LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19719, 19 August 1927, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Scores of motor-cars parked in Queen Street yesterday over the 15 minutes time-limit were "clocked" by constables on the beat. This is the first, evidence of interest in traffic displayed by the police since the Auckland City Council assumed full control last November. The usually ready notebook was handled with a tempering of discretion, and in several instances the constables made an effort 'to locate drivers before the permitted time elapsed. Action was taken on account of the nuisance which afternoon shoppers have caused. The "haul" included a number of drivers who had idled away half-an-bour over afternoon tea.

Two waggons of a mixed train which left Auckland at seven o'clock yesterday morning were derailed near 'luakau. No one was injured and no damage was done, but the train was delayed for an hour and a-half while the waggons were replaced on the rails.

In order that the widening of High Street, may be no longer delayed, the City Council" decided last evening to proceed with (he demolition of the brick building at the corner of High and Chancery Streets.

Conditional approval of the placing of the shelters for tubercular ex-soldier patients on City Council property on a site adjoining the Domain and the hospital grounds, overlooking Grafton Road, was given bv the council last evening. The council has stipulated that the shelters must be placed in positions approved bv the superintendent of parks, that the shelters should be limited to providing accommodation for the 11 cases at present at the Domain and four additional cases to be transferred from the Costley shelters, and that, as each shelter is vacated, it must be removed forthwith.

A series of heavy showers marked the weather in Auckland yesterday. The conditions were wintry. After midnight on Wednesday the barometer commenced to fall gradually, but after mid-day yesterday the fall became more pronounced The reading at noon was 29.80 in. and at midnight last night the glass had fallen to 29.45 in. Heavy rain commenced in the evening and at midnight the Herald gauge showed a rainfall of .72in. for the hours.

After a short sojourn at Panama two firemen from 11.M.5. Dunedin arrived at Auckland yesterday morning by the steamer Walcheren. They missed their ship at Panama when she called there on her way back from refitting in England. The British consul communicated with the master of the Walcheren and arranged for their passage to New Zealand on board that vessel. The two firemen were on the best of terms with the Dutch officers and crew throughout the voyage across the Pacific and landed at Auckland yesterday in the best of spirits.

Evidently there is unemployment among the housekeepers of Auckland. An advertisement appeared in the Herald yesterday morning asking for a housekeeper for a farmer and requesting applicants to meet the advertiser in the entrance to the Herald office at 11 o'clock. Long before this time women commenced to muster in the hallway and by the time the prospective employer arrived there were nearly 50 applicants of all types, some carrying babies'jmd some with voluminous parcels, as if they were ready to leave for their future labours immediately. The advertiser had a busy time before he selected a suitable housekeeper and for some time it was difficult to gain access to the office. It is apparent that women, at any rate, cannot be accused of a fear of working in the country. An application for a good general servant for city work frequently brings no responso at all. The provision of pianos in branch library halls in various parts of the city is not favoured by the City Council. Reporting on an application for a piano at the Grey Lynn library, the chief librarian, Mr. J. Barr, recalled that a piano was installed at the Grafton library for the use of hirers, but so seldom was it' used that the wires deteriorated, and 011 each occasion it was required special tuning had to be done. The council decided to adhere to its policy of requiring the hirers of. halls to provide their own instruments. "The main cause of depression in recent times is, in my opinion, the high value of land which changed hands preceding, and up to, 1922," said Professor H. Belshaw, in the course of a lecture to members of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday. "I am aware this opinion is unpalatable to many farmers," he added, "but it is foolish to emulate the ostrich." The movements of wages and in the price of farm requisites were not, he declared, vital factors in that alone; they would not have accounted for depression.

The residence of Mr. A. J. Billington, at the foot of Sentinel Road, Heme Bay, which was rendered untenable some weeks ago by a landslide in the road and underneath the house, is still vacant. It is securely anchored and a tunnel is being run into tho cliff face for a distance of 70ft, to let away the accumulated water which caused the subsidence. If theso measures meet with their expected success, Mr. BiJlington's house will be habiablc again before long. The ways of ratepayers in recording their votes are sometimes hard to understand. On the simple "for or against" issue at Wednesday's poll on the Auckland City Council's proposal to borrow £500,000 for tramway and transport development, 44 ratepayers recorded informal votes. One crossed out a clause explanatory of the purpose for which it was proposed to raise the loan, another deleted tho words, "Proposed loan of £500,000 for tramway and transport development," at the head of the paper, while a third, displaying special caution, recorded his vote in favour of the loan, adding, "provided the money is raised in New Zealand." At a meeting of the Stanley Hay Improvement Association last evening, Mr. E. Aldridge, the Mayor of Devonport, presiding, it was decided to hand over the whole of the association's funds, amounting to about £950, to the Devonport Borough Council. The money is to be used for the relief of unemployment and tho Government £1 for £1 subsidy will lie obtained for that purpose. There is money in the industry of collecting waste goods, especially if the element of thrift is applied to the job. An instance of this can be gathered from (he fact that a Wanganni company shipped and railed from that port last week over ten tons of this class of goods, which were distributed between Auckland, Wellington and the Bluff. The goods ranged from old rags, sacks, broken glass, motor parts, to high grade copper.