LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19567, 21 February 1927, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

While crossing " a street" neaFFer home at Atherton Road, Epsom, on Saturday evening, Miss Daisy Parker was knocked down by a motor-car. She received severe abrasions and suffered considerably from shock. There is considerable improvement in the condition of Miss Grace Morrison, "of Birkdal.e, who was admitted to the hospital on Friday morning after an escape from drowning.. There was a slight decrease in the number of unemployed registered at the Auckland Labour Bureau on Saturday. Of a total of 546 men, 452 were classed as fit for heavy work, and 94 for light employment. During, the. week 86 men were placed in employment, compared with 47 the previous week. This increase was due to more men than usual being required by the Public Works Department. Nothing further is known regarding the s.o.s. , v wireless signals which were picked up ,on Friday. evening by vessels at sea and also land stations. The signals were heard very distinctly but only for a few times between 7.45 p.m. and 8.15 p.m. by the stations in New Zealand) Chatham Islands, and by the steamer Tofua, which is due at Auckland this morning from Fiji. The signals were also heard by the steamer Rona, which reached Auckland from Fiji on Saturday morning. The wireless operator on the Rona heard the calls when the vessel was Approaching the latitude of the North Cape. The signals were repeated at various times between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. but nothing but s.o.s. could be distinguished. Tn: reply to numerous. inquiries from all parts of the Dominion,, the publishers oi the Auckland Weekly News announce that their first Royal visit issue will be on sale to-morrow morning. It will be a superb souvenir number, specially prepared to commemorate the .visit to New Zealand of the Duke and Duchess oi York. The excellence of the illustrations is sure to win fresh laurels for a journal already world-famous. A particularly fine coloured plate of Their Royal Highnesses is included. There is no extra charge for this' special number, which will be sold at the usual price, ninepence. The fleet of 21 motor-cars to be usee by the Duke of York's party made f trial run throughout the city and suburb: yesterday. The drive was undertaken tc enable the Government drivers to become familiar with the new cars, and another run will be made to-day. Two members of .the Suburban Cricket Association eenior teams were rendered temporarily unconscious through being struck on the head by balls from nearby wickets when fielding at the Domain on Saturday. With 14 matches in progress on the comparatively limited playing space the cricketers have to keep their attention divided between their own games apd the spasmodic fusillade of flying balls from neighbouring wickets. A visitor from Sydney, who was at the Domain on. Saturday. afternoon, remarked: "•Well, this is the .most, remarkable instance, of. concentrated cricket I v haye ever seen. Our cripketms would no more think of playing under these conditions than of flying over the, moon." A very fast trip from St. Mary's Bay, Auckland, to Deep Water Cove, near Cape Brett, Was' mado on Thursday by the Auckland launch Fleetwing Junior. Leaving Auckland ' with three passengers and twelve cases of benzine aboard, Fleetwing, a fast runabout, with a 200 horsepower engine, made the journey of about 110 knots in five hours. The \launcl: returned to Auckland yesterday, making a stop of several hours at Ivawau Island. The actual running time for the return journey was under 41 hours. Most of the stores to be purchased in New Zealand for the Cunard liner Francon ia, now at Auckland, will be taken aboard at Wellington. The liner's larders, which at present contain about 30001b. of New Zealand butter, shipped in England before the voyage commenced, have been refilled with another 10,0001b., which will not be consumed for about three months. A considerable quantity of New Zealand meat will be taken aboard at Wellington. The All Black Rugby player, A. E. Cooke, has purchased an interest in a drapery business at Masterton and will play for a football club there in the coming season, states a report from Masterton. Cooke, who " was foi'merly one of the most brilliant players in Auck- . land, played for Hawke's Bay last season. The danger of kite-flyihg near electric power lines, concerning which warnings have been issued, was referred to at a meeting of the Hawke's Bay Electric Power Board last week by Mr. Maurice Chambers. He stated that on a wet day, if kite, lines became entangled in a high tension line, the child on the other end of the . string would receive a severe shock, and be in grave danger of electrocution. He had noticed on the Marine Parade that three kites were entanged fet the electric light wires in a distance of 100 yards. It was a grave danger and something should be done to suppress it. - It was agreed that the board should take, the matter up with the schools in the country districts, and leave the borough councils to attend to it in the towns. A woman motorist who had driven unattended from Dunedin arrived at Kapler last week. She stated that she intended to continue her journey northward. She was loud in her "praise of the North Island roads, so far as she had travelled, and not only' was" she struck by the condition of the roads, but she was also very favourably impressed by the number of sign-posts on the roadside. She said that in this respect the North Island was far ahead of the South Island. A Timaru merchant, with a view to ascertaining the effect on the oat market of the decrease in the.number of horses in the Dominion, due to the general adoption of motor transport and tb# use of tractors, .wrote to. the Government Statistician, asking for details of the "horse census," In 1911 the horses numbered 404,234; in 1926 the total had fallen to 314.816. The decrease m demand for oats is oat of ail proportion to the decrease in the number of horse®. The merchant referred to suggested that horses, like human beings, are not worked for such long hours as formerly, and consequently do cot require to be so heavily fed.