LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19798, 19 November 1927, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Summer fruit is gradually increasing in quantity and variety. < Strawberries and gooseberries have made their appearance during the past month, and cherries and plums were on sale at the Auckland City Markets for the first time yesterday. The supply of cherries consisted of a few boxes from Greytown, which were ripe and in good condition. The plums came from local orchards and were still green. The quality of the strawberries sent in by the growers is improving daily. A few boxes of the Captain Cook variety have been received.

The last mail to reach England before Christmas will be despatched from Auckland by the Niagara on Tuesday. It is due in London on December 21, and already the Post Office staff is being kept busy in sorting letters and parcels conveying Christmas greetings to friends in the United Kingdom. Large numbers of the Christmas issue of the Auckland Weekly News are still being forwarded to people in England, but only those bearing a fivepenny stamp will go by the Niagara, and reach their destination before Christmas. Those bearing ono penny postage will be despatched by the Ruapehu on Thursday, and will not reach London until after Christmas. The last mail before Christmas is always heavy, and as the Post Office staff will have to cope with mail from all over the Dominion, the public is requested to post early.

After a delay of sever.il weeks the work of placing in position steel girders and ironwork for the new traffic bridge across the Ohinemuri River at Paeroa was proceeded with yesterday on arrival of 110 tons of iron and steel work from Tauranga. The girders were manufactured in England and shipped to the Public Works Department's plant at Tauranga for further treatment, but their arrival was delayed by the coal strike in England. Ten men are employed on the structure at present, but the number will be increased as the work proceeds, and further delay is not anticipated.

A dead whale of considerable size was seen floating off Tiri yesterday. It was four and a-half miles north-east of the island in the afternoon, but toward evening it appeared to be drifting out to sea. In the afternoon a fisherman went out to investigate, but the whale was too far from land for him to be able to tow it in.

All electric power in the Waitemata Electric-Power Board's area will be switched off by the Public Works Department to-morrow from 1.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. while work is carried out at the Penrose sub-station. The connecting-up of the permanent switch-gear will also be proceeded with at the Henderson substation, and this work will occupy Monday, and possibly Tuesday, between the hours of 12.30 a.m. and 5 a.m. On these two days only a small portion of the board's area will be affected, and no interruption will be caused in the North Shore boroughs. Shearing operations are fairly general in tlio Dominion at present, but the wool is coming in somewhat slowly owing to the wet weather. Mr. J. G. Cook, the Government wool inspector, stated at Wellington yesterday that the quality of the wool this year was up to the high grado of last season, although in high country lying to the cold winds the wool was inclined to bo "cotty," and there would, he said, be an increased amount of wool this year. In regard to the death of Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., a Dannevirke resident recalls an incident which occurred on the Grafton Bridge some years ago. While passing the magistrate and his dog on the bridge, a child accompanying his father flinched from the terrier. Noticing his fear Mr. Poynton, in the middle of a stream of busy traffic, called the little fellow and his dog, and for the benefit of the former put the latter through a series of tricks, quite oblivious of the attention he was attracting, and then informed the boy that dogs would do him no harm if he were kind to them. -The result subsequently was that every dog that came that lad's way found a friend in him. The tendency in some quarters to lengthen the school holidays at Christmas time by taking without leave a few extra days at the beginning and a few more extra days at the end was deplored at a meeting of the Wellington Education Board this week. Children, it was said, were frequently absent from tho breaking, up ceremony, parents wanting to get away early to the seaside or elsewhere. To come back to school a few days late at the end of the holidays was also unfortunately a too frequent occurrence. It was decided to draw the attention of committees to the tendency and point out that tho practice was not in the best interests of either school or scholars. It is probable that tho new insectary at the Cawthron Institute, which has recently been built at a cost of £2OOO for the purpose of housing certain parasites which are to be used in experiments in the destruction of blackberry and ragwort', will be opened by tho Secretary of State for tho Dominions, Mr. L. S. Amery, on Decembor 13. The Imperial Marketing Committee made a donation of £I3OO toward the cost, and this was supplemented by £7OO from the Government. It is expected that Mr. Amery will arrive in Nelson from the South on the date mentioned for the purpose of opening tho insectary. Dealing with the question of rates the Mayor of Wellington said that the city was losing from £25,000 to £40,000 a year by having to pay for the upkeep of streets round Government property, on which no rates were paid. All ifc received was £4OO per annum on account of some properties which were run for business purposes. There was far more Government property in Wellington than in other towns, and after the new valuation was completed, the council would take tho question up, and demand some readjustment. A scheme for the future subdivision into orchard and market garden areas of the suburban lands round Masterton is being considered by the Masterton Chamber of Commerce. It is estimated that if the scheme can be brought into operation an additional 500 families could bo accommodated in the town. Tho formation of a. Small Settlement Association has been suggested, it being pointed out that such an association organised on co-operative lines and making available small holdings to be paid for by instalments over a term of years would be well placed to approach the State for financial assistance under the Land Settlement Finance Act.