LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17339, 10 December 1919, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

There are no new features to record in connection with the coal supply in Auckland. The quantity arriving' from overseas is not nearly sufficient to satisfy the requirements of essential industries, but by a careful system of allocation the Auckland Coal Trade Committee is enabled to prevent any actual stoppage. The committee is besieged with applicaPons for coal from a large number of industries. In each case full consideration is given to the nature of the industry, and the needs of those regarded as of primary importance are attended to first. The announcement that has been made that General Sir William Bird wood may visit New Zealand at the conclusion of his Australian tour was enthusiastically received by the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Executive at its meeting last evening. Several members paid tributes to the work of the general in the field, and it was unanimously agreed to write at once to Australia, inviting him to a special returned soldiers' banquet in Auckland if his visit to the Dominion is assured. The sale of the Glenora Park estate at Papakura to .an Auckland syndicate is a noteworthy transaction in land reported yesterday. The estate, containing some 400 acres, had been in the possession of the Walters family for half a century, and has been used both for the raising of blood stock and for dairying purposes. The pastoral and agricultural outlook in New South Wales is described as very far from promising by Mr. W. D. Holgate, of Auckland, who has just returned from a six-weeks' visit to that State. He states that stock and station agents, business people, and bankers declare that the present drought is the worst ever experienced in New South Wales. The loss in sheep alone is calculated at over four millions, and there are practically no lambs this season. The mortality 121 cattle also is very heavy. The floral fete at Ellerslie last Saturday is beautifully illustrated in to-day's issue of the Auckland Weekly News, and the fine collection of views, which occupy three pages of the paper, forms an admirable record of a memorable carnival. The recent political cartoons published in the News have attracted widespread attention; and the one which is published in the current number, entitled "The New Zealand Political Stakes : The First Time Round," should arouse, equal -interest. Whaling by the Maoris at Te Kaha, in the Bay of Plenty, is brightly depicted by a page of excellent views. Bathers will no doubt be interested in a striking photograph of three sharks recently caught in the Rangitoto Channel and landed on Cheltenham Beach. In addition to the foregoing, a splendid variety of pictorial subjects will be found. " I never wish to see the public service returned to political control," said Mr. P. H. Curnow, himself an ex-civil servant, in his remarks at Park Road last evening. Mr. Curnow said that in the days of political management he had known men whose duty was merely to carry messages such as *' Mr. Johnson, you're wanted," to receive salaries equal to those of professional men. A scrub fire at Orakei Road yesterday afternoon resulted in the Remuera Fire Brigade receiving a call. The flames were quickly extinguished. A question as to what work blind men had done in politics was handed up in writing to Mr. Clutha Mackenzie, Government candidate for the Auckland East seat, at his meeting at Parnell last evening. There were cries of protest but Mr. Mackenzie raised no objection to answering the query. He mentioned several instances of men thus afflicted who had done good work in the world in politics, journalism, and other professions. "Then there was Samson." he said, "who pulled a temple down about his head, and Milton, whose poetry I have not read." He referred to the great work accomplished by Sir Arthur Pearson, and concluded by reminding his questioner that Captain Stevens, of Palmerston North, was in the House of Representatives for many years after he lost his sight. Captain Bailey, too, he said, still in the Upper House, had lost his sight 25 years ago. A five-year-old girl named Veta Darnley was admitted to the Auckland Hospital yesterday afternoon suffering from severe burns on the arms and body. It is understood that her dress caught fire while playing at school. Mr. Henry Shepherd, aged 51, who resides at 17, Vincent Street, and who was seized with a fit in the street yesterday afternoon, was also admitted. " Would you support Sir Joseph Ward on a vote for the repeal of the second ballot?" was a question asked of Mr. I Clutha Mackenzie at his Parnell meeting I last evening. The candidate replied that the second ballot had been repealed years ago. "We must have a Rip Van Winkle jn the audience," he remarked drily, amid laughter. The shortage of certain lines of drapery is so acute in Wangartui that several drapery firms are now buying up country stores in order to secure stocks and a number 'ber of such sales have been recorded lately. 1 "It's a remarkable thing that a man may come out as a candidate for Parliament and imagine he has a fairly decent character. But he's mighty lucky if he has any left after the campaign," said Mr. C. F. Bennett at his meeting in the Britannia Theatre last evening. The prosperous appearance of South Taranaki deeply impressed a recent visitor from Christchurch. In Hawera he saw no vacant shop or vacant house, but, on the other hand, he noticed a large number of houses in course of erection. He was somewhat astonished to find that the value of an ordinary five or sixroomed house on. say, a quarter-acre of ground, was higher than the value of a similar class of house in the immediate suburbs of Christchurch. South TarT">ki owned splend d reads, he said from Hawera they were tarred for 30 or <>,Q miles along each of the main routes. Produce of all kinds was carried on motor lorries, and horse-drawn vehicles were few and far between. The Tourist Department ranger, Mr. W. Cobeldick, has been in the Wairoa district lately supervising the hatchery operations there, reports the Rotorua Chronicle. The hatchery was considerably extended this year to accommodate the extra ova hatched compared with previous years. Ten large hatchery boxes were added, and the gear was "put in order for future operations. Mr. Cobeldick liberated upwards of 500.000 rainbow trout fry in the waters of that district, and a number of brown trout ova secured from the Government Hatchery at Hakataramea. He reports that there is a considerable excess of brown trout over rainbow trout in Lake Waikaremoana, as always, more brown trout were found in the stripping traps than rainbow. The fish were late in running up to spawn, owing to the lake being so low until after the heavy rains. Almost a.]] the brown trout, were in excellent condition, but the rainbow were not so uniformly good. The maximum weights were respectively brown trout, 71b, rainbow, 51b.