LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17596, 8 October 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The R.M.S. Niagara . left" for Sydney at 11 o'clock last evening. , Her departure was delayed for' an hour owing, '.to the illness of a fireman, who was conveyed to the hospital in an ambulance. The Niagara carried a large number ;' of passengers from Auckland.

The City Fire. Brigade received a call last niglSt to a fire in a house in Jervois Road occupied by Mrs. .E. Mackay. The outbreak was quickly extinguished, though a pair of curtains were destroyed a bed slightly damaged. - The fire was caused by a ' lighted candle coming in contact with the curtains.

In a report to the Auckland Education Board the domestic science organiser, Miss A. B. Juniper, stated that the Thrift Exhibition held in the Town Hall recently had been most successful. So generous was the support given by the business people, and so satisfactory was the attendance, that the board would not be required to pay anything toward ■ the cost of the exhibition. Several members spoke in praise of the exhibition, and expressed the hope that similar exhibitions would be arranged in other centres in the education district. The board! congratulated Miss Juniper and'those who assisted her upon the successful results of their efforts.

The Avondale Road Board at its last meeting was notified by its solicitors that the Government had gazetted permission

for the board to take a poll on the proposal to raise a loan for water, drainage, roads, etc., the total amount being £75,000. The Government would advance the money at the rate of £10,000 per annum.

The medical students from the Auckland University College, to the number of eleven, left by the Main Trunk express last evening for Dunedin. They will continue their studies at the medical school of the Otago University.

The date of the official opening of the Evelyn Firth Home for soldiers was fixed by the joint committee of the Red Cross Society and Order of St. John, for November 24. Good progress has been made with the renovation of the home, and it is anticipated that all will be in readiness for the opening on the date fixed.

A statement in bankruptcy by Edwin James Rollo, farmer, of Auckland, has been filed' with the official assignee, Mr. W. S. Fisher. The first meeting of creditors, which was held last Friday, had been adjourned for a week to give the bankrupt an opportunity to furnish further particulars of his transactions. The statement shows that the amount owing to unsecured creditors is £5752, and that owing to secured creditors £8792, the estimated value of securities being £8734. This brines the total debts to £5810, with no available assets.

The total number of military patients undergoing medical treatment in various hospitals throughout the Auckland military district is given in an official return as 714, compared with 725 for the previous week. Of this number 351 are. iR-'jS&taents and 363 out-patients. The jwlficipal hospitals accommodating military patients are Rotorua, where thep6 are 154 patients, and Narrow Neck, ivKere there are 108.

Instructions fjrin.the Imperial Supplies Department, Cancelling the allocation of shipping scace for beef on overseas vessels, owing to the sale of meat stocks to Vestey Brothers, were received by the Auckland Faciners' Freezing Company at a very j3/fkward time. The company was in the "middle of loading a considerable consignment of beef on the Port Darwin, and had a large number of beef-laden trucks on the railway. Doubts were entertained as to whether the trucks were to be unloaded into the ships or returned to the freezing stores. These doubts were settled by application to Wellington, when instructions were received to ship all the beef loaded into trucks. * The Westfield Freezing Company had just completed loading a consignment of beef on the Port Darwin when it received instructions cancelling all freight space allocations for beef pending further instructions.

Alterations have been made in the rules of the Auckland Co-operative Terminating Building Society, increasing the number of groups in the society from 40 to 50, and increasing the scale of legal fees for the preparation of documents in connection with the society's loan transactions. The amendments were adopted at a special meeting of the society held in St. James' Hall last evening.

A telephone call giving an alarm of fire at Bella Vista Road, Heme Bay, was received by the Ponsonby Fire Brigade yesterday about 4.30 p.m. The brigade found no trace of fire.

The British- Dominions Emigration Society in London is endeavouring to extend its operations to New Zealand. To that end Mr. R. Culver, who is a fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute, and the society's representative, arrived in the Dominion on Wednesday, to ascertain what facilities exist for the settlement on the land of people now resident in Britain. The society has been operating for the last 30 years, and has assisted many British families to settle in Canada.

, A report on the conference of technical education held in Wellington recently was made to the Auckland Education Board by the supervisor of manual and technical training, Mr. J. P. Kalaugher. He stated that the conference had been most successful, and he expected that many of the resolutions adopted would be given effect to by legislation. Mrs. F. E. Baume had been a valuable member of the conference, and her speech on the training of girls had attracted favourable notice. The board recorded its appreciation of the able manner in which Mrs. Baume had represented it.

A feature of the famine in sugar has been a rush that lias set in for honey, telegraphs our Christchurch correspondent. The commodity is. being utilised for baking and other purposes where sugar is normally used. Grocers have been compelled to strictly limit the pales and the price has advanced retail by 2d a lb. Many homes are of course absolutely without sugar, this condition also applying to hotels and boarding houses. A "curious effect has been that greater quantities of sweetened condensed milk is being puV-_ chased, obviously intended for those who are unable to manage without sweetening matter in their breakfast beverages.

Unusual admissions were made by the defendant in a case heard by Mr. W. R. McKean in the Magistrate's Court yesterday, when application was made for possession of a house. The case had previously been adjourned for a month to enable defendant to satisfy the magistrate that he had taken steps to get anoher house. In cross-examination he admitted that he had only been to one land agent during the last month, and had not visited any in Newmarket, where he lived, nor had' he answered any advertisements in the newspapers. An order for possession was granted, the warrant not to be taken out before November 18.

The opinion of the Auckland centre of the Red Cross Society upon, the question of the allocation of a certain amount of the Red Cross funds for peacetime work was sought in a communication from the executive, which came before a meeting of the joint committee yesterday. After some discussion a resolution was passed to the effect that the meeting -was emphatically of opinion that any vote from New Zealand Red Cross moneys for purposes defined as peace-work by the Geneva Conference would be unwarranted at present, and until the Red Cross administration of the Dominion was satisfied that the sick and wounded were adequately provided for and their needs fully met, no such grant should be made. If, however, the Red Cross moneys raised for general purposes in the hands of, or recently received from, the war funds office, understood to be about £6000, were available to the New Zealand Red Cross executive, the Auckland centre would support such moneys being utilised for the purposes defined by the Geneva Conference as peace-work.