LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18216, 9 October 1922, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Main Trunk express train which left for Wellington last evening consisted of 17 coaches. These included two sleepers and two vara. Several of those travelling were visitors returning home after having attended Saturday's race meeting. That the welcome change in weather conditions was appreciated by amateur gardeners was strikingly in evidence yesterday, when numerous suburbanites were to be observed hard at work on their little "cabbage patches." It is stated that quite a rush of business was experienced by the seedsmen in the city on Saturday morning. In some shops, about mid-day, quite a congestion resulted from the increase in customers eager to pur chase seeds and plants, owing to the more favourable conditions of the soil. The value of education in the preparation of tTie child to receive nature's education was referred to by Professor Maxwell Walker at the Orphans' Club social on Saturday evening. The main business of life was living, he said. It was recognised that a rosy cheek was better than a swollen brain. It was also admitted that a white collar was not necessarily cleaner than a grey shirfc. He emphasised tho importance of the movement for the encouragement of agricultural education, so that this land should be forced to yield up the vast wealth that only needed practical development on scientific principles, and thus aid in checking the drift to the cities. Education, in view of the conditions arising from the aftermath of the war, should seek to restore a sense of duty and responsibility and a charitable spirit. Dr. Truby King also addressed the gathering in connection with the health campaign on which he is now engaged in Auckland. Two cases of diphtheria were notified to the medical officer of health, Auckland district, on Saturday. One notification was from Ono Tree Hill, and the other from Otahuhu. The weather throughout Saturday was greatly against open-air gatherings, but despite almost incessant rain an attendance of about 8000 was numbered at the Pakuranga Hunt Meeting held at Ellerslie. Umbrellas and overcoats wore a feature of the scene, which, with a cold westerly wind in evidence, was more in keeping with winter than spring. Despite the uniropitious character of the weather the meeting passed off with a larger measure of success than might have been expected. The Hunt Cup was won by Mr. John Williamson's gelding Pittsworth amid much enthusiasm. The totalisator investments during tho day amounted to £34,828 10s, which is £12,472 below last year's record* Receipt of £1 forwarded to the District Treasury omcer, Auckland, as "conscience money" to the Government, is notified in the Gazette. The sum of 8s 2d, forwarded to the Railway Department at Dunedin, is also acknowledged. A false alarm of fire was answered by both the City and Parnell Brigades at 4.50 p.m. on Saturday. The alarm was sent in from the box at the corner of Balfour Street and Clevedon Road, Parnell. Consent to the raising of the Avondale Borough Council's loan of £26,000 for the construction of its main sewer is gazetted. The rate of interest to be paid by the Auckland Hospital Board in respect ctf £25,000, which it proposes to raise by the issue of debentures to the public, is fixed at not exceeding 6 per cent.

A man, who gave the nam* of George Fraylar, was arrested at Maungaturoto, od Friday by Constable Boag, on a charge of obtaining money by false pretences. The allegation is that he obtained cash from a number of people by representing that lie was collecting funds for the Jubilee Institute for the Blind. The accused was brought to Auckland on Saturday, and will appear in the Police- Court this morning, when a, remand will be applied for by the police.

A proclamation, issued in 1912, declaring Motu Kahaua, Happy Bay Island, in the Hauraki Gulf, a scenic reserve, has been revoked. Notice to this effect appears in the Gazelle.

Among those who took part in the singing at the special services at the Beresford Strcee Congregational Church yesterday were two Samoan boys. Both are ex-pupils of the London Missionary Society's Bchools in Samoa. They have gained scholarships entitling them to enter the St. Stephen's School at Auckland-

Addressing Birkdale fruitgrowers on tho great success of co-operation in California. Mr. T. W. Attwood, president of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation, urged that groweru should be producers only, and have someone to sell for them. Growers as a rule, he said, do not poßsesa the business experience necessary to enable them to successfully manage the marketing of their collective produce, which he considered could be more advantageously conducted by a Bales agency. He attributed the failure of the co-opera-tive effort in Auckland largely to grower* not sacrificing personal interest for the benefit of tho industry of which they form a part. When asked if he would care to express an opinion on the doctrine of " My country, right or wrong/' which has been the subject of a good deal of discussion lately, Archbishop Julius, of Christchurch, stated that he intended going fully into the matter in his addresß at the opening of the Diocesan Synod on October 17. The manager of the Masterton fish hatcheries has still about 500,000 trout fry to distribute, and is dispatching them at the rate of about 100,000 a week to various localities. Last week 18.000 were sent to Taihape, 60,000 to Levin, and 18,000 to Marton.

There has been a good deal of pneumonic influenza in Masterton during the last few weeks. Not many cases have developed into real pneumonia, but an unpleasant, form of throatal influenza is very prevalent.

"We do not want to keep boys out of unskilled employment altogether, but we do want to restrict them," remarked Mr. Justice Frazer in the Arbitration Court in Wellington. They heard a good deal about the shortage of apprentices, and the Court could not ignore that aspect. "It is the big money that attracts the bays to unskilled labour," remarked Mr. W. A. Grenfell.

Two Wanganui boys ran away from homeland got as far as Taihape, where their escapadesi caused some alarm. They annexed two shotguns, and when a horseman overtook them on the road, they imagined that ho was following them to effect a capture, 30 they covered him with their empty guns. Soon he persuaded them to the contrary, and. giving them good advice, proceeded home. At one place they begged for some kind of employment, but as they would not give their names, were fed and sent off. It is said that the police eventually took them home.

Prohibitionist America owes one of its leading universities to beer, said Professor Wall in a lecture at Canterbury College. A man named Harvard retired from the management of a London inn and went to America. There ho founded the university which bears his name.