NEWS SUMMARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15563, 21 March 1914, Page 6

NEWS SUMMARY.

Auckland: A poll on the question of rating on the unimproved value will be held at Otahuhu to-day. Work in the mines at Huntly is re ported to be progressing in a most satis factory manner. The fund for providing a motor ambulance for the Auckland Hospital now stands at £306. A number of Auckland families are in straitened circumstances as the result of . I. ho recent strike. A tree fell on a locomotive in the bush near Rotorua, and severely injured one of the engine-men. (ho conference of the New Zealand Institute if Local Government Engineers hided y-sterday. A large quantity of dairy produce is being loaded at Auckland for Loimlon by the steamer llangatira. Trie Sew Lynn Town Hoard has aaopted a modified scheme of streets improvement involving the raising of a loan of £10,000. A fireman, hurrying to a fire at, Waihi on Thursday night, knocked an old man down and it 13 feared that he is severely injured A motor-car and a tramcar collided in Dominion Road yesterday. No one was injured, but the motor-car was somewhat damaged. 'I lie Auckland Central Committee, formed in connection with New Zealand's exhibit «l the .i\inama Exposition has commenced active work. The official opening of the Auckland and iS lib urban Drainage Board's main drainage works at Orakei will take place on Wednesday next. Hip City Council's loan proposals were explained to a meeting of Ponsonby ratepayers by the .Mayor (Mr. C. J. Parr) last evening. A motion approving of the proposals was carried. A basket containing the dead body of a newly wn female child was found floating in the harbour yesterday, the baby having apparently been strangled bv means of a piece of tape which wag tied tightly round its neck.

New Zealand: An interesting statement about New Zealand naval defence was made by the Prime Minister yesterday. The Prime Minister delivered a political address at Greymouth last evening and received a cordial reception. Two Burnham boys were brought before th ■' Court at Timaru yesterday on a remarkable list of charges of theft and mischief.

The average consumption of liquor per head of the New Zealand population decreased last year, as compared with the records for 1912. Some ugly disclosures were made yesterday in Dunedin at a meeting of creditors in the estate of a bankrupt solicitor, who recently absconded. The N.Z. Cricket Council Bad replied to recent criticism regarding the management of the New Zealand team's tour in Australia, and explained the payment of allowances. There is a etrong probability that Ue Industrial dispute between the Wellington tramwaymen and the City Council will be settled without reference to the Arbitration Court.

Australia : The estimated deficit for the year ending June 3D of the Sydney tramwav*. is £61,038. ' A man was sentenced to death at Syiney yesterday in connection with a shooting affray in the Domain in February. Two men have been found shot dead on the verandah of a Brisbane boardinghouse. The affair is enveloped in mys:*ry. A split in the ranks of the Labour Party in New South Wales was only averted by the prompt action of the Premier (Mr. Holman).

The Prime Minister denies that Lord Di'iiman'ft resignation was due to the attitude the Governor-General took up regarding a double dissolution. The cost of clearing Sydney's streets has risen from £38,658 in 1905 to £100,634 in 1913. For this, increases in wagei are said to be primarily responsible. British Empire: Interesting experiments are being conducted with urethane as an anaesthetic. A British officer was killed on Wudnesdav bv the fall of his aeroplane on Salisbury Plain. The question of the sale of titles was again raised on Wednesday in the House of Commons. Thrilling scenes of heroism marked the wnvk of the steamer City of Sydney off the .Nova Scotian coast. The Navy League regards the British Navy Estimates as inadequate to meet the needs of the Empire. The Unionist motion of censure on the Government in connection with the Home Rule Bill has been defeated in the House of Commons by 93 votes. Feeling ran high during the debate, and one or two angry scenes occurred. There are rumours that warrants have been issued for the arrest, of Sir E. Carson and other Ulster leaders. Foreign: The Women's Franchise Bill hit been rejected by the American Senate. Fifty people were drowned at Venice a day ago in a collision between a launch and a destroyer. Serious riots occurred a few ds.ys ago in Lima, (Peru), and the gendarmes were willed on to use both rifles and sabres. Mmc. Caillaux expresses remorse for shooting the editor of the Figaro, and declares that the tragedy was due to temporary uientaLaberration. President Wilson says there is no truth in he statement that he has been at all influenced with regard to his Mexican policy by Sir Lionel Garden. 'I he giant liner Irnperator had a very PHijrli passage across the Atlantic this week, and arrived at New York with her bows extensively damaged and four of her lifeboats carried away. By a cyclone in the south of Russia this week 3200 people lost their lives at Rostov-on-Don. Over 150 fishing-boats are still missing on the Caspian Sea, and it is feared that these, with crews numbering 10.000 men, have gone down. Sporting and Athletics: An Knglish ladies' hockey team will sail in May for Australasia. The cricket match, Australia v. Wellington was interrupted yesterday by hravy rain. In the final of the billiard championship now' being decided in London bet.wee Inman and Reece, the foi-mer has crept to the front.