LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18278, 20 December 1922, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Ulimatroa arrived at Sydney from Wellington at 2.15 p.m. yesterday, states a Press Association cablegram.

The Tahiti, which arrived at Wellington from Sydney at 8.50 a.m. on Monday, brought, 106 bags of English and Australian mail for Auckland. Six bags of letters arrived at Auckland by the express yesterday morning, and the remainder of the fetter mail in tho afternoon. The newspaper portion was despatched north by a slow goods train, which will arrive at Auckland at 8 p.m. to-day.

To-day is the seventh anniversary of tho completion of the evacuation of the Anzac and Suvla positions at Gallipoli by the British forces. The announcement of the withdrawal was made in the House of Commons on December 21, 1915, by Mr. Asquith, Prime Minister, who said: "It was hero where our gallant kinsmen from Australia and New Zealand won undying honour." The total losses in withdrawing were four men wounded and the destruction of six guns and a quantity of stores. The landing at Gallipoli by the Anzacs -was effected on April 25, 1915.

Two accident cases have been admitted to the hospital. A married man named Thomas James Cummins, aged 24, residing in Ponsonby Road, sustained slight injuries to his right arm and knee as a result of his motor-cycle sikidding and throwing him to the ground in Park Road. A single man named Benjamin Copedo. aged 43, employed as a scrub cutter in Waitakere, was thrown from a horse and injured his right shoulder.

The fusing of an electric cable leading into the connecting box at the corner of Shortland and Princes Streets shortly after eight o'clock yesterday morning cut off the supply of current to premises in the locality. All the cables converging at this point were badly damaged, and the Power Board repair gang, which was sent to tho scene, put in a. temporary connection to restore the supply while tho box was being refitted. Excavations all round the box were necessary, and it was found that the fault had occurred in the conduit pipe under the kerbstone somo feet from tho box.

The primary schools in the Auckland education district will close to-morrow for the Christinas vacation, and will reassemblo on Tuesday, February 6. Owing to the establishment of the' Kowhai Junior High School, there will, after tomorrow, be no class higher than Standard IV at Edendale, Mount Albert, and Mount Eden Schools.

An interesting symbolism, linking old and new history, is attached to the memorial which was unveiled by the Governor-General yesterday in commemoration of the old boys of the Grammar School who died in the great war. At the top of tho tall column are a. number or Roman fasces, a term which has lent its name to a modern political movement in Italy. Referring to this aspect in the course of his remarks at the unveiling ceremony, Mr. J. W. Tibbs said that fasces were the, symbols olf law and order. They gave their name to that great party in Italy—the Fascisti—which had saved the country from internal dissension and strife. Ho was confident the school would always be a bulwark in defence of law, order, and constituted authority.

The canteen of cutlery which was presented to Mr. J. W. Tibhs by the present boys of tho Auckland Grammar School last evening, possesses distinguished associations. It is a fellow to the canteen of Sheffield cutlery which was presented to Mr. Lloyd George when Sheffield conferred upon him the freedom of the city.

A railway accident, resulting in the derailment of two loaded trucks, occurred at Otahuhu station yesterday morning. The trucks were being shunted on a back line and crashed into tho stop block, which was unable to withstand the impact, and gave way. The trucks were not seriously damaged, and boxes of butter, the contents of one, were not injured.

A suggestion that an effort might bo made to form agricultural experimental plots at Orakei was made by Mr. G. J. Park, director of theSeddon Memorial Technical College, at the meeting of the Collego Board of Managers yesterday. Mr. Park said the Prime Minister had promised to open up 550 acres of land, and if this wore done, Mr. Park thought it would bo a chance for schools to secure about 10 acres for demonstration purposes. Model fruit, dairy, and poultry farms might be established. 7'he board decided to seek the co-operation of other educational bodies, and to approach the Minister with reference to the matter.

A surprising discovery was made by a Waitoa resident recently. Football last winter caused trouble to a toe, and he sought the advice of a medical man in Te Aroha, who decided to operate for the removal of a foreign substance. It turned out t'o be a pellet of lead, which the sufferer contends is a pea-rifle bullet that entered his foot a quarter of a century ago. He is now hobbling about, with a very sore toe, but the fact that he has now in his pocket the cause of all tho trouble is some solace.

The physical condition of boys attending tho Auckland Grammar School was referred to by the retiring headmaster, Mr. J. W. Tibbs, in his annual report. The question of diet was one of the matters touched upon, and Mr. Tibbs said that he regretted that the recent visit to tho school of Dr. Truby King was necessarily a brief one, as he,should have liked fuller opportunity of consulting him about several matters connected with the health of tho boys. This was still, in too many cases, far from satisfactory, and the cause was largely due to errors in diet. " It would be a great benefit to the community," said Mr. Tibbs, " if Dr. King could bo given an opportunity year by year to speak to the mothers of the boys on the subject of feeding their sons. Ho, more than any other man, could do something to stop the perversion from its proper use of the food material with which we are so abundantly blessed in this good land of ours."

Changes in the courses of instruction at tho Seddon Memorial Technical Collego have been made, and the amended systems will como into operation at the beginning of the next school year. One course will proparo pupjls for public examinations, such as the matriculation and publio service examinations. The engineering course will contain more practical work, mathematics, and drawing, while a. new "industrial" course will ie providfd for boys who intend to enter factories. Slight changes have been made in the commercial, agricultural, and domestic science courses.

A request for a new flag station midway between Takanini and Papakura is to "be made to the Minister for Railways bv the residents of the district. The islanukau County Council, at its meeting yesterday, decided to support the request-

Additions to the aviary at tho zoo were forecasted last evening by the council of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society, which organisation will offer to tho City Council a silver pheasant, a cock pheasant, and four hens from their game farm at Cambridge.

The new post office building at Waitoa promises to make an attractive addition to Waitoa's business premises. It is to be modelled much on the lines of the building at Waihou, with business quarters in front and living rooms behind. The building is to bo erected at tho corner of the main To Aroha-Morrinsvillo road and Farmers' Road.

At present the rationing and shortage of sugar is being felt in many households in Greymouth. Tho other day, it is understood, a lot of seven tons passed through to Hokitika, without any being secured for Greymouth,