LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14819, 24 October 1911, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A sad onding to a day's pleasure overtook a lad named Albert Williams, 11 years of age, who resides in Dominion Road. He had been present at the Labour Day sports in the Domain yesterday. After the sports were over, at about six p.m., he rushed out into the street. At that moment a. motor car came along and knocked the unfortunate boy down. It was at once seen that his injuries were of a serious nature, and he was hurriedly taken to the Auckland Hospital, where it was ascertained that he had sustained serious internal injuries. An operation was performed on the boy last night, but his condition is still regarded as serious.

Still another rise in the cost of living ! Sixpenny meals will now be a thing of the past. At a recent meeting of the Auckland restaurant proprietors, it was decided to raise the price of 6d meals to 9d, and the 9d meal to Is. This increase in tho cost of meals has been found necessary owing to the rise in wages and material.

Owing to the Harbour Board's decision not to open the sheds on the wharf on Sunday, the Maheno was unable to leave for Sydney yesterday. At seven a.m. yesterday the waterside workers, in accordance with their decision not to work on Labour Day, knocked off work. Two hours' work would have finished the discharging of cargo. The balance of the cargo will be discharged this morning, and it is hoped to despatch the vessel about noon.

No fewer than nine unfortunate children, who had lost their custodians during the progress of the sports at the Domain yesterday, were placed in a conspicuous position in tho centre of the ground by the officials, where they presented a very woebegone appearance. , Tears gave way to laughter as one by one they were all claimed by anxious and distraught parents.

The Canadian mail steamer Makura, carrying the English mails, is due at Auckland from Vancouver and way ports about 10 a.m. to-day. After the vessel has been granted pratique by the port health officer/ she will berth at the outer eastern tee of the Queen-street Wharf. It is expected that a large number of passengers will leave the steamer at Auckland. The cargo to be discharged at this port totals 300 tons. The Makura will coal here and will leave for Sydney this afternoon. The mail steamer Marama, the next outward vessel to leave Auckland for Vancouver, left Sydney yesterday afternoon, and is due here early on Friday morning. The Marama will berth immediately on arrival, and the medical inspection will be carried out at the wharf. This arrangement was inaugurated with the Zealandia on September 29, and is understood to have given every satisfaction. The Marama, after taking on board outward passengers, mails, stores, and cargo, will leave at 2 p.m. on Friday for Vancouver, via Suva and Honolulu. She is due to arrive, at the Canadian port on Friday, November 14. Despite the fact that prizes to the value of £10 were offered for the bestrdressed lady,in a " harem" costume at the Labour Day sports yesterday only ,two entries were received, and evidently. the courage of the intending competitors failed them at the last moment, and instead of running the gauntlet of thousands of eyes, in this much discussed' costume, they allowed the competition to fall through.

The weather early yesterday morning looked anything but promising. Several heavy showers ■ fell before nine o'clock, but the clouds then rapidly cleared, and the day turned out beautifully fine and warm, the heat being tempered by a light south-west breeze. In addition to the big gathering in the Domain, large ' crowds took advantage of the fine day to visit the various picnic resorts. The ferry boats running to St. Heliers Bay, Motutapu, and Devonport carried large numbers, and it is estimated that over 3000 journeyed to Bayswater. The trams running from Bayswater to Lake - Takapuna were unable to cope with the large number of pleasureseekers. Over 1000 people made the trip to the Great Barrier by the Navua, and some excitement was caused at the ship's gangway in the morning in the eager rush for tickets. Long before the time advertised for departure she had her full complement, and fully 300 had to be refused. '".' ; ," }

Attention is drawn in a Sydney paper to the danger which the user of a public telephone may run through the microbes of diseases lurking in the mouthpiece. Germs of diphtheria, influenza, or consumption may, it is pointed out, be contained in the mouthpiece, and a healthy individual using it may unconsciously contract any one of these diseases. No better "culture bed" for tubercle bacilli could be imagined than some telephone boxes, and many people when using public telephones actually press their lips into the mouthpieces, while others touch them with their hands, both habits being of course dangerous. It is pointed out that for the safety of the public the mouthpieces of public telephones should be disinfected daily.

Admirable arrangements Were made for the keeping of the crowds from encroaching on the sports ground during the progress of the Labour Day celebrations at the Domain yesterday. All round the ground where the sports were conducted a temporary fence of mesh wire was erected. This saved the officials and the police an infinite amount of trouble in maintaining discipline at the big gathering, and enabled the sports to be carried on without interruption. It was - suggested to a reporter yesterday that a permanent picket fence should be built round the sports ground, and the suggestion seems an excellent one. In most of the big sports grounds of Australia a picket fence is built around the grounds, and presents a neat appearance. To erect such a fence round the Domain ground would not cost very much, as there is a lot of material there that could be utilised. As many gates as were considered necessary could be placed at intervals along the fence. The scheme of erecting such a fence seems one worthy of consideration, as the absence of such a barrier at big gatherings in the past has been a source of considerable trouble to the police and sports officials.

In speaking to the toast of the mining and agricultural interests at the luncheon in Huntly yesterday following on the driving of the first pile- of the new bridge, Mr. . W. J. Ralph gave an interesting account of the rise and progress of the coal industry there. In 1870 or 1871, when his father discovered the main coal seam, the demand for coal was very limited, and mainly depended on the river steamer, which, at that time, plied up and down the Waikato. In 1900 the total year's output was 78,000 tons, and last year 235,000 tons, the total output up to March 30 this year amounting to 269,500 tons. The company's wages bill came to £71,000 annually, the number of men employed at present being 480. To the man behind the pick the prosperity of Huntly was mainly due, and he hoped the Government would .recognise that by giving them facilities for taking up land, on which to create liowee a Jong the new railway route.

The need for more missionary "work' m the back-blocks which was re? e J! . to by Bishop Crossley in his address ™ the opening of the Anglican Synod •[' j Friday last is emphasised in the annul report of the homo mission workin if* '" "i diocese. This report, which was befo> - tho Synod yesterday, referred to the -,»*., * j increase of population in the Ki l Country and contiguous districts. "Th* ; • \ great work before the mission," it * ' i stated, lies in the counties of Tarari It and Ohura,'especially the Ohura; settler! are pouring in here all the time, an* 1 unless the Church in this diocese 'makes a supremo effort in sending men into \ these young districts, and keeping them there now, it will soon be too late foiji'M the Church to enter there at all. Now ' is the time not five years hence.'' That the local police are thoroughly well qualified to deal with large crowd' was evidenced at the Domain yesterday One serious disorder led to three . arrests' There were also a few minor troubled* hut the police with unfailing tact and good humour kept excellent order.' A*. the conclusion of the gathering the com* mifctee met and gave three rousing cheers for the police.

The question of no-license and Dominion prohibition will be discussed during.the. '■'---', present session of the Auckland Anglican Synod. The Rev. C. A. B. Watson is to move, "That in view of the. 'widespread evils of the liquor traffic this Synod 'urgent!* requests churchmen and church women to consider their serious responsibility in the matter, and to vote at the forthcoming poll in ' favour of (a) no-license, and (b) Dominion prohibition." ■ • The proposal of the City Council to acquire the Orakei native reserve as a site for a model suburb has led to amove* -'' - ment in the direction of endeavouring to secure the settlement of a portion of the large area of Church of England land adjoining Orakei, which is at present only being utilised for grazing purposes.. Thera are about 1500 acres of this land belonging to various Church trusts, including St. John's College and the Melanesian Mu«W.4" sion. A deputation from the West Ta« '"'* maki Road Board has waited upon the Mayor (Mr. C. J. Parr) with a suggestion ,that a portion at least of the Church land in question should be added to the schedule of the Bill which it is proposed§|it ; ) to pass to provide for the acquisition of . the Orakei property. The Mayor, in ■ promising to give the matter considera- Mjj tion, remarked that it was "rather a larga order." Nothing, of course, can now be done till, next year in regard to the pro- - posed legislation, in respect to the Orlkei estate.

The rapid expansion of the City of Auckland and its ever-growing suburbs is mak-.' ing itself evident, not only by a constant, demand for new and enlarged school buildings, but also by a cry for more sites for church purposes. In a report received by the Anglican Synod ; yesterday from the. Standing Committee, it was recommended that the General Trust Board be requested . to allocate from its revenue £100 a year to aid in the purchase of new church inks. The committee reported that the need for suitable sites in both the city and suburbs was an urgent one. A notice of motion on the subject by Mr. C. J. Tunks appears on to-day's order paper. An important step in meteorological worlc has been taken by the " Commonwealth meteorologist, Mr. Hunt, who has inaugur* ated a system for the extension of investigations into atmospheric movements over the whole surface of the globe, with a view v . to arriving at a knowledge of - the: laws governing long period movements of • the earth's ■■; atmosphere as an aid to seasonal forecasting, in order to increase the period ;T| : y over which forecasts apply. As an initial, step towards' this end a communication has been addressed ;to the -. directors of the S meteorological services in London, Arge tine, United States, Canada, South Africa, Russia, and China a3 follows: —''May I crave your co-operation in an; experiment which I propose making with a view to the issue: of seasonal forecasts. It is assumed : J' t that if a departure of pressure has takea place from the normal,over a considerable area of the surface of, the globe a corresponding compensation takes place in some other region, possibly in the form of a ". '■ transition wave ';■ extending \ over several |%; months. My idea is that if departures, of pressure can be sent to me monthly re £2 each of the continents I may be able toSgg discover which of them, if any, - concern Australia, or parts of it." . •'■'■.. ■Conditions are none too hopeful in Eng- : 4 land, according to a private letter received ,".- ;by an Auckland gentleman by the* last ;.; mail from a New Zealand friend, who is now in the.Old Country. "Living in England is frightfully expensive," says the writer, "and, owing to Lloyd-George arid strikes, everything is rising. There is also a rumour that as soon as winter -,-. sets in (the letter is dated the first week - in September last) all the coal miners are . to strike, and we shall have no coal. '. I ' am beginning to think that England is a good place to be out of, at any rate, until we get a change of Government. We have had the driest and hottest ■• summer known for years—drought all over the country, and ruin to dairy farmers ana others, besides loss of fruit." A gentleman recently arrived from South , Africa has been lecturing in Sydney on the black danger there. He points out that it was a foolish act *to grant the coloured people of portion of that country the franchise, and that unless this privilege is abrogated or reduced, in about a-quarter of * century the whites of one or more of the States will be dominated by .the coloured people." He suggests that in South Africa, . and in the United States also, arrangements should have been made to keep the coloured people in reservations. This would have been a very difficult thing in both countries, for the blacks are numbered by millions. The great point made by the lecturer was that the negroes were increasing much faster than the whites, the tendency, of the latter being to decrease, md that the time must come when by natural increase the coloured people of South Africa will have become so numerous thai |«| white rule must pass.

A good performance in long-distance . wireless telegraphy was put up by the Maheno's operator on the last trip from Sydnev. On Thursday night the operator spoke "to the steamer Kanowna, which was then nearing Fremantle, a distance from the Maheno of 2100 miles. The Mahenoa operator was also in constant communication during the voyage with the Hotel Australia at Sydney and the station at Suva. On the voyage from Sydney new messages were received every night/ Last night the operator was in touch with the mail steamer Makura, en route from Van- . couver to Auckland The operator on ft» Makura stated that the vessel was then 200 odd miles distant, and would make por* at 10 o'clock this morning. ' . : \W'M A fire occurred in a wash-house at «a back of Mrs. Woodhouse's residence in Nelson-street yesterday afternoon. Mrs. Woodhouso had been washing some wotlies and during her temporary absence a spar* from the fireplace ignited the building, City Brigade succeeded in quenching * J outbreak, but the wash-house wae practically destroyed. The building was insured for" £25 in the Sun Insurance Oi;ts