LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17661, 23 December 1920, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

There will be no publication of the Herald on Christmas Day. The supplement for the week, containing the usual features and seasonable reading, will be issued with to-morrow's paper. The chief postmaster has received advice from Australia to the effect that over 2000 bags of mail from England, America, and Australia for New Zealand ports, are now waiting in Sydney for shipment to Auckland. These will be forwarded by the first steamer leaving Sydney for Auckland. The Auckland Stock Exchange closed for the mid-summer vacation at noon yesterday. It will re-open for business on January 12. The chairman of the Exchange, Mr. G. Creagh, wishing the members the compliments of the season, expressed the opinion that business in the "New Year would not be so unsatisfactory as some ,considered it would. He expected lo open to better business, though perhaps at somewhat reduced prices. Cheers were given for the chairman before the members dispersed. While riding a newly-purchased motorbicycle in Newton Road at about 8.15 p.m. yesterday a youth named Charles Henry Coldicutt, of Murdoch Road, Grey Lynn, collided with a telegraph pole. His left thigh was fractured and he was removed to the hospital. The Auckland Prices Investigation Tribunal will conclude its sittings for this year to-morrow. The tribunal will not resume its investigations until January 5 The arrangements for carrying on the work of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church were dkcussed fit a meeting of the congregation last evening, the Rev. D. D. Scott, moderator, presiding. A committee was formed to continue the work until after the coming holidays. A further meeting will be held about, the end of January. Severe abdominal injuries were received yesterday by a twelve-year-oLd girl named Sylvia Leah Shaw who resides in Pompallier Terrace, Ponsonby, through jumping off a verandah rail on to a stout wooden stake embedded in the ground below. She was admitted to the hospital last evening. Coalmine owners are being provided with ample trucks by the Railway Department at present, and all the coal mined is being distributed daily. There are no accumulated supplies at the YVa;kato mines, and it is expected that there will not be any surplus stocks at the mines when they are closed down tomorrow for the holidays. The miners will not resume work until January 5. A waterside worker wa<? arrested yesterday afteruoon by Detective M. Gourley, of the water police, on a charge of broaching 1 cargo. He is alleged to have stolen four hats, valued at £10, and will appear before the Court this morning. The steamer Devon arrived from New York early this morning. She has 1050 tons of cargo for this port, including a large quantity of case oil. She will berth at the Queen's Wharf after undergoing medical inspection. Newmarket's war memorial is to take the form of a obelisk which is to be erected in front of the town hall site in the Triangle. This decision was arrived at by the Borough Council last evening when a special committee submitted a report. The committee recommended that subscriptions be invited from residents to cover the cost of the memorial, which was estimated at £200. It also suggested that the balance in hand to the credit • of the Returned Soldiers' Reception Fund, namely £30, be transferred to the memorial fund and that the council donate £50 from the district fund account. It proposed that competitive designs for the ohelisk should be invited. The commiitee's recommendations were adopted. The poll of ratepayers on the proposal of the New Lynn Town Board to borrow £29,775 for improvements in the district was held yesterday. The project was placed before the voters in six schemes, of which three were carried and three defeated. The voting was:—Scheme 1, for 71, against 54; scheme 2, for 69, against 96; scheme 3, for 102, against 75; scheme 4, for 73, against 104; scheme 5, for 50, against 123; scheme 6, for 116, against 66. The Ordnance Department is forwarding two German machine-guns to the Newmarket Borough Council, two to the Birkenhead Borough Council, and one to the Mount Roskill Road Board. Information to this effect was received by the bodies named at their meetings last evening. An application in respect to the payment of compensation money to Mrs. L. P. Sharpe (Mr. Endean), widow of John Sharpe, who was accidentally killed while shunting at Papakura on March 17, 1920, came before- Mr. Justice Hosking yesterday, at the Supreme Court. The claim for compensation by Mrs. Sharpe against the Government was settled by the Government agreeing to pay the sum of £1400, and m addition £35 costs. The Judge yesterday awarded one-third of the compensation to Mrs. Sharpe, and the remainder to the Public Trustee, on behalf of her child, aged seven months. Immediate payment of the widow's share was ordered. Mr. 'R. P. Hunt appeared for the Crown. At the final meeting df the. Devonport Good Roads Campaign Committee, held on Tuesday, it was decided to take steps to establish a Ratepayers' and Residents' Association fo't the central and Melrose portions of the borough, to work in conjunction with similar bodies already m existence at Cheltenham, Vauxhall, and Stanley Bay, the feeling being that tho more popu'ous district should be organised so .that its interests in municipal affairs should not be overshadowed by the activities of the other associations. The licenses for the ferry passenger steamers on .the Waitemata Harbour aTe issued on the authority of the Marine Department. The Northcote Borough Council recently approached the Minister for Marine .with a view to having the Auckland Harbour Board constituted the licensing authority for passenger ferry steamers for the Port of Auckland, on the rrround that the board would be in a better position to judge of the suitaib ; Hty of the steamers for passensrer traffic than the department. The Minister has replied that the recommendation has been fully considered, and the conclusion arrived at that the proposal could not he enterta.ined. The Northcote Council resolved to express its disappointment with the Minister's communication, and to convey to Mr. F. Bartram, M.P. for Grey Lynn, the thanks of the council for his references in Parliament to the need of improvement in the class of steamers employed as passenger ferries, when discussing certain clauses of the Health Bill. Returned soldiers who are building dwellings for themselves, and are experiencing difficulty in obtaining supplies o f timber may look to the Housing Department for a certain amount of assistant.-, Mr. H. E. Moston (Deputy Housing Sunerintendent) stated in Wellington that the department had recently received two or three applications from returned soldiers for timber from its stocks, and had granted each request. " While we have sufficient timber available," he said, " wv shall be only too pleased to do what w« can for such men." He added that the prices of the timber supplied by the d«* partment were just sufficient to cover the department's expenses, and were mueh lower than the ruling rates. Some interesting information was givenby the Rev. T. N. Cuttle at St, John's Presbyterian Church, Greymouth, indicative of how people drift from the church. Speaking regarding baptism, lie stated that of even- 100 the church statistics revealed that only 40 passed through the Sabbath-school, "and only "lO became church members. He claimed that young people were not being sufficiently shepherded by the church. /