LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14825, 31 October 1911, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

In support of his report to the Collector of Customs that a barrel with the name Isabel" printed thereon had been washed ashore on the Great Barrier, Dr. Hallen (Government officer) has telegraphed that ha has seen fresh timber wreckage in the creek at Blind Bay. The barrel,. Dr. Hallen states, is similar to those generally used on ships for carrying preserved meats. He has been unable to discover any other lettering on ; the barrel except the word "Isabel." Mr. Ridings (Collector of Customs) has telegraphed to Dr. Hallen, instructing him to employ a man. to make a thorough examination of the wreckage and report.

The number of steerage passengers leaving Auckland for Sydney during the past few months has been considerably in excess of the number arriving from Australia by the regular weekly steamer. The figures for the past fortnight show that 213 passengers were brought from Sydney in the steerage, 153 by the Maheno on October 22 and 65 by the Victoria on Sunday. The people who left for Australia in the same class numbered 200, and cf these 110 sailed by the Maheno on October 24 and 90 by the Wimmera yesterday. This shows an excess of 18 in the arrivals over departures for the fortnight.

Speaking at last evening's meeting of the Newmarket Borough Council, Mr. A. E. Whittome took occasion to refer to the new tar macadam roadways it is proposed to lay down in the main streets of the borough. He quoted from the oversea edition of the London Daily Mail, published on August 5 of this year, a paragraph in which the disappearance of the road dust nuisance is pointedly referred to. "This year," says the paper, "is all the more remarkable, when it is remembered that last year 37,000 motor vehicles were added to the ro?.d traffic, and that enough petrol was consumed to represent journeys amounting to 600,000,000 miles. This year tho miles covered by motor vehicles of all kinds probably exceed 700,000,000 miles, and there is no outcry about dust on the roads. The removal of this evil is due to the fact that road engineers have now got to know how to use tar."

A young woman named Ettie Ryan died at the Auckland Hospital at nine o'clock yesterday morning. Deceased, who was 24 years of age, lived in West-street, Newton. Shortly after one a.m. yesterday Dr. Hope was called in to attend her, and her condition was so serious that he at once accompanied her to the hospital, where she died some ; hours later. Dr. Hope had not previously attended the young woman, and as a medical certificate as to the cause of death was not forthcoming the Coroner (Mr. T. Gresham) will hold an inquest at 10 o'clock this morning at the hospital.

A special meeting of the Auckland and Suburban Drainage Board, fully attended, was held last evening to consider the situation caused by the labourers' strike. After a preliminary discussion in private . the subject was.;discussed, and. it was decided to offer to meet the union representatives in conference this morning, along with representatives of the contractors, and five members of the Board were appointed as delegates. The decision .and the reasons for it were communicated to the union representatives, and it was agreed to hold the conference at half-past ten. x

The trout-fishing season will open tomorrow, and on the strength of reports received from the haunts of the rainbow, anglera anticipate some good sport this season. ' A certain amount of fishing will be done at once, but there is not likely to be an exodus of fishermen from the city for some weeks, the best sport being obtained about January and February, when the fish are in much better condition than, now. The Taupo district is likely to be the favourite resort for those in search of keen sport, the reports stating that come large fish have been seen in the waters of the lake and adjacent rivers.

Auckland's new "lung,",. Point Erin Park, will come into the possession of the city to-day, when the late owner, Mrs. Campbell, will vacate the property. For some weeks past a number of workmen have been . employed on the property carrying Out the initial steps in the scheme of improvements. The park, which juts out into the harbour, forming an imposing promontory, is surrounded at the foot of high cliffs by Shelly Beach. The workmen are now engaged in forming a winding roadway from the beach into the park. Several other pathways are being laid out, and in various ways the property is undergoing transformation.

During a short discussion in the Magistrate's Court yesterday upon the question whether, after judgment given, an application for a nonsuit could bo entertained) counsel was reminded that his application .should have been made prior to the pronouncement ■' of " the Court's decision. "But," added Mr. Kettle, S.M., "I have some recollection of a case in which coun-, scl for plaintiff, fearing that the judge was against him, rose and asked for a nonsuit, and the judge smilingly remarked, "Very well, Mr. Blank, I have not the slightest objection to granting you a nonsuit, but if you had waited a few minutes you might have found that my judgment was for you ; however, as you wish it, I'll enter a nonsuit."

From March 31 to September 30 six associations under the Land Settlement Finance Act were incorporated. There were three in the Auckland district, containing 19 members with an area of 2213 acres, the purchase price of which was £32,350; and three .in Canterbury, containing 15 members, with an alternative area of 3404 acres, the purchase price of which was £33,393. At September 30 there were under negotiation four associations in the Auckland district, with a membership of 26, an area of 3880 acres, and a purchase price of £35.888; in the Wellington district three, with a membership of 33, an area of 4962 acres, and purchase money £121,514 ; in. Canterbury three associations, with a membership of 16, an area of 4234 acres, and purchase money £31,187.

The Alexander mission is expected to reach New Zealand about the middle of March. At the meeting of the Ministers' Association yesterday afternoon, a letter was road from the secretary of the executive committee in Melbourne, announcing that a cablegram had been received from Dr. Chapman and Mr. Alexander, containing the definite information that they will sail from America on February 21 next. The arrangements for the Auckland mission are in the hands of a united committee, with power to act.

Those who have not enrolled in ant; tion of the general election would be T* 8 to do bo without delav. The , issued within seven days of the prt], tion declaring the prorogation 0 ply": % meat. As the supplementary rolb <•} J** with the issue of.the writs very little « .left for enrolling. At.nJ'f? 8 ' and other easily accessible p!» ces A ' gazetted, a copy of the maun roll cm ■ •' found, together with claim for enroW forme, so that those who desire an oppor '' tunity of ascertaining whether their raru« - are on the rol's can do so. . " v' ;

A horrid something is haunting *tU neighbourhood of Takapuna. Its habit are unpleasant, so far as it has yet fob', cated them, for it has, according to report' nearly unseated a horseman by scaring hjl' horse, and -killed a calf; and, to crown all has left footmarks 4in across and of ' nature capable of being mapped out upon " a diagram. The horse was scared Deep Creek about a week ago, and the calf - temporarily disappeared a few days la^ r ; only to be discovered in a mangled state ! afterwards. On Saturday some settlers formed themselves into a vigilance com mittee, and, heavily armed, stalked' the invisible creature. Id was not found, bet its footmarks were duly discovered /'and now the local Smithsonian Institute ' j*V? arguing as to whether they are the spoor of a puma, or an elephant, or a bamhes Probably if taniwhas were not ' purely mythical beasts, it would have been a : tamvha. No inquest has been officially held to discover what killed the calf, and as the rider of the scared horse did nob have much opportunity to examine the intrader its nature is a pleasant mystery. For the sake of keeping up a lively in. terest in a suburb where the evenings are of a country peacefulness, and for other reasons that have to do with their own feelings, the people who have been investigating the apparition are no doubt:! earnestly-hoping that it will turn out to - be a real live tiger.

A child, Eileen Drake, aged four year?, who resided with her parents in Crnmmer Road, Grey Lynn, "was admitted to the hospital on Sunday suffering from severe scalds, which she received through pulling a can of boiling fat over herself. The chili is now progressing> favourably.

The annual rose show of the Auckland Horticultural Society will be held in tlia" Choral Hall on the 6th and 10th of next month. The show is being held later this year than usual, as it was considered that in previous years it was held too early for the roses. The children's sh&«r, which is usually held with the rose show, will bo deferred till December 1. when if> will take place in conjunction with sweet pea show and the flower carnival in the Metropolitan Grounds. Entries for the rose show close on Friday. As the season has been art exceptionally good, one for roses a larger display of the queen of flowers than in previous years is expected at the show.

An anonymous letter remarkable for its slang vocabulary and its use of scornful: epithets, has been received by Mr. Fraser, president of the General Labourers' Union, in connection with the strike. Mr. Fraser is advised by the unknown writer to get; out of the city before he got a ballet in the brain, showing, as he : laughingly put it, that his secret correspondent at least credited him with possessing a brainquite a compliment in comparison to tho other statements in the letter.

A tally of the traffic on the tram bridge ! and the Bower bridge at New Brighton . during ten days showed that 9687 vehicles v (including bicycles) crossed the tram bridge, an average of 353,575 for the year," and that the average for the year for tha . Bower bridge would be 180,274, making a total of 533,849 vehicles for 12 months to . and from Brighton. Half the traffic over the tram, bridge r-msists of cyclists. , :

One of the most, daring burglaries that has occurred in Sydnep for many years past was successfully carried out at the residence of Mr., Framk Albert, head of. the firm of Messrs. Albert and Sons, music warehouse, Sydney, oris morning last week. The burglars opened ' a large, iron safe, and after extracting jewellery valued at about £1000 escaped in Mr, Albert's boat across Elizabeth Bay, first, however, treating themselves to whisky and soda found in the house. Mr. Albert's residence at Elizabeth Bay *' fronts the water's edge, having a boatkous9 . and ; swimming bath attached. Superinten-' dent Edward, chief of the traffic police,, resides next door, at " Leith Links." All the occupants slept upstairs, and Mr. . Albert's safe was in a spare bedroom ad- g joining his own. Unfortunately, a door was left insecurely fastened on the ground floor, and this gave the thieves easy access to the house. Once inside, the burglars' task was easy, and they apparently experienced no difficulty in getting upstairs to the safe. They first made their way into the room where Mr. Albert 'was sleeping, and searching for the keys found them in his pockets, and secured thorn. Than they quietly returned to the room where the safe stood without disturbing l the sleepers. They also opened the safe noiselessly, and extracted the jewellery. Mrs. Albert is an enthusiastic collector of precious stones, ana . these, with other gems, were in the safe; but this morning it was found the thieves had secured all the most valuable of the collection, including the presents made to her by Mr.. Albert on his return from a recent trip * abroad.

Owing to a disagreement the Highland Pipe Band, associated for several years with the St. Andrew's Society, has resigned in a body from the society. The band has now been re-formed under th» name, of "The Auckland Pipe Band," and has unanimously re-elected its old pipemajor, Mr. J. W» Elmslie, to take charge.

A Sydney lady who for many years pasthas been an ardent collector of used and unused post-age stamps has suddenly found herself wealthy. Her father, who at one time held a position in an English bank, had for many years been a collector, and when he came out to Sydney in the early sixties he continued his hobby till his death, 20 years ago. He left his daughter a trunk full of stamps, and from that time to the present she has added to the collection. A visit to the stamp exhibition, which was held in Sydney last week, con« vinced her that the trunk contained a fortune of no small dimensions. Learning that the overprinted Fiji stamps, which were used by the Gilbert and Ellice Pro-: tectorate prior to the establishment of an independent post office, were worth front £5 to £7 a set, she realised that it* this variety alone she had quitu a respectable fortune. The result was that an expert was asked to value the collection, which has been roughly estimated at several thousand pounds. It is expected that when a more detailed examination is mada the value will be found to be quite £5000 or £7000, but the lady resolutely refuses at present to place the stamps on the mar-' ket.

The second vote on the proposal to borrow £1500 for the formation, of - a mora direct road ■ between Tuakau and Whacga* rata was taken on Saturday .last (writes our own correspondent). The proposal was carried by the necessary three-fb'th* majority, the voting beinsM For. IQQ.i! against, 65 A