LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19675, 29 June 1927, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A skeleton apparently that of a youth, was discovered bj? workmen excavating for gravel in a hank at the head of the Riverliead Wharf yesterday. Several skeletons have previously been found in the vicinity and the older residents believe that it is the site of a .Maori burial ground. Four years ago five skeletons were discovered and last year a resident unearthed two skulls and a quantity of bones when digging in his garden.

Spurious half-crowns, which wore reported recently to be in circulation in Wellington, have made their appearance in Auckland. After paying for his meal with a ten-shilling note at a restaurant in the city a man found among his change, an imitation half-crown dated 1921. It was made of soft metal, which could be chipped with a pocket-knife. The health of the people of Auckland lias been exceptionally good this winter, according to the Health Department's records. Usually pneumonia following in lluenza is the most common ailment at this season, but to date comparatively few cases have been notified. Scarlet fever has made its appearance, but not to any serious extent. Mumps have beci? prevalent among adults and children.

A special wireless programme for New Zealand, Australia and Alaska, broadcast by Station KFON, Long Beach, California, was received with remarkable clarity by Mr. T. W. Collins, Warkworth The announcer requested New Zealanders who had heard the programme to write to the station, which at present had no confirmation that its broadcasting had ever been received in the Dominion.

An epidemic of measles among adults has occurred at Raetihi. The complaint so far has only been of a mild form, and practically all the patients have recovered after a few days.

The woni&n's swimming-pool at the Tepid Baths has been out. of use for the past, ten days and continuous mixed bathing in the men's poM has had to be instituted. The water supply was cut >t? during the removal of the condensers from the Hobson Street power-house, in which the water used to be heated, to the new-power-house at King's Wharf. In the process the pipes were cut. The men's bath was full at the time, and, with the aid of a purifying system, was kept, in use, but the women's bath was empty and could not be refilled. A direct connection with the main from the harbour has now been made and it is probable the women's bath will be filled to-day.

A sensation was caused at the Greymouth Hospital one morning last week, when it was found that two male patients had, like the Arabs, silently stolen away. An immediate search was instituted, but the men had got well away from the vicinity of the hospital before they .were located. One was found in Greymouth, but the other had reached the Dohsoti Road, and was proceeding m the direction of his home at Blackball, still wearing his pyjamas. So far as can be ascertained the breaking can only be accounted for by the vagaries of ill-health. Ihe men were taken back to the hospital, none the worse for their experience.

The council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce recently considered a suggestion from a member that a system of paying wages by cheques would be ad vantageous and would assist in eliminating the risk of defalcations as had be'en instanced where wages sheets had been manipulated It was stated that the Wages Protection and Contractors' Liens Act, of 1908, provided that wages must be paid in coin or bank notes, and since this was the case, the council did not consider that an amendment of the Act in this connection was practicable.

"Physically and mentally the Zulus are a wonderful people," said Colonel Alister Smith, of the Salvation Army, in Wellington yesterday. lie went to South Africa in 1887 and spent more than thirty years as a missionary among the Zulus. Colonel Smith said the Zulus have profited liv their military discipline and were a very virile and law-abiding people Unfortunately for them they have been quicker to imitate the white manvicethan his virtues, but the work of the missionaries has borne good fruit and the Zulus are receiving industrial and educational training. Many of them now do the farm work themselves, a task which used to be left to the women. They are natural orators, their language being poetic and rich in proverbs.

A tenor saxophone, valued at £45, the property of Mr. Clem Dawe, of the "Midnight Frolics" Company, was stolen from his dressing room at the Opera Hoiise in Christchurch between 5.30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday. There was no one in attendance at the theatre at the time. The com pany, of which Mr. Dawe is the principal comedian, has had bad luck in New Zealand. In Auckland all the theatrical property was destroyed by fire The stock was ruined by a flood in the basement of the theatre at Wellington. a,nd a gramophone has been lost. An agreement will probably be reached between the Christchurch City I'ouncil and the Church Property Trustees regarding the caveat lodged by the council against the trustees being granted a title under, the Land Transfer Act to a small portion of the. eastern boundary of the Cathedral ground. The Mayor of Christchurch said yesterday that already one meeting between the representatives of the council and the Church Property Trustees had taken place, and the negotiations would be continued. The Government had expressed its willingness to give its consent to any arrangement thin the council might make. The Mayor dio not think it would be necessary for the matter to be taken to the Supreme ('ourt. " 1 am very glad this has come betore the Court, and through the Court to- the public." said Mr. E' G. Levvey. S.M.. .it the Gisborne Police Court, when dismissing a charge drought as a warning against :i cyclist for riding without "the reflector being visible from behind it was stated that tlie reflectoi was affixed, to the mud guard, but it was in such a position as to be invisible 01 only partly visible from behind 'I must not speak too much 11 urn onlv general knowledge idded the magistrate "but 1 must say 1 have seen dozens ot cases in which it almost luni.,. as though the reflectors were deliberately fixed to comply as little as possible w; 11 • the by law, and to lie ;r> little visible 1possible." He added that in li.n seen the reflectors fixed right iimtei .1 on the extreme end ol the mudgii.ir d. v. line it was almost iiuiio sii.-ie u th'in. and concluded b\ staling thai the reflector* must be in such a j-i siliui. as to be seen easily from bel .i.d.