LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19474, 2 November 1926, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

A painful injury above the left eye was sustained by Mr. W. J. Jordan, M.P., yesterday while he was inspecting an orchard at Avon dale in company with {he Minister of Agriculture, Hon. O. ,T. Hawken. Mr. Jordan was examining some fruit on a tree, when he was accidentally struck by the point of a knife carried by another member of the party. A cat about an inch in length was inflicted

No further news has been obtained of Mrs. T. A. Devine, of Tamahere, who has been missing from her home since last Tuesday. Her car was found abandoned at the Narrows Bridge over the Waikato River.

A largo quantity of fruit from Fiji reached Auckland last evening by the Tofua. The cargo consisted of 21,000 cases of bananas, as well as 1000 cases of pineapples and a smaller quantity of tomatoes.

As the result of a recommendation adopted at the recent conference of industrial associations at Christchurch, the Auckland Provincial Industrial Association will in future be known as the Auckland Manufacturers' Association. At a meeting of the association yesterday it was decided to take steps to change the name. The Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin Associations will similarly change th»ir titles.

Writing from Government Hoase, Salisbury, England, General Sir Alexander Godley acknowledges the receipt of a copy of the New Zealand Herald containing the postings to the New Zealand Military Forces. He adds: "I have been much interested to see it and am delighted to hear that the system which we had before the war is still working, and that the military spirit of New Zealand is still so flourishing."

A proposal to convert into a rockgarden a worked-out scoria pit on the outskirts of the city has been made to the Auckland City Council by the Auckland Rock and Alpine Garden Society. The property, with an area of about five acres, is on the open • ground, adjoining the new Teachers' Training College, near the junction of Cecil Road with Epsom Avenue. The pit is approximately 70ft. deep, with rugged sides which lend themselves to the most attractive kind of rockgarden treatment. The area is vested in the city as a parks reserve and is close to the Mount Eden . boundary. The society has applied to the City Council for a lease of the area, and is prepared to find the capital outlay required to beautify the area, provided the council will make annual grants toward maintenance. It is understood the proposal will bo considered by the Parks Committee of the council to-day.

A very busy time is being experienced by the Dunedin Government Tourist office and during the last thr§e days there have been at least 30 bookings from Dunedin to Milford Sound, principally for Christmas, although a few are making the trip earlier. There has been a rush for Queenstown and indications point to the accommodation being fully taxed. Stewart Island is also popular with holidaymakers. -■ ;

Unless the drought which is being experienced at Tonga breaks soon the ..outlook for good copra crops is bad, according to Mr. C. W. Aiilney, manager at Tonga for Morris Hedstrom, Limited, who arrived at Auckland by the Tofua last evening. Mr. Aidney said there had been very little rain this year, but if rain came now the outlook would brighten considerably. With only 12 tons of coals in her bunkers the tramp steamer Strathborne put into Auckland yesterday, en route from Nauru Island to Lyttelton and Port Chalmers. The steamer went from Hongkong to Nauru, and had to wait off the island far some days until the loading berth became vacant. After filling up with 6700 tons of phosphates she sailed on November 15 for Nerw Zealand. Strong south-east winds and rough head seas were encountered on the second day, and the boisterous conditions continued for the 15 days she took to reach this port. The wind blew with the force of a hard gale, and at times the speed averaged only 2.4 knots during the 24 hours. The bunkers will be replenished with about 200 tons of coal, and some time to-day the steamer will resume her voyage.

The value of the fruit growing industry in promoting closer settlement and greater productiveness was emphasised by the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. 0. J. Hawken, yesterday. The Minister said he had inspected in Hawke's Bay an area of 3000 acres, which was devoted to fruit cultivation and he had been informed, that the area provided work for 700 families, -and was the means of distributing about £125,000 a year in wages. "As a sheep farmer," Mr. Hawken said, "it was forced on me that had I used that, area for raising mutton and wool all I would have had on it would have been about five shepherds."

The gale and rain were felt severely along the coast between New Plymouth and Opunake last Thursday night and on Friday morning the rivers were running bank high. The gale was indirectly responsible for the loss of four cows at Warea, the direct cause of their death bring electric shock caused by coming in contact with a fallen electric wire from the Opunake Power Board's installation on the main road. Fortunately, it was a low-tension wire carrying 230 volts, otherwise there might have been more serious result.® to chronicle. Shearing operations will soon be well under way in Otago, and local labour agents are now booking lor early sheds from November , 5 until Christmas. For an early start, there is a surprising lack of blade shearers, says the Dunedin Star, though there are a good few machine men on the market, the wages offering in both cases being 30s per 100, which is 2s 6d above the award rate. The large supply of machine shearers at present on hand is accounted for by the fact that the machine men go to Australia for the early season there, and get back in time for the commencement of the season in the Dominion, with the result that the market is now rather overcrowded. Tlie Nelson Acclimatisation Society for the last few years has been endeavouring to stock Lake Rotoiti, the source of the Builer River, with rainbow trout. Two years ago 75.000 fry were put in at the head of the lake, but little evidence has been obtained that the fish have survived. Air. W. Andrews, the secretary of the society, has established a hatchery at the lake, ftom which it is hopnd to obtain sufficient ova to stock' the rivers and streams in the province. The society rntends shortly to place 250,000 browia trout fry in various, streams in district.