LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17691, 28 January 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The RM.S. Tahiti arrvied at Wellington from San Francisco at 4 p.m. yesterday. She has 789 baga of mail and 385 receptacles containing; parcels for New Zealand. The Auckland portion is expected to reach hare by the express this afternoon.

The folio-wing -weather forecast -was issued by Mr. Clement L. Wragge at 7.30 last evening:—Still temporarily fine: but as the antarctic depression Naka,l is off the south-western coast, and inclined to make northing; and as tropical low pressures off the Three Kings may blend therewith, conditions cannot be regarded otherwise than as unsettled. The Auckland province is thus under dual influences, antarctic and tropical respectively, each striving, as it were, for the mastery. Rain seems assured in the south, and will probably be experienced in the north later. There is, moreover, a strong probability of distant lightning, and electric disturbance. Winds very shifting and variable, chiefly westerly in the south, and inclined to northerly in the north Sea smooth to moderate, but rather rough in the south.

A motion carried at the annual meeting of the Auckland Railways and Development League yesterday was as follows: — " That in view of the statement by the Minister for Publio Works, that there is a shortage of man power to carry out the construction of railways and roads in the Dominion, this meeting is of opinion that the High Commissioner should be instructed to send out some shiploads of navvies or those who have been used to excavating."

A dispute in the dairying trade is to be heard before a conciliation council this morning, when the commissioner, Mr. T. Harle Giles, will preside. The employees known as roundsmen are seeking a new award. Among their demands are : One delivery daily, a minimum wage of £6 a week, overtime at the rate of 3s an hour, and 14 days annually of leave on full pay.

An accident occurred to a littl.i. boy, John A. Winchester, aged 4i years, at his parents' residence, Kumeu, last evening. The child fell down a flight of stairs and fractured his left arm in two places. He was brought in to the Auckland Hospital.

A warm tribute to the scientific work of Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, curator of the Auckland Museum, was paid last night by Mr. E. H. Wilson, of Harvard University, who is in New Zealand on a scientific mission for the study of New Zealand trees. " Mr. Cheeseman's reputation extends far beyond New Zealand, and beyond the British Empire," he said. " He is the world's authority for the flora of New Zealand. I have never met him, but I know of him as a scientific man. We have his book in our library."

An application for an injunction restraining, a bottle dealer, T. F. Houlihan (Mr. R. P. Hunt) from handling or dealing with bottles used by the Lion Brewery, Ltd., (Mr. R. McVeagh), which came before the Supreme Court in October last, has been disposed of. As a result of negotiations between the parties a perpetual injunction in favour of the plaintiffs had thin week been granted by Mr. Justice Cooper by consent.

The holiday to-morrow will be a partial one for th« postmen in Auckland. Ona complete letter delivery only will be made throughout the city and suburbs.

While discussing fche establishment of foreign trees in New Zealand last evening, Mr. E. H. Wilson, assistant director of the Arnold Arbor etum, Harvard, was amused to hear the story, which is often repeated, to the effect that the willow trees in the Waikato were all derived from a cutting from the weeping willow which shaded the tomb of Napoleon at St. Helena. " That is told in very many countries," he said. "There is, in fact, a Babylon willow at the tomb, though, by the way. it has nothing to do with the ' waters of Babylon,' for it is a native of China. The cutting may have come from there, for ships did call at St. Helena- But there must have been millions of cuttinga taken from that tree!"

"It is well known that this regulation is being ÜBed by tenants merely to defy landlords,** said Mr. W. J. Sim, in the course of a tenancy case at the Magistrate's Court in Christchurch, when referring to the War Regulation regarding tenancy. " They need only come along to the Court with the most flimsy excuse to show why they should not be ejected when the landlord desires the house, and the landlord is impotent. I submit that a step has been reached in the administration of this War Regulation when the tide should begin to turn." In giving his judgment later, Mr. S. E. McCarthy, S.M., declined to comment upon the virtue of the regulation except to say that it had saved many women and children from being cast into the streets.

A serious accident occurred to one of the engines at the Waromri mine, in the Bruce County, demolishing the engine which drives the electric generator. The belt slipped off the driving wheel, causing the governors to drop out of their wall-worn groove. The engine then raced at top speed, and before the driver could shut off steam there was a terrifio smash. Portions of machinery were smashed through like twigs, and hurled in all direction, one heavy casting flying through the roof, while another casting smashed through the end of the building after ploughing its way through two barrels of oiL A 3ft. concrete block on which the engine stood was also badly broken The survey of a route for the deviation of the Wairarapa railway, to avoid the Rimutaka incline, is to be commenced *t once. The Minister for Public Works states that an engineer and staff have been detailed for the work. Many motives and many excuses for crimes committed are heard, but surely the excuse of a small boy who stole a New Testament from a large establishment in Chriatchurcb—in order that he might go suitably equipped to church the following Sunday—is rather unusual. "He shows a very good taste in literature anyhow," remarked Mr. V. Q. Day, S.M., when the lad came before 'him. Accused was placed on probation. Two pigs of a mob that was being conveyed to the Carterton abattoir, engaged in combat at the railway station, where they had been side-tracked. The fight lasted fully 15 minutes. Neither appeared to gain an advantage until one of tho infuriated animals administered a ""Io»l. ' Taking the tail of its opponent between its teeth, it nipped it off, and to show its disgust for a squeaHng foe, savagely chewed up the severed piece. Over £446 has been paid by the Ashburton County Council for birds' eggs for the period October 1, 1920, to date. For the corresponding period last year payments amounted to £262. Pari "of the increase is due to the advance in the vales paid for eggs, which bring 4d a dozen this year, compared with 3d last year. The increase was asked by a number of Mount Somers boys in a petition to the County Council, and their request was promptly granted, especially as the reason given— the rising costs of clothes destroyed :n bird-nesting—seemed a very cogent one. The number of eggs actually paid for so far this season is 321,468,' as against 251.760 for the corresponding period last season.

A discussion as to the advisability o; sports bodies having representation on the Chrietchurch City Council took place at a meeting of the committee of the Canterbury Cricket Association. The matter was raised by a proposal from the North Canterbury centre of the New Zealand Athletic and Cycling Union to hold a meeting to discuss selection of one or more candidates for election to the City Council to represent the interests of sport Members dwelt, on the fact that sports grounds were not sufficient for the size of the city, and grounds were not always available when they were required. it was resolved that ' the meeting be attended, and two delegates were appointed.