LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14586, 24 January 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Fishing 7 enthusiasts will be pleased to hear of a little incident that occurred recently in the Waikato, about four* miles below Tuakau. The Maoris resident thereabouts, are -in -the habit of netting certain small fish in the river, and for some time they had been puzzled by taking among the ethers some fish they could not identify, and the wholesomeness of which they are said to have suspected. A few days ago some of them appealed to a passer-by to tell them what the fish were. The man was one of the Acclimatisation Society's rangers,. and he immediately threw the fish back into the water. They were healthy young rainbow trout, from 6in to Bin in length, and the ranger has reported » that . they • are remarkably plentiful in the Waikato River. Three or four years ago the rainbow trout were all cleared 1 out of the river by the big flood. Since then several introductions of fry have been effected, and the success of the restocking is viewed with great pleasure by those anglers who know of it.

. There was a very sparse attendance of Marys at the meeting held in the City Council " Chamber " yesterday afternoon, called, for the .purpose of making the necessary arrangements in connection with the proposed-,.' Coronation gift to Queen Mary by the Marys, Marions, Mays, and Marthas of the British Empire. Miss Bagnail -presided, and . suggested that the schoolmasters of. the province be asked to collect the donations. - In the South the amount asked was a penny for children and one shilling from adult Marys. Eventually the meeting was adjourned until Tuesday next, -in : order that the movement might, ■ become more widely known in Auckland.

A young lady, in order to avoid the crush, attempted to board J . he Bayswat-

ferry boat on Sunday without the., aid. of the gangway. The gap between the wharf and the boat was at least a yard wide, and Miss, Impatience failed to bridge it by at least half 'the distance. ' In falling she had the presence of mind to- grasp the side of the boat, and held on until pulled up into safety. No one expressed much pity for the' unfortunate; lady, who in future will no doubt adopt the legitimate way .of boarding vessels. .

The careless and reprehensible practice of throwing bottles on the various foreshores around Auckland lias invested the popular pastime of beach-bathing with an unpleasant featurethat of the risk of injury to the feet of bathers. A girl who was bathing on the Takapuna beach yesterday, had one of her feet rather severely cut by a piece of broken glass, and. was compelled to seek surgical aid. This is the second occasion on which such accidents have occurred during the past few days. .

The adoption of the system of rating on unimproved values by the Grey Lynn Borough Council, has resulted in one disability that has long been rather a sore point with, that corporation. It has been unable to levy a rate on the value of the Auckland Gas Company's mains, and it has, moreover, had to pay various sums to the company as the cost of lowering the mains in several streets that . have been cut down during the past few years. At the meeting of the Council last night ; it was stated that the matter had been represented to the secretary of the company, it. having been pointed out that it ! "was considered inequitable that whilst the company derived .. profit from the mains and paid no- rates, the Council should be compelled to bear the cost, of lowering the mains. The matter was left in the hands of the Mayor and town clerk.

Residents in Remuera district, near the boundary with Parnell Borough, are petitioning the Parnell Borough Council to have their properties taken into the borough. ' The petition was presented to the Council last evening. , The petitioners stated that they were either ratepayers to the Remuera Road Board or their properties were adjacent to t.he boundary line between the two "districts, " and they requested that the Council should, with the consent of the Board, take under its jurisdiction a certain area, of land. It was complained by the petitioners that owing to the configuration of the land their properties were approached over the roads under the jurisdiction of the Council. Then the water supply, was drawn from the mains owned by the. Councils although they paid by meter measurement to the RemueraRoad Board. Also the removal of household refuse was carried out by the Council's contractors by personal arrangement, but the petitioners had no" remedy against them in the event of their ceasing to remove the refuse. The petitioners also pointed out that in the event of fire the Board had no brigade. It was resolved to defer discussion on the letter, as the Council and Board We meeting in conference on Thursday evening, with reference to the borough boundaries.

A new award is being asked for by the carpenters of Auckland: ' A 44 hours' week, with payment at the rate of Is 6d per hour is being asked .for. This is an increase of twopence in the rate of pay, but the hours are the same as formerly. A movement; is now in progress to secure a Dominion award for New Zealand carpenters. ■ -

— • Monday next, being Anniversary Day will be celebrated as a general holiday throughout the city and suburbs, and as on former occasions citizens will be fur. nished with a plethora of outdoor attrac tions. The principal of these will no doubt prove to be the Anniversary- Regatta, which - will bo held in Auckland TTarbour. Ths entries received for the different events are most satisfactory, and those who journey out to the flagship are guaranteed a diversi tied programme of highly attractive an " keenly contested events. Devotees 'of racing are being catered for by the Takapuna Jockey Club, which will hold the second day of its meeting on Monday. i n addition to these attractions a number of public picnics will be held, including the Independent Order of Oddfellows at Papa, , kura, and the Central Mission Sundayschool at Motukorea, while the Northern Steamship Company .and tho Devonport Ferry Company will run special excursion steamers to the various popular resorts in and around the harbour. Other attrac tions announced are the regatta on th~ Waikato River at Mercer and the Acrricnl tural Show at Helensvilie.

Campers on the Dargaville coast were interested last week in finding a stranded nor. poise, eight feet long, i n proximity to their camp (writes our Dargaville correspondent) It had evidently been engaged in warfare with a shark, as a large cavity existed in its back. It is not unusual for porpoises to become stranded on the fifty-mile stretch of beach from Kaipara Heads to Bluff, and the resident natives are quick to seize upon the blubber. Twenty-five years ago stranded whales were not unusual* but these marine monsters seem to have altered their route of travel. Sharks are reported to be unusually plentiful, and coasting ma& - ters report that very large ones are &- quently, seen.

■ A meeting of the Auckland University College Council was to have been held yesterday, but only three members attended, and ■ the-meeting was adjourned till the date of the nest ordinary meeting, February 20. The lack of a quorum was in part due to the absence of the members who are attending the University Senate in Christchurch, and to the fact that others are still taking holidays.

The Parnell Borough Council is determined to mitigate, the dust nuisance, if possible, and with this object in view the following, motion, moved by Mr. W. Thomas and seconded by Mr. W. Johns, was unanimously passed by the Council last night " That the Streets Committee be authorised to treat, say, two chains of the Manukzu Road, between the rails and kerbing, with boiling tar and sand by way of experiment, to endeavour to overcome the dust nuisance and preserve the road." Several of the members spoke of the satisfaction that this method had given in other places.

During the last voyage from Wellington to Sydney the wireless installation on the Huddart Parker liner Ulimaroa effected communication with the Sydney station when 370 miles away. At 350 miles' dis r tance messages were exchanged. After leaving Sydney last Saturday afternoon, communication was maintained with the Riverina at a distance of nearly 600 miles, and with Sydney up till late on Sunday night. The Ulimaroa was in touch, with H.M.S. Cambrian north of Auckland on Monday night, when the cruiser was about 600 miles away. • On Tuesday night the Ulimaroa endeavoured to pick up the Wellington G.P.O. station, but the message could not be read by the shore operators. The Cambrian, however, transmitted the Ulimaroa's message to the Wellington station, which conveyed the information that the vessel would arrive at noon on the following day. Every, night the operator on the- Ulimaroa?could hear the warship Pioneer on her way to Sydney, and-otter her arrival there on Monday night ." conversed " with the flagship Powerful at Melbourne.

An article in the Army aad Navy Gazette on t>he new Defence Act in New Zealand, contributed by Major Boyd Wilson, does not give much confidence in mo scheme from the "universal" point of view. By omitting to provide a .means for the selection of the 3690. men who-will annually be required for the '..territorial army out of a total availableafter ex-emptions-—of 5000, the " House has failed to perform a most obvious duty, and has allowed to pass out. of its hands the settling of a most vital question, which, in the interests of the community, in the interests of the defence of the country, in the interests of the territorials, and last, but not least, in the interests of the v recruits themselves, should have been thoroughly threshed out on the ffoof of the House. Thus the very keystone of the whole fabric, the pivot upon which the harmonious and effective working of the defence scheme depends, the most- intricate question that requires solution is—left to regulations. And if the regulations on the subject are at all loosely worded the door will at once be open for the pulling of strings all, over the country, political and petticoat influence will receive an open field for their baneful efforts, and grave dissatisfaction may follow." Major .Boyd Wilson suggests as a remedy that those who are not chosen for the territorial force or legally exempted, should receive a. training in some quasi-military occupation, such as transport, hospital orderlies, etc., and compelled to devote an equal amount of time to the service of the State.

An incident in connection with the ballot held in Dunedin last- week for the . small grazing runs on Ormaglade and Morven Hills stations is worth relating, as it is probably unique in the annals of the ballot. A well-known family in the Roxburgh district, with four applications for each of the six blocks being offered, were unsuccessful in the first, three balloted for of Ormaglade, and for the fourth section there were 16 left in. As the two Morven Hills blocks were to come on after, evidently the representative 'of the family just as. the Ballot box was going to be opened asked for permission to withdraw their applications, but the Commissioner, to save time, said they need not complete if they drew the lucky marble, but to the surprise and amusement of the large crowd present the • family drew it twice, and on t-ho third draw Mrs. Gray, of Hyde, was successful. In the ballot for Morven Hills the four applications were left in for each, but were not successful, the general opinion of many present being that they had lost their luck for all time.

"There is only one place in the world where the tram fares are cheaper than in Christchurch," said the chairman of the Christcliurch Tramway Board at a meeting at Pliillipstown, "and that is Glasgow. You may take America. Germany, or any other place. I admit that they can ride shorter distances cheaper, hub taking the average there is no place cheaper than Christchurch. The I 01 1? seaside trip, no doubt, give* a cheap average."

Several Christchurch people who have returnee} home from holiday visits to _tho West Coast state that during the past fortnight the weather conditions have been delightful. The traffic _ between Christchurch and Oreymouth is fairly heavy just now, and five coaches owned by two firms are provided for the cat* riage of travellers over the interval in tha railway between Cass and Otira,.