LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19834, 3 January 1928, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

'A large amount of overseas mail will be delivered in Auckland to-day. The Royal Mail liner Niagara reached Auckland from Vancouver yesterday afternoon with English and American mail, includ--386 bags for Auckland. The Marama is duo at Auckland from Sydney this morning, and she has 473 bags of English, Eastern and Australian mail, all for Auckland. A slight outbreak of fire, caused by a candle setting fire to some curtains, occurred at 10 o'clock yesterday morning in a house in Ho wo Street, Newton, owned by Mr. R. Reid, and occupied by Mrs. Wylie. The walls of one room were burned and some bedding was destroyed. The building is insured for £2-50 in the London and Lancashire Insurance Company, and the contents for £IOO in the Standard Insurance Company. The Onebunga fire brigade received a call at three o'clock on Sunday morning to an unoccupied house in Mpunt Smart Road, cwned by Mr. A. Hargreaves. The fire was suppressed before much damage had been done. While working on the steamer Kartigi early on Saturday morning Mr. J. Woolsgrove, seaman, was struck on the head by a falling object. He was removed by the St. John ambulance to the Auckland hospital, where he was found to be suffering from injuries to the .head. His condition is not considered to be serious. A shark was seen near the Bayswater wharf yesterday by passengers on a ferry steamer. It was estimated to be about 9ft. in length. A party of seven New Plymouth Boy Scouts, under Scoutmaster L. C. Smith, arrived in Hamilton on Saturday by service car. They spent Saturday and Sunday nights in camp and set out yesterday morning to trek back to New Plymouth. The boys are carryiug their camping gear in a handcart. They expect to be on the road a fortnight. Three young men concealed themselves on board the Royal Mail liner Niagara, which reached Auckland yesterday, when she was at Vancouver. The stowaways were discovered among the passengers on the second day after leaving port and they were put on shore at Honolulu, to be sent back to Canada. Several houses were threatened when a fierce grass fire raged at Stanley Point on Sunday evening. The grass was about 3ft. in height and very dry, and it was consumed by the flames with great rapidity. The firo was suppressed by the Devonport brigade before the scrub on the side of the cliff became alight. A Taranski. motorist who recently returned from a 1000 miles' tour of the North Island reports meeting an unusual number of swaggers on the road. Some were of the "down and out" order, but a number were young, able-bodied men who appeared io be genuine "triers." Some of the latter say there is not the harvesting work being done this summer as in previous years, and. that farmers are managing with leus labour in other directions. An incident which might easily have ended much differently occurred at tho new Invercargill swimming baths one evening, when a girl wh"> was standing near the Bft. mark of the pool was pushed into the water by a bather standing besido her. Unable to swim, she splashed and struggled in the water, until, seeing her plight, a girl friend jumped in „and rescued her. The girl was not pulled out, however, before she was nearly exhausted and thoroughly frightened. No trace has been found of the body of Allex Imlach, aged six years, who was drowned in the Patea River Monday. The lad and an older companion were playing by the river bank. He slipped into the water and was carried downstream by the ebb tide. The cries of his companion attracted tho attention of Mr. Arthur Ellings, of the local staff of the Railway Department, who was on the opposite side of the river bank, and he made a gallant attempt at rescue. Mr. Ellings, although only a .moderate swimmer, sprang into the water fully dressed, and swam across. He was carried downstream past the body, and on reaching the other side he again entered the water further upstream, but without avail, the body having then disappeared. Interest in tobacco growr.ng is being evinced by some of the Poverty Bay farmers. Much of this interest was aroused by a statement a few months ago by Mi-. C. Lowe, tobacco-growing expert to the Department of Agriculture, that in the Nelson district returns of up to 4.100 per acre had been secured from small areas. Since this statement was circulated, Mr. Lowe, according to a letter received by a Gisborne resident, has been inundated by correspondence from prospective growers. The largest consignment of butter from Gisborne on one ship left that port last week on the steamer Port Fremantle, which took 7935 boxes. Some of this consignment was loaded before Christmas, but the operations had to be suspended on account of the weather conditions and the vessel left the roadstead temporarily. The total value of the butter at the present market rates is over £30,000. A troop of Hamilton Boy Scouts, under Sergeant-Major Purdom, Messrs. P. M. Velvin, secretary of tho Y.M.C.A., and J. Forbes, have been under canvas at. Camp Fergnsson, Okcie, during the last fortnight. The boys will break camp on Wednesday and their places will be taken by the first complement of 30 children who, through the generosity of the people of Hamilton, will be given a ten-days' holiday free of charge. On their return to Hamilton, another party of 30 children will go into camp. Albatrosses and mollyihawks come inside the entrance of tho Otago harbour occasionally when fish aro being cleaned on board inward-bound fishing boats. A few days ago two albatrosses were swimming about the Lower Harbour, and each bird had a broken wing. They were presumably vie-, tims of the pea rifle. The fishermen are indignant at what they term such contemptible "sport," for the albatrosses are so friendly that they come close to tho fishing boats and often feed from tho hand. The motorists' camp at Hamilton, which was recently established by tho Borough Council . and the local branch of the Auckland Automobile Association, has been used by many touring motorists during the holidays. It is situated immediately south of the traffic bridge, on the west bank of the Waikato River, and is sheltered by plana and willow trees.