LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16300, 5 August 1916, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Niagara, which is due at Auckland on Monday morning from Sydney, is bringing 79 bags of Australian "mail" matter. As the Moeraki left Sydney for Wellington an hour after the Niagara, that vessel will not be carrying any mails for Auckland. An English parcel mail will arrive by the Corinthic on Monday morning.

A contingent of 340 soldiers from Featherston Camp is due to arrive in Auckland by special train at 7.45 tomorrow morning. On Friday next. August 11. 500 men from Featherston camp are due to arrive in Auckland by special train at 8 a.m.

Referring to the members of the Garrison Artillery -war anniversary meeting at Devonport last evening, the Mayor, Mr. J. Henderson, stated that there was some misconception regarding their position in connection -with enlistment in the Expeditionary Forces. "These men are reserved for coast defence," he said. "They are not allowed to volunteer, hut are doing their duty in the place appointed."

The second engineer of the Northern Company s steamer Manaia, Mr W Teixeira, met with a painful accident on Wednesday morning. While attending to his duties in the engine-room, an acetylene lamp which he was carrvinz exploded. Mr. Teixeira was severely burned about the lace, and after receiving medical attention was removed to his home.

The steamer Corinthic, with 64 officers and men of the New Zealand Expeditionary forces, is expected to reach Auckland late to-morrow night or early on Monday morning The local agents advise that the vessel will berth on Mondav rooming at the west side of the Queens \Miarf. The Corinthic, which left Hobart at noon on Tuesday last, would in al' probability encounter the recent storm in the Tasman Sea.

A contractor named William Albe-t Clarke, of Auckland, has been adjudged a bankrupt The first meeting of creditors will be held at the office of the official assignee, Mr. W. S. F isher> at 230 m on Thursday next.

The supplement issued with to-day's Herald contains many interesting articles. Tohunga deals with " The Sportsmen's War," Lieutenant-Colonel Grace " Britain's Strength," Frank Morton " The Feminine Touch," Te Para " A Tonga Picnic," Elsie K. Morton " Two Years Ago," while a letter from our London correspondent describes the manufacture of shells. " Local Gossip," by Mercutio, appears as usual. Pictures and cartoons relative to the war are included among the illustrations. It is reported that a burglary was > committed at a well-known Auckland boardinzhouse at about seven o'clock laot evening while the inmates were at dinner. A lady boarder discovered, on her return to her room after dinner, that her purse, which had contained a small amount of gold and silver, was missing. Where her bat: had been lying on tie bed she found a box of wax vestas, which the thief had apparently used to search the room. Nothing is known concerning the identity of the burglar. It is stated that in a boardinghouse in the same vicinity a fewnights ago a man was disturbed by a person entering his room. A chase was set up, but the intruder escaped detection. A six days* obligatory course of instruction for non-commissioned officers, prior to examination for first appointments to commissions, will be held at the Drill Hall, Auckland, and not at the Narrow Neck camp, as previously ordered. The course will commence on August 21, at 9 a.m. "If it was good for us to be here on August 4 last, it is better to be here to-day," said Dr. A. W. Averill, Anglican Bishop of Auckland, at St. Matthew's Church yesterday. "To-day, after two years of unparalleled strife, we present ourselves in God's house with a thankful heart, and to pray for a continuous blessing upon the great and terrible work which lies before the allied armies ere the world's menace is crushed and utterly defeated."

The decision that the Dominion Mortgage and Finance Company should go into voluntary liquidation was confirmed by a special meeting of shareholders yesterday morning. Mr. J. G. Restell was appointed Liquidator.

The necessity of limiting the waters of the Wairau Creek will be considered by the Takapuna Borough Council at its next meeting. During the recent heavy rain the creek has overflowed, and about five chains of the Wairau Road, an important thoroughfare, has been under water, while adjoining properties have also been affected, the occupants of one cottage near the stream having been forced to leave the house during the night. The clearing of the land draining into the stream has caused a considerable increase in the volume of water collected by the creek, and, as its coarse is very tortuous and obstructed by vegetation, an overflow occurs with every heavy rain. It is proposed that a drainage board should be formed, with power to levy a rate on property likely to be benefited by any improvement works.

As yesterday's street collection in aid of the Servian Fund has been postponed until Friday next, the committee's cam* paign will commence to-day with the sale of work organised by the Girls' Realm Guild, to be held in St. Marks' Hall, Remuera, this afternoon. The Mayoress, Mrs. J. H. Gunson, will perform the opening ceremony. The fete will also be open "in the evening. A large number bf tickets have been sold for the -concert to be given in the Town Hall to-night in aid of the fund, and an excellent programme has been arranged. A citizens' intercessory service to mark the second anniversary of the war will be held in the Town Hall on Sunday afternoon, under the auspices of the Y.M.C.A., the proceeds of which will be donated to the Servian Fund.

New Zealand produce entered for export last week was valued at £672.509, including butter and cheese, £23,239; meat, £177.920: goTd, £75,325; hfaes, £50,136; flax, £57,057; tallow, £29,353; wool, £242,795.

A slight outbreak of fire occurred early yesterday morning in a four-roomed cottage in King Street, Arch bill, occupied by Mr. J. Mack. The flames were extinguished before the arrival of the City Fire Brigade. Little damage was done to the building. The ignition of some clothes which were being dried in front of a fire was the cause of the outbreak.

The expected arrival of the cargo steamer Boonah at Auckland on Monday next has caused considerable interest in shipping circles. This vessel was one of the many German steamers which were interned at British ports on the outbreak of the war. She was formerly known as the Melbourne, and was owned by the German-Australian Line. Before the war she was regularly engaged in the cargo trade between Hamburg and Australian ports. Like many similar "interned enemy ships, she has been put into commission by the British authorities for the carrying British cargo. The Boonah. arrived at Wellington last Wednesday morning from New York, via the Panama Canal, and is to leave the Southern port this morning for Auckland. She is of 5926 tons gross register, and is described as a modern cargo-carrier. The Boonah was built at Fiensburg, Germany, in 1912. After discharging at Auckland she will visit various Australian port*.

"The will to conquer in this war has permeated every subject in the British Empire," said Mr. Weuley Sprang in the course of an address delivered at the war anniversary meeting, held at Mount Albert last evening. "We have the right to expect to conquer, and we will conquer. No sacrifice is too great, no cost too heavy to pay for what we are seeking. The residents of Mount Albert have contributed handsomely in men and money, and many of them bear a proud sorrow as a result of the war. In reaffirming our resolute decision to prosecute the struggle to a bitter end. let us hope that the main criminals responsible for the atrocious acts committed' during the war will be rigorously punished as they deserve."

The Minister for Internal Affairs the Hon. G. W. Russell, has written to the Advisory Board of the War Relief Societies, in reply to a query as to whether the Government would favourably consider the question of subsidising public donations raised for the relief of distressed Servians and of Russian prisoners interned in Germany. The Minister stated that this matter was recently considered by Cabinet, but while the Government was in full sympathy with the objects of the fund it was unable to grant the subsidy applied for.

The new ticket system of the Christchurch Tramway Board has been inaugurated. Xon-punchable tickets were issued for the first three penny sections from the city The idea is to save the conductor punching all the ticket*, and thus expedite his work. Under the old system the non-punchable ticket wa issued for the first section from the city only.