LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19721, 22 August 1927, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The City Fire Brigade was kept busy on Saturday evening, four calls being received within about an hour-and-a-half, two being false alarms. The first call was at 10.30, a five-seat or motor-car owned by A. Yates and Company, Ltd., having caught fire in Victoria Street East. The outbreak, which was caused by a backfire, was speedily suppressed, the electric wiring of the car being damaged. A false alarm to Wolseley Road, Heme Bay, was responsible for the Western Districts Brigade turning out at 10.55. A few minutes later there was another false alarm to O'Rorke Street, City. Both alarms were given over the telephone. An outbreak of firo occurred in the washhouse of an unoccupied house owned by Dr. W. H. Parkcs, in Symonds Street, shortly after midnight. A policeman and two firemen confined the damage to the flooring of the room. The house was insured for £IOOO in the Now Zealand Insurance Company.

The weather in Auckland during the week-end was very squally. The wind was from the west-north-west and the squalls at times were accompanied by heavy showers. Last evening there was considerable thunder and lightning. On the west coast the weather was' very stormy. The sea was very rough, but owing to the wind being to the north of west the Manukau bar was not affected. The barometer continues very low and showed very little movement during the week-end. Thero was a . slight rise on Saturday evening and at midnight the reading was 29.60 in. Yesterday the barometer was unsteady with a falling tendency, the reading last night being 29.45 in. The primary schools in the Auckland education district will break up on Friday for the final vacation bafore the close of the present school year. The secondary schools closed last Friday for three weeks, while the primary schools will close for two weeks only. The annual examinations for the teachers' C and D certificates will commence throughout the Dominion on Tuesday, August 30, lasting for approximately a fortnight. The Auckland candidates will be examined at the Kowhai Junior High School. Through falling from the horse Ramblin' Kid at the Pakuranga Hunt Club's race meeting at Ellerslie on Sat urday, H. Gilmer sustained injuries to the head and was admitted to the hospital. Although the extent of his injuries is not known, his condition is not regarded as serious. Wireless enthusiasts in Taranaki were keenly delighted with the excellent account of the Rugby football match between the Auckland Grammar and NewPlymouth Boys' High Schools, which was broadcast by IYA on Saturday. The reception in Taranaki was perfect, and the announcer's clear and vivid description of the game was favourably commented upon by a large number of listeners. There was some difficulty in obtaining an announcer, and the position was filled by Mr. A. J. Papps, master-in-chargo of the New Plymouth team and himself a keen wireless enthusiast.

It is expected the concreting of New North Road in the Mount Albert Borough area will be completed this month. Motorists particularly will appreciate the new roadway as the New North Road is three-quarters of an hour shorter than the Great North Road route. Steady progress is also being made with the concreting of the Mount Albert-Onehunga Road, although the continued wet weather has somewhat hampered operations. With the completion of these two undertakings, together with the already completed Balmoral Road section, Mount Albert will be able shortly to boast of several miles of up-to-date concrete roadway. There was a substantial decrease in the number of applications for employment at the Auckland Labour Bureau last week chiefly as a result of the additional relief work offered. The number of men on the roll was 745, compared with 806 the previous week. Of the number 597 were classed as fit for heavy work, and 148 as fit for light employment. Sixtyone men were placed in employment, as against 57 the week before. The recent accident in Edcndale Road in which a pupil of the Kowhai Junior High School was injured through falling from a tramcar, was referred to at the meeting of tho School Committee last week. It was stated that ono of the masters of the school had been thrown from a tramcar as it rounded a curve in Edendale Road, and some action should be taken in tho matter. It was resolved that the tramway manager should be written to pointing the danger of motormen taking tho curves at tool high a speed and requesting that instructions be given for the slowing down of cars at these dangerous curves, particularly when the morning cars wero crowded with school children proceeding to the school. Tho noisy hum of machinery was n Itsent from the Church Hill, Nelson, last Tuesday afternoon and instead of its hive of busy workmen tho beginnings of the new Cathedral were filled with a crowd of peoplo who had come to see the Archbishop of New Zealand lay, as the chief corner-stone of the new edifice, a pieco of stone from Canterbury Cathedral, England. In the course of his address Archbishop Averill said utilitarianism might be urged against the erection of so fine a building, but in such a work it was necessary to give of Ihe very best. The stone, coming as it did from tho' twelfth century, was a further witness to the fact that, those of the twentieth century shared with the founders of the' Church in New Zealand tho wish to have a great bond of sympathy with the Church in England. Property on the Otago Peninsula known as "The Camp," and also as Larnach's Castle, consisting of about 35 acres of land, was offered for sale by tho Public Works Department in Dunedin last Friday. The reserve was £2912 10s. Although there was a fair attendance, no bid was mado and tho property was passed in. Larnach's Castlo was the historic residence of the late Hon. W. J. M. Larnach, M.H.R. It is a massive structure, built of stone, and surrounded by plantations and bush on tho Otago Peninsula. Some years ago tho property was acquired by tho Government as an institution for mental patients, but it has not been used for that purpose for some years and has been occupied only by a caretaker. The building was completed in 1876. The timber portion of it consists of oak, kauri and red pino and in tho interior tliero are valuable, delicate panellings and carvings. The ballroom, which is 80ft. lonfi, is still well proserved. j