LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17338, 9 December 1919, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The reinstallation of the second daily express on the North Island Main Trunk railway next week, will come none too soon to cope with the increasingly heavy pressure of traffic. Last night's express left Auckland full of passengers, from end to end. A sailor off the scow Zingara, fell into the harbour from the Queen's Wharf shortly after 5 p.m. yesterday. He was rescued by the water police, who put him on board his vessel, and then arrested , him on a charge c'. drunkenness. An indication of the present scarcity of water in the suburban districts was given at the meeting of the Mount Eden Borough Council last evening, when the Mayor Mr. C. Hudson, reported that the council could not consider watering the streets, as requested in a petition from a number of ratepayers. "We cannot consider street-watering at the present time," he said. "At any time now we may be ordered to cease the use of the hose, and we are certainly not going to start watering under those conditions." The local demand for rice is estimated by wholesale merchants to have fallen by about half since the price increased from 2£d to 8d per lb. It is considered that vermicelli and tapioca are being used instead of rice; thus the market, although very low, is not absolutely bare. The Maheno brought 1700 bags of rice yesterday, and this will considerably relieve the position. The wholesale price has increased by £5 a ton during the last few weeks, but this increase has not been passed on to the public. An interesting point in connection with the rice famine, mentioned by an Auckland merchant yesterday, is that it is greatly increasing the demand for peanuts, which are being used for food by natives of Java and Batavia, instead of rice; as a result the price of this small and popular nut has lately increased by about 30 per cent. "Drunken persons should not be allowed on tramcars or ferry steamers," said Mr. J. E. Wilson, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday, when fining a man £10 for having used obscene language on a ferry steamer. " They should not be permitted to travel at all, and the authorities concerned in some cases do not exercise sufficient oversight in this matter. A more vigilant eye is needed." "Do you believe in naturalising the coal mines ?" was a question put to Miss E. Melville at a meeting of electors at Grey Lynn last evening. "No, I do not, nor in nationalising them either," was the candidate's reply. The Kennedy annual scholarship, tenable for four years at St. Patrick's College, Wellington, has this year been awarded to an Aucklander, the winner being Frank Sweeney, of the Vermont Street school. The scholarship is open to all Roman Catholic boys in the Dominion. Quoting' a case which he said illustrated how necessary it was for producer and consumer to come together, Mr. Clutha Mackenzie told last evening how a returned soldier was prevented from hawking fish. This man, he said, had a horse and cart, and a couple qf .days a week to spare. Two other returned men had a fishing launch. The proposal was that the fish should be taken direct from the launch and sold through the streets. It was found, however, that in this case the two fishermen would be boycotted at the market by the middlemen, who, the candidate remarked, " wanted to get fat on other people's labour." Residents of Takapuna were caused much inconvenience last evening on account of a mishap to one of the locomotives. On the arrival of the ferry steamer at Bayswater at 5.30 the passengers found that there was only one tram consisting of two carriages to convey them to their homes, accommodation which was quite inadequate at this busy time of the day. After waiting some time for the other tram it was decided to take as many people as possible in the waiting tram. When the penny section was reached the line was found to be blocked by the other tram. This necessitated the passengers having to walk the rest of their way home. The locomotive was repaired, and the service resumed about 7 o clock. The shortage of sugar now being experienced in New Zealand does not appear to have caused anything like as much inconvenience to Auckland housewives as it has to those in other centres. In one or two localities, however, supplies have been temporarily unprocurable, and a grocery firm in Newmarket recently had one man engaged all the week in packing up 21b and 41b parcels, being the on'.y firm there with any sugar at all. There seems to have been little interference with early "fruit jam-making and preserving, many prudent housewives having gone to some trouble during the past weeks in visiting different firms and securing the maximum supply—4lb—from each. Despite the " rationing" of city houses, every effort is being made by wholesale merchants to keep country customers supplied, and where long journeys have to be made to boat or railhead the latter are being treated as generously as the existing supply will allow. Applications by discharged so'diers for 28 sections of land, totalling 2900 acres, in the Waihou Survey District, Hauraki Plains, closed at the office of the Auckland Land Board yesterday afternoon. The applicants number 390, the majority of whom have each applied for about 20 sect ons. Further applications, received at Te Aroha, will probab'y number over 50. The board will conduct the ballot, next Friday. The importation into New Zealand has Been prohibited of a book entitled " Red Europe," purporting to be written by Frank Anstey, M.P., and published in Melbourne. The list of transfers of properties in the Mount Eden Borough, between March 3 and November 11, contains 601 names. "An indication of how properties are changing hands," remarked the Mayor, in commenting upon the fact at the meeting of the council last evening. The illegal displaying of foodstuffs outside shops in the Mount Albert district is to be the subject of a warning shortly to be issued by the local Borough Council. Although this placing of articles on shop fronts is an offence under the by-laws, it has been continued by some shopkeepers for many years. Last evening the council decided to issue an official warning, so that in future offenders will have no excuse. An indication as to the extent of building operations in the Mount Albert Borough was given at the meeting of the council last evening. The building inspector reported that during the last 10 months building permits had been issued for dwellings to the value of £45,000. • What appears to be an attempt at incendiarism was discovered by Mr. Gavin Dickson, blacksmith, of Tuatapere, Southland, recently. A smell of something burning had been noticed on the night previous by some members of his family, but the matter was passed over. Next morning smoke was seen coming from under the dwelling-house, and on investigation Mr. Dickson found a smouldering sack, part of which had been consumed! How it got into its position under the house is so far a mystery. Had the wind on the night in question been from the opposite direction, the result might have been a serious fire. The congestion of cargoes on the New Zealand coast was demonstrated at Wellington one day last week. The agents for the small steamer Opawa commenced to receive cargo for Blenheim at nine o clock, and 37 minutes later all available space had been reserved. This is thought to be a record for the port of Wellington. * t