LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17663, 27 December 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

No accident cases were admitted to the Auckland Hospital or. Christmas Eve, , Christmas Day, or yesterday. The absence of accidents during the holiday has been remarkable in view of the record number of visitors in town. Tnis is the first Christmas for some years on which no ; accident cases have been admitted to the | hospital. ; A m'ddle-aged man was observed swimi ming between the Hobson Wharf and the • Ferr-es, about sii o'clock last evenirg. • He remained in the water for upwards of , an hoar, refusing to obey the summons oi the police to come ashore. He was understood to say that he proposed swimming to Arkle's Bay. When at ! length he did come to the steps h« : collapsed and had to be hauled out of the , water. He was taken to the police station and. after regaining his strength, was arrested on a charge of being drunk ' and disorderly. The holiday crowds in town have ' proved quiet and law-abfding, according ' to the experienca of the police. Christmas Eve a.nd Christmas Day passed off without any appreciable breaches of the law, such as might conceivably have ; arisen from an ebullition of the holiday spirit. To this is added by the police a. word of warning that at the races and 1 other places where crowds are likely to be packed close there is always the possibility of pick-pockets opera'ting. The hip-pocket being the most easily accessible repository for valuables, the advice of the experienced detertiva is that n-.onev, and particularly rolls of notes, should not be carried there. When the steamer Arawa, which arrived from Southampton on Saturday evening, was five days out from Colon a steerage passenger, Mr. E. H. Bell, died of bronchitis and was buried at sea. He was 59 years of age, and was coming out to New Zealand for the benefit of his health. During the war he i-'eld 1 the rank of captain in the Imperial Army. The fact that the Auckland tramway concession-fares tickets are not a\ailable for use on Christmas Day was overlooked by a number of passengers who boarded the cars on Saturday. They were promptly reminded by the conductors of the printed note on the end of the ticketsChristmas Day is the only day besides Sundays on which the trams run when the concession tickets may not be used. Good Friday is included in the excepted days, but that is the one day of the year on which there is no car service. Four Ponsonby residents, offering from ptomaine poisoning, were admitted to the Auckland Hospital at a late hour last night. They are all members of one family—Mr. and Mrs. Charles Knock, who reside at No. 5. Dedwood Terrace, Ponsonby, and their son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Knock, who reside at No. 6, Clarence Street. Ponsonby. The party had partaken of ham and sheep's tongues, which had been cooked in a copper, earlier in the day. They became ill in the evening, and Dr. W. H. Petitt was summoned. He ordered their removal to the hospital. The son was admitted nt 8 p.m.. and the other three shortly before midnight. Mrs. Knock, sen., and Mr. Knock, jun., are the most serionsly affected. Six Sisters cf Nazareth were included among the passengers who arrived from England by the Arawa on Saturday night. The sisters are proceeding to Christchtrrch, where a home maintained by the Order is to be extended in its operations. An advance guard of the naval party to be. expected when New Zealand's .cruiser, the Chatham, arrives next month, was carried by the Arawa, which arrived from England on Saturday night. Among the passengers were : Mrs. B. Siddalls .and Miss F, Siddalls, wife and daughter of Paymaster-Commodore Siddalls of the Chatham. Another passenger was Mrs.A, Yeo, mother of Captain Yeo, naval intelligence officer, Wellington. The Prime Minister has received a cablegram from General Sir William Birdwood, who ie at present in India, as follows : —" All good wishes to you and the people of New Zealand." The following reply has been sent by Mr. Massey : — " Hearty thanks for greetings, which the Government and people of New Zealand heartily reciprocate." The improvements in the pay and status of the secondary school teachers of the Dominion which have ' been effected by the .present Minister for Education are gratefully acknowledged in a' letter received by the Hon. C. J. Parr from the secretary of the executive committee of the Secondary Schools Assistants' Association of New Zealand. "My executive," says the writer, " has had experience of a large number, of Ministers for EcDocation; you are the first of them all who can rightly claim the title of ' The Man That Did.'." The Minister, in acknowledging the letter, expressed his appreciation of the fair and moderate manner in which the secondary teachers had put their tase before him. There is always a great demand for fruit at Christmas, and this year retail shops in the city have experienced an even busier time than usual. Strawberries were the principal fruit inquired for, and the supply, although large, proved quite inadequate. Because of the abnormal demand prices were high, but this fact did not deter people from buying. Plums, peaches, and apricots from Auckland orchards were marketed in fairly large quantities, and sold readily. Potatoes are more plentiful. this Christmas than they have been for some years past. In consequence prices have receded considerably. An exceptionally large quantity of green peas was also on the market, lhe demand for poultry this Christmas was exceptionally brisk. Turkeys in particular realised high prices. Several small outbreaks of fire occurred in the city and suburbs during the weekend. A gorse fire in the Domain on Saturday morning was extinguished by the City Fire Brigade, while a similar outbreak in Grey Lynn was attended to by the Grey Lynn Brigade. A fire in a wash-house in the rear of a house in York Street, ParneuVyesterdav was subdued bv the city and Parnell brigades before anv damage was done to the house. On Christmas Eve the Mount Albert Brigade received a call to a house in New North Road, owned and occupied by Mr Edwards, where a fire had broken "out beneath the verandah and had burnt through the floor. The flames were quickly extinguished, damage to the extent o*J about £5 being done. It was alleged that a number of calves had died at the Government model dairy farm in the Taranaki district throuo-'h eating the foliage of blackberry bushes, which had been sprayed with a weed-km'-ing composition. Investigations were made by a departmental stock inspector, who earnt that only one calf had died., and there was no evidence that its death was caused by eating poisoned leaves. The dairymen in the Taranaki district will probably receive 2s 7d per lb. for butter-fat. which represents an advance of 7d compared with last season's prices „. T " vi ; w of J hs high cost of lm ng , the Wellington Hospital Board has under consideration the question of granting-a bonus to members of the board's staff. The tenders for. 599 miles of trans-mission-wire for the hydro-electric schemes in the Waikato and Lake Coleridge areas j closed last week. The- tenders- are now being investigated, and it is expected that the results will be available for publication immediately after the holidays. The Wanganui Borough Council has-de-cided to build a new power-house. Plans have been submitted and approved, and the architects have been asked 'to reduce the cost in every possible way consistent ; with safety.