LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17889, 17 September 1921, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The special « midday; express, which left Auckland yesterday in connection with the teat match in Wellington, consisted of 12 cars, including twosleepers, and carried 250- passengers. ' There Were three or lot* vacant; carriages when the express, left, but it, was • expected-, that another 200 passengers would join the train at Frankton, Taumarunui and other centres, \ bo that the seating accommodation j would be folly taken up by ths time the j express reached Wellington., .-■ Sic mors, members have been ap- j pointed to the new board of governors ] of^fchs Seddon Memorial Technical Col- J lege.| Three of the newly-elected members were selected by• the. Employers' A*|oaa%n% and three by the trades onions. The .employers'. representatives are as. follows Messrs F. J. IJaweaf J. A. 0. AHum, and # H. Dearsley. The unions* representatives are:— Messrs. J. Clark, T. Eloodworth, and y?. Manson. As the number of representatives ! nominated do not exceed the number required, the above candidates will be declared duly! returned. 1 Severe injuries were sustained yester-' day I ' morning by a horse belonging to Mr. E. Mernell, of Great North Road, Grey Lynn. The animal, attached to a cart, was standing in Victoria Street East, when a hay rake, which was being towed up -he hill by a motor-lorry, broke away, and, running backwards, collided with the horse. A large spike affixed to the rake penetrated the horse's chest, inflicting a nasty gash, necessitating the services of a veterinary surgeon. An incipient fire occurred on the scow Waikonini when anchored off the Nelson Wharf at 2 p.m. yesterday. The fire, which started in the galley while the crew were on shore was extinguished by the Harbour Board fire float. The galley situated on deck was. damaged, and the outside of the cabin was charred.

The strong vibrations set up by a tramcar trolley pole, which came off the wire, started the fire alarm at the corner of Richmond Avenue and Castle Street, Grey Lynn, yesterday morning. As a result, the fire brigade turned out, but found that they were the victims of a scientific effect, which had got a little out of hand.

Several suggestions regarding various works of the Waitemata County Council were made at yesterday's meeting of the council by the engineer, Mr. G. Jackson. He slated that the cost of the council's own employees spreading metrl was far too much, and a reduction would have to be made. The cost of Rangitoto scoria was far in excess of its value as a roadmetal, and the council should seek some more economical material. The grants already applied for amounted to jtist under £50,000. and if further applications we.* contemplated they would have a better chance if some of the previous ones were withdrawn. The need for some universal system of road signs for the guidance of motorists travelling through strange territory was being discussed at the Retail Motor Traders' Conference held in Auckland this week, when the chairman, Mr. D. Crozier, of Christchurch, recommended a system in use in California. This consisted of coloured bands, 12in. wide, pointed on telegraph or electric power poles, each route having a specified colour. By this means a motorist, travelling on a route designated by, say, a blue band, was never in any doubt as to whether he was on the right road. On the chairman remarking that frequently the sign combined two colours, each bin. wide, a delegate asked what would happen to a slightly . intoxicated joy-rider on passing a barber's pole. The chairman's reply was lost in the resulting merriment. The importation of two red deer stags from England was recently decided upon by the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, with the object of introducing new blood into the herds in this country. At the last meeting of the society, however, a cablegram was read stating that owing to outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, it was considered unwise to ship the animals from London at present. The chipment of the deer from Liverpool, which could be arranged, would entail an additional' cost of about £40; the total cost of the stags would, therefore, be about £205. The association decided that the purchase should be cancelled for this year, as the cost to land the animals would be too great.

Nearly all the overhead telephone cables have disappeared from the main business centre of Wellington city. When the work now in progress in Feathereton Street and Willis Street is completed, ail the main thoroughfares between the central and the Courtenay Place exchanges will have been cleared of these cables. The old totara poles are being put to good use. Many of them have supplied timber for slot telephone boxes, and others have been turned into furniture for the department. Where there is a large building housing many subscribers the cables are taken under the building, to distributing points on each floor. Where there are several subscribers, but not enough to warrant this, the cables are taken under the building to a single distributing point in the lift weU. In many districts, where large office buildings are rare, and the various premises house only one or two telephones, cables are taken from underground at the edge of the footpath, run along under the verandahs, and necessary distributing points established as required. Sheepfarmers report a successful lambing season, states the MbrrinsvWe correspondent of the Herald. The mild weather has been of great advantage. The average percentage of lambs exceeds 100. The Bank of New Zealand intends to open a branch at Hamilton to meet the demands of the northern end of the town. The new office will be opened for business from October 1. A further stage has been reached in the utilisation of electric power from Horahora. On Monday evening, cows on a Cambridge farm were milked by electric-ally-driven machinery for the first time. The plant driving the machines is operated by current from the transformer at the Hautapu factory. Eight Sambur deer were recently captured at Himitangi, near Poxton. Seven were sent by the Tourist Department to Rotorua, and one, a fine stag, was sent to the Wellington Zoo.

The proposal to inaugurate a campaign for the purpose of raising £10,000 for the Auckland Hospital, with the object of obtaining a supply of radium for* establishing a radium depot in Auckland or establishing other means of" combating cancer, is to be considered afc a special meeting of the Auckland Travellers and Warehousemen's Association this evening. The meeting is to be held in the club rooms, and will be attended by association and club members. Mr. W Wallace, chairman Of the Auckland' Hospital Board, and Dr. C E. Maguire will be present, and' the meeting will elect a committee to carry out the campaign. The first of a series of lectures relating to forestry, under the auspices of the Auckland League of Forestry, will be delivered by the Rev. J. H Silmmondji at the Town Hall on Tuesday evening The Mayor, Mr. J. H. Gunson, will preside. Mr Simmonds recently has conducted investigations in Australia in regard to different abases of forestry, and has asquired information that should be extremely valuable to New Zealand in view of the activity now being displayed in connection with forestry in this country The second lecture of the series will be delivered by Mr. 1,. Mackintosh Ellis, of the Government Forestry Department.