LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15884, 3 April 1915, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Twelve men. registered their names for reinforcements of the expeditionary lorce at the Defence office on Thursday. The next medical examination will be held on Tuesday.

Five hundred and forty-three bags of mails from Europe and Australia will reach Auckland by the Maheno to-morrow from Sydney. About 137 bags, will be dealt with at Auckland, and the balance will be despatched South by the express to-morrow night. The Makura is expected to arrive on Monday from Vancouver with several hundred bags and hampers of mails from Europe, America, Canada, and Island ports. The Auckland portion of these two mails will be delivered in the city and suburbs on Tuesday morning. A parcel mad brought from London by the lonic, arrived from Wellington by the express yesterday afternoon. The local office of the Union Steam Ship Company advises that the steamer Maheno left Sydney at 1 p.m. on Wednesday for Auckland direct, with mails, passengers, and 750 tons of general cargo. She is due here to-morrow morning. Owing to the holiday on Monday and the large amount of cargo to be loaded and discharged, the Maheno's departure for Sydney has been postponed until 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday. A report having been received that a white launch was in difficulties yesterday morning between Takapuna and Rangitoto, the police launch went out to assist. The sea was very rough and the weather was thick and squally. No trace was seen of any launch, although a search was carried out for some hours. At the Rangitoto Wharf was seen a large white launch, the owner of which said he had come across from Takapuna, but had not been in difficulties himself and had not noticed any other launch in difficulties. The police last night had received no report as to any launch being missing.

A collision between a light private car" and a taxicab occurred at the corner of Albert and Customs Streets yesterday afternoon. The private car was overturned, the wind-screen was smashed, and' the steering wheel was torn off, but the driver escaped with minor injuries. Tho taxicab was in charge of William Robertson, but the name of the driver of th« private car was not known yesterday, friends having conveyed him to his home immediately after the accident.

Tho Norwegian barque Cis, which put into port on Sunday last for repairs, left Noumea without a clearance. The fact is the subject of a report to the Minister for Marine but it is understood that the explanation is a very satisfactory one. The vessel, which is laden with nickel ore for Glasgow, will resume her journeywhen repairs are completed. The work should take six or seven weeks.

Almost all the trains which arrived from Wellington and southern stations on Thursday and yesterday were heavily laden. Yesterday afternoon's inward express was so full that the passengers formed a queue, running through several carriages, when awaiting meals. Many did not get their breakfast yesterday until eleven o'clock.

Early on Thursday morning the Mount Albert fire brigade was summoned to extinguish an outbreak of fire in a sevenroomed house in Malvern Road. Damage to the extent of about £10 was done to the furniture in one room. No one was at home at the time of the outbreak. The house is occupied and owned by Mr. 0. A. Pulman.

• The Union Steam Ship Company advises that the R.M.S. Makura left Suva at noon yesterday for Auckland, in continuation of her voyage from Vancouver. The liner is running up to schedule time, and should arrive here about noon on Monday. She is bringing mails, passengers, and about 800 tons of general cargo for New Zealand. The Makura is now timed to sail at 8 p.m. on Monday for Sydney direct

The annual training camp of the 3rd, Auckland, Mounted Rifles will be held from May 3 to 15 on the To Papa reserve, the use of which has been granted by the Onehunga Borough Council. An advance party, consisting of a squadron quarter-master-sergeant, and three men, will be sent into the camp by each squadron on April 29. The greater portion of the regiment will trek into camp, but the Helensville troop of A squadron, the Awhitu troop of B squadron and the D squadron will proceed by rail to the camp. A syllabus of training has been prepared for the whole period of the camp. The work will conclude with a tactical scheme on the last day.

Enquiries have been made of the Defence authorities as to whether civilians are eligible for commissions in the reinforcements drafts of the New Zealand expeditionary force. The authorities have decided that at present there is no prospect of commissions being granted to civilians. Should the latter wish to register as non-commissioned officers they are at liberty to do so. If accepted and sent to Trentham, there is a possibility that they may obtain commissions there.

The Easter vacation of the Supremo Court commenced on Thursday at 1 p.m., and will end on Wednesday next. For the remaining portion of the week the office will close at 1 p.m., except on Saturday, when it will close at noon.

A young girl in the Police Court on Thursday admitted having attempted to commit suicide by drinking poison. The amount taken was small and the immediate calling in of a doctor prevented any serious consequences. The girl, it was stated, was shortly to be married. The girl's mother having undertaken to look after her daughter the accused was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence when called upon.

"I notice that the Mayor of Auckland has been criticising the .Manukau Road," remarked Mr. H. Dobbie, who presided at a meeting of the One-tree Hill Road Board on Thursday evening. The Mayor had stated, he said, that the road was a mire of mud in the winter, and a cloud of dust in the summer. However, the most dusty spot in the Eden isthmus, in the speaker's opinion, was at tho bottom of Albert Street, and therefore they had a road within half-a-mile of Queen Street that was worse thai; any road in the One-tree Hill district,

Tho parochial districts of Helensville, Warkworth, Dargaville, and Paparoa have been transferred by the Bishop of Auckland from the archdeaconry of Auckland to the archdeaconry of Waimate. Dr. Averil! has arranged to visit that part of the diocese which may be described as the " Far North " after Easter, and will leave Auckland on April 12.

The steamer Ardanmhor arrived in the 1 stream at Auckland yesterday morning from Port Pirie, South Australia. The vessel is en route to Mobile, Alabama, and Baltimore, via the Panama ©anal, with a cargo of concentrates, and has called here to replenish' her bunkers. She will be coaled from one of the hulks to-day, And is expected to resume her voyage this evening.

The task of defining the boundaries of parishes, parochial districts, and Home I mission districts in tho Auckland diocese ha? been undertaken by a commission appointed by the Standing Committee of the Church of' England. The necessity for this work was emphasised by the Bishop of Auckland in his address to synod last October, his purpose being that every portion of the diocese shall be under the charge of a clergyman. The inquiry has been delegated by the Standing Committee to Canon Haselden. the Rev. \Y. H. Wilson, Messrs. C. Hudson, and E. Yates, with the archdeacons of the districts being dealt with from time to time, and the duties of this body will include inquiries as to where new districts should be formed and sites for church buildings secured. The work of the commission will be to collect information, to meet and consult with the clergy and vestries in cases in which there is a difference of opinion between parishes about a boundary, and to report and advise on the action to be pursued. The report in the first case will be to tho bishop and the Standing Committee.

"I had an interesting experience the other night," an Auckland member of the Divisional Signal Service writes from Zeitoun camp. "One of the boys who has made many friends in Cairo took me with him to a dancing-class in town. To begin with, nobody waited to be introduced, as one's mere presence was supposed to be a sufficient guarantee of respectability. All tho girls were French, Italian, or Greek, and the effort to keep up a conversation was excellent mental exercise. Having sorted out a prospective partner, one rushed up and asked : 'Voulz-vous danser?' If the lady was willing, she says:' Mais oui, merci monsieur,' and one fired ahead. If she had a partner, and perhaps sometimes when she had not, she said ' engagee,' and one had to fry again. My principal amusement that evening was a long and involved conversation, in French, with a young Roumanian merchant, who was very interested in the wool trade of New Zealand, and who had mc thinking very hard how to tell him all I wanted to about it. The people here, particularly those who do not speak much English, are very curious about New Zealand and all that pertains to it."

Two matters arising out of the war were touched upon by the Rev. W. 0. Monckton in the course of his address at the wharf on Thursday. The first was the cost of living. He had been asked to say something about this matter, and also something in regard to people who were said to be making money out of the war. The cost of living was a very difficult; thing to deal with. It was not always the cost of living that was the it might be the lower buying power of the sovereign. The fact that all Russian wheat was shut up, and that the wheat supply was scarce, might hava made people slightly "panicky." That had something to do with the question. The speaker did not believe there was any* dean-bred Britonhe was sure no cleanbred New Zealander—who would try to make money out of his country's necessities. "If men are doing it they are not clean-bred Britishers,'' declared Mr. Monekton, amidst applause. "They have got German blood, or foreign blood in their veins. You will find it in them if you look for it. I have a greater faith in this country, the British Empire, and the British name, than to believe there is anybody so base as to sell his country, as Judas sold his Lord—for 30 pieces of silver." In concluding his address, Mr. Monekton referred to a message which had been given to the British people by* General Sir Horace Smith-Dofrien, who" saved the British Army in the retreat; from Moris. In informing his wife of the great bravery of the British soldiers in! the retreat, General Smith-Dorrien asked her to give the nation this message in the interests of the soldiers :—" Better than giving to the patriotic fund; better even than getting up charity bazaarsmake their homes more worth while." If the people made their homes sweeter and cleaner and " more worth while" to the husband, wife, and children, said Mr. Monckton, they would be serving God's Empire in a better way than they had done.

The work in connection with the Devonport electric supply system, which is being installed by the Electricity Supply Corporation (New Zealand), is in a forward state. The power-house in Church Street has been practically completed, and the electrical plant has arrived. The suction gas plant, which will be used for generating purposes, is being manufactured in Napier. The power that will be installed will be 300 horse-power, and provision lias been made for extensions as required. The pole* have been erected, the cross-arms and insulators are in position, and the cables are being stretched. A large number of house connections have already been made in readiness for the inauguration of the system. Mr. Goldsmith, who is at present in charge of the Napier municipal station, will have charge of the power-house. The company expects to be able to supply its customers with electric current about the latter part of next month.

The weekly half-holiday question will be submitted to the electors in three cities at the end of this month. An agitation in favour of the restoration of Wednesday as the day for the holiday has been so far successful in Auckland that a poll will be ordered unless some improbable contingency interferes. The Wellington municipal authorities have already granted a poll in response to a petition which has for its objects the appointment of Saturday as the holiday, and a similar agitation in Dunedin has been supported by a petition with many more signatures than are actually required.

Two interesting additions have been made to the Auckland Museum. One is a Maori rat, or kiore, which was believed erroneously, in some quarters to have become extinct. The rat was caught alive by Colonel H. Boscawen, of Auckland, on a peak of the Cape Colville range, not far from Coromandel. It is a long time since a specimen of this type of rat has been secured, but it is known to exist on some of the outlying islands. The other addition to the collection is a New Zealand tuatara lizard, which was found in a drain at the back of a house in Nelson Street. The lizard in question is 22in in length.

The new auxiliary schooner which has just been constructed at the shipbuilding yards of Mr. C. Bailey, jun., for the Pacific Cable Board, will bo launched at Freeman's Bay at high-water this morning. The vessel is one of the best of her class yet built at Auckland. She will be fitted with two engines, driving twin screws, and will subsequently be stationed at Fanning Island.

The members of the Young Women's Christian Association are holding a camp conference at Howick. Each dav there are large attendances at the various meetings. Miss H. F. Barnes, national travelling secretary, is leading the conference Special services are held each morning and the afternoon is devoted to sports and recreation. The Rev. J. M . Saunders will conduct a special service to-night, and another to-morrow morning.