoming exhibition has not been 1 realised, owing to the very large number of exhibits that have come to hand. Many '• artists have sent fairly large collections of canvasses, and it is quite impossible that p they can all be displayed. The committee ' have most unselfishly* commenced with ; themselves, and each member has volun- ' tarily withdrawn a portion of his o«u work, in order to jx-rmit of more spate being available lor the other exhibitors. But this generous action still leaves the wall space far short of requirements, so i other exhibiting artists arc asked not to i feel aggrieved when they find that the : whole of their pictures have not been dt»- • played, but to remember that the com- , mittee have had an exceedingly arduous i and delicate task in apportioning the I space, and have done the best 8-hey could i in the circumstances. The exhibition will . : be a record one for Auckland, and pro- ! bablv for New Zealand, both as regards l the number of exhibits and the quality • of the work displayed. Arrangements are ; now well in hand tor the opening- A strong ladies' -committee lias been formed. • The social programme in connection with i the opening ceremony, which is to be per- , formed by His Excellency the Coventor on the 20th inst.j is being arranged. ' ' ' /■ ■■■ ■ :,. /''..vjl ■ ■■ .. 7 v;.i;ll

b/V*.s.";fls .Supplement ' issued with to-day' The Supplement, issued with to-day': ,1 «! '» contains many attractive fea -lures. '' Tohunga" writes 'on " Karminj «''' of the Future," " My House on the Hill' ''i'i '''■:•is' contributed by. "A.A.," and J! Gil*: ' writes on Religion in Schools." " Wak< C Up, New Zealand !" is from the pen oi I'''? A .M. Sherman, while " Cockneynite"—; I * ; 7 pago in the pathology of speech'—is writ -ten by "0.C.5." The serials, "The Gold ■ ; <t -'.f •""cn ' Precipice," " The Liberationist," and , • "Mv Lady's Kiss," are continued, and % •' " Local Gossip, interesting items of news v \ from our London correspondent, humor--1 oils illustrations, chess and draughts, science, literary and.-musical jottings, and :C;l - London fashion notes also appear amongst i",|. 'l| ie other usual features. $£,;<• Our Wairarapa correspondent says: —A ■ \ representative of. a Wairarapa syndicate is - a tout.to leave for Queensland to inspect a ' large track of country, which, if suitable | is to be taken up,- and the people com- ' posing' the syndicate intend leaving Wai V . rarapa to settle on the property. The * capital of the syndicate is about 260,000. jjf'j- ' The necessity for the establishment ol libraries in some of the principal Suburbs ol i Auckland wa.s referred to by the, Rev. A. '' jTorth, at, the annual meeting of the Ley?: V". Institute last evening. The president (Mr. ; T. W. Leys) said that the question, had not ■ )>e»?ii lost sight of by the City Council, and if-*' 'the Mayor some time ago had stated that '■ ,1 sura of .03000 would be provided for -i ■ library at,-Newton*-when a. site was available. ■ Mr. C. J. Parr said that a. site bad ■' ■ already been obtained ill Hopetoun-street ' for a library for the Newton, Grey Lynn, ! »nd adjacent districts. The Council vena also looking cast-ward, and it was hoped - ~ that something in this direction would yet be done for "Darkest Parnell," 'when it ; came into the Greater Auckland of lhe ; near ||| ■ future. • . ■ ' ' The schema for" bestowing a New Zea- ' , land research scholarship has now assum,d practical form. It has been decided to award one in connection with the Aiiclcl'" , land University College, arid applications for nomination ar.'i now invited. <: The scholarship is worth £100 annually. sYi?., together with the expenses of research, rV' and is tenable for two years. 'flic holder will'bo required to devote the whole of •r his time to the work of research on an ap- , proved subject. ' The erection of the Newmarket railway • Flat ion, "which forms a part, of the pro* . . gramme of the Awckland-Pcnrose railway ; I duplication works, has been commenced. The old building has been moved further' h;3.- aions the platform,- in order to leave the site clear for the new one. The station 7 will be'similar in design to that at llcniuera, . but will, of course, be considerably larger. - A 'hew feature in connection with the . : teaching of carpentry and joinery was inaugurated at the Technical School on Thursday night. By means of a. lantern * ' the instructor, Mr. A. D. Trendall, dis- / ■ played pictures of buildings in' all stages of construction on the screen, and gave explanations. The pictures, which prov-'j S " " eel of much interest to the students, . were those of local buildings now in course, of - . erection, and'afforded with the explanations given . a practical illustration of .dv what is required. Some time ago an Ashford. litter was provided at Onehunga by private sub- : scription, the initiative having been taken by residents near the wharf, the. wharf la'bourers*'subscribing largely. This litter is v now jjfored'at the fire brigade station, and •'/ 'is available for 'a fixed sum per hour.. . Yesterday morning, when a body was re- . : covered - from * the Mfl-nukau Harbour, the • wharf hands complained that there was no stretcher or litter handy. Having assisted in securing a litter for the. town it was j. considered haidi that it could not be ob- ' tained except on payment of a fee. 1 In view of the fact that a number of nurses in Auckland have been stricken down with typhoid of late, the following, ■ appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald 1 ~ of-April 30, is of interest: —Nurse Gresham's death on. Monday night—a breakdown, which was the result of unselfish and i : heroic service in the Newcastle and lam- ' - worth Hospitals—is referred to in a letter r,y which reminds the public how long and hard the hours of labour are for a hospital staff. * Our nurses are, for the most part, overworked and underpaid. The great strain put upon, for instance, the lam- : worth Hospital staff, especially during the summer months, is shown by. this, -that in -■•• December and January there was a daily average of 29 patients, and during the two ; following months of 30. • The hospital was ' then full, mainly of typhoid cases. Three \ . . nurses fell ill from the strain, two more were' engaged. Nurse Greshain the ma- ' . tron, still worked, though on'the point of •i ■ breakdown,. At the. end of last -week j ' she became,seriously ill; an operation was i' c , performed,' which showed no specific cause -- of 'illness. As a matter, of fact, she was worn out. And on Monday night she died. .• If there are people to be foundand this ,! ' applies particularly to hospital nurses — - who are willing to sacrifice health and life to preserve the lives of others, we should _ ' all the more safeguard them "while we can, making their risk of breakdown as small as possible. That there is room in both . public and private institutions for improvement in this direction is obvious. , . Valuable testimony as to the usefulness of th'o work done by the Deaf and Dnrnb -. . Institute at Sumner is furnished in a 'let- <- 1 ter which Mr. J. E. Stevens,* the principal ■(> of the school, has received from the father of four ex-inmates/ His eldest son was 10 ; , years at, Sumner, and has been home for •v 13 years. He is a tailor, and has beeh earning full .wages in a first-class tailor s ;i : shop for some years. He has no difficulty in getting on with his room-mates, and , dofa all his own business, besides going ! round the district shooting and fishing. The. second son was .also at Sumner for * 10 years, and now speaks very well. He U . is a tailor, too, and earns full journeyman ; wages. The gentleman's daughter, who " was also at the school for 10 years, is a great reader, and writes excellent letters. The writer added that he had asked one ■ of hi;; son? whether he hud forgotten lip reading, but the reply was that it was im- ; possible, and lie could read lips juet as when lie left-school. .. i The theft of several books ajid the muti- ;'' lation of a number of other volumes belonging to the Leys Institute Library is p , 1 noted in the annual report of the committee ,of the institute. In regard to'the mutilated books it is mentioned that entire sec--1 . tions have been cut out of treatises bearing ;upon subjects dealt with in higher examina- '■ ■- tion:.: connected with the national system of education. ' 'It is expect. that the amount of bushfelling in this- district this season will be very small ctaijKired. with that of the last two or tlu»e v<.ars (telegraphs our Gisf 4 'borne correspondent). This'is to some ex- (' tent due to the low state of the wool market ;it present. 1 Some farmers, who had , - • not quite made up their minds as to the mount of now clearing to be done, have ] 'J]- now, in the lace of the latest returns, > : -.i derided not to fell a great deal this season. ' Ail . English mail, via Suez, is due at Auckland to-morrow by. the Moana from ; Mwy. ■Bite ■■■