LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18578, 10 December 1923, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The - quality and finish of - some of the fat bullocks at ; the Auckland Show prompted a visitor from Scotland to make a novel suggestion. "Those animals," he said, " would prove a splendid advertisement for New Zealand beef at the Empire Exhibition." >:- To the objection, that it would cost too much to send them alive to' London, he replied by suggesting that they be led into the ship's refrigerating chamber and be frozen as they stood. Amusement was caused at a political meeting in Whangarei, which was ad"dressed by Mr. W. J. Jordan, M.P., when the chairman, who was somewhat, nervous, said "Mr. Jordan is going to hold a service in the Methodist Church on Sunday, so you can quite see that be ls—er— quite respectable." •

The approach to the showgrounds in Green Lane was transformed on Saturday into what one visitor described as "Mendicants' Alley." The blind, the paralysed and the limbless were ranged in a line along the footpath, and if anyone succeeded in running this pathetic gauntlet without giving, he was brought up by a Salvation Army officer who smilingly held a collection-box as a bar to further progress. It was the pedestrians who had to face this massed assault on their generosity, the motorists sailing past on the road, unscathed.

. Flying foxes, a large variety of bat, are becoming, a serious pest in Western Samoa. Major-General G. S. Richardson states that they are difficult to cope' with, as they only leave their secluded haunts at dusk to return at sunrise,. The foxes thus present a problem for guns. They destroy much fruit on the islands and, more serious commercially, they are now eating the young cocoanuts. The administration offers the natives a bonus for foxes' feet. To snare the animals, the Samoans ha*e devised a long pole' with a loop of bush lawyer on the end. In Tonga *.he natives cannot be enlisted against the pest as the foxes commonly shelter in trees that are " taboo." A delay of about. 15 minutes was occasioned to the tramway traffic in Syraonds Street about 11.30 a.m. on Saturday. This was due to a car running off the rails at the turn into Khyber Pass Road. » . "Had accused any liquor on him when arrested?" asked Mr. J. W. Poynton. S.M.. at the Police Court on Saturday. "No, Your Worship," was the quick reply of Senior-Sergeant Rawle, "he had it inside him." The Stock Exchange was closed on Saturday on account of the Agricultural Show. A unique sight on Mr. Wheeler's farm Muriwai Park, says our Waimauku correspondent, is a pet lamb that has been adopted by a cow. . The lamb follows the whole herd, to and from pasture, morning and night, and is suckled by the cow. Needless to say, with an unlimited supply, the little animal is in tip-top condition. The Arbitration Court' will open . its Auckland sittings this morning, and is expected to be engaged for about a week in hearing disputes and compensation claim/* The list of industrial matters to be dealt with is not a heavy one. The memoers of the Court arrived in Auckland yesterday. "It Eeem to me that I never see life before,," was the naive confession of the Samoaa interpreter attached to MajorGeneral G. S. Richardson after a day or two in Auckland. To permit the native to see even morn of • life in New Zealand, the Gener.il arningii for him to make a week-end trip to Wellington, returning on Tuesday in' tim for the Islands^boat.

• A farmer of Otahuhu, Mr. Ernest Brown, was admitted to the hospital on Saturday 'afternoon, suffering from injuries to his chest and) back received several days previously while he was working at a wool press. An operation was performed last evening, and Mr. Brown was reported to be progressing favourably.

The Main Trunk express to Wellington last evening was an exceptionally long and well-filled train. It consisted of 18 cars, of which 16 were passenger carriages. The latter total included one Ministerial car, three sleepers, six first-class carriages and a ladies car. About 500 passengers travelled by the express. The "Keep to the left" rule for footpath traffic will come into operation in Wellington next Saturday. Auckland is not the only place in th» Dominion experiencing a dry spell. Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Wangamvi. and Feilding are all feeling the effects of the drought. Along the West Coast of the North Island, up as far as Wanganui. the prolonged spell of dry weather is having a serious effect upon the water supply. In inland districts where tank water is depended upon there is a very serious shortage, and. most families are on short allowance. In Dunedin, street sprinkling Has been stopped, as the water in the reservoirs is falling. Attention to the fact that the infantile death rate last year for the four, main cities in New Zealand was the lowest on record— 4.2 per 100 births— drawn by the president of the New Zealand PJunkeb Society, Mrs. J. A. Johnstone, at the annual conference of the society at Dunedin last week. In 1921, said Mrs. Johnstone, the rate was 4.7 per cent. For the four cities the infantile death rates in 1922 were —Auckland, 4.3 per cent-; Wellington, 4.9 'per cent. Christchurch, 5.4 per cent. ; Dunedin, 4.0 per cent. With the increase of traffic to Titirangi, following upon the advent of summer weather, the proposal to construct a concrete road from the New Lynn boundary to the Titirangi post office is being regarded with considerable interest. The engineer to the Waitemata County Council, Mr. G. A. Jackson, who is preparing a report as to the estimated cost of the scheme, took the necessary levels last week. The old proverb "It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good," seems to apply to the present shortage of rain, says , a Canterbury exchange, for although farmers with gram crops are suffering seriously from a drought, the sheep men are having a record run with their shearing, and many have been able to carry on with shearing .every day for some weeks past. This ftate of affairs is just the reverse of < last, year, when there was plenty of water for the grain and sheep farmers were hardly able to get two consecutive days for shearing in several weeks.

Some person unknown has forwarded £80 to the Commissioner of Taxes, Wellington, and its receipt as "conscience money" is acknowledged in the Gazette. A similar anonymous remittance of 7s 6d has been received by the Railway Department, Wellington. " While in Australia," stated Mr. Walter Fuller on his return to Wellington, "I went to the Caulfield Cup. It was estimated that there were 150,000 people en the course. The apathy of the crowd greatly struck me, however. During the progress of the great races there was hardly any excitement at all approaching what we would see at similar races in New. Zealand. Australians explained it by saying that racing is so common in Australia that the people had long since lost any undue excitement over it." ■ ' " The Government puts in a railway siding for you. charges you probably twice as much as it costs, uses it itself when it likes, levies £25 a year on the body or company which controls it, and then anyone else who uses it has to pay a fee also." Laughter greeted this condemnatory remark by Sir James Wilson, chairman of the Manawatu County Council, si ft meeting of that body recently.