LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15557, 14 March 1914, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

The Canadian-Australasian mail liner Makura arrived at Auckland at 6.30 a.m. yesterday from Sydney direct, after a creditatle and fine weather passage of three days 18 hours across the Tasman Sea, The vessel brought 250 passengers in the three classes, of whom 81 landed at Auckland and 169 are proceeding through to way ports and Vancouver. The Makura is loading the usual large quantities of New Zealand products, the principal items being about 13,000 boxes of butter, 1800 crates of onions, 320 cases of kauri gum, 103 bales of wool, and a large shipment of frozen meat. About 140 passengers in all classes are joining the Makura at this ' port, so that by the time she is ready for sea she will be practically a full ship, both in regard to passengers and cargo. The liner is timed to sail at 10 a.m. to-day for Suva, Honolulu, and Vancouver. A slight accident *>efel a lad named Percy Campbell, who resides in Wanganui Avenue, Ponsonby, a*- the Bayfield public school picnic at Brown's Island yesterday. He was playing with a number of other boys on a small wharf at the Ferry Company s coal depot when he missed his footing in making a short jump. The result was a twisted knee, which deprived the boy of further participation in the events of the day. The mishap did not occasion much pain and first aid having been rendered the unlucky scholar was made as comfortable as possible until his return to hie home in the evening. Peculiar circumstances attended the burning of Mr. R. A. Large's house at Mangapapa (says our Gisborne correspondent). Mr. Large was at home alone and while in the garden about 1 p.m. he noticed smoke coming out of the house. On going into the kitchen he found that a piece of wood had fallen out of the range and had burned through the floor. The fire was promptly extinguished. It broke out afresh several times, but on each occasion was subdued by buckets of water. Between 3.30 and 5 p.m. the fire restarted in two or three places, but was put out each time,, and Mr. Largo kept a close watch until 6.15 when everything appeared safe. He then went a short distance away for his tea. He had not been there long when he observed that; the house was once more on fire, and thus j time it was completely destroyed. Some exceptionally rough weather was -experienced by the steamer Clan Mac- | donald while the vessel was crossing the Southern Ocean on her way from South Africa to Auckland. The steamer arrived yesterday morning, after a' non-stop passage of 33 days. The rough weather commenced on February 25, when a severe gale accompanied by tremendous seas was ; encountered and lasted for two days. As the Clan Macdonald was in light trim, she rolled about in a most alarming manner. So severe was the storm that speed had to be reduced at times, when just enough headway was made to keep the steamer under control. As the big seas struck the vessel she was lifted high out of the water. The remainder of the journey was made under moderate weather conditions, an average speed of 9£ knots being maintained. The Clan Macdonald is a vessel of the turret-deck type, and was one of, the first- steamers of that class to he built. She is to load wool and other cargo at Auckland, Napier, Lyttelton and Wellington for Dunkirk and London. It is stated that a number of the waterside workers who were actively connected with the lecc-rtt strike and wh> have been unable to obtain employment since, have shaken the dust of Auckland off their' feet. A fairly large party, including some nien who were prominently ccrinected with the organisation of the strike, left a few days ago for the north, to try their luck on the gurafields.

A sailor belonging to H.M.S. Pyrainus was arrested on Thursday night on a charge of drunkenness and also on a charge of having attempted to commit a

serious crime. When he was brought before Mr F. V. Frazer, S.M., in the Police •' Court yesterday, a remand for a week on the more serious charge was granted. It will be ascertained in the meantime what, the exact position is, ..whether the accused can be handed over to the naval authorities for a court-martial or "whether he must be dealt with at the Supreme Court.

The proposal to establish a medical

school at Auckland University College is apparently causing some concern in Dun- > edin. The Otago Daily Times, in an ,' article on the subject, touches on Auck- ' land's claims to a medical school, which", ' it says, are based among other things on the " ability of the city, possibly, as a result of the imperfections of its drainage scheme, to produce an exceptional range ' of serious diseases and epidemics such as ' are rarely, if ever, met with in the south." On the question' of specialisation, the Otago Daily Times says: " Why. the policy of specialisation, upon which the; University,'of New. Zealand has deliberately entered, encouraged thereto by the Government,, should be departed from in • respect of medical education only is a question that it may be left to the New Zealand Herald to answer. It might be thought that if it is better in any 1 other branch of education to have an efficient school in one university centre, which should specialise in tlhis branch, rather than to have two or three more or less inefficient schools in different parts of the Dominion, it is also to have one medical school, as efficient as.it can be made, than to have two medical schools, their, existence involving a sacrifice alike of economy and of efficiency in each case." . The article concludes: What we would venture to suggest is that, even though the New Zealand Herald is animated by a disinterested desire to rescue the Otago Medical School from the consequences of the success and popularity of that institution, the best interests of medical education in New Zealand would not be served by any duplication of teaching establishments. This really seems to us to be a self-evident proposition in the present circumstances of tihe Dominion. Subscriptions continue to be received towards the fund of £500 which is being raised to provide a motor-ambulance for the Auckland Hospital. The house-man-ager of the institution (Captain Thomas), who is organiser of the fund, acknowledges the following further 'donations received yesterday, and. bringing the total to date to £204 6d:—Messrs. J. E. Owen, J. E. Moore, and C. G. Hill, £1 Is each and Mr. C. Colson, 10s 6d. The end of the local hurricane season is approaching (writes our Tongan correspondent, under date February 26). So far the group has escaped anything in the nature of a blow, and another month will see us clear of any danger from that source. Present indications point to the I ' maturing of a fair average copra crop during the coming year. In Vavau the trees are bearing very well. At Haapai the setting of the nuts is not so : good, i while Tongatabu is well up in prospects. Taken all round, there has been an excel, . lent recovery from the disastrous effects of recent hurricanes. ' • •'■■. - - ' . '■"":.■-■"■ ■ ''■ ■ > * "' ■ v'■ : 'v! ' \ v •

The supplement issued with to-day'i Herald contains a number of • interesting articles. Tohunga deals in a comprehen- 11 sire manner with the methods and manners of administration and administrators ""'••? in general, in an article entitled " Opinions "**c* and Politics." Frank Morton writes on' ffl "Talking at Random." A further articje *Ti on the Maori War is contributed bv J. ' W. Ellis, with a stirring description of *f "Rewi Maniapoto the Fighter." The •% noble spirit of the old-time Maori is pro- | claimed by A. A. Grace in "Tama and 1 His Daughter," while the way in which i the Maori caught his fish is explained by A.S.H. The "Local Gossip'' column bv \ Mercutio contains interesting references to current topics, and the treatment of ores • is explained by E.J. in his "Miracle of Metallurgy/' Much useful knowledge for ladies is contained iu the ladies' page. I n addition to Home news, short stories, music, garden, and chess notes, and other features, a photograph which gives a striking idea of the force of the recent hurricane in the Manahiki Archipelago, Sooth Sea Islands, is also included.

A fire broke out yesterday morning shortly after nine o'clock in some brick buildings situated in Richmond Avenue Grey Lynn, but was fortunatelv extinguished in the early stages. It originated in an upstairs bedroom of .the premises occupied by W. J. Maddern, bootmaker. The cause is unknown. The Richmond and Grey Lynn Fire Brigades were quickly on the scene, only a kapok mattress and a quantity of' bedding being burned. The damage was estimated at £10, most of which was caused by water. The stock and furniture were insured for £425, of which £325 was in the Victoria Insurance Company. The buildings, which consist of six shops, are owned by Mr. Clothier, of Hamilton.

Serious injuries have been received by Cadet D. Bryan, one of the first New Zealand cadets to join the Duntrcon military college. According to advice received by the Defence Department in Wellington Bryan was thrown from a horse, and sustained concussion of the spine, attended by loss of memory. . His condition is grave, but there has been a slight improvement since the accident. The boy's father is 'a sawmiller at Westport.

On his return from Rotorua last night, Sir Newton Moore, Agent-General for West Australia, was questioned by ■ the Auckland secretary of the Bible-in-Schools Leagiue, regarding the working of the West Australian system of Bible teaching. Sir New-ton, Moore said there was no friction of any kind in West Australia over the religious instruction given in the schools. Tliere was peace and harmony over the whole working of the Education Act.

"Personal reprisals are not the wav m which to settle industrial difference''" said-Mr. F. V. Frazer, S.M., yesterday, referring to the antagonism between the members of the old and new Waterside Workers' Union. It was not his business, he continued, to decide'the meiits of the dispute,, but he strongly advised them to cease from all acts of personal hostility and abuse until the matter ' Lis been settled by the Arbitration Court. ' "■•

A description of the " rusL-Jioor" traffic in New York has been given by Mr. L. T. Reichel, of Wellington, why ii . now in the American metropolis, in a recent letter. He says, that round about the City, Hall over ; 100,000 clerks 'art' employed, and. these, with the .countless other store . employees, all make a homeward move between five and .seven in.the evening, ..and the resulting • scene-.' at Brooklyn Bridge Station is.something to remember. The street cars, the overhead railways, the. New Jersey and. Brooklyn tubes, and the ; up-town subway- are rushed by a mass of jostling humanity, and it is everybody for himself. ' The present subway takes twice the passengers it was built to. carry. Trains of. 10 ' cars are rushed along it at express speed at the rate of one every 90 seconds In ; each car the passengers . are jammed ' as tight as they can be.' During the rush - hours special policemen are employed to t push the waiting passengers into the v cars—as the trains wait only about' 15«" to 20 seconds at the* stations. The. local \ trains are also crowded, and -yet this sub-/' way is so well managed that during the " seven years it has been running there has . not been a single life lost .owing to'an ' i accident on i the part of the company. /. ,

The administration of the City ' and 1 Suburban Hotel Employees' Union's affairs, will be discussed . by- a. special meeting of ' the union to-morrow afternoon. Various actions of the executive have recently been criticised by members of the union, and; a proposal is to be made to the meeting that the executive should retire, from office, and that other officers should be elected in their place. The principal objection which has been raised is that the executive should have . consulted . the general body" of members before signing.an agreement with the employers last Saturday. Complaint has also been made that applications for admission to the union have been arbitrarily rejected by officers of the union, though the latter state that no genuine hotel worker has been refused admission.

The annual meeting of the New Zea- * land Mission Trust Board was held yes- J today, the business transacted being purely i| formal. The Anglican Bishop of Auckland m (Dr. A. W. Averill) presided as senior || bishop, the two other bishops present be- M ing Dr. Sprott, of Wellington, and Bishop 1 Sedgwick, of >Waiapu. There are six M other members of the board, a clergyman. m and a layman from each diocese in the iwj North Island. wj IS That an hotel bar is not a bar within | the meaning of the Licensing Act, unless lp it opens immediately on to the street, was ■§ { decided yesterday by Mr. F. V. Frazer, | S.M., in a reserved judgment. The ■ licensees of four city hotels had been sum- f moned on a charge of employing unregistered barmaids in their bars. In three * cases the defence was raised that the bar- % maids were not employed in a bar, according to the interpretation placed on the word bar by the Act, as the rooms wherein they were employed did not open immediately on to the street. In these cases J the information- was dismissed, but in the I fourth case, that of the Metropolitan Hotel, His Worship decided that it was a bar within the meaning of the Act, and the liceusee was fined £2 and costs. ,| The membership of the new Auckland Waterside Workers' Union now stands atpl 1590, but of this number fully 400 men /§ are not now in Auckland. The internal ;|| working of the union appears to be. giving g general satisfaction, though a few men of revolutionary ideas have recently been g talking of ousting the executive. These M men in almost every case belonged to t"*ffl old union, but succeeded in gaining .#-,; M trance to the new one on satisfying the M executive that they were there to work and not to cause trouble. The slight re- M crudescence of the old complaint is held by the majority of members to show ..that there was good cause for close : over the applicants! for membership- *"* . . next meeting of the union will be . April 1. " • _ • v .' ■. .' '--