LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15131, 23 October 1912, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

When the plans for the new chief post office at Auckland were prepared, space was allowed on the third floor for a large room, which could be taken for any use the Department saw fit. ■ It has now been decided to divide this extra space into two rooms, which will be used as recreation rooms for the... telegraph messengers and lettercarriers. The work of partitioning the space is now undeT way, and the accommodation provided for- the employees should be of great service to them, especially in wet weather. - ;••••■

9" Would, anybody here like to start work on a dairy farm?" asked a farmer on the sjteimer Surrey, which arrived in Auckland with some 155 immigrants on Monday night. He then detailed to the strangers gathered about him the conditions of work. " Good pay, easy time, and pleasant surroundings," he explained. The immigrants listened attentively to his pleadings, and were very interested in the production of some photographs of the district the farmer "hailed from. Through his energy the dairyman will take back to the country with him to-day at least.one burly Englishman who has had no experience in farming, but who expresses great faith in his ability to learn the new life 1 and make a success of it.

A story is told on the steamer Surrey of a little escapade indulged' in by a dozen of the vessel's crew when she called ,at 'Capetown. When the time arrived- for her to sail from the South African port, no less than 12 of her crew were missing. Upon a search being made in the city, it was found that they had been ' having a | convivial time, together in. a hostelry. ! Efforts to induce them to return to the | ship quietly failed, but in, jolly mood the | 12 of them- clambered aboard one hansom cab and went for a''drive round the town. In the meantime, the Surrey had gone out into the stream, but could not proceed without the defaulters. The latter were at last persuaded by the police that it meant either the cell or the ship, and. they returned to their vessel in a motor . launch. They each paid 15s for their little- change ■from, the tedium of the long voyage..

• Cambridge is experiencing a coal famine, the stocks of. all the local merchants being entirely exhausted (writes our own correspondent). Until work is resumed at the Huntly collieries wood will' necessarily have !to be used as fuel. Fortunately, there are ample supplies of coal for'two or three' months ahead at the Cambridge gas-. works. ' . ■' it . _ , The Railway •'. Wharf presented a ..very busy appearance yesterday, when, two large . oversea /vessels, .two colliers'"and. several r small:coasters were engaged in loading and discharging general cargo aid-coal. On the eastern side of the wharf are berthed the Shaw,. Savill and Albion liner Arawa, which is loading large 'quantities', of ' New Zealand products.for, London, and the collier ' Ngahere, . which is discharging coal, into "railway, h trucks and hulks. On the western side are the Federal-Shire steamer Surrey, .discharging , large assortments of, i general cargo from Liverpool, ' and the collier Myra Fell, which is. putting out over 4000 tons of Newcastle coal.

An invitation to visit \ the: waterside workers' waiting-room on the Queen-street Wharf during ■ the • lunch • hour - has : been extended to the members of the Harbour Board by the secretary of the union. He stated'in his letter, that the.membership of the union has greatly increased, and the accommodation Is now insufficient, and asked that the rooms' should •be'added to. The chairman of the Board, when-' the letter was read at the Board's meeting. yesterday, said that the accommodation' was ample for its primary purposes—as a place to engage labour,-and as a waiting-room. It •might not be large enough for the hold ing of big union meetings'; and 'while the Board had permitted the meetings to be held there, it was 1 not* obliged 'to provide accommodation for such gatherings. The request was accordingly declined.

Long, delays at the. Post and Telegraph Office counters are not infrequent, and there are times during, the day when the pressure of business is so .heavy that the person without superabundant, energy may have to wait even a-quarter of , an hour before being' attended to. When the new offices are opened, however, all will be altered and a long-suffering public will find that its business will be. transacted in a manner satisfactory alike to itself and to the now overworked postal officials.

. "If every portion of the St. John's College, ground were sold or let to-morrow for building sites, and if there came in from the, sale or jetting tens of thousands of pounds, - the Auckland ; Diocesan funds would not : " benefit' : to 'the extent of one penny,"' declared-Bishop" Crbssley at' the Anglican' Synod yesterday. ' Continuing, he explained that the public oten refused to give monetary support to the Auckland Diocese because it was considered that the necessary funds could be raised by selling the St. John's College lands and the Melanesian Trust lands. "I will be forever grateful," he added, " if it is made plain to those people who want to know why we are not using these lands to benefit our funds, that the lands mentioned are not ours, but that, on the contrary, they belong to the* Province of New Zealand and the Melanesian Mission.- The - public may rest assured, however, that the .Boards controlling the trusts mentioned are making the best use of the lands for the purposes for which they are intended."

. I. , A witness, in giving Iris evidence yesterday in the Magistrate's Court, concerning the state of the Carlton Gore Road last July, stated that even then the road had been in process of formation for some 'months. Judging by the rate of progress made hitherto he thought that the road would continue in the process of formation for some years.

■ The advisability, of establishing an Auckland Provincial Church paper was urged in a report presented to the Anglican Synod yesterday by a special committee. It was stated by the committee that inquiry made throughout the diocese had led them to the opinion that a paper, independent of the existing Diocesan Magazine, should be published. The formation of.a company to carry out the proposal was suggested. The Synod will consider the proposal together with other reports. 7

A very large number of topical events of vv. interest, are illustrated'in this week's issue of the Auckland Weekly News, which* is on sale to-day. The Labour unrest ia'H? the Dominion furnishes the subject for. many pictures. There is a page of recent.-; snapshots in Waihi, together with pictures ? of the Auckland labourers' strike, the closing of the Karangahake mines, and the J demonstration at Westport. The weekly cartoon .also deals with the Labour ques- "'"' tion. Supplementary to the fine series of pictures of the Main Trunk slip published last week, the number contains a page of interesting snapshots secured during the last few days at the scene of the accident. Amongst the numerous other subjects illustrated may be mentioned :—The Bishop's garden party at the opening of the Auckland Anglican Synod, the parade of Auckland boys' fife and drum bands the Mount Lyell disaster, the mishap to the steamer Gertie at Foxton, the Wai. kato whitebait industry (double page), North Auckland railway construction, the opening of the Wellington wireless station and many others. There are also several interesting portraits, and numerous scenic and industrial pictures from all parts of the Dominion, making up a number of great all round excellence, and one which furnishes a most interesting pictorial record of current events.

Prior to the departure of the steamer Maheno on Monday evening, one of the firemen, who had been on shore, returned to the ship in an intoxicated condition. A motor car was waiting at the foot of the gangway, and in the exuberance of his spirits the inebriated one put his fist through one of the lamps of the car. A sequel to the occurrence, was the appearance at the Police Court yesterday, before Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., of Arthur Later, on a charge of drunkenness and damaging the motor' car lamp. The accused, who appeared in the dock minus his hat, coat, and vest, remembered having been drunk, but had no re-; collection of having broken the lamp. " Ha has already paid the penalty," said SubInspector Hendrey. "He has cut hishand, and missed his ship." " Yes," inter, jected the accused, " and lost my hat, coat and vest." The magistrate ordered Later to pay 13s costs, the Salvation Army authorities offering to find him food and shelter until the return of the Maheno.

Just after 5.30 o'clock yesterday afternoon a Dominion Road tramcar, while rounding the corner from Wellesley-streeb into Queen-street, met with an accident. - The pole became detached from the over-i head wire, and striking a side post with some force, was shattered. An inevitable ' delay occurred while the derelict tram was towed away, and a long line of waiting cars " stretched down Queen-street, the accident % taking place at one of the busiest times of the day.

Some comment was aroused by delays, which ■ occurred in the .berthing of the steamer Wimmera at the Queen-street .Wharf on October 13, and in the berthing /; of the Monowai at the Railway Wharf on October 18, and a report upon these occurrences was submitted to the Harbour Board by the harbourmaster. It waa stated that in the case of the Wimmera, the delay was due to inability- to berth on , account of the wind and tide, while, in the case of the Monowai.,, the conditions were .. such that the vessel could easily havs been berthed by any of the Board's officers. Their services and those of the 'tug'were, however,.declined,.and the ves- '.. sel waited for -three hours before . coming , alongside. The chairman of the Board re- j marked that the report showed that there, 'was quite as , much • difficulty, in berthing £ 'at Hie,.old, Queen-street tees ,as ; at,the . Railway", Wharf. ... Mr. , Alison,, who' has.' 'long contended .that" the new wharves, lie § in the wrong direction, said that-the ex-j perience, of-years showed that the opposite .was the case. Mr. P. Virtue rejoined that the experience of the past was based > upon the much simpler handling, ofyj smaller vessels. The discussion looked J for a moment as if it would develop to' some ; length, as it is a subject which has been prolific of argument in the past; but J after the engineer had given; a statement regarding float tests, bearing out the bar-' bourmaster's report, the matter, was dropped. "

An official communication from the \'« Marine Department was received by the Auckland Harbour Board yesterday referring to the two cables io be laid for the .- Pacific Cable Company by the cable "p steamer Iris in the Waitemata Harbour at an early date. The letter stated that A a notice to mariners referring to the laying 4; of the cables would be issued, and a copy ' of; the notice was attached. The striking .; feature of the notice was a plan, which . contained. an error. It showed the two pro- ' posed new cables as running from Pousonby Point, one towards Takapuna and .-, the other towards Eiverhead; and in addition an "existing cable" between Ponsonbv Point and Stanley Point. A brief report from the Deputy-Harbourmaster (Captain Sergeant) was appended, stating -that the last-named cable did not exist. The error had no doubt arisen from the proposal made some time ago to lay a cable from Ponsonby Point to Stokes Point, and thence.to Stanley Point. The. ■ error, as soon as it was discovered, was pointed out to the Department. In the Magistrate's Court yesterday Mr. Kettle, S.M., found occasion to remark ." on the general lack of intelligence shown by people concerned in accidents. In such cases, he said, when an accident takes , place, the people concerned should as soon as possible afterwards make a thorough inspection of the surroundings and circumstances, to facilitate the understanding by the Court of all the circumstances. Instead of that a solicitor was usnallly instructed a week or two afterwards, when it was too late to ascertain any definite ! The next lecture of the Auckland Insti' | tute will be held in St. Andrew's Hall, I Symonds-street, to-morrow evening, when the Yen. Archdeacon Walsh will give a full account of the Manu-aute or Maori kite. The lecturer will trace the history of the kite from its remote origin m the Polynesian Islands, and will describe the various forms it has assumed and the purposes for which it has been employed. Some of the kites in the Museum will be exhibited in illustration of the lecture, ana Archdeacon Walsh will give drawings on the blackboard of specimens obtained from various sources. In many countries kiteflying was looked upon as an amusement for children alone, but in New Zealand it was no uncommon thing for the elders of a tribe to practise it as a pleasant relaxation. The lecture will be open to the general public and should attract a good audience. A claim for £50 damages was received by the Auckland Harbour Board yesterday from Mrs. Culpa* through a solictor, icr alleged damage to two houses mlMi J Terrace, caused by the Board's Wasting . operations at St. Barnabas Point, claimant averred that the foundation. *£ been injured, windows broken and chim neys cracked. In Addition to tto , damage to her property, she jaw . ;.. health had been senously rf**£ letter contained a request that tn . _ . ing should be stopped failing vh h< . junction would be bought. The ie and . , referred to the committee, the engineer .. the Board's solicitors to report. . .I- ' ■