LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18026, 27 February 1922, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Ulimaroa sailed from Sydney for Wellington on Saturday night. A large number of passengers left for the South by the Main Trunk express from Auckland last evening. A train of 14 passenger carriages had been made up to accommodate the passengejs travelling, but shortly before the schedule time of departure it was found necessary to put on another carriage. It is estimated that there were over 600 people on the train. Tho 14ft. one-design yacht Iron Duke, owned by His Excellency the GovernorGeneral, Lord Jellicoe. made her reappearance on the Waitemata Harbour on Saturday afternoon. The Iron Duke, which won the Burns Challenge Cup last year, was called upon to defend the trophy at the Victoria Cruising Club's regatta, and after a very interesting race she established her right to retain the cup for another season. In the absence of His Excollency the Iron Duke was sailed by Mr. G. Bailey. There were five challengers. To-day ia the anniversary of two important events in the history of the South African Wars. The British disaster at Majuba Hill, in the first Boer War, occurred on February 27, 1881. The same date in 1900 witnessed the capitulation of General Cronje to Lord Roberts at Paardeberg in the early part of the second war. Ladysmith was relieved on the following day, The swimming baths at the Maungawhau School, Mount Eden, the housing accommodation for which was recently erected in one day by voluntary workers in the district, are almost ready for use. Tho bitumen flooring is now being laid down free of charge by employees of tho Mount Eden Borough Council and the work is expected to be completed to-day. The baths will then be ready for immediate uso and the children will at once receive instruction in the useful art of swimming. It is probable that arrangements will later be made by which the baths will bo thrown open at suitable hours to the general public. A visit to the City Council impounding dam works at Nihotupu was paid on Saturday by the delegates who attended the conference of the New Zealand Master Plumbers' Federation last week. The delegates, who included visitors from as far south as Invercargill, were accompanied in motor-cars by the city waterworks engineer, Mr. J. Carlaw, and the assistant city engineer, Mr. J. Tyler, who is in charge of the work. The inspection of the dam, now about half completed, proved very interesting, and the visitors were greatly impressed with the importance and magnitude of the undertaking, the featured of which were explained by Mr. Tyler. The rain, which commenced to fall early in the afternoon, fortunately field off u:itil the party had concluded the visit to the gorge and had regained the main road. Reference to the work of Ratana is contained in the Maori Missions report presented to the Methodist Conference on Saturday. " Most oT our staff have been able to turn the spiritual influence of Ratana's work to good account," states tho superintendent, the Rev. A. J. Seamer. "He is a'son of our Church, and although not in full membership with us he has very rightly looked to us for advice and assistance, and we have not failed him. Our silence regarding Ratana's work has been part of a carefully considered policy. The executive has received much confidential information, and has heartily supported the policy followed. No Church has been as closely and consistently in touch with the movement, or d6ne as much to keep it on the right lines as our own. But powerful influences of an unsatisfactory type have been at work, and the real test of strength has still to come." The heavy rain which fell on Saturday shortly after mid-day and continued until late in the afternoon, was responsible for the postponement of some of the out-door attractions set down for Saturday—notably the Auckland Cricket Association's club championships, the Ponsonby Swimming Club's carnival and harbour race, and tho final of the B grade lawn tennis match. The weather eventually _ cleared and yachtsmen were favoured with fair windß for the Victoria Cruising Club's regatta which was held during tie day. A stoppage of electric power supply to buildings in Queen Street shortly before 4 p.m. on Saturday occurred as a result of a blow-out in a net-work box in Lower Queen Street. The fault was located and cut out and the circuit was restored after a brief delay. A petition in bankruptcy has been filed with the official assignee, Mr. W. S. Fisher, by Walter Allen Death, fanner, Great South Road. Green Lane. A meeting of creditors will be held on March 8. A Maori, William Karaka, of Tarukenga, near Rotorua, has been adjudicated a bankrupt, and a meeting of his creditors will be held at Rotorua on March 8. The plight of the men who have been thrown out of employment at Waihi, owing to the closing down of the Waihi Grand Junction battery, was the subject of representations made to the Minister for Public Works, the Hon. J. G. Goates, during his, stay in Auckland last veek, by the Mayor of Waihi, Mr. D. Donaldson. He suggested that in order to assist these men, the Minister should find work for thorn on. the railway works' between Waihi and Tauranga. Mr. Donaldson urged that this would, in addition to relieving tho unemployment in the district, enable a serviceable aid very necessary work to be pushed on. The Minister promised to go into the matter on his return to Wellington, and snid he would communicate his decision to Mr. Donaldson, i A far from flattering opinion of Auckland's country roads has been formed by two southern delegates to the Master Plumbers' Conference. They have many pleasing compliments to bestow on the oity and its newly-paved thoroughfares, as well as the harbour, but the roads beyond the city and the immediate suburbs have given them an unpleasant surprise. Tho visit to the Nihotupu dam on Saturday proved a striking object lesson in this respect. Tho drive from Mount Albert to the Waitakere ranges afforded a typical example of how poorly Auckland compares with Southern districts in regard to rural highways. " Superficial observers have thought that the present financial stringency should not seriously affect the Maoris," states the Rev. A. J. Seamer in his annual report on the work of the Methodist Maori mission, ".In our most loyal districts, however, -it has affected them more seriously than it has the Europeans, for they aro by nature improvident, and now that hundreds of them are out of work they have nothing to fall back upon, while the storekeepers naturally not only refuse to give them more credit, but are pressing for settlement of back accounts. It should be understood that we havo very few wealthy natives in membership with our Church, but we have at least made this advance, that none of our Maori members now refuse to acknowledge their financial obligations to church funds. All the circuits, with one excoption, will reach their estimates this year for the Home Mission fund." A collision between a motor-cycle and a cart occurred in Manukau Road, Parnell, near the Jubilee Institute for {he Blind, on Saturday morning. The rider of the motor-cycle, Mr. Ernest Flannigan, of Tawhiri Street, Onehunga, received injuries to his left leg, but no bones were broken. Ho was taken into Dr. L. J. Thompson's, and was from there conveyed to the Auckland Hospital. . The prospects of the dairy farmers who supply Rotorua with milk, says the Chronicle, are bright for the coming winter. The season has been exceptional for feed, and the bulk of the hay crops were harvested before the heavy rain period. The local milk market is steadily expanding, as settlement in the suburban areas progress, and priceg are not now a restriction to iU full va» »* » food mifiPly^