LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19800, 22 November 1927, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

No improvement is reported in the condition of Mrs. Janet Morrison, who was admitted to the hospital on Sunday in a critical condition suffering from the effects of gas poisoning. She is stated to be still unconscious. ' Mr. James Morrison, her husband, who was also trapped in the futnes, is reported to be quite comfortable, although he has not yet been discharged from hospital. , No further notifications of typhoid fever among natives at Taupo have been reported to the Health Department since Friday. Investigations regarding the cause of the outbreak are beitig pursued by Dr. E. P. Ellison, director of Maori hygiene, and other health officers who are visiting the, locality. A 5-seater limousine motor-car owned by Mr. W. Geddes, of 56, Wynyard Street, city, which was removed without authority from outside his residence last Saturday evening, was recovered on Sunday. The car, which was found in Ponsonby Road, was not damaged. Intimation from the Railway, Advertising Department that it intended to erect a hoarding 6ft. by 12ft. near the Onehunga, Wharf was received by the Onehunga Borough Council last evening. The department stated it would not interfere with the council's beautifying scheme, but it was decided to seek information as to the exact locality of the proposed hoarding. About 200 telephones at Claudelands were disconnected yesterday while repairs were being carried out to the cable which crosses the Waikato River. The interruption was due to water affecting the cable. Communication was restored in the evening. < As a result of representations made to the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Arapuni Lake, which will be formed by the carrying out of the hydro-electric scheme at Arapuni, has been placed under the control of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. At present the boundary line between the Auckland and Rotorua acclimatisation * districts is, theoretically, in the middle of the lake, but from August 1 next year the whole lake will be in the Auckland district. Steps have already been taken to stock the lake with trout, and if these prove successful—and it is expected they will —good fishing will be brought much nearer Auckland.

A request by the Play and Recreation Association for permission to take up a street collection on December 2, in aid of the Freeman's Bay Community Club, was refused by the Onehunga Borough Council last evening. The reason given for the refusal was that there had been so many collections of late. The light rains of the last week have greatly benefited pastures in the Tauranga district. There is now ample feed for stock all over the district. The dairy herds are responding generously. The newly-planted maize crops are doing well. The first cuts have been already made on several lucerne stands, and the yield has been exceptionally heavy. Bpeaking of the summer time regulation, a Wanganui business man related an amusing experience of a country relative who, in common with others of the farming community, resolved to disregard the law. When making appointments in the city after the coming into force of daylight saving, this farmer would always specify an hour ''by the right time,but wljen he went in to the spring show later in the week he found he had arrived at the "summer time" hour, as the hour hand of his watch had become caught in the minute hand and was advanced exactly one hour. There was much comment about noisy and speeding motor-cyclists at a meeting of the committee of the Taranaki Automobile Association last week. As each member made his comment the resentment was expressed more strongly. One member opined that the noise of most exhausts was unnecessary and that the machines, if ridden correctly, would be ridden silently. After all the evils arising from malpractices by motor-cyclists had been discussed, another member repeated amid laughter a remark he had heard to the effect that "motor-cyclists should be, like pheasants—there should be an open season for them." Dead from a gun-shot wound, a homing pigeon was found in Taumata Park, Eltham, recently. Two other birds that had suffered a similar fate were discovered hidden in a truck of coal that had come to Waipuku from the Glen Afton mine. Their rings indicated that they belonged to the Auckland Homing Federation and, according to a letter received last week by the New Plymouth Club, the evidence seemed to show that their destroyer had buried them in the coal to avoid prosecution for an offence bearing a heavy penalty. The number of articles left in the Christ-church trams duriug the recent carnival week was nearly 150, about 30 in excess of the total during the corresponding week last year. An indication of the unsettled weather experienced this year is given by the fact that no fewer than 31 umbrellas were left in the cars. Attache cases, suitcases, and bags provide the next highest number, totalling 19. Of gloves and purses, 12 of each were found. Four tennis racquets and two pairs of tennis shoes, a pillow, a motor tyre, a camera, eight books—including copies of the Biblo and of the Prayer Book—were among the other articles left behind by absent-minded passengers. A curious hitch occurred in Invercargill the other day in connection with a wedding. The correct forms # and ceremonies had been completed, the parties had declared themselves willing to undertake the mixed blessings and tribulations of matrimony, and they had been declared man and wife. As they were signing the register, it was noticed that the marriage had been fixed to tako place in a church, whereas it had been solemnised in a private home and was consequently invalid. The only thing to do was for the t,\vo "victims," the two witnesses, and the minister to be hastily bundled into a car and rushed to the church. This time the knot was securely tied. It is only a few mouths since fairly extensive repairs were made to the roof of the Wellington Town Hall, but apparently those who maintained at the time that' a new roof, in place of patehing, was required, were not far from the mark. The iron has stood up to over, twenty years of rain and sunshine and ship and power-house smoke, a very fair life under city conditions. The other night the rain found ways through again, and people attending a concert, who were unlucky enough to be underneath the weak spots, had an uncomfortable even- ! ,n «- » i