LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14849, 28 November 1911, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

Tub reward of bravery will be conferred on Master Kenneth McLean, of Devonpcrt, by the Mayor of the borough (Mr. Wm. Handley) at the Council Chambers this evening. Some, months ago Master McLean rescued Master G. Nixon from 'death, by drowning oft the ; Victoria Wharf, and' his meritorious cervices on that occasion have been .recognised; by the Royal Humane 1 ■.: Society, whichf^ ; has awarded him a certificate on vellum. The boy scouts officials; have also awarded him' the life-saving badge ox the organisation— a silver star. . -~ - o.':-/ ":■■{■; ;; ;

The price of strawberries is still too high to tempi many to buy, Yesterday they sold at auction ,at from 10id* to Is l|d, and so long as the present weather continues there is no likelihood of : their being any cheaper. ■■■. Given fine weather at - Christmas, however, there ".should be a plentiful supply. Cold, hard winds, such as have been prevailing for some time past, are responsible for .the present scarcity, add the result, to growers will be disastrous. . In addition to being bad for the 1 fruit,' the weather seems to have affected the demand.

A sad instance of a man's downfall was brought to light ■in . the Police Court yesterday, when Wm. Morris appeared to answer ] a charge of vagrancy. ; ChiefDetective ; Marsack said the accused i was a qualified medical man, and at one time was '■ practising in Timaxu. Drink had apparently got the better *of him, and, according to the evidence given !in Court, his -< life in Auckland has been a particularly sordid one. i He explained that he was .expecting money *\ from his trustees, and Detective Hollis said it was quite true that ho was very well connected, but; his people had refused to have anything further to do with him.

The big Quay-street ' extension scheme was considered by members of the Parnell Borough Council last evening. ( A letter, dealing -with the subject, was received from the Harbour; Board, and Mr. Chas. Bagley (representative of the district on the Board) was present. The acting-chair-man (Mr. W. Thomas) said he thought the Council would give its sanction to'the proposed work as outlined in the letter. The proposed. road from Alpha Road to King's Drive would give a most excellent means of exit from s the whole ;of the land, which, would be. reclaimed in the Parnell area in the future, to the lower part of the city, where .the" large warehouses would be. Altogether it would be a big advantage to Parnell. Mr., Bagley explained the details of the scheme, Tinder which lands and buildings to ' the value of : £60,000;, would become ratable by the , Parnell Council. i The Council gave its ; f approval to the action of its representatives in agreeing to the 'scheme, and Mr. Bagley was thanked for his services to the borough iii this and other matters. "/

Following in, the line of other progressive local bodies, the One-tree Hill Road Board proposes to ! instai a drainage scheme for the . district. A poll of ratepayers is to be held on January 17 on a proposal to raise a loan 'of £20,000. ; The district to be reticulated will be that portion from Boon's ston>, '.Epsom, to the Junction Hotel, Manukau Road, connecting with the Auckland Drainage Board's sewer at the Junction Hotel, and the whole, of the district down Greenlane to the Great South Road, connecting with the Drainage Board's sewer at Greenlane. All the intermediate district will also be served.

The conditions attending Bishop Crossley's recent visit to the King Country were somewhat disturbing. Very frequently throughout the tour he encountered severe ~- thunderstorms, and when -; the weather was favourable political candidates were competing with the Bishop for public attention. On one occasion the Bishop and a politician met in an out-of-the-way township. TJtio service and the political meeting being fixed for the same hour in different buildings, the Bishop and the politician were faced with the question of having to divide the limited population, and as this was deemed inadvisable it became necessary to arrange a compromise. This was happily effected by: the Bishop taking ah hour and a-quarter for his service and the politician getting the rest of ; the evening for the expression of his views. '.. r ': ;

Neatly dressed in a dark green braided eosturao, ■' Susannah Hamblyu appeared in the Police Court yesterday before Mr. F. ; V. Frazer, S.M., charged with performing ( an -illegal operation -on a young woman on or ; about September 4. Mr. R. •<■ N. Moody appeared for accused,' who; was remanded for a week, bail being ' allowed in one ■ bond vof £300, and two - sureties of £150 each. >:-">;V '• \' •• — ;;; '"

Regarding the reported unrest amongtb«K<\'" » natives of the : Solomon Islands, Captain ' \ IV. Silver, of the Melanesian Mission - steamer Southern Cross, states that it faa« ' \ been confined to the island of Mala. ■ -Thoftl \ kanakas who returned from' Australia were ' • the first to stir up strife, and as Boon at the natives began to realise their power the ' position became serious. Th© bush tribe*-- ■• bitterly Tesent the intrusion of the white man, and head-hunters are employed, who when opportunity offers, murder anyone in. • connection with the mission villages and carry the heads of their victims to. the chief. A high price has, says , Captain I Sinker, been set for a white man's head and the missionaries on the island are work. tog in imminent danger. The natives at th« mission settlements have been taught that ■ it is wrong to fight, and are. practically [ without any means of defence. When the ■ warship Torch landed a party to suppress the unruly natives, the hill tribes hid m < the bush and opened a fusillade on the' party with rifles. A bluejacket was shot through the jaw, and the party retreated There is a police forco on the island, but ' natives are employed, and they are not at all satisfactory, as they only stay in the force a short time, and then want to re. turn to their villages. Captain Sinker is of the opinion that if natives could be im, ported from Fiji or some other island the results would be more satisfactory. He. considers that the now arrangement in the New Hebrides entered into between the English and French , Courts will achieve highly satisfactory Tesults. "' ' ■ - '. An accident happened to a big four, wheel waggon loaded with about five tens of flour at tho junction of Customs-street East and Queen-street yesterday. Owing to the bad state of the road one of the front wheels got buried to the axle, and ■ the, horses in a vain endeavour to extricate the V J vehicle broke a shaft. ■ ■ ■'■ -' '■ '■ ' ' '-•-;' $§Pplf . Immigrants to the number of . 172 are f l ! coming to New Zealand by the -steamer Morayshire, which is due at Auckland from Liverpool about. December 7. The destinations of the immigrants areas follows:-, Auckland, 56; Wellington, 48; Dunedin. 16; Lyttelton, 21 Westport, 4 ; New Ply* mouth, 4 Gisborne, 5 Bluff, 5; 'Nelson 11. They are mostly of English and Scot! tish descent, and all trades are re'pr-* 6ented, there being several carpenters, blacksmiths, printers, engineers, butchers * colliers, eheepfarmers, labourers, a journalist, a nowsvendor, a surveyor, and. several tailors and dome? servants. * Whether election day and second-ballol ' - day should bo declared* holidays from noon for wharf labourers was discussed'by the Wellington Harbour Board at its lasfl meeting. The Wharves Committee recom. > mended that, following the practice of j previous . years, the ; days - should be ' observed ;as ■■holidays. ' An objection was raised on the ground that it was not wise to prevent working men who were anxious to earn their living. In any case men would bo working, so that -the object of the Act would be more or less defeated. The only difference would be that they . would receive overtilae rates. The re,' commendation was rejected, but a motion that work on the wharves cease between 12 noon and two p.m. on those days was carried. ■•■ ■ ■'- • ' :■■.;■:■'■•■■■ - '-v. ■ ;"■'< ;-v.. A resident of Great North Road, Jameq Stone, met with a serious accident yesfc*':'||||| day afternoon. He was employed fey Messrs, L. D. Nathan and Co., and while working' ' in the. firm's business premises he gel) caught in the lift and was severely' crushed. The , unfortunate man was removed to the hospital, and it. was found, that the base of his ekull was fractured. His condition ill; ' regarded as serious. ' ■ j A t ■■?;f;|||| ~ '..While working on a girder at the Auckland Electric Tramways powerhouse an employee named Matthew Daniels fell several feet. He was at once taken to the hospital, whew;'/ ' 'i it was found that he was suffering from severe internal injuries. ' ■..'' At the meeting of the Auckland Intlitute, to be held in St. Andrew's Hall this ■'■.•' evening, an interesting paper will be read by Mr. W. B. Oliver on the birds of the: Kermadee Islands. This remote and eel.. dam visited outlier of the Dominion is remarkable for, the numbers of Oceania birds, which breed thereon, in eome caseg . in countless thousands. Mr. Oliver was, a member of the sccntifio .expedition whicH visited the islands nearly two years ago, r . residing thereon for nearly a year. During that' period a great number of obicr-* various were made on the habits andmod> of life of the avifauna generally, and a; series of photographs was obtained show,' ' : ing the birds in \ their natural haunts, I These have been converted into lantern ' | slides, and-will be exhibited to the meet, I ing. With the exception of certain seats 1 reserved for numbers and their friends, the meeting will be open to the general | public. I Some years ago,two large carved ricas figures were found in New Plymouth, and ~ | passed into the possession <of Mr. W. H„ Skinner of that town. The carvings are■••'•>• |of extreme interest, being deeply cufi from stone blocks or boulders., One « nearly circular, about" 2ft 6in in diameter* and is said to represent - a goddess, bei fore whom offerings .were made by war< parties " before setting out on an expedK tion.] The.v stone is., of grotesque . shape and carved in bold relief. The - other relio is ; covered with a great number of spirals, amongst which can be seen the head arid l arms of the human figure. It is 1 about 2ft in height and a little over ' If* in width at its . widest part. r; Vba.%'; is probably! one of those figures put in' kumara plantations to ensure .- a favour,, able crop and to generally promote the : ; i fertility of the soiL By Mr. Skinner's. permission caste of the two effigies have' J been made, and these are now on \iw in tho Dominion Museum. >•' An elderly resident of Onehunga, Mr< - William Hayter, sen., was knocked down and severely injured in Trafalgar-street} yesterday morning , by a youth who was cycling along the footpath. . Mr. Haytet, was picked up and carried to bis homCj,. , where medical assistance was rendered. Referring last week to a recent case of suicide by lysol poisoning, the Melbourne Coroner (Dr. Cole) said that though »q ■ many persons used it as a means of self, destruction, it was still sold to anybody* Lysol should be made more difficult -to obtain. Medical men have expressed sum ; prise that suicide by . lysol should be 6$ frequent, as the poison will cause acut* agony before insensibility supervenes* Present conditions point to an aburn dant. supply of soft fruits in Otago taut season. "Last week a Dunedin auctioneer* , visited .the orchards in the Waimate dis*; trict, and he says that tho prospects ol a great yield of strawberries and rasp* berries are excellent. This year there is fully three times more land nsed fofl limit culture* than there was a few year*: ago, and the number of growers baa aw creased from twenty-four to sixty. A~, ■ few of the growers have as much as aboutt : | twenty acres of land entirely used for th* growing of strawberries. Last year *M growers obtained good prices, ranging from 10id to Is 2d: per ■;pound for the best early yields. It is-thought tha« raspberries will not bo dear- this .' season* "as r the yield promises to bo exceptionalffl, heavy. r Tin potato crop .in , Waimate \ ?. r ? going to be very heavy, also,