LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17662, 24 December 1920, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

There will be no publication of the Herald on Christmas Day. For the convenience of advertisers the Queen Street office will be open to-morrow, Saturday, evening, aaid also Sunday evening, the hours observed in each case being from seven to nine. Telephone numbers 178 and 129 may be used during the hours mentioned ; after 9 p.m. on Sunday ring number 3693 or 229. Work on the auxiliary dam at Nihotupu will be resumed on January 3. The Mayor, Mr. J. H. Gunson, reported to the City Council yesterday that 40 tons of cement had been obtained for the work. This and other material would be conveyed immediately to the dam site, and work would be started on the date mentioned. An Auckland bookseller, Henry Lionel Claudet, has been adjudicated a bankrupt. His statement shows a deficiency of £182 lis 6d. A meeting j>i creditors will be held at the office of the official assignee on January 10. Wilful damage of a serious chaxacter has been done to the new brick wall on the western boundary of the Mount Richmond Domain. The controlling board has decided to offer a reward of £10 for the discovery of the offenders. " Women and children, the old and the disabled and feeble, should be the special objects of the solicitude and) care of the police in all public places," says Commissioner O'Donovan. in an address to the police force. " Without deserting their posts or otherwise infringing discipline, the police could assist them in many small tilings not strictly within the lines of duty. But silly extremes in this respect must be avoided." Recently the Northern Wairoa Scenic Club wrote to Sir Francis Bell, to the eff-ect that it viewed with alarm a current rumour that arrangements were being made to cut out a portion of the timber of the Kauri Park. A letter has since been receiv-ed from the Secretary of the Forestry Department, stating that Sir Francis Bell desires to state that there is no foundation for the rumour. The monument erected at Manurewa as a war memorial will be unveiled by the Prime Minister, the Hon. W. F. Massey, on Sunday, January 2. The location of the monument is at the junction of Hill Road with Great South Road. " The discharged convict should receive what aid and encouragement we can give him to obtain suitable employment, etc.. and redeem his character," says Commissioner O'Donovan in his address to the police force of the Dominion, just promulgated. At the very least the police should place no obstacle in his way. A delicate and difficult question arises, however, when there is conflict between the interest of the man and the interest of the public. Such a question may arise, for instance, when aj convicted thief obtains employment, say, in a hotci where many travellers are accommodated. What should the police do? Should a hint of his character be given to his employer? The result would be instant loss of employment. The action of the police, often falsely alleged, in such cases, has been so unequivocally condemned that it is deemed to be best to let things their own course." A proportion of the Repatriation Department's machinery, which has been used in connection with the vocational training of returned soldiers in Auckland, may be shortly available for use in the Auckland Technical College. Much of this machinery, which is no longer required for the purpose for which it was obtained, is in good order, and the Minister for Education, the Hon. C. J. Parr, is proposing that it should be utilised to replace some of the equipment in the Technical College that is now becoming out of date. Mr. Parr intends to bring the matter before the Cabinet after the holidays. " The returned soldiers deserve our sympathy and merit our assistance," says 'the head of the New Zealand police force, Commissioner O'Donovan. " Their experiences in tfie inferno through which they have passed no Virgil, no Dante, could adequately describe. From that inferno many returned chattered in mind and nerves, or maimed in body. In certain conditions they are liable to be erratic and perhaps to commit offences, particularly against public order. In such cases, when it is necessary to interfere with them, the utmost tact and discretion should be exercised. Forbearance in the use of force and in respect of a.rrest should be carried to the utmost limits consistent with the necessities of the case. Hie friendly aid of willing civilians should he availed of as far a? possible." When interviewed upon his return from Britain last week, Dr. Julius, Anglican Bishop of Christchurch, had his attention drawn to a statement made by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that only about 10 per cent, of the London population attended church services. " There is undoubtedly a falling-off in general church attendance," said Dr. Julius, " due, in my judgment, not bo much to unbelief, but to the pressure of material things, and a partial failure in the modern presentment of Christianity to satisfy the spiritual needs of humanity. I am fairly sure, however, that the neglect of worship is now, as it has been often in the past, only a passing phase." Hamilton was named after the late Commander Hamilton, who lost his life at Gate Pa, according to a statement made by Mr. C. J. Barton, at a meeting of the Hamilton Borough Council last night. Mr. Barton said there had been other suggestions made as to how Hamilton had gained its name, but from extensive inquiries he was satisfied it was named after Commander Hamilton, of H.M_S. Esk. At Mr. Barton's suggestion it was decided to endeavour to secure a photograph of Commander Hamilton, to be hung in a prominent position in the town. The time for receiving appeals by secondary school teachers against the positions allotted to them in the classification list has been extended by the Minister for Education, the Hon. C. J. Parr, till February 12. This decision was reached as a result of a mishap in connection with the despatch of copies of the classification list, which prevented many teachers from receiving notification before the schools "broke up" for the holidays. Teachers will receive individual notifications of this extension of time on or before the date of the reopening of the schools in the first week in February. A formal resolution authorising the Mayor to prepare and forward to the Government a petition asking for the union of the Point Chevalier district with the city was yesterday passed at a special meeting of the City CounciL