LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15500, 6 January 1914, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

The attendances of the public afc the Auckland Museum during the holidays have been most gratifying. On both week days and Sundays the average daily attendance has ranged from 450 to 550.- In the course of the three hours during which the museum was open on Sunday afternoon last no fewer than 637 people entered the doors. The excellent Maori collection appeals greatly to visitors from the South, and from overseas, whilst the fine animal and bird groups also attract a great deal of attention.

The offices of the Supreme and Magistrate's Courts reopened yesterday, hut for the remainder of this month tie former will be open only from 10 a.m. until 1 p.n. daily, except on Saturdays, when nocin will be the closing hour. The various legal offices will reopen on Thursday. The Magistrate's Court office has resumed its usual hours, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily, and although the Police Court sittings are being held as usual, the sittings of the Magistrate's Court will not commence again until Monday next.

" I am glad to be able to say this," said the chief inspector in the Auckland district, Mr. E. K. Mulgan, at the meeting of the New Zealand Educational Institute yesterday, "that the people in this and other communities are beginning to realise that you carnot dissociate educational progress from social well-being. Unless the foundations of the social system are well and truly laid, the superstructure will not stand. I think we have much to be thankful for that this is being realised. I cannot help believing," he continued, "that you and I, working towards a common end, have a mission. We are endeavouring as far as we can in our own humble way to spread a belief in education. If you could only get the nation, the individuals of the nation, to really believe in the necessity of education, not merely to talk about it, but belies it. there would be real advancement in bringing about the modifications and improvements which we believe are highly necessary. If we could get people to realise that the staffing in our schools is still insufficient then I feel we should have an improvement very speedily. The public would insist upon it. Part of our mission," he added, " is to spread a belief in education and it is by meetings of this kind that we can do "bo."

, ioe wot* 01 ine new Zealand Fariliij Union is evidently now being apprnciaS in the North of Auckland, where thell vantages of the organisation have £>»- hitherto been availed of to the saml extent as in the southern portion of th I province. The Auckland provincial M cutive at present has before it '"iree'pf plications for the formati'v, 0 { lgS branches in the North. One has cool from WhakapintL, where th .-ty settlS are ready to join, and others from 31 tangata (Whangarei) and o>*ihau (fiS of Islands). The necessary steos fo- '*1 formation of branches in thesa centre* will be taken by the executive. v Disappointment was expressed by mas*' who attended the naval and military tout! nament ?t, Epsom yesterday that there witf no flight by the Britannia, the Dominion"* milita'-y monoplane, which has. b)ta fa exhibition at the tournament. It wag ex. pected that the tractor, cr.mmonly called' the propellor, would nave arrived frota Wellington in time to have permitted asascent to be made yesterday, but, unfortai; nately, it did not come to hand. reason was that this most important porl tion of the machine's equipment had uo£ been unpacked. Nevertheless, the mono/ plane attracted a good deal of attention,: Within the course of a few days the Britannia will be on view at the Exhibition. A flight is to be made in Auckland as soon as arrangements can be completed.' : h The building trad* in Grey Lynn was active during the past veai, although the value of the buildings" erected did not reach the value of the building programme of the previous year. In 1913 the Borough Council issued permits for the erection of eight shops, valued at £6500 and for the building of 122 dwellings, valued at £59,500, making a total of £66,000' for the year. During the previct(jj year permits were issued for the erection of 170 dwellings, valued at £85,000. 8 "A teacher runs the risk of being heavily fined when being promoted." said Mr. H. A Parkinson (Wellington) during a discussion at the Educational Institute meeting yesterday upon a motion that that transfer expenses of teachers should -by paid by the Department. The speaker stated that it sometimes took a teacher two years to make up in additional salary hij transfer expenses. Many other instances were given by delegates, one of wheal stated that when railway servants werf transferred, the Department bore the whol« of the cost. |f . I A public lecture on the principles 'of town-planning by a recognised authority ;oa the subject will be one of the notable fea> tares of the Australasian Medical Con; gress, which will be held in Auckland nejs month. It will be given by Dr. J. m Barrett, of Melbourne, under the title; "Garden Cities, Town-planning, and th* American Recreation Centre," and a largf collection of photographs will be used to illustrate the lecture. Dr. Barrett n„s made a careful study of the subject,-*an§ recently completed a tour of the world, in. which he made fresh observations of |S. development, studying, especially Si; methods of the United States and Europe'. Lately ha gave a lecture before the 'Sfcap Assembly of Victoria; The lecture Auckland will be given in the Town Ball on the evening of February 11, under the joint patronage of the officers. of the Medical Congress and the Mayor aSs councillors of the city. 'ill Tjtss of congratulation were passed yfcif fcjrday by the New Zealand Educatioߧ§ Institute' to the Rt. Hon. W. F. Mass3s- - Minister, Sir C. C. Bower,, sail Professor Stand upon the New Year hraM ours, conferred upon them; • TherecognitisF of. Professor Shand's long and valuaffli ■work in the cause of education was regarded by. institute : as well-deserTed and ih official acknowledgment of the edit' cationalists of New Zealand. .**'!: Advice has been received to the effectthat" the 'locally-owned ' barques Jessa Craig and Marjorie Craig have been sold' to Messrs. . Huddart-Parker, Ltd.; for use as hulks at Melbourne and Hobart..pfs two vessels have for years been einpkgfl! in the bteroolonial coal and timber trade, and have been, two of the most consistent sailers ever known in New Zealand and Australian waters. The Jessie Craig was formerly known, as the Isola, and was pur chased: by Messrs. J., J. Craig, Ltd, of Auckland, while the Marjork' Craig q«| first 1 of all known as the Hirotho. ■'; In those days such vessels as the Diipussond, Empreza, Pendle HiU/Rr«l§ Boyne, River Hunter, St. Kilda, Wool-, lahra, Zel&tsur } . Kathleen Hilda,' Quathlamba, Pelotas., Koagsbyrd, Rio Lege, '..ad? dozens of others held what was regard*! as a certain 'monopoly of this: particular business, but gradually their numbefaj dwindled down'- through one cause or ; ;aai" other, until hot more than a dozen % a£tb»? most are now to be found in the trade. Of those that remain perhaps the "Craig family," as the fleet was termed, was ths most remarkable. The fleet consist*dol| " Louisa," " Joseph," " lEtazel," ; and,;o|r course, the " Marjorie" and " Jessie," tfiafcj are now to be withdrawn, and each and every unit was a sailer in every sense "mi the word. Now, however, a "start h«g been made towards disbanding it, it oily! remains to be seen how long it will take ; for their names to disappear, just as so many other famous old " New Zealenderi"? have don©.";"-':- --^ Expressions of appreciation of tho excellent and successful organisation of the; Auckland Provincial Farmers' Union in regard to the late strike continue to he received by the secretary of the union; (Mr. A. Schmitt). Letters from all p£r&| of the province have come to hand. One,] illustrating the feeling of the Far Northj| comes from the Fairburn (Mangonui}| branch of the union. The splendid; way. in which the union dealt -with tlw; recent industrial turmoil," it reads, "h%; won our general admiration." The Otara': (Bay of Plenty) Settlers' Assoc : ation atop writes in the same strain, and thSj United Bay of Plenty League, in a lette£ to Mr. Schmitt regarding railway mawS ters, ' expresses similar sentiments. ■ .*?; An extension of the Manukau Water; Supply Board's system seems imperative; in order to meet the growing demand* of the district. A small portion of Epsoi(J| is under the jurisdiction of the Road;? Board, but is outside the water area.? An up-to-date drainage system has been; arranged for by the Road Board, 'AM cost of £55,000, but any such system JrJ of no avail without water. Those oatit side the water area are naturally cont| cerned, but the Epsom Road Board M unable to extend the area owing to leg?l| difficulties. It is anticipated, however|j that some arrangement will shortly bfg brought about whereby the waterless arca| will be amply supplied. The Grey Lynn Borough Council does tip very profitable trade in road metal. Tlv§| quarry, which is situated at the Western! Springs, was opened some 14 months agOtS and operations have been active there «*S since. Besides supplying the requiremeß'fs|f of its own district the Borough Council lute been selling the metal to other local bodies* thereby reaping a fair profit. For the liafe eight months of 193 the council sold soni§|| 10,000 yards of meial for a return fig £3245. At the beginning of last year G%| Lynn also purchase ' road roller., and this"; has been hired c,i to contiguous lec»£ bodios, with the iwult that th* ijjle' iw already, nearly paid f«t it? If, .'§|p