LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14806, 9 October 1911, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

Aitthobity has been given for ;an additional metallic 7 telephone circuit to be erected between Cambridge and • Hamilton. An extension of the telephone ser- - vice ( from Broadwood to Runaruna and W hakapara. in the Hokianga district,' has also been authorised. The work in each case will shortly ;bo put in hand.

Mails from . the - United Kingdom and Australia arrived by the Maheno, from Sydney,. yesterday morning. The mails comprised 582 bags, 331 bags being dealt with at Auckland, the balance (251) being, despatched South' by the Main Trunk express last night. Personal items r and other interesting news from our London correspondent, together with »the usual budget of Australian mail news, will be found elsewhere in this issue. - -

The festival of the Jewish Feast of the Tabernacle, was celebrated on Saturday, special services being held. " The festival, which lasts eight days, concludes next Saturday, when festival services will again be celebrated. .

Through the capsize of his cart in New North Road on . Saturday, Albert' Edward Skinner received injuries which necessitated his removal to the hospital. Opposite the old brewery site, repairs are' being made to the tramlien, and an excavation is roped off tt> keep the traffic clear of it, a' narrow right-of-way being left on either side of the tramline. Skinner evidently drove too close to the barrier, and the cart wheel went over a heavy flag-stone,-' which caused the . vehicle to capsize, and threw the driver and the contents of the cart, which consisted of several barrels" of overripe fruit, on to the road. As a result, Skinner's back was severely injured. • A well-known landmark on the railway line at Ellerslie is the . white house and beautiful i grounds \ originally erected and laid out by Mr. Justice Cooper. 1 This property, which has been owned and occupied by. Mr. M. M. McCallum for the last seven years, has just been acquired by the Roman Catholic community for a convent and convent sciiool, and the spot should prove an ideal one for the purpose. With the approach of the summer months the traffic _is. rapidly increasing by the ' Main Trunk express. Last night the train consisted of 10 large carriages, including the sleeping compartments, and I all the accommodation was occupied. Among the passengers were a large number of visitors who arrived by. the Maheno from Sydney.. . . * ' The ? City Fire * Brigade • turned. out to two alarms'; of fire • yesterday. An " out- ; house catching fire in Franklin Road was | responsible for one call, and some person > burning < rubbish in a cellar in High-street occasioned the other. ' No . damage was done, in either instance. ' ~' •

Owing to slackness in traffic, i in logs and sawn timber, on the I section of railway, the Railway | ment has decided that after 'October 15 I trains irom Dargaville to Kaihu, and versa, will run only on Tuesdays, days, and Saturdays, (telegraphs Dargaville correspondent). Sawmilling 9 rations have, however, been at Kaihu, and there is every probability 111 of a briskness soon recurring. . The I from Kaihu is being extended three miW on to the Wairoa terminus, and 60 ' inea f are engaged on the work by the Pablio : Works Department. Local bodies are agitating for a • further exteu-; ft sion of some few miles to a point wher* - 30,000,000 ft of kauri arid a similar qnan. ~|l tity of other milling timbers would b® tapped, and where the growing pastoral industry in Lower Hokianga' would ha served. The Northern Wairoa Da'rv Company has communicated with- ; •• General Manager of Railways, asking'hia ? ,r to reconsider his dtecision, as under tHat arrangement cream suppliers to' the facte?# will experience serious inconvenience. '* jhsM Contract No. 14, which the Drainage Board is calling tenders for,, is the branch - J "i 5sewer between the. Newmarket railway , station and the old Junction Hotel. " Tjjjj * sewer will receive the major portion o| One-tree Hill and Epsom drainage^ ' Two settlers, Messrs. Makgill and M'd- * i dleton, who have extensive property teres at Horahora, near Cambridge, recently sent to Auckland for an: analysis o£ S a sample of clay obtained from a spot oaffel their property, near the Waikato River* four miles on the Cambridge side of tha Waihi Company's electrical works. , - Tha analysis and report is to the effect that the clay possesses good marketable value." The owners of the property now have ig . contemplation a scheme for developingtiitftfl product. Evidence also being forthcouH ' ing of strong indications of coal in tha same locality, Messrs. Makgfll and Middie-i § ton are procuring a boring plant and ex-* periments will be made forthwith. The old colonists' reunion is to be post* poned (for this year only) from October 10 till the new Town Hall is opened, : which it is expected will be early in De j cember next. Due notice of the data will be given later on. ' ' All colonists of fj 50 years* standing and upwards, whs? havfc not received invitations previously, are re- JPfll quested! to send in their names and ad* 'vj dresses to the registrar, Miss E; R. Kirfa wood, Eden Crescent,' Auckland. , , i ; I|| "■ ?SsSlli

A first offender who appeared in the Police Court on • Saturday charged with • : ' being drunk strenuously denied that he had been found lying across the footpath in Shortland-street helplessly drunk at il.& on Friday night. He swore positively that : ho . was arrested between four and* five f o'clock in the afternoon, and: that .it was broad daylight. Mr. F. Y. Frazer, S.M., holding that defendant most have bees very drunk indeed when he could not trfj; * ' the difference between daylight and moon.. ? light, fined him ss, with the alternative oi 24' hoars" imprisonment, and then the dS- |jj§ fendant with seemingly blissful innocenca and simplicity asked the magistrate, "How, much are you going to allow me for my •! expenses?" , ' -

• The Gisborne Chamber of Commerce has lj written': to the New - Zealand Shipping Company, the Shaw-Savill Company,*' and '£ - the Tyser Company, suggesting they should - a J join in putting one vessel per month on .**" the berth, to "carry direct shipments "fofi/i'l Gisborne. : They hoped: that after a con- v '>• ference with the companies interested 5 ; ; ! reply would be given that would lead to .» the initiation of the direct shipments, , 1 which the ' 'chamber ' believed _ .would ■>- bi, . remunerative to the companies and lbs : v Gisborne importers. " ' It was mentioned by an expert witness - 1 at the sitting in Dunedin of .the Royal Commission on Mines that there are 5000 ■ j steam boilers under - Government super* -- : vision in the Dominion. There .were no " § expert boiler inspectors representing thq - Government "in England or in the Com* '■ wealth, as there are in New Zealand, ) Here an official record. of all boilers wag I kept from their birth until they were com >! delnned to the scrap-heap. In proportion - | to the number of boilers in use there weir® - ' fewer explosions in New. Zealand than ity n Great Britain, Australia, or America. . t V 1 - • » In discussing the Marine Estimates iS < the House of ; Representatives last week: - ■*'"* Mr. W. T. Jennings (Taumarunni) said that as the initiator of a training ship for v ; New Zealand boys .he congratulated ths . . Government and Department on the euo< '■'! cess which had been achieved by the train*", _ ing ship Amokura. He asked the Minister if. the time had not arrived for a further K extension. The Hon; J. •: A. Millar said ha was of opinion that a sailing vessel, in ad- ' dition to the Amoknra, should be obtained, . * and the Government had the matter nock? £ j consideration. ; He read a list of the mux* ber of hoys that had served on the Amc* 1 kura, and said the result was very satis-. : factory. The number of boys that en*; rolled was 185, of whom S3 had joined the mercantile marine, and 13 the Boyal Navy. " ' ' " ' !"vV

The second instalment of the brilliant;.- r: new serial, " Marie," by H. ; Rider Hag* . | gard, is published in to-day's issue. '-A'l§l| comprehensive synopsis of the opening chapters, . which were published in Satur-1 day's " supplement, accompanies to-dayV instalment. " ' ' . Knowledge of signalling by the Morse'4|'l code is becoming necessary to all officers on ships, so as to be able to send messaged between passing vessels or to lighthouses. To be an efficient signaller one has ; to be |tlp in regular practice, and this is' not always r obtainable by & seafaring man. >-By the aid of a machine that has just; been invented, a novice can send or receive a ■ message ||| (save the Otago Daily. Times). In sendi ing a message you . touch the letter re* l-H quired on & typewriter key, and the dots' and dashes are. flashed out from the lamp ' , shutter automatically." ;In receiving a mes- |jj| sage the attendant repeats the dots and dashes flashed } from the sending station by working a lever from one side to th« : other, dots being. made to the* left and ■ dashes to the right, and when a letter is completed a plate is depressed, thus prints y ing the letter by a. typewriter, (which i$ ;'i| part of the machine) on ! a paper ribbon* - The receiving machine is placed above tk<? . • sending machine, and the whole is en-? - I closed in a case. In making this machine } the inventor has had no other machine as a guide for giving him his ideas.. Being a seafaring man himself, he conceived the ■- >| idea of having a machine that would be of. - : assistance to those who had not the oppon ,|| tunity of being proficient in the . use of tha " S Morse code signals. Mr. T. Melville, Tj chief engineer of the s.s. Corinna, is ths ..| inventor of this automatic signaller... ....j ■jJ An exceptionally large sale of all classed •i|| of fishing licenses—j, ladies, . and 5j ,S boys—has taken place ,In Canterbury,, although it is yet early ' in the season, No reports have yet been made of large r ;/j= takes from the Avon, but it is anticipated i that a little ! later, when the weather be- / J comes warmer, good baskets should. be -■■■s obtained in view of the fact that about J 15,000 two-year-old trout were recently % liberated from Victoria : Lake. . Some of f|| these fish (says a Christchurch paper) were J| over 21b in weight, and should provide JCOO-'J sport in the near future, ' ■