LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19956, 26 May 1928, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The question of privilege of medical evidence was raised in a divorce action in the Supreme Court yesterday, Mr. Justice Blair, in giving judgment, referred to the point, and said: —" The law is clear enough that a medical man's evidence is admissible as to his own observations, but he cannot speak as to anything the patient has communicated to him." Whitsunday, which falls to-morrow, is one of the principal feasts of the Christian Church, and special services will be held in the churches throughout the world, more particularly the Anglican and Roman Catholic. Whitsunday is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter, to commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. Whitmonday was made an English bank holiday by an Act passed in 1871, but in New Zealand the occasion is observed solely as a Church festival. Road repairs on the approach to the new bridge at Okoroire have obviated the necessity for a detour through Te Poi to reach the hot springs area. For some time the soft state of the six or seven chains of road leading up to the bridge has kept traffic off. The Auckland Automobile Association now reports the trouble has been removed. Included in the complement of the steamer Iron Monarch, which reached Auckland from Newcastle yesterday, are the chief officer, second engineer, chief steward and an able seaman who held similar positions on the steamer Iron Chief, which stranded on the New South Wales coast) on April 1 and afterwards became a total wreck. Tho Iron Chief was en route from Port Stephens to Coff's Harbour. She sailed from Coff's Harbour at mid-day on April 1, passing Crowdy Head at eight o'clock the same evening, and 35 minutes later she stranded on Mermaid Reef. The weather was stormy, and as the steamer was stranded among rocks boats could not be lowered. Later the Iron Chief drifted on to a sandy beach, but there was a recurrence of bad weather and the steamer was badly battered, eventually breaking in halves. That no lives were lost is due to a plucky fisherman, who, at a great risk to himself and his launch, reached the wreck and rescued those on board. Considerable improvements are being effected on Titirangi Road by the Waitemata County Council. In the past it has been customary to maintain the road by dumping clay and loose metal into the potholes] Rain washed away the clay and the metal was thrown into the scrub at the side of the road. More effective methods have now been adopted, and the uneven surfaces are being torn up and rerolled. An improved road is being provided without interference to traffic. "During the past few weeks there has been a demand for small, one-man farms, and the people inquiring for them have capital—anything from £SOO to £1500," stated Mr. P. J. Crump, past president, at the annual meeting of the Real Estate Institute last evening. "If the vendor expects to sell he must be prepared to do so at a figure that will give the purchaser a chance to make some profit," added Mr. Crump. "He should not be made to slave for the mortgagee. If people put impossible values on farms, as many of them are doing, how can they expect to sell them ?" The Railway Department has decided to issue dust coats, at a small charge, to people travelling by rail between Auckland and Rotorua. This innovation is expected to prove verV popular, especially during the summer months. The antipathy of the Mayor of Chicago to the British is apparently not shared by the city officials. Mr. H. Baillie, who has just retired from the position of chief librarian at the Wellington Public Library, has received a letter from the librarian of the Public Library of Chicago to the effect that he had had the pleasure of welcoming Mr. Hope Gibbons, ex-Mayor of Wanganui, on his visit to the library. He also expressed his desire that, Mr. Baillie should send any other of his countrymen who might visit Chicago :u tho future. A prowler entered a flat at No. 25, Park Road, late on Thursday evening, collected a few shillings and escaped after a struggle in the street with the occupier of the premises, Mr. H. Walmsley. Mrs. Walmsley was awakened by an intruder switching on the electric light in the dining room. The visitor became alarmed and dashed from the building, with Mr. Walmsley following. He took refuge round the corner of Park Avenue, but was seen by Mr. Walmsley, who came to grips with him. The man eventually broke away and made off. Returning to the flat, Mr. Walmsley found his trousers on the floor. About 15s had been taken from one pocket, but the thief had missed £6 10s in notes in another pocket. The fugitive dropped his overcoat in his flight. Tho Auckland Automobile Association reports that with the exception of the Ohaewai-Kawakawa-Mangonui route, the clay roads north of Whangarei are in bad order. The next heavy rain is expected to put all unmetalled northern roads out of bounds, except the east coast north of Kawakawa. The coast road through Waiwera is at present quite comfortable. Between 1000 and 1500 tons of honey are consumed each year in New Zealand, and the annual consumption is increasing, according to a statement made by Mr. T. H. Pearson, president of tho South Auckland Beekeepers' Association, in his report to tho annual meeting of the association at Hamilton yesterday. Still a further shipment of apples has been sent away from Gisborne. This is in addition to what was contemplated a few weeks ago, when arrangements were completed for the shipping of 11,900 cases by the Maimoa. The total quantity of apples exported from Poverty Bay this season has now reached 24,381 cases. Particular interest is attached to the "Burton" coach which will take part in the procession in connection with the diamond jubilee of the municipality of Christchurch on Monday next. Named after the late Mr. W. H. Burton, who has just died in Scotland at the age of 93, it was built in the spring of 1865 by Mr. A. G. Howland, of Cobb and Company, to the order of Mr. Charles C. Cole, senior partner of the firm. It was tho first coach built in Christchurch, and was made specially for the West Coast Road, when the route lay along the Cass, the Waimakariri, and the Bealey River beds. The coach has been lent by Mr. E. M. LoveU-Smith.,