LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19027, 26 May 1925, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The filty-oighth anniversary of the birth of Queen Mary falls to-day. As Princess Mary of Teck, sho was married to King Gcorgo, then tho Princo of Wales, on July 6, 1893. "It is strange that so few people who indulgo in public criticism of buildings over pauso to think of, or to criticise, the plans," said Professor C. It. Knight, in an address given at tho Rotary Club yesterday. "It is only the exterior that is criticised, and tho value of tho interior arrangement is passed by unheeded by thoso who object loudly to some external feature, or adornment. Scores of letters are written objecting to somo outward feature, but hardly over does one receive an intelligent criticismof the whole plan. Yet this is of vital importance, for tho interior arrangement often necessitates tho external feature to which exception is taken." A motion placed before tho Technical College Board yesterday by Mr. J. Purtoll to the effect that it be a recommendation to the director that tho price of school books be reduced was lost. Mr. R. F. Barter said that pressure should bo brought to bear upon tho Government' l pointing out that by its policy they practically had to tax parents of children who attended the school. The suggestion was discounted by tho chairman, Mr. H, S. W. King, who said the director had done everything in his power to reduce the cost of books. The cost of entry to-day, it was stated by tho director, Mr. G. A. Park, was less than it was threo years ago. An interesting question arose at the meeting of the Onohunga Borough Council last evening, when the Library Committee sought information as to what it was to do with certain old deposits on books, that had not been claimed, and probably never would be. It was explained that when a book is borrowed a deposit of 5s is paid, but the borrowers often apparently forget about it, with the result that some have been unclaimed for years. A sum of about £2OO has accumulated in this way, and in the absence of a by-law the committee cannot use it for buying books to replace thoso on which the deposit had been paid, and the money is lying idle. The town clerk will apply to tho Audit Department for tho necessary information as to how the money can be dealt with.

The wide circulation of tlio Auckland Weekly News was well illustrated recently by the answers which were received to a small advertisement for the sale of shepherds' whistles. Replies came from as far apart as East Farleigh, Kent, England, and Beaconsfield, South Africa, while a request for two whistles came from Vila, New Hebrides.

The extent to which the changes of the war period have revolutionised British methods of mourning were experienced by Auckland members of the Masonic craft on Saturday, when they set forth to procure crape with which to cover tho metal portions of their aprons for yesterday's memorial service to tho late Mr. Massey. In hardly any instance was tho material procurable. Those who applied early soon swept away such small quantities of crape as remained on tho dealers' shelves. All others were told that the fabric was not used for mourning nowadays to anything like the same extent as in pre-war times—that what little there had been in stock in the early hours of Saturday forenoon was just the remnant that had stood over from tho times when crape was the main feature in "-.the trappings and the suits of woe," and it had not for a long period been inquired for. Consequently, the great majority of the Freemasons who wero at the Town Hall yesterday afternoon had to bo content with draping tho bullion portions of their regalia with black marocain, georgette, and similar materials.

Examinations for senior national scholarships and free places will commence on November 25 and for junior scholarships on December 3. Entries for these examinations must be made by September 8.

Support for the two retiring members of the Dairy Produce Control Board in the forthcoming election was given by the provincial executive of tho Farmers' Union last evening. The meeting strongly urged dairy farmers to support Mr. W. Grounds and Mr. Claud Motion, who stood for complete control, a policy previously endorsed by the union.

After 51 years of faithful service, Archdeacon Kempthorne, of the Nelson Diocese, has handed in his resignation to the Bishop of Nelson. The people of the Nelson province hold Archdeacon Kempthorne in the highest regard and esteem. In a letter Bishop Sadlier, on his acceptance of the archdeacon's resignation, said, in part: " First of all I want to say how deeply I have appreciated your loyalty and Christian fellowship from tho day on which I was elected bishop up to the present time. Indeed, I should be extremely ungrateful if I did not express to you my most unfeigned thanks and the assurance of my continued affection and regard. Fifty-one years of continuous service in the Diocese of Nelson is indeed a noble record ; and that service has been characterised by tho greatest self-denial, by earnest zeal for the Kingdom of God and by the highest ideals of ministerial duty. In all this God has blessed you remarkably with tho cheerful assistance and devoted support of Mrs. Kempthorne and your splendid family."

To the lengthy list of the various kinds of petty thieving can be added the appropriation of electric light globes as one Palmerston North shopkeeper can relato to his sorrow. On proceeding to-light up on one evening recently he found that both globes from the fixtures under his verandah had disappeared. As both were of considerable power their replacement was a matter of more than a few shillings.

A Napier bank employee who sleeps on the premises was carrying a loaded revolver from the manager's room to his bedroom just before retiring one night last week, when the weapon discharged accidentally, the bullet penetrating his hand and lodging in the wall. The young man was taken to the Napier' Hospital where an operation was performed. The bullet had entered the palm of the hand, injuring it seriously.

Sportsmen in Hawkc's Bay are not all dead shots; neither, sometimes, are they too particular in their choice of targets. This is shown by the fact that ;i backblocks settlor recently found four of his sheep shot dead.» On an adjoining holding a bullock had been slain in the same manner.