LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19929, 24 April 1928, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

. There will he no publication of the Herald to-morrow (Anzac Day). The Queen Street office will open from 5 to 10 p.m. for the convenience of advertisers. After falling down concrete stops in a building in Albert Street yesterday Mr. Harry Webb, aged 70, was removed to the Auckland Hospital in a state collapse. Mr. Webb resides at. 117 A, Nelson Street, city. Mr. William Thwaites, aged 20, who lives in Princes Street, Otahuhu, was admitted to the Auckland Hospital last evening suffering from injuries to the head. Mr. Thwaites, who is a bacon-eurer, employed in the Westfield works of R. and W. Hellaby, Limited, slipped on a concrete floor and struck his head heavily.

Objections to increases in the valuation of property are common enough, but a new note was struck in a letter to the Takapuna Borough Council last evening, a ratepayer asking why her assessment had been dropped from £2lO to £ls. the council decided to recommend the writer to confer with the Valuation Department if she wished to exercise her right of objection.

"Auckland is so delightfully clean." This was the first impression of Mr. E. W. Sankev, an American architect, as he stood on the deck of the Niagara yesterday morning while shower and sunshine bathed the city in turn. "Red roofs and white walls and some classic architecture," he said. "I am going to see more of it." Mr. Sankey is a through passenger to Australia. The ornamental note was predominant in the architecture of most American homes, Mr. Sankey said. The whole house seemed to be built round the bathroom and the kitchen which, even in small houses, were most elaborate. They gave plenty of scope for the arts of the plumber. In the larger cities such as New York the value of land still made the building of skyscrapers imperative. Mr. Sankey was inclined to decry these mammoth structures. In crowded cities they were inevitable, but although they were imposing to a certain degree, it was hard to make them really impressive. "Your buildings hero seem to be just tall enough," said Mr. Sankey, with an eye on the Dilworth Building. "There is proportion in them and line. On first impressions, Auckland is a most delightful city."

Protest against the alienation of any part of the city reserves, with particular reference to the Jewish community's application for a portion of the Symonds Street cemetery, was made at the Protestant Political Association's meeting in the Town Hall last evening. A resolution to this effect was moved by the chairman, Mr. A. J. Stallworthy, who is also a member of the City Council, and on a show of hands was declared to be carried with two dissentients. The resolution is to be forwarded to the City Council.

"Hoardings or no hoardings" was a question which arose at the meeting of the Takapuna Borough Council last evening. "We should keep Takapuna as a residential area and not make another Freeman's Bay of it," said Mr. J. Guinevin, in objecting to renewal of the right of an advertising firm to maintain certain extensive hoardings at Belmont. Several councillors expressed their objection to the continuance of wayside disfigurements in all forms. As there were some possibilities of difficulties arising under the municipal by-laws it was agreed that the opinion of the borough solicitor should be obtained before coming to a decision.

During a recent visit to England, Mr. J. Rentoul, chairman of the New Zealand Honey Export Control Board, requested the High Commissioner, Sir James Parr, to approach the Army, Navy and Air Force authorities with a view to inducing them to consider the inclusion of honey in the rations for the forces. Tho matter was raised but none of the authorities concerned considered the scheme practicable. The jam used bv tho men in the Tiavy is not part of the official ration. In the army arid air force there is no jam ration, but a money allowance is granted from which units are at liberty to purchase jam or any other commodity in the institutes of the forces. These include honey in their stock, but the demand for it is practically negligible. Owing to the prolonged spell of dry weather many of the smaller streams in the Cape Egmont district have almost dried up. Some that have never been known to fail are almost completely dry. The eels are consequently falling an easy prey to others besides members of recognised eel clubs. An old Maori woman of over 70 years of age the other day lifted one weighing 181b. from under a couple of stones in one of the streams. From the same stream she took 30 eels of varying sizes.

An appeal from the Mayor of Paeroa for tho co-operation of members of his council in tho customary observance of Anzac Day, was opposed by Messrs. J. Pinder and F. Flatt at a meeting of the Paeroa Borough Council. Mr. Pinder said it would be better to more fully observe Armistice Day, which had meant the saving of many lives. The holding of a service on Anzac Day should ho discontinued. Mr. Flatt said tho observance of Anzac Day imposed an unnecessary emotional strain ou the people. In his opinion it should bo observed on the nearest Sunday. The Mayor said ho would be loth to see tho ftuhlic commemoration service abandoned. It was decided to approve the Mayor's arrangement for the full and religious observance of the day.

A request from the Auckland Institute and Museum for assistance toward the new museum, as over £4OOO would be required in addition to tho usual income, was declined by the Onehunga Borough Council last evening. This action was taken on the motion of Mr. F. S. Morton, who said that when tho city wanted anything it invoked tho assistance of the •adjacent local bodies, but when the boroughs wanted anything from tho city they were usually turned down.

An interesting exhibit is to be seen in the office of the Southland Power Board. Last month an 11,000-volt line came to tho ground beyond Waikawa. The wire fell on very sandy soil and at once proceeded to establish its position. The flow of current from the wire to the earth generated heat, which quickly turned the sand into a molten mass. This process went on along a length of about 6ft., until finally the wire for that distance was totally surrounded by molten silica, which, being an insulator, kept the wire aliVo, but gradually insulated it from tho ground, until finally no current flowed. Tho silica then cooled off, and hardened into a snake-like stone stick 6ft. in length, in places hollow, where the wire had lain. Perhaps the best description, says the Southland Times, would bei a petrified eel.