LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17845, 28 July 1921, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Ther a were 18 applicants for work at the Government Labour Bureau yesterday, making a total of -38 this week. Three men have been placed in private employment. Three men who were engaged for relief work at Mangonui failed to call at the bureau for their steamer tickets, and they have not yet given any explanation of their action to the officials. An outbreak of fire occurred on a tramcar at the junction of Garfield Street and Manukau Road shortly after 5.30 p.m. yesterday, being caused by the fusing of wires near the gear box. The outbreak was extinguished by the Parnell Fire Brigade before any damage had been sustained. The City Fire Brigade received a call shortly after 9 o'clock yesterday morning ■to a house in Jervois Road, owned and occupied by Mrs. Cashmore. A trellis work fence was on fire, and the flames were extinguished before much damage tvas doneComplaints regarding overcrowding of the Takapuna trams have been made by the Borough Council, which last evening received a reply from the Tram Company, stating that it could not prevent passengers standing on the platforms of as the council had no by-laws on the matter. The council decided to reply that it was assured the company's information was Incorrect, and that the remedy for overcrowding was not by by-law, but was in the company's hands by providing additional facilities. The company is to be notified that if overcrowding continued the attention of the Public Works Department would be called' to the position. Hawthorn is to be declared a noxious weed within the borough of Newmarket. This decision was arrived at by the Borough Council last evening, after hearing a deputation from the Auckland Central Fire Blight Association. Similar action has been taken already bv the Mount Eden Borough Council, Waitemata County Council, New Lyrm Town Board, and Avondale Road Board., The announcement that he had sanctioned the use of the Boys' Grammar School hall for the old boys' and- old girls' annual dance, made by Professor A. P. W. Thomas, at the meeting of the Board of Governors yesterday, brought the immediate remark from one member, " But surely, Mr. Chairman, you are not going to risk bringing on this board the anathema of all those pious people opposed to dancing? "Oh, the chairman can only follow precedent," replied the professor, amid laughter; "it is for the board to institute a morality campaign-" A suggestion that the chairman be deputed to attend the ball as social censor was also made, but was not received with enthusiasm by that gentleman. The board decided to confirm the chairman's sanction of the ball. A very long agenda paper has to bo disposed of by the Auckland Land Board, which commenced a sitting yesterday under the chairmanship of the commissioner of Crown hinds, Mr. H. M. Skeet. There were also present Messrs. J. G. Rutherford, R. Eoddy, B. Sladen, and E. F- Andrews. There are nearly 300 matters to be dealt with, the list including about 30 applications for postponement of rent and payments, and for remission of rent. The board considered 14 of these applications yesterday, one being refused and the remainder recommended for approval, in the nfajority of cases subject to satisfactory investigation by the commissioner.

Dy taie commissioner. A Chambers sitting will beheld by Mr. Justice Salmond at the Supreme Court at 2.15 o'clock this afternoon, to fix the order of hearing of civil cases to be heard by Judge alone during the session which commences next Monday. The new valuation of the Borough of Takapuna shows a total ratable capital value of £1,601,549. The previous total was £1,147,756, the increase therefore being £453,793. The need for heating apparatus in some of the rooms at the Boys' Grammar School was emphasised by several members at the meeting of the Board of Governors yesterday. One member said that his son, who worked in rooms on the south side of the school, complained bitterly of the cold, and had lately developed chilblains. The chairman stated that he too had heard many complaints of the coldness of the rooms, where the temperature was sometimes as low as 42 degrees. Mr. S. I. Crookes said that 58 wa s the minimum in English schools. Some discussion arose as to the relative virtues, and otherwise, of steam heat and gas fires, it being finally decided that as applications had already been hiade to the department for nine gas fires,' the number should be extended to 12, to include three other rooms, also on the cold side of the school.

Invalid chairs, equipped with gear which enables disabled men to propel themselves, have been provided to a num-. ber of the soldiers of the Evelyn Firth Home who are unable to walk. Yesterday three of them signalised the event by wheeling themselves to the annexe hutments to visit the patients there.

The new post office at Manurewa is to be opened ftfficially on Monday afternoon by the Postmaster-General, the Hon. J. G. Coates. The office, which cost about £2200, has been open for business for some time, and the telephone bureau is open daily the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

A crusade against rats in the form of a cleaning-up week was decided on by the Devonport Borough ''Council last evening. The campaign will commence on Monday, August 8.

The new by-law adopted hy the Newmarket Borough Council will be confirmed at a special meeting to be held on Monday at 1 p.m. The by-law regulates motor traffic in relation to" tramcars.

A tram conductor on the Dominion Road line had a passenger who occasioned him considerable anxiety during the five o'clock rush period yesterday. A barefooted boy of four, who had apparently boarded a city-bound car at Valley Road, attracted attention on arrival at Queen Street by sitting calmly through all the bustle of passengers leaving the car. Every effort of the conductor and several passengers to elicit any information from him as to his home proved futile. On arrival of the car at the Dominion Road terminus, on the return journey, the child was handed over to the care of the police.

Advice has been received at Dannevirke that the certificate for the establishment of the Southern Hawke's Bay Power Board has been issued. It is expected that all the preliminary steps will have been taken in the next few days, and the first election will be held in a few weeks' time.

A party of natives at Opoutama, Hawke's Bay, has been engaged during recent months in an effort to create a whaling industry. All the appliances havebeen secured, and a large" boat is included, but so far the necessary whales have not been forthcoming, in spite of the efforts of the Maoris.

Assistance in identifying an unknown soldier buried at Dorchy Farm Cemetery, France, is invited by the War Graves Department, Wellington. Advice has been received from the Imperial War Graves Commission that a grave has been discovered at Dorchy Farm Cemetery, situated four miles in an east-north-east direction from Ypres, and nearer Langemarck. The only indications found of the soldier buried there were the identification letters on the cross at the head of the grave which are "N.Z.8., Lieutenant C.L.," and as the Defence Department has been nnable to identify "the soldier, the War Graves Department is desirous of receiving information from any soldier who ie la a position to assist in the ideatific*|JSsj.