LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18162, 7 August 1922, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Three English mails by different rout* ■will reach Auckland this week. Tae cargo steam-T Waiotapo is due here from Kan to-morrow vrith 10 bags of English mail, as well as 91 bags of American mail for New Zealand. The Moeraki is due at Wellington from Sydney this afternoon with 187 bags of English mail and 76 bags of Australian mail for Auckland. The. mail will be delivered here on Wednesday. The largest of the three mails will be brought by the Royal Mail steamer Niagara, due at Auckland from Vancouver on Friday morning vith 2500 bags of English and American mail for New Zealar^d. The motor-car belonging to the Rev. W. C. Wood, of Papakura. which was removed from its garage on Wednesday night, has been recovered. On Thursday Detective Knight saw the abandoned car on the Razorback. He informed the owner, wno Brought the car back to Papakura on Saturday. Changeable weather was experienced at Auckland during the week-end, with occasional showers yesterday morning. A light wind has been blowing from the south-west for some days, and this has made a noticeable change in the temperature, which has not been so cold as at ♦ho beginning of the week. Tbs barometer, which registered 29.83 in. on Thursday evening, had risen to oO.OOin. by midnight on Saturday, and remained steady at the latter reading. A narrow escape from serious injury was experienced at Epsom on Saturday afternoon by a. girl about 17 years of age, Miss Muriel Wells, who resides in Hepburr Street, Ponsonby. In company with several other girls she was turning in at the entrance to the tram barn to board » car which .was coming out of the sheds. She failed to notice another car which was just leaving the yard, and she was crushed between it and the post at the end of the corrugated iron fence. She was* found to be suffering from shock and severe body bruises, and was later taken homo in the St. John Association ambuiance. Spiritualism was nothing but a revival of an old apostasy, said the Rev. J. W. Kemp at the Baptist Tabernaole last night, in combating a statement by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that it was comparatively a new movement, dating back some 70 years. Mr. Kemp referred to a book on the subject published in En;-;. lish during the reign of Charles 11. an.J reaching ita third edition in 1689. But spiritualism was older than English his fcory, as 3400 years ago Moses had written in Deuteronomy a warning against evil ■spirits and wizards. The last 70 years was, however, the period of the modern movement, A whale has been stranded on the Muriwai beach, about four miles from the Muriwai rocks. It is 54ft. in length. The tail measures lift. 6in. across and it stands over sft. high. The whale is supposed to be a "right" one, as whalebone is being l taken from it. A fractured leg wa« sustained by a footballer, Mr. Clarence Webb, aged 25, of Stanley Street, Devonport, in a match played at Mangere on Saturday afternoon. He was admitted to the Auckland Hospital, where his condition was reported to be satisfactory last evening. A broken leg was sustained on Saturday by a Putaruru footballer, B. Scott, as the result of a collision in the match, Putaruru versus Tokoroa. He was later admitted to the Hamilton Hospital. A bag-snatching incident occurred on Friday night as a young lady was talking up Symonds Street. She was suddenly pushed to the jiround, and her assailant then opened her handbag, taking from it a gold wristlet watch and the few shillings it contained. After he had handed the bag back, he made good his escape before anyone could stop him. Thr> young 'ady received bruises an ." cuts as a result of her fall on to the footpath. A false alarm of fire received bv the Mount Albert Brigade at two o'clock on Saturday morning. Th o alarm was given from a box in Royal Terrace. The various sewerage contracts in the Mount Eden Borough are being prosecuted vigorously, and good progress is reported by the borough engineer, Mr. J. Rogers. The main trunk sewer from Arnold Street to Eden Vale Road has been fullv completed to 350 ft., while a further Vngth of 213 ft. has been excavated through solid rock. A section of the borough needing early attention, states the engineer, lies 30uth of Balmoral Road, and when its boundary has been determined plans for that work will be sumitted to the council. The draining cv T'otter's Park is also being carried out with good despatch. . The decision of the Agricultural Department to discontinue exhibitions at shows owing to the financial stringency, was communicated to the Birkdale Fruitgrowers and Ratepayers' Association at its last meeting. This was considered by the association to be wrong policy in view of the educative value of such exhibitions, and a renewal of the request for the department's exhibit at the BirkdaSe Show in February was decided on. A iecturo on "Cows —in Sickness and in Health," was given by Mr. F. Anderson, of Birkdale. A further increase has been made in the rates of commission to be paid to assignee* under the Bankruptcy Act on the net receipts from the bankrupt's property, but after deducting any sums paid to secured creditors. The new rates payable to the official assignee from August I are as follow, the charges under the rcale introduced last January being given in parentheses:—On the first amount of i'2so or any less sum, 12£ per ceat. (10 per cent.) ; on the next £1760, 6£ per ceit. (5 per cent.); on all further sums, 5j per cent. (2£ per cent.). The remuneration for deputy-assignees remains at 10 per cent, on the first £250, 5 per cent, on the next £1750, and 2j per cent, on all further sums, with a minimum of £3 3s. A message from Wellington indicates that whon the steamer Pbysa reached Napier from Singapore on Thursday a case of sickness, suspected to bo plague, was discovered- I,t has been established that it Tras not a plague case, and the vessel has reachsd Wellington, but waa still in quarantine last evening. A party in a motor-car driven by Mr. Donaldson, and owned by Mrs. Maule, of Toko, on Wednesday afternoon had an unusual experience which was anything but pleasant. On the main road between Midhirst and Stratford, as the car ran alongside a high bank, a cow jumped down on to the road, but landed fairly On the bonnet of the car, crumpling it up", smashing the radiator, and doing othor damage, besides sustaining injuries to itself, including four broken legs. Three women occupied the back seat of the car, and, with the others in front, received a severe fright. Two opossum trappers have reported to a member of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society that they saw a pair of huias. They penetrated to the head waters of the Whakatiki River, which rises in the Tararuas behind Paekakariki and eventually -empties into the Hutt River. Here there iu exceptionally thick bush, interspersed with gorges and deep gullies, all part of the large forest reserve comprising some thousands of acres which stretches through from Paraparaurout and the Tauberenikau River. In relating their experiences they mentioned in quite an innocent way that they had seen a pair of huias. The birds were quite near to their temporary camp iu the bush and were closely* watched by them for about ten minutes. According to their story the birds were quite tame and allowed one of the party to approach within ten yards or so, when tlbey disappeared in the undergrowth. Neither trapper knew the bird was supposed to be extinct. It is understood the Dominion MTLseum authorities have bean notified..