LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15404, 12 September 1913, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

The mail steamer Tahiti arrived at Wellington yesterday morning from San Francisco and way porta, with a large European, American, and Canadian mail. The Auckland portion will arrive by tihe Main Trunk express this morning.

One of the saddest circumstances of the recent terrible railway accident in Yorkshirenamely, the death of Sir Arthur Douglas—was recalled by an incident at the sale of Mr. H. Winkelmann's collection of books last night. A simply-bound volume, catalogued as "The Dominion of New Zealand—A. T. Douglas," was offered, and there were no bids. Then someone said: "Sir Arthur Douglas's book," and immediately bids "came freely.

The death has occurred of Era Nahua, one of the leading representatives of the Ngapuhi tribe in tne North (telegraphs our Whangarei correspondent). For many years past Eru Nehua, whose wife was a descendant of Tamati Whaksr i Nene, the famous chief, lived in the Whakapara district, where he exerted a wide influence. It was due largely to his efforts that many of the natives readily gave their land when the Whangarei-Opua railway line was being extended northwards. The late chief was very highly respected by both the native and European communities. Ho was over 80 years of age, and his last appearance in public was on the occasion of the visit of Lord and Lady Islington to Whangarei, when he extended to them, on behalf of the Ngapuhi tribe, a cordial welcome.

No further cases of the prevailing epidemic were discovered in. the city or suburbs yesterday, while reports from the country districts contained no reference to any fresh cases. Last night there wore 26 patients in the Isolation Hospital at Point Chevalier, and it is expected that about six of them will be able to be discharged to-day. Our Waihi correspondent telegraphed last night to the effect that a trader, who is said to be a contact, had been found disposing of smoked fish and other foodstuffs to business people in the town The authorities at once ordered the destruction of the produce sold, and instructed the contact to return to his home, and remain there for 14 days. Arrangemente are being made for the appointment of a health inspector at Waihi. The buildings used by the patients at Parawera have all been destroyed by fire, and the immediate neighbourhood nas been disinfected.

.By the unanimous vote of the councillors, the Mayor alone dissentinig, the Takapuna Borough Council adopted a resolution expressing strong endorsement of the petition presented to the House of Representatives, urging that a more central site should be secured for the new post office. The resolution will be forwarded to - the Petitions Committed, to which the original petition was referred for consideration. It was stated in error yesterday that the motion referred to had been defeated.

Lecturing on bacteria before the Royal Society of New South Wales last week Mr. A. S. Le Souef said that an ounce of soil usually contained ten to thirty millions of bacteria, showing the immense preponderance of life hidden from the naked eye. There were a great many more varieties of bacteria which fed on these very minute forms of life. There were tens of thousands of living things hidden from sight, and they all lived on each other.

*eacral-Shiro. steamer Tyrone, which : .V; arrived at Auckland last;., evening from ' - Liverpool, via Duroan and Australian ports, was delayed fo?? a week at Durban -- owing to a shortage of coal at that port* which was due to the extra supplies needed v";'-t on "the railways, as a result of the recent; -- \% strike on the Rand. On the passage fconflllf§ Durban to Melixmrne, the Tyrone en- m countered some 'heavy weather. On August 23 she was buffeted by a heavy «!„"' • from the north-west, accompanied by fierce ' rain squalls, while a high and dangerous - '* sea was running. The vessel shipped huge seas fore and aft, which caused some dam- ' -" age to deck fittings, the force of the seas' ■ ' tearing away steam pipe casings on the fore deck, rlie gale raged wit), hurries • ' lorce for nearly three days, followed by - moderate weather until August 28, wires, a heavy northerly gale was encountered which lasted for 24 hours. ' ■ f The trials of an amateur gardener were' • >"'? the subject of Police Court proceeding yesterday. George James White had made . himself an attractive garden in Remuera ' 3 expending considerable trouble and tim« ' "" in laying it out. The neighbours' dogs 1 however, seemed to take great delight ay ' ': I uprooting -planted shrubs and flowers A and in doing damage in sundry other waya' }1 When the owner of the garden reason*! trated with one dog, it bit him and tore" ' the leg of his trousers. Mr. White then '"'"'•' '' hit upon the plan of laying appetising '.. ' morsels of bread and meat on the ground for the benefit of the dogs. As thesa '" ' " morsels contained poison, there was at " sudden mortality among the neighbours' , dogs, this being followed by complaints on the part of the owners to the police. As - - " the poison had been laid within three chains of the road, although only just / within the three chains prescribed by the >.|-,"; law, Mr. White was fined £1 and 7s costs. • S , The ordinary meeting of the Birkenhead^-.''' Borough Council, which was to have been i held last night, lapsed for want of a'';quorum, only the Mayor (Mr. W. WaL-'" lace), and Messrs. A. Bartletfr, C. Mason '". and F. M. King beiug in attendance at . the time appointed. The Mayor, in ad. ■ ' journing the meeting for a week, said this - : was the first occasion in the history of the" borough that a council meeting had lapsed for this reason. / % The oil steamer Cape Breton, which has : > - been expected at Auckland from New ' York for the past week, with a full cargo - ' of, caee oil for the Vacuum Oil Company;, passed Cape Brett at 9.30 a.m. yesterday/-,' \ •< but had n*fc reached port up to an early hour this morning. The vessel has made "-l ■ a more lengthy passage than usual for ' -~, . steamers trading from New York to New "Wi Zealand, having occupied 82 days on the passage. The officers of the Federal-Shire-' ' liner Tyrone, which arrived last evening ■, from Liverpool and way ports, reported iJ% that the Cape Breton left Durban ' oij : " August 8, one day before th« Tyrone con-,.-' tinued her voyage from that port. The * ' Tyrone made calls at Melbourne and} - Sydney, en route to Auckland, and ai( -/J'/f the Cape Breton has presumably come direct from Durban, she has evidently, '- either met with bad weather on its . passage, or her coal supply has run very v low. It was the Cape Breton that made - "; a non-stop run some two years ago frofflj S- \ London to Dnnedin. ~±z J f[ A meeting of ratepayers of the Hianora, Gainsborough, and Crump Estates (being a portion of Point Chevalier), was held m, */ the hall, Morningside, on Tuesday night, for the purpose of discussirg the advisab*'' i lity of amalgamating with the. Motiifat||§! Albert Borough. About ratepayers were present, and after hearing the report, of the delegates (who recently waited on the Finance Committee of the Mount Albert Council) a strong committee was formed with the intention of bringing about tlw amalgamation as early as possible. Mr. 3. Lock was appointed chairman of the cmb-. mittee, and Mr. T. C. Thatcher hon. socre-;. W&§ tary. Messrs. Thatcher, Lock, and "Boylance were appointed as delegates toinier-Vj?." view the Mount Albert-Council. The feeling of the meeting -was that the intended amalgamation was a .-step in the right direction, and the voting was unanimous; '■■' i " Dancing, the theatre, and other questionable amusements," formed the subjects" ■ of a series of resolutions adopted by the - leaders of the Methodist Church at North-;. ' cote, a suburb of Melbourne, on Sunday,,'' and a cable message yesterday mentioned that a considerable stir had , been caused, ' \f<s by the action taken. The leaders dis- ,''i cussed what was considered the spiritmd peril attaching to . dancing, and strongly ■% urged all members and adhemte. of the " Church to abstain therofrozm A promt nent Auckland Methodist minister stated .- yesterday that it must be remembered that ' it waa not a synod or conference thct •- passed those resolutions. The Church in ' New Zealand had never taken any move in this direction, nor was it likely that it; - would. Of course it was open for any parti/;/:f cular branch to act just as the Northcote.-,' branch had done, but it was highly im- ';-/>• probable that the Methodist Conference/ of New Zealand would, regard the matter in the same light. ■ ".'..' / < After paying for the ensigns which were / '-_■ presented to H.M.S. New Zealand during her stay in Dominion waters, the Timarq branch of the Navy League found that" a" balance of £40 remained in the fund, which was contributed to by league members • | throughout the country. It has just been - decided by the Timaru branch to remit that amount to Captain Halsey, with * suggestion that he should purchase a cup/ - or cups, for a gunnery prize. §|| Whenever Chinese appear in courts, or places where they are desired to give evi- , dence on oath, they generally aver that, - they do not understand English. This;' //J I difficulty arose at a meeting of creditors/ held yesterday, at which tho bankrupt was? ?•' ; a Chinaman. The services of an interpret - ; /| ter had been requisitioned, in order tbat| > '-* the proceedings might be facilitated. Dur- : -4 ing one stage, Mr. B. A. Singer, who ,■ / peared for two creditors, put a question; to the bankrupt in English, stating that . % i bankrupt understood the language per-* r i j fectly well. Mr. A. E. Rkelton, bank-\ '; rupt's counsel, said the Chief Justice (Sis :,| Robert Stout) had ruled recently that 4 ; | foreigner was entitled to speak in his own language through an interpreter. " E | don't think it- looks well to make him speak in English if he wants an interpreter," observed the official assignee (Mr. W. S. Fisher). With a fleet of 32 large cargo carriers -, available for traffic with the opening of the Panama Canal, the American-Hawaiian line is, according to advices received in •.. Sydney, giving much consideration to a project to operate several vessels in the -, trade extending to Australia. That Ameri- ' can-Hawaiian freighters that regularly visit ;. Honolulu ould without much time or ex- C/.;; pense be converted into cattle or refnger- ?. -. ated ships, is pretty generally admitted, I* /// is predicted that Australian meat both on v the hoof and in refrigerated state, will enter the United States in increasing quan- , tities following the adoption of the new -, /"■ tariff schedules. The meat trade will . naturally assume greater proportions, and . ' more tonnage will necessarily be in de-> mand. Already the Union Steam Ship / Company has, prepared for an increase of" ■> traffic in this direction by the charter si ' , .; - additional tonnage. '..}. - : s , .. ■ I -' i L ■ ■ .- : ■' '••'.?"-'/; -",