LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20024, 14 August 1928, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Repairs to the Union Company's steamer Waitomo, which broke her tail shaft in the Tasman Sea and had to bo towed 850 miles to Auckland, will be commenced shortly and the vessel.is now to be docked for the purpose. It was formerly intended to carry out the work at, the Western Wharf while the vessel was afloat and with her stern tipped high enough for the propeller to be well out of the water. The Waitomo is unloading her coal cargo at King's Wharf.

During Sunday night a telephone box at the corner of Grey and Queen Streets. Onehunga, was broken into and the contents of the coin-receiver were stolen. The amount was probably small. A letter pillar box in Manukau Road was also broken into during the week-end. It is only a short time ago that another pillar box in the vicinity received attention from thieves. A large quantity of mail matter from overseas will be delivered in Auckland during the next few days. The Royal Mail liner Niagara, which arrived from Vancouver yesterday afternoon, brought English and American mail, including 594 bags for Auckland. The Marama will arrive from Sydney early this morning with 324 bags of English, Eastern artd Australian mail, all for Auckland. The Remuera is due at Wellington from Southampton to-day with a parcel mail from England, a number of bags being for Auckland. An improvement in the condition of Mr. J. A. Warnock, of Auckland, who was injured at Niagara Falls, Ontario,* Canada, at the end of last week, is reported in a cablegram received by his relatives last night. The message stated that Mr. Warnock would recover unless complications set in. An announcement that 200 additional men would be absorbed in relief works in Auckland was made by the Prime Minister, Mr. Coates, during his visit to the city yesterday. No especially big works would be put in hand, said Mr. Coates. The plan was to distribute the men over a number of works of a varied nature.

The increasing activities of the Auckland Automobile Association have necessitated substantial additions to the staff this week. An assistant service officer and two additional patrol officers have been appointed and the office staff has also been augmented. In order that the 1929 maps shall be available before the commencement of the touring season the association has secured the services of two draughtsmen. Two strange fish, which have not yet been identified, were brought into port by one of the trawlers operated by Sanford, Limited, on the West Coast, and are being preserved in a freezing chamber pending examination by Mr. Gilbert Archey, curator of the Auckland Museum, who will inspect them this morning. One, which it is thought may be a new species of shark, is about 3ft. long with a strangelv-shaped head, its jaws resembling a parrot's beak. A number of suckers project from the underside of the body toward the tail. The other is a small red fish, resembling a small swordfish in appearance. This fish was found inside a barracouta which was landed. Plans for the bituminous repaving of Queen Street have been completed, and it is intended to commence the work in October. The programme is to spread the work over three years. The general account of the City Council will provide the funds, an allocation of £2600 to be made each year. The present paving, which will be entirely renewed, has served for 25 years. The paving to be laid will differ somewhat from the natural rock asphalt then used. It is known as hotmix, and will offer a surface for traffic within a few hours.

The committee which has in hand the establishment of an endowment fund for an agricultural scholarship tenable at the Pukekohe Technical Hieh School as Franklin's memorial to the late Prime Minister. Mr, Massey, has received subscriptions totalling £361 14s 7d. while further subscriptions are expected. The committee is applying to the Government for a pound for pound subsidy. It is proposed that the trustees of the fund shall bo the M.P. for Franklin, the chairman of the Franklin and Manukau County Councils; the Mayors of Pukekohe and Otahtihu, the president of the Franklin Agricultural and Pastoral Society and the principal of the high school. The annual value of the scholarship is to bo £l2 10s and children attending primary schools within the present or former boundaries of the Franklin electorate are to be eligible to compete for it.

Reference to the gift of the late Sir Henry Brett's residence at Takapuna for uso as a home for destitute girls was made by Canon Grant Cow en at the Rotary Club luncheon yesterday. He said £4OO had already been received for alterations to the building and another £I6OO was required. When a request for a donation came before the Onehunga Borough Council last evening Mr. R, G. Speight moved that £3 3s should be donated to encourage the cause, but Mr. E. Morton said the council had refused applications of equal importance. The, council declined the request. A contribution of £33 4s 6d toward the cost of the Mercantile Marine Bell, "The Seven Seas," in the Wellington' War Memorial Carillon has been received by the Mercantile Marine Bell Committee from the passengers of the R.M.S. Makura. This brings the aggregate contributions toward this bell to date to £583 lis Bd, leaving only £7 8s 4d still to be subscribed to meet the increased cost of the bell—now £s9l—owing to a heavier carillon than originally intended having been ordered. Tho Wellington corporation electricpower plant has had to assist the Maugahao plant for the past three weeks m carrying the electrical load of the Wellington Province. The water in the three dams is low and the demand for power from Mangahao has been phenomenal. All power generated over and above the city's requirements is fed back to the Government's customers. Only a heavy rain will ease the position. Overseas vessels, when the weather permits, usually stop for an hour or two off Pitcairn Island, when the natives go out in their boats to fetch their mail and to barter curios and fruit for clothing and other adjuncts of civilisation. The Ruapehu, which arrived at Wellington last week, reached Pitcairn Island at one o'clock in the morning on her run from Panama. She made a stop of only one hour, but the natives came out as usual and, what was unusual, two, a man and his sister, embarked for .Wellington.