LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19264, 1 March 1926, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A sum of £2Bl was realised by the annual street collection, on Friday in aid of the Auckland Hospital Patients and Families' Fund. Some small amounts have still to come in, but these will not increase the total greatly. The collections have shown a tendency to fall off in recent years. The " peak " was reached in the post-war years, when as much as £IOOO was subscribed. The total fell to £6OO and £SOO, and last year was about £350.

An exhibit which will be the subject of much conjecture by visitors to H.M.A.S. Sydney during the vessel's stay at Dunedin is a crumpled piece of cabin armchair mounted on an oaken shield on the afterdeck, says the Otago Daily Times. It was explained that the buckled steel plate fiad been taken from the lieutenant's cabin after the battle off the Cocos Islands, when a projectile fired from the Emden perforated the cabin wall without exploding.

" The health of the province is exceptionally good at the present time," stated Dr. H. Chesson, medical officer of health, on Saturday. "It is certainly a great contrast to this time last year, when the infantile paralysis epidemic was raging. So far this summer disease of any kind has happily been scarce." Dr. Chesson said unusually fresh weather probably had something to do with the good health record in keeping the air pure. The question arose in the newspapers recently as to who has the longest service as justice of the peace in New Zealand to his credit. A Wellington holder of that office has made official inquiries, and he finds that the honour is shared by two—Mr. J. S. Holmes, J.P., of Wellington, and Mr. C. C. Cowan, J.P., of Winton. There can be no argument between these gentlemen for first place, unless it be an alphabetical one, for they both received their appointment on the same day, October 6, 1870.

At a reception tendered him at the Dunedin Exhibition, Sir Frank Heath stated that but for Faraday, who had discovered the essential principles of dynamos and motors, the electrical industry could never have come into existence. When Faraday had shown his discovery to an English statesman of the time he had "What is the use of that?" and the great scientist had replied, " Sir, what is the use of a baby ? Some day you will he able to tax it." Well/ the Minister could tax the electrical industry to-day, hut it had taken 80 years before the work done in the laboratory found any practical extension, because there was no systematic attempt to use the work of the scientist and to study' how his results could be adapted to tho needs of humanity.

"I offered one of my men a rise of 15s to take over another job and he said that he would prefer to stay as he was—purely because the rise of 15s would not compensate him for his loss of tips, said Mr. W. Hay ward (employers' assessor) at a Conciliation Council meeting in Christchurch, when ..the taxi-drivers' claims foil* a new award were under discussion. Mr. E. Par larie (employeesassessor) : But a man is entitled to a living wage apart from his tips. You do not know the tips a ; man gets, any more than I know the earnings of your garage. A man must be a gcxjd driver to get tips anyhow. Mr. Hay ward: Yes, and good luck to him.

The applications for employment at the Auckland office of the Labour Department during last week showed a decrease compared with the previous week, the total being 171, against 189, a decrease of 18. 01 the number, 133 were classed as fit for heavy work and 38 for light work. Labourers, with 58 applications, headed the list, and were followed by motor drivers, 13, and cooks and gardeners, seven. During the week private employment was found for 44 men, compared with 23 in the previous week. The number included 31 labourers.

Just how the new plan for the exportation of apples arranged between the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation and the Wellington Harbour Board will work out remains to be seen, says the Evening Post, but if there is difficulty, little or considerable, it will probably arise over the sending on to Wellington of more apples than can be lifted by shipping in a given time. Up till this season fruit was picked up by the Home boats at various ports, lightering being sometimes necessary, but under the new order Nelson and Marlborough, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, and part of the Auckland crops are railed or carried on coastal boats to Wellington. The Harbour Board has provided cool storage space for 50,000 boxes, and here apples will remain at a temperature of 33 degrees until shipped away. Already over 52,000 boxes have passed through the store, and the season's total is expected to reach at least 450,000 boxes.

The officer in charge of the Dunedin office of the Department of Labour, who is also district registrar of apprentices, states that employers are taking very small advantage of the offices of the department when requiring apprentices, There is a considerable number of boys on the department's books who are anxious to learn trades, and there is a possibility of many of them drifting into " blind alley " employment unless positions are forthcoming in the trades they desire.

A Hawke's Bay farmer recently had the misfortune to lose a valuable lucerne stack. The fire was discovered at noon and strenuous efforts were made to save the stack, but the workers ran short of water and the lucerne, which comprised four crops, was totally destroyed. The stack, which was not insured, represents a loss of between £2OO and £3OO, and leaves the unfortunate owner deprived of all winter feed for his stock.

The quality of the fruit in the Gisborne district this, year is well above the average. Usually hundreds of cases of apples are affected with black spot, but this year the blight has not shown itself.l Tho growers ordered 4000 cases for the export trade, but are now endeavouring to obtain another 20Q0 cases.

" What about the money we were going to raise for erecting houses. Have we got it?" This was a question asked of the Mayor ox.Wellington, Mr. C. B. Norwood, by Mr. R. McKeen at a meeting of the Wellington City Council. The Mayor replied in the negative. There was no money available to the council as cheap as the Government was advancing direct to the public, he said. He had received a letter from the Prime Minister that evening on the subject of housing, and that letter he was referring to the Finance Committee, which would submit a report to fche next meeting of the council.