LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18317, 6 February 1923, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Shaw, Savill and Albion steamer Manama, which. arrived at Auckland early this morning, from London, ;;■ brought a large; unexpected English letter arid parcel mail for New Zealand.' She had 347 bags of letters and 134 bags of parcels. A : remarkable escape from injury was experienced yesterday afternoon by a boy, F. C. King, who resides in Pitt Street. He was riding ';, a bicycle down Swanson Street when the machine got but of control. It carried him half-way across Queen Street -until he collided with an outward-bound tramcar. Fortunately ho was not injured, nor did his bicycle appear to be damaged. ; ;

Some counsel are notoriously longwinded in, presenting their cases before the various Courts, but there was certainly no" justification for the implication which some members* of the Bar read into an innocent remark by a fellow pleader yesterday. Mr. Justice Stringer was fixing the order of business for the (pending civil session of the Supreme Court, and was anxious to know whether a certain case would fit into a gap in the calendar. "Is this going to be a long case?" asked His Honor, and counsel on one side, seeing himself appealed to, replied hastily, " Oh, yes. Your Honor. Mr. —— is on the other side." • •■'■■' " ' ■-

The member of the American athletic 'jgun-jf"Mr. C. Krogness, who sprained his ankle at the sports carnival at the Domain on Saturday, has been admitted to the hospital. He is progressing satisfactorily. ■' v> ••-'-■■ : ..:■''

Advice has been received by Mr. L. F. Ayson, Chief Inspector of Fisheries, from Mr. Govan, at Lake To Anau, that Atlantic salmon had been seen in the Eglinton and Quintori rivers, which run into the lake. This is further evidence of the successful acclimatisation of these fish. According to the telegram, a Government photographer filmed the catching of a salmon in the Upokororo River, near Lake Te Anau, on Wednesday last, the angld being Mr. J. R. Wilson.

The marine survey of the Waikokopu roadstead has now been completed, states the chairman of the Wairoa Harbour Board, and it only remains to have the sweeping of a certain area carried out to fulfil the conditions laid down by the Overseas Shipping Committee. The net result of the survey is that depths have been secured ranging from 50ft. to 80ft. The latter appears only in isolated Bpots, but it would seem that a sufficient depth of water has been found for the mutton boats. The sea bottom is composed of a layer of fine sand practically all oyer the area, except on the north-east side of the bay, where rocks were found.

At the conclusion of a tour of New Zealand, Professor H. A. Woodruff, Dean of the- Veterinary College of the Melbourne University, said he had been very deeply impressed with the wonderful fertility of the country, its high stock-carrying capacity, arid its general freedom from serious stock diseases. In the lask-mentioiied respect at least, mentioned Professor Woodruff, Now Zealand was of all countries perhaps the one most suited for farming. ;Most of the dangerous diseases to be found in other countries were not to be found in New Zealand. '."'

, A number of returned soldiers are still out of employment in Christohurch, the relief works having ceased, ( owing to the funds of the North Canterbury Unemployment Committee having been . expended, and' the committee having ceased operations. Moat of the men, who number about 40, are of the unskilled labouring class, but there are also several clerks and storemen looking for work, while a number of partially disabled men are seeking light employment, such as for liftmen, caretakers, watchmen, and so on. ■■■■~;; The shearing has been delayed seriously in Canterbury this season owing {to the wet weather. Even on the plains one may see flocks that are still in the wool, a most unusual sight at this time of the year.' There must be many thousands of sheep still unshorn, and dozens of owners who hoped \ to get their clips into the coming sales will miss the opportunity of doing 80. ; ' ' ■' One of the old flour mills up the Wanganui River, a relic of other days, is entering on a new sphere of usefulness. It has been transported a few miles down river from Kawana to Matahiwi, just below Pipiriki, where it will in future serve as a schoolhouse. The big waterwheel has been left on the Hanks of the stream, and will serve as a reminder that the growing of cereals used to flourish in the district. - .

One of the questions upon which Poverty Bay farmers feel most' strongly at present is that of the increased commission on, stock sales. '* From information contained in correspondence with other centres, the matter seems to be agitating the farmers of many districts, and a fairly general movement is being made to oppose increases. The Southern Hawke's Bay branch of the Farmers' Union is protesting against an increase from 2£ per cent, to 3 per cent. whereas in Poverty Bay the increase has raised the commission from 2£ to 4 per cent.

The teachings \ of Ratana appear to be having a good effect on some of the young members of the Maori population. Among; the visitors to the Caledonian 'sports.-at Turakina recently were a number of ycu:;g Maori women, who at mid-day quietly withdrew to the shade of trees in the vicinity, and there spent a short time in prayer, and singing with subdued voices several hymns. . .':■<. \ ,•

The long arm of the law has reached back over a span of eight years to grasp an alleged wrong-doer. On Tuesday last a porter at the Christchurch railway station was j; arrested on a charge of having stolen a cornet on March 31, 1915. V

,;•:,; A six minutes' stoppage of the Lake Coleridge i power supply, which occurred at : J Christchurch recently, proved'. to be due to an eel, which pot into one of the main inlet pipes at the power-house. The engineers were compelled to stop some of the plant while' it was removed.

i.';" A -, rusty single-furrow plough, which is at present hanging on a tree in a schoolground in the Manawatu district, has made history, as it turned the first sod in the Manawatu district for farming purposes, i A proposal has: been made in farming circles down there to rescue this relic of former days, and preserve it as a memento of/ early Manawatu.

A very plucky rescue from drowning took 1 place at Napier the other : day. A small boy,-six years of age, while paddling on the edge of the surf, lost his balance and was washed out into deep water, disappearing almost , immediately. A young man, Mr. Roy Gasson. of Wellington, who was sitting on the beach, rushed into the water fully clothed and secured a hold on the boy. For a moment it appeared that a double fatality would occur, but another man was ; at hand and managed to secure the struggling pair. The boy was nearly exhausted when handed over to his friends. ; ;

A marvellous escape from a ; serious accident occurred at the Levin Show. : ; A family were panicking under the trees which flank the showgrounds, and two small children were sitting on the ground just in front of a ' pony which was harnessed to a trap. The. tooting of a motor- : car v, horn frightened v the .pony, which jumped clean over the children, dragging the conveyance after it. . Strange to say, the children escaped ; unhurt. v?- v. -• " ,