LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15594, 28 April 1914, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A sitting in Chambers will bo presided over by His Honor Mr. Justice Cooper at the- Supreme Court today. The claims brought by a number of property-owners at Orakoi against the Auckland and Suburban Drainage Board for compensation in connection with the drainage works are set. down for Hearing to-day, but it is expected that further adjournments in each instance to June 16 will be applied for. To-morrow His Honor will hold a sitting in Banco.

A thrasher shark, 12ft in length, was found in tho Calliope Dock yesterday, when it was pumped out after the cable steamer Iris had been docked. The tail of the fish alone measures 6ft. It is with its long and powerful tail that this variety of shark assails its victims, which are often very much larger than itself. The thrasher shark is a particularly vicious monster, and its presence in the Calliope Dock should serve as a warning to people who might be tempted to use the dock as a swimming pool.

Several inquiries have been received by the Exhibition Executive for portions of tho buildings, and it is probable that more sales will be effected of sections at similar prices to those obtained for the ones already sold. The indications are that the executive will not have to undertake the work of pulling down very many of the buildings, as they may be purchased as they stand. In the meantime, the exhibits having been removed, the various courts are being cleared up, in preparation for dismantling operation?, which should shortly be put in hand.

An attack of dizziness is presumed to have been the cause of a fall on the wharf which resulted yesterday in the admission to the Auckland Hospital of a man, Arthur McEwen, suffering from a fracture of the skull. The man is head porter at the Royal Hotel, and he was engaged in his usual duty of handling luggage in transit by the steamers. He was seen to fall, striking his head on the concrete of the wharf. He was conveyed to the hotel, and medically attended, and was afterwards sent to the hospital. His condition is regarded as serious. At a late hour last night he had not recovered consciousness.

According to Mr. Mitchell, who has been engaged in the pearlshelling industry at Thursday Island for the past 16 years, and who arrived in Sydney last week, there is in the finding of pearls an appalling destruction of human life. " The life of a diver at Thursday Island, says Mr. Mitchell, " is about 10 years. After that he is worn out—usually paralysed—and he returns to his home. The work entails a tremendous strain on the system, and unless a man is really constitutionally fit, and in the best physical condition, he has no chance of becoming a successful diver. Paralysis is common." The Japanese are the best divers, Mr. Mitchell says, because they are fatalists, and fear neither paralysis nor death. In the season there are between 2000 and 3000 men engaged in the pearl and beche-de-mer industries, representing every nation under the sun, but mostly Japanese and natives from the local islands and from Papua.

The balance-sheet in connection with the recent queen of the carnival competition at Wanganui shows that the Wanganui Beautifying Society's funds will benefit to the extent of about £1530. says a Wanganui Press Association telegram.

A boy named David William 'Storey, residing in Exmouth Street, Ponsonby. was playing near Newton East- school yesterday, when he was knocked down by a motor-cyclo and received serious injuries to the head. He was admitted to the hospital.

Found in a state of unconsciousness in Beach Road, near the fire station, a young man, William Ellis, a fireman, was admitted to the Auckland Hospital yesterday, suffering from serious injuries to the head. It is thought that, his injuries are due to a fall. It was only at a late hour last night, when the man recovered consciousness, that his identity was established, and he was unable to account for his condition.

» The fund promoted by Captain E. .1. Thomas to provide motor ambulances for the Auckland Hospital now totals £855 15s Bd. Additional subscriptions have been received as follows: —Newmarket Borough Council. £2 10s; and the Star of Eden Lodge, No. 54, £2 2s. The fund remains open until Thursday.

An interesting account of an expedition undertaken recently by Judge Murray, Administrator of Papua, to the head waters of the Yetapu, has been supplied to the Federal External Affairs Department. Much of the country traversed had not been visited by Europeans before. The villages visited, those of the Onunge tribe, were situated at a height of some 6000 ft or 7000 ft above sea level, in extremely picturesque country, with a beautiful climate. The natives were friendly, but timid. They had poor houses, though some had a flooring rather neatly made of cane. Hammocks were generally made to sleep in. The dead were buried in a standing position, with stakes tied round them to keep them upright. Tho bones when left bare were put in a sort of bos on top of the structure. The strangest thing about the appearanco of all these people was tho extraordinary ornaments they wore tied to the hair, immediately behind their ears. Some wore small birds, and others birds' claws, rats' tails, and pieces of bamboo. "The population of the earth is-increas-ing fairly fast now." said Mr. Richard Teece, actuary of the A.M.P. Society, in the course of an address in Sydney last week, "and that accounts for the rise in the cost of living. Oh, I grant that it ought to decrease the cost, having more hands to grow the food and manufacture tho products required, but they are not put to work. A man in a factory can make enough clothes and boots, and other commodities for nine people, while the man on the land can grow enough primary products to feed many times that number. But, as things are, there is' a pressure on the means of subsistence. Population is increasing faster than primary products. Another factor is that as" communities progress people demand better material conditions, better class of food, and more of it. In the days of Queen Elizabeth the nobles did not have so much material comfort as the working man and his family enjoy to-day."

Alligators infest the rivers and swamps of the Northern Territory, and the. shooting of tho saurians is the principal sport of the inhabitants/ Mr. Graham, a surveyor, who arrived in Sydney by the Montoro-last week, said that the shooting was not an easy feat. When one approached tho liver-bank the alligators were off like a shot into the water, and the tips of their noses, which was the only part exposed, were not much of a target unless a man was an exceptionally good shot. A few weeks ago a couple cf lubras (black girls) were seized and eaten by alligators at a bathing placo near Darwin, and a similar tragic event had occurred a short time before that.

An opinion of Mr. A. M. Myers Mb for Auckland East, on the Mnl j/JJ?! .;., was published on Friday !„ a from London. He w^. o reported T "strongly opposed tae abandonment of?? contribution policy." The statement J>, ' made by Mr. Myers was to the effect! '! he was, strongly opposed to the pijJyV. *ew Zealand of a direct financial cm, 5 ■'' '% bution to the British Navy, , - '.- ■'..] In a report to the Federal MmJstir f j External Affairs on his journey ft* Aew Guinea, Dr. Anton Breini, Dir ~ of the Australian Institute of v"! ' Medicine, states that a number of disZj! were met with which seemed to be to science. In the eastern parts of new to science. In the eastern parts of th possession he came across sporadic qJ of an interesting disease. The patient, as a rule, suffered from repeated and ' longed attacks of high fever, and at th same time the skin and the mucous mem brane became markedly icteric. These at" tacks, according to information, passe( j off, but only to come on again in variin, seventy. As a rule the sufferers suecumbed in the end to the disease. Fi-' cases of another peculiar disease wer» found. The' only symptom the patients showed was a gradual and marked emaciation, which progressed so far that they resembled living skeletons. In the latest stages the natives were unabla to walk about or to move, and gradually faded away. A careful clinical examination did not reveal anything striking. The blood films of a number of cases of this description would be made a subject of further study.

The water hyacinth problem is now assuming alarming proportions in Northern New South Wales, tho Richmond River being seriously affected, in addition to all creeks and branches. Between Woodburn and Broadwater, the river is now practically covered with the pest, and all ferries are being worked with the greatest difficulty; in fact, even the Woodbura steam ferry is being frequently delayed for an hour at a time, while a temporary clearance is made. The ocean steamers Tay 1., Brundah, and Burringbar have all been blocked, and these serious delays to ocean vessels river steamers, aid cream launches, are causing the greatest concern and apprehension amon" all sections of the public throughout the Richmond River districts, as the business of these districts is dependent on the waterways being kept perfectly free for naTi"ation.

Under the British Coinage Act, sovereigns and half-sovereigns which with ordinary use have not lost more than three grains of their original weight posses their face value- when presented at the Mint, although the actual worth is onlv 19s 6d, every grain being roughly valued at about 2d. This statement was made by the Assistant Secretary to the Federal Treasury (Mr. Collins) last week, when a gold coin, which had evidently been jagged with a sharp instrument, was submitted for an opinion. Mr. Collins went on to say that, strictly speaking, a sovereign ceased to be legal tender immediatelv it lost weight to the extent of 0.7747 of a grain. That reduced its value below 19s 10} d, which was the standard laid down. Any depreciation of a sovereign beyond three grains is not regarded by the authorities as the result of fair usage. The actual weight of a sovereign when it is fresh from the Mint is said to be 122.5 grains.

The reintroduction of the system of the automatic purging of electoral rolls by the removal of the names of persons who do ''■ not vote was mentioned to the Prime T" Minister by Mr. N. Wilson, a member of a- ~ deputation which interviewed Mr. Massey at worth on Saturday. Mr. Massey ' said that it was intended that this system " . should be enforced at the last elections, but Mr. Wilson replied that it had not been done. Mr. Massey said that he would ' > inquire into the matter.

According to the Melbourne Argus.it' would cost £37,000.000 to make the rail- . way gauges of Australia uniform on the Ift BJin standard, whilst to adopt the sft oin gauge would involve a cost of "£51,000,0000. The estimate for aline from Brisbane to Perth on the 4ft Bjin gauge, apart from general uniformity, is £12,000.(XX). "In the present condition of Australian finance such an undertaking . seems stupendous," the Argus continues. "But the longer the task is delayed the - greater will the cost become. It is evident..; that such a burden must be divided between the States and the Commonwealth. l It is out of the question that Victoria, -, for example, could afford to alter the + gauge of its lines for the benefit of Aus- •• tralian intercommunication as a whole, and « do so at its own expense. The States t must share the cost on some fair basis, i such as mileage or population, and the » Commonwealth will be constrained V generously, or the work will never be >.- undertaken."

Is there such a thing as a new* disease, (asks the Melbourne Argus). Everybody is familiar with the epidemic of a new doctor who becomes an authority on some ailment which those who have timo to be i ill are anxious to claim as their own. But tho malady is usually an old friend, ana . sufferers are merely anxious to compare ; notes on the new'man. Any evidence for . a new disease is an extremely difficult matter to judge. So far as evidence- goes tliero is no malady of modern times which was not present in every past civilisation.. Plague dates back recognisably to the second century. Smallpox has been diagnosed in a mummv of the 20th dynasty-long before the Christian era, Tubercle was known to Hippocrates, and recognised a:infective by Galen. Pneumonia was described by the Creeks. Leprosy was familiar in Egypt 5000 years ago. And many of the acute infections which have been COTiF"" i lively recently differentiated certainly existed before they were so well understood.

One good sign in an age generally decried as somewhat decadent morally, «-. marks the Adelaide Register, is *■» increasing solicitude for the welfare of the small folk in the community. Even ! ' race-suicide does prevail, the babies W are with us are manifestly coming into their own kingdom. Whatever may be too interpretation of certain "actions wflica speak more loudly than words," it » ' ceased to be "good form" to allude to infants—"the embodied smiles of God ~® mere "encumbrances," concerning wh<K ° living or ceasing to live nobody cares.

At present (says the Adelaide Register) there is little if any power to cheek cB. ■ tually the depredations of the vandals* > for advertising or other purposes, del heautv spots. Such power should tainly be conferred. It is exceeding V*' heartening, after much money has b spent in enhancing the natural attrac ' of fine scenery, to see the whole a*' wantonly spoiled by some inartl? % ( indiscreet advertising tout, armed *» bucket of paint and a whitewash br«. by men of tho kind who would U»» , their unknown names upon their » - tombstones if only they might secure . that means notoriety. , . :r

Tho official assisneo has Been aPP administrator by the Supreme Court '" .;. .-f ; ;t estate of Martin Coulson, late of * . and, contractor, deceased. The fc ß * n ]( j •'• ing of creditors in.the estate will be • -,■/-; on Tuesday next, at 2.50 p.m. | ' ,ISi