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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19169, 7 November 1925, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS. Owing to the objection of the crew of j the Northern Company's steamer Matangi to a substitute found for a sielc member of the crew, the departure of the vessel for Tnuranga last evening was delayed for an hour. The crew refused to take the ship to sea with the man originally provided to til! the gap, declaring that he was not. a unionist. After considerable j difficulty another man was found and the | Matangi sailed at C.15. A merchant of Sydney writes as fol- | lows: —How thankful you ought to be j that Mew Zealand lias so far escaped the j calamity of a Labour Government. If j your better class politicians kqow of hap- | penings in Australia, and appreciate the; ; gravity of the situation, they will move i heaven and earth to try to safeguard the ! Dominion from a similar fate. There arc I many of us who think that at the forth- ' coming election Australia will be facing one of the most critical periods in her ! history, for on Ihe result will depend j whether constitutional Government is to ! survive." The strawberries offered at the Auck- j land city markets yesterday included some j really first-class fruit, and up to 3s 6d i a chip was paid for the best. There was, | of course, a certain amount of inferior I quality offered, but even this realised Is j 6d a chip. Growers generally consider j that with the arrival of warn) weather j the season should soon be in full swing, ; and there should be steadily increasing j supplies of good fruit. Gooseberries made j their first appearance on the markets yes- j terday, when a number of cases realised | 17s 3d to 18s each. Prospects for the j season are considered good. Shipping off the coast appears to be j encountering unfavourable conditions, at- i though coastal craft have not been seri- | ously delayed. Showery weather and a ; fairly strong sou'-wester prevailed on the west coast, and the Manukau bar was too i rough to allow the passage of the Ohine- j muri, which was ready to leave One- ; hunga for Whangapo shortly after noon. | She will probably leave to-day. The Mount Albert Fire Brigade re- j ceived a false alarm at an early hour this j morning. This is the third false alarm | that the brigade has received this week. An extensive tour of the Hospital Board districts of the South Island is being ; undertaken by the Director-General <* ; Health, Dr. T. H. A. Valintine. After | completing his business there Dr. Valin- j tine will come to Auckland. One of the j subjects t-o be discussed is the bacterio- j logical laboratory. The. Shaw, Savill and Albion Company's steamer Matakana, manned by Maoris, which has been at Duncdin for a week, J is to leave Port Chalmers to-day for j Auckland. From Auckland she will go to [ Wellington, which will be her final port ] of departure, about November 21. The ] Maoris are behaving splendidly, and, al- , though a couple of them may not make j the trip to England, others will fill their j places at Auckland. Spurious halfcrowns continue to make their appearance in Auckland at irregular intervals. One which was received in a shop in Queen Street yesterday was quite a good imitation of the genuine coin except that it was much too light and lacked tho metallic ring. The alloy of which it was composed* was also comparatively soft and easily scratched, but on a casual glance there was nothing to show that the coin was a counterfeit. The Prime Minister's special train southward from Auckland on Wednesday was delayed at Waimarino for 15 minutes as the engine developed a "hot bos." The spiral was traversed in about 12 minutes. Cherries from Governor's Bay, the first j of the season, appeared on the Christ- j church auction mart yesterday morning, and all previous records for prices were j eclipsed. There was a case of them and they sold for 7s Id a lb. " We are receiving the very greatest i help and assistance in every way from the New Zealand High Commissioner's Office. I really think this is a model of what a j High Commissioner's office ought to be. From the High Commissioner himself j down to the office boy one and all are j full of seal for New Zealand, and are obliging, courteous and helpful to anyone like ourselves." Such is the wording of portion of £•• letter received from Lieuten-ant-Colonel organising director of the Church of England Council of Empire Settlement by the Bishop of Wellington, j "'Are you in favour of the buster-cut?" was a. question asked of the Hon. A. DMcLeod, by » fair elector at one of his meetings this week. "That question was settled for me some time ago by my five daughters," replied the candidate, "and I was not consulted until after the clip. Only that fickle jade, Fashion, can restore that cut." Butter production in the district has j not yet reached the level attained last J season, and :he amount graded during October was considerably less than for j tho same period of 1921, says a Gisborne paper. The fact thut Tolaga Bay butter has not been received in Gisborne during the month owing to the state of the roads partly accounts for the decrease. During October 3973 boxes of butter were graded, as against 4869 for the same i period last year, the decrease thus amounting to 896 boxes. To plunge over a cliff 200 ft. high and be totally wrecked at the bottom was the. fate of a motor-lorry belonging to Petty and Company, of Hawera, at Oeo (Taranaki) on Saturday. Nobody was in tho lorry at the time, but the driver, Mr. J. Blake, of Hawera, made a desperate and risky attempt to save the vehicle as it rushed backwards to the edge of the preCipice. Ho succeeded in seizing tho wheel and swinging the heavily-laden lorry round, but the wheels reached tho edgo of the cliff and the lorry toppled over. The driver stated subsequently that tho lorry was standing fully laden with its back toward the high sea cliff. The engine was fitted with an impulse starter, and when Mr. Blake turned the engine over to start it the vehicle began to move backwards, for by some mischance the reverse gear was meshed. Down the slight declivity before the brink of the cliff was reached the heavy vehicle quickly gathered speed, and it was then that Mr. Blake made his risky attempt to board the lorry. Ho was only able to reach the wheel and swing the lorry round, just too late to save it from destruction. The lorry was insured for £4OO with the New Zealand Insurance Company, but it is understood that this will not cover tho loss.