LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19148, 14 October 1925, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Incliicfec! in the crew of the Aorangi, which will leave Auckland for Sydney today, are about. 60 men who are entitled to vote a! the coming election in New Zealand. Some of them were previously on the roll, while others were, enrolled since the vessel reached Auckland on Sunday. The men have stated the elce- I torates in the city in which they wish io record their votes, apd they will he allowed to register the votes when the vessel returns to Auckland en route to Vancouver on October 2b. Prospects for the Auckland straw beriy season are, on the whole, considered good and it should be in full swing before long. The first consignment, which was grown at Northcote, was sold at the \ Auckland City Markets, last Saturday, realising 3s lOd a chip, and another lot will be sold to-day. A small amount of good quality early fruit is now expected to come forward. The buses of the Auckland Motor-Bus Company, Ltd., which have been plying between Mount Albert Road, Three Kings and the city, via Mount Eden Road, ceased running last evening. The route will be taken over from this morning by a new organisation, the Mount Eden MotorBus Company. The new company's buses will run to the same time-table as those of its predecessor. The Auckland Motor-Bus Company was formed as a registered company some 14 months ago, but the buses have been running on the Mount Eden route for about three years. The company went into voluntary liquidation last Saturday. "The mail service between New Zealand and England is disappointing," said Mr. E. 11. Davis yesterday in recounting his experiences during his tour abroad. "I . . f think I am correct in saying that letters posted at Auckland, to go via Wellington and San Francisco, reach London in less time than those sent from Auckland via Vancouver. Why Wellington should have this advantage I do not know. I do not blame the local post office staff at all. I think if some care were taken in making the connections between the overland and ocean journeys, the mails would reach London sometimes two or three days sooner than they do when sent by the slower route." A reply to the statements which are being made that immigrants are being brought to New Zealand to become a charge on charity, was made by the Prime Minister in Christehurch last night. Mr. Coates said that instead of the statements being correct, the fact was that those immigrants who had been brought out by the Government had been successful and would assist us in the development of the country, lie instanced the grit, of a Scots girl who had come to New -Zealand as a war bride aboard the vessel by which he returned from the front. Not l®ng ago he was going through the back blocks in the North when this woman, clad in gum boots, short kilts, tamo' shanter, etc., and carrying a baby on her back, walked in from her back-blocks farm to meet him and ask thai a road should be made to give access to her husband's farm. " I may tell you," said Mr. Coates, " that she is having her road made as fast as we can make it." " That's the kind of stuff to have," called a broad Scots voice from the middle of the hall. Mr. Coates: Yes, that's the stuff. (Laughter and loud applause.) Some difficulty has arisen over the proposal of the Takapuna, Boating Club to construct a boatslip at Bayswater, consequent on refusal of a property-holder to surrender riparian rights. At the meeting of the j Auckland Harbour Board yesterday a plan for an alternative scheme was received from the club. It was decided to reply that if the Takapuna Borough Council would do the work at a cost of £250 to the board, the board would agree to alteration in the site on the terms previously agreed upon. The shining cuckoo was distinctly heard in Ellerslie on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week according to a report by Mrs. A. Walker, of Ellerslie. The bird was heard again on Monday morning. | | According to the curator of the Auck- | land Museum, more than 50 per cent, of j the correspondence which he is called j upon to answer deals with general inI quiries sent in by information-seekers. Speaking at the- Karangahape Road business Promotion Society's luncheon yesterday, ho said the museum was rightly regarded by the public as a general information bureau and he was involved in a very large correspondence accordingly. As the. museum staff was not large, a number of these inquiries were passed on to the university laboratories and j various scientific men in the city. A request was recently received from New Zealand Roads, Limited., that thu I! )e von port cargo wharf should be strengthened in order to take large motor vehicles. The matter was referred to the Works Committee, which reported to t.llo hoard yesterday that it was satisfied the wharf was adequate to carry loads up to five tons m weight- It did not consider that any expenditure in strengthening the wharf was warranted at present. The report was adopted. "I would like to correct the impression ! held in certain quarters that the. fire- | hell recently replaced by the siren has | been presented by the council to Mount Albert Grammar School," said Mr. R. iE. N. Matthews, at the meeting of the | Mount, Albert Borough Council last J evening. "The bell has not been prej son ted, and neither is there any suggesj tion that it should be." Uncomplimentary remarks were made by members con- ! corning the effectiveness of the siren, it S being stated that it, could not he heard I any distance from the station. "It would ! be all right if the captain rang up every ! fireman when a tire occurred and told him the siren was going to be sounded," a member said amid laughter. "I was very surprised to sec the result of the last New Zealand loan in London, and when I spoke about it to financiers and pointed out that a loyal country j like the Dominion, and a supporting one !at that, should have preference, they | told me straight that London was not !an unfathomable market," said Mr. E. j 11, Davis yesterday at a welcome tendered i him after a two years' trip abroad. "I I only mention that so those who do not know will note that the London market has its limitations. Owing to the immense requirements of the British Government. added to the reduction of earni ing power consequent on industrial de ! pcession, there is not the money available | lor ail requiring the outride, world.