LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17327, 26 November 1919, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A small Australian mail ie due at Wellington to-day by the overseas steamer Nuddea. The Auckland portion will reach here to-morrow or Friday morning. The Royal Mail steamer Moana, which left San Francisco on November 15, is bringing a large English and American mail, also a large American parcel mail. She is due at Wellington about December 7.

A collision between a motor-lorry; owned and driven by Mr. Joseph B'.ackmore, and an inward-bound Newmarket tramcar, occurred in Customs Street East at 2.45 p.m. yesterday. The glass screen and lamp of the motor-lorry were smashed, and the body and right front wheel damaged. The tramcar was not damaged. The lorry had come out of Fort Street lane, and owing to the driver's view being obstructed by another vehicle, he did not notice the approaching tramcar until too late to avert & collision. That more serious damage was not occasioned was due to the fact that the speed of the tramcar had been slackened to avoid a child who was on the tramlines, and also on account of the car nearing the terminus.

A nine-year-old boy named Sidney Whitehouse, of 39, Collingwood Street, Ponsonby, was admitted to the Auckland Hospital last evening suffering from a broken leg. The injury was sustained while playing in the street with some companions.

The illustrations in to-day's issue of the Auckland Weekly News are many and varied. A double page is devoted to a motor tour in the Taranaki and Manawatu districts, and several fine scenes in connection therewith are reprcduced. Splendid studies r .l bird and animal life at the Wellington "'Zoo" also make a meritorious pictorial display. The sinking of the collier Karori at the Dunedin Wharf last week is well illustrated, the vessel being seen with her decks level with the water. Some particularly fine views of various stages of the Melbourne Cup are published, together with a photograph of Artilleryman, the horse which won the classic race in record time. Views of the prosperous town of Blenheim occupy a page of the paper, while on another page the portraits of many of the Parliamentary candidates are A cartoon, entitled "The Strange -Political Duel in Roskill" hits off very happily a unique situation in this electorate. Many other subjects help to sustain the general interest of an excellent publicaron.

The red tape of officialdom was denounced in emphatic tones by the Hon. G. J. Garland, M.L.C., at the meeting of the Auckland Education Board last evening. "To the mischief with the regulations ! I am sick and tired of these regulations," he exclaimed, when the question of the Department's rules in respect to the appointment of a staff for a proposed new school at Devonport was under consideration. "It would take ten men and a boy to explain many of the regulations," he considered. "If I had my way I would sink them all to the bottom of the deep blue sea!"

A representative meeting of residents in the Helensville district, to consider what form the memorial to fallen soldiers should take, was held in the Lyric Theatre, Helensville, on Monday. It was decided to erect a monument, and to invite designs and quotations at once. It is estimated that between £500 and £1000 will be raised, nearly £200 being already in hand.

Some doubt still exists in the minds of many so'diers as to the procedure to be carried out regarding the grant of gratuities. The Post Office authorities therefore advise soldiers expecting gratuities, and having Savings Bank passbooks in the.r possession, to proceed as follows :—Seven days should be allowed to elapse from the date appearing on the notice from the Orhcer-in-Charge, War Expenses, Wellington, advising that the amount has been handed over to the postal authorities. Then the soldier should forward the bank book, for entry of the gratuity, to the Chief Postmaster, Auckland, in a cover marked on the outside, " Gratuity,'' enclosing the address to which it is to be returned. Soldiers having no accounts will receive- a book without making application for one.

There is a probability of another electrical scheme developing at what is known as the Piopio Falls, near Otorohanga. Last week a member of the Government electrical engineering staff visited tho fairs and reported to the local authorities interested in the schems that in the flush of the season the falls would be capab.e of developing 2000h.p., and in summer IOOOh.p. He strongly advocated harnessing the falls, which would enable Otorohanga, Te Kuiti, and adjacent townships to maintain a steady supply of current the year through, and make up for any deficiency in the supply from Horahora. A meeting is to be held at Otorohanga shortly to go further into the question.

A scheme for the improvement of the sanatorium grounds at Te Aroha is under consideration. When at Te Aroha last week the general manager of tourist and health resorts, Mr. B. M. Wilson, was waited upon by a deputation • from the local Chamber of Commerce, whrch re quested that the playing space for tennis be extended, and that the present coldwater swimming bath to the south of the Cadman Baths be converted into a hot water bath by utilising the water from some of the adjacent springs. Mr. Wilson undertook to obtain reports on th e respective subjects from the head gardener and the engineer stationed at the Rotorua Sanatorium, who are to visit Te Aroha for the purpose.

The postal delivery at Henderson is to be extended for a distance of about threequarters of a mile along Rathgar Road, and letters ar e to be delivered over the whole town on Saturdays, instead of only in certain parts, as at present. The Post-master-General, in advising Mr. C. J. Parr, M.P., as to these intended changes, •states that the improved service will be established as soon as the additional office staff can be obtained. The authorities are also looking further into the matter, to see whether a further extension can be made in the near future.

After a complete tour of the Dominion. Mr. H. Gladstone Hill states that the guarantees are such that a visit to New Zealand of the New South Wales State Orchestra is assured. The party will leave Sydney by the Maheno, on December 31, for Auckland, opening the tour at Hamilton on January 6. The itinerary provides for 47 days from Sydney to Sydney, and days in the Dominion, during which time the orchestra will give 31 concerts. The tour will embrace 14 cities and towns, nine being in the North Island, and five in the South.

In connection with the proposal to establish communication between Hamilton and Raglan and Kawhia by means of light railways, a publ.c meeting will be held in Hamilton on December 4. Captains H. W. Dansey, McR. Worley, and D. Bruce, M.C., who have had practical experience of the value of light lines in France, will speak. It is expected that there will be a large attendance of representatives of the d.Htricts interested. On Saturday, December 6, a motor tour of the proposed light railway -routes will be made.

The provision in State schools of a room in which the medical inspectors could examine th e pupils was suggested by Mr. E. K. Mulgan in the course of a conference between medical inspectors and members of the Education Board yesterday afternoon. No provision whatever of this nature now existed, he said; the doctors had to carry out their work in the headmaster's room, which was not always convenient. Would it not be a good thing, asked the speaker, for provision to be made in future for a room where the children could be medically examined?