LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20241, 29 April 1929, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Unusual circumstances surrounded the admission to hospital on Saturday afternoon ~of an Onehunga football player, Mr. T. Ferguson, aged 21. Ho took to hospital a fellow-player who appeared to bo fairly seriously hurt, hut on examination it was found that tho injuries were very slight. Mr. Ferguson then complained that his knee was paining him. It was thereupon discovered that, unknown to himself, ho had broken his knee-cap. Finally, the player who originally had been intended for treatment was sent home, while Mr. Ferguson is still in hospital, Tho injured man resides at 342, Queen Street, Onehunga.

Instructions to discontinue dragging operations for tho recovery of tho body of the boy drowned in Lako Pupuke, Takapuna, last Wednesday, havo been issued by the medical oflicer of health for the district, Dr. H. Chesson. Tho dragging was stirring up mud among the weeds and was not proving effective. Tho Health Department has decided to chlorinalo moro extensively tho waters of the lake. The water supply has been chlorinated from time to time, but in view of tlio recent drowning accident tho chlorination will continue for an indefinite) period. .Arrangements havo also been made to patrol the shores of tho lake.

A boy of thirteen, Gordon Maxwell .Tames Mills, of Macky Street, off Wellesley Street West, has been reported to tho police to bo missing from homo. Ho was last seen on Wednesday morning when he left to go to school. He is a well-built boy, five feet in height, and was wearing a navy blue suit, black and white shirt, grey tweed overcoat, black boots and stockings.

Tlio two sloops of the New Zealand Division of tho Royal Navy, 11.M.5. Laburnum and 11.M.5. Veronica, will return to Auckland from their southern cruises this morning, after an absence of about six weeks. Both warships left Wellington at 11 o'clock on Friday morning. 11.M.5. Dunedin is at present in dock being refitted for her Australian cruise, and 11.M.5. Diomede is duo at Auckland on May 17 from the South.

The Japanese flag will be flown to-day over the Auckland consulate in honour of tho birthday of the Emperor Hirohito, which is celebrated in Japan as tho national fete day.

The Main Highways Board has offered the Howick Town Board a subsidy of £3 lor £1 for concrete paving on the local body's section of the Howick-Panraure main highway. Recently the Town Board and tho Manukau County Council took a tally on tho road with a view to proving its importance in connection with the applications for a subsidy. The Highways Board's offer places this highway on the same footing as tho sections of tho Great South Road which are on the programme for reconstruction.

There was a farther small increase in the number of unemployed men registered with the Government Labour Bureau in Auckland during the week ended on Saturday. The list totalled 1074, an increase of 19 on the figure for the previous week. Sixty-seven men wero placed in employment'last week. Of those at present registered with the bureau 918 are classed as iit for heavy work and 156 as fit for light employment only.

A party fishing on Lake Tarawcra last Thursday ran into big fish. Their basket contained a 13, 11 and 9-pounder, and all were over tho five-pound mark.. The conclusion arrived at by many fishermen is that the season opens and closes too early, says the Rotorua Chronicle. The biggest fish which was ever taken out of Lake Rotoiti was taken on tho last day of the season, at Okere. Fish now being brought in are in magnificent condition.

Tho first of the trams purchased from tho Takapuna Borough Council by tho Wanganui Corporation Tramways is now ready for tiio track. It will not be brought into use immediately, as it has to undergo tests to comply with regulations of the Public Works Department. Tho number one car employed on the Wanganui routes, the first one-man tram used in that city, cost £635 to convert to a safety car, including air equipment. It had been on the track for 37 weeks up to March 31 last, and shows a saving in running costs of £441. The number two car cost £620 to convert and the saving in running costs for the past 14 weeks during which tho car has been in operation is £l6B.

Door stalkers have secured some good heads in the South Westland forest. Eight ileer were shot near Lansborough by Mr. Balfour-Brown, an English visitor, who was accompanied by Mr. C. Ilodginson, a well-known guido of the Lakes district. The heads, which will be shipped lo England, are all rather on tho small side, as far as length and spread go, but they arc symmetrical. Of the eight heads, 0110 is a fourteen-pointer, two arc thirteenpointers, four are twelve-pointers and the remaining ono is an eleven-pointer. The outstanding head is a thirteen-pointer, which is 45in. in length and has a spread of jGjin.

Prejudice against hospital treatment will soon be a thing of tho past, according to a statement mado by tho chairman of tho Wellington Hospital Board, Mr. C. 3L Luke, last week. Moro peoplo were passing through the institution every year than was the caso in any of tho other centres, said Mr. Luke, who added: "I will not say our hospital is better equipped than Auckland's, but 1 will say it is more popular."

An amusing story of tho scientific procedure of a Government department is current among manufacturers in Wellington. Tho matter of tho acceptance of a tender for the supply of tobacco to prisons and Slato institutions is before the Cabinet. Prolonged investigation of tho tobaccos for which tenders have been prepared has been undertaken by one section of the service, and it is stated that ono officer has been kept busily smoking samples of all the various brands. The unfortunate side of the proceedings was that the officer had lo accomplish so much in this practical test that ho became ill.

"The matter of glasshouse insurance is causing growers somo concern," states tho annual report of the Christchurch Tomato and Stone-fruit Growers' Association. "Insurance companies are not prepared to offer rales for insuranco against hailstorms, and it has been suggested that the growers should establish an insurance fund of their own by paying info tho association a special levy for that purpose. The matter will ierjuiro careful consideration, as certain areas have been known to lie hailstorm belts." A report on the occurrence of hailstorms has been received from the Government meteorological office. At tho annual meeting of the association it was decided to forward a remit to the New Zealand Tomato Growers' Conference urging that tho conference should give tho matter consideration*