LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17428, 25 March 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

:;. —— —;i» ' — - There wag a steady demand'for beef at the : Westfield ; fat stock sales j; yesterday, prices .being,'about equal to last week's rates. Choice ox beef realised £2 16s per 1001b, ordinary and prime beef • fetching from £2 5s to £2 15s, according to quality. Prices .for sheep -were firm at last peek's rates: : " V Wethers • realised- from £1,118 6d to £2 3s, ewes-£1 8a 6d to £1 17s 9d, l and -lambs: £1 to £1 13s. The demand for pigs was" .'easier .than at last week's sales, bacdners and choppers ranging in price from £6 10s to £9 19s. . ' Two shipments of coal arrived at Auckland yesterday The Rakanoa brought 2800 tons from Newcastle and the Kaitangata 2500 tons from Westport. A'further shipment will .arrive by the ilora, | which ,is due here next Monday from i Westport. "-" . Considerable interest was evinced in the evolutions yesterday at the Takapuna Jockey Club's racecourse of an aeroplane trom Kohimarama. The machine, which has recently been imported from England, was the first of its land to be seen out in the Auckland district. The aeroplane made a most graceful landing on the racecourse, and various evolutions were carried out, fa the wonderment of the spectators.

Complaints tl\at have been made regarding delays in settling soldiers' transactions were referred to by the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mr. B. P. Grevflle, at the meeting, of the North Auckland Land Board yesterday. Mr. Greville said there was apt to be a great deal- of misapprehension in the matter . and as a' result the Land Board was wrongly blamed. The position was that as soon as applications for house and farm property were recommended by the board and approved by the Minister, the board had nothing more to do with them. The money was paid over as soon as the certificates were received from the lawyers that the titles were in order.

i Severe injuries to his left foot were sustained ,by a waterside worker, Mr. Benjamm Bolt, while engaged in loading the Otira at the King's Wharf. He was using a crowbar as a lever to shift a railway truck, when he was knocked down by a number of trucks attached to a shunting engine bumping into the one at which he was working. One end of the crowbar fell across his foot and the other end across one of the railway lines. The wheel of a truck went over the crowbar and pressed it heavily on the fallen man's' foot. Mr. Bolt was admitted to the hospital, where all the toes of the injured foot were amputated.

The question of allowing poppy seed from the Somme to be introduced into the Dominion is being investigated by officers of the Department of Agriculture. Intimation to this effect has been received from the Director-General of Agriculture, Dr. C. J. Reakes, by the provincial executive of the Farmers' Union, which recently made representations urging that lull inquiries be made before importation is permitted.

Complaint regarding the tramway service to Newmarket was made at a meeting of the Borough Council last evening. The Mayor, Mr. C. Leek, presided. It was stated that the number of cars* on the route, especially during the evening "rush" hours, was quite insufficient to cope with the traffic. A tally of the cars had been taken by the City Council, but it was decided to take an independent three days' tally of the cars passing along Khyber Pass, where the need for improvement was said to be most acute.

The Pacific Cable Board notifies that "at 8 am. yesterday Bamfield, Canada, reported that it was working simplex to Halifax, and possibly would recover a second line later. The southern route is congested. The delay on full-rate traffic to the United Kingdom is 28 hours, and that on deferred' traffic 50-hours."

Measures for combating the sand-drift menace between Motutara and the South Kaipara Head will be discussed a meeting of property-owners at Helensville this evening. The Commissioner of Crown Lands for North Auckland, Mr. R. P. GxeviDe, who convened the meeting -with the -object of- securing the co-operation-of property-owners in the. matter, will be present with members of the board.

Proposals . for visits to soldiers' graves on the various battlefields and cemeteries in Europe and eke where are under consideration of the Soldiers' Mothers' League. It proposes that, the visits should be undertaken by a delegate or delegates from that body. An appeal for financial assistance toward carrying, out the scheme was made yesterday by the secretary, Mrs. E. Nicol,- in a letter received by the Auckland Patriotic Association's executive. The writer stated that in several cases the graves of men who had fallen had not been located, and there was great anxiety on the part of the mothers to have an •investigation made by their own representatives. She added that an application for financial aid had also been made to the Repatriation Board. It was decided that it was not appropriate that the funds' of the association should be devoted to a proposal of the kind, and the application was therefore declined.

In connection with arrangements for the entertainment of the crew of H.M.S. Renown on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales, a letter was received by the Devonport Borough Council last evening from the Auckland branch of the Navy League, suggesting that a local committee should be formed to welcome the men on an outing to Devonport. It vas agreed to take steps as requested.

The patients in the Auckland military hospital, who are leaving for Rotorua were given a farewell dinner on Tuesday evening by the Red Cross Society. Mrs J. B. Macfarlane, ably assisted by many lady workers .was in charge of the ente£ tamment, .which proved a great success, in the unavoidable absence of the Mayor, \°i *!_ Tto te on behalf of the ladies wished the soldiers every happiness in their new quarters. Lieutenant Milliken briefly responded on behalf of the soldiers An enjoyable concert was given in which many leading perfonners e took part. Permission to show pictures on the evening of Good Friday was granted by the Devonport Borough Council last evening. The matter has been the subject of controversy for some years past, the council previously in office having declined similar previous applications. Last night however, it was unanimously agreed to sanction the entertainment, subject to the Mayor s approval of the programme

An application to cut down kauri trees in a forest reserve near Whangarei for use in the erection of houses for workers has been made by the Whangarei Borough Council. In view of the application the members of the North Auckland Land Board will pay a visit of inspection . to the reserve this week.

The need for a more commodious entrance to the Newmarket railway station was emphasised at the meeting of the Borough Council last evening. It was decided to write to the Railway Department requesting that an entrance be provided in keeping with the importance of the borough.

A deputation representing the campdwellers at Rangitoto Island waited on the Devonport Borough Council, sitting as the Rangitoto Domain Board, last evening jn support of their protest against the board's recent decision to increase the rents of camp sites at Rangitoto from £2 to £5 per annum. The deputation suggested that it t was a hardship that the holders of sites should be called upon to pay higher fees seeing that they had personally been largely responsible for improvements effected on the island., Notice of motion to rescind the previous resolution was given with a view to making a concession to existing site holders. Irish blight has made its appearance among the potato fields in the Kakanui

district, states the Oamard Mail. The attack is in«an aggravated form, attributable to the recent wet weather, and there is an instance of one patch of four acres being totally rained.