LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20312, 20 July 1929, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A collision between ?i motor-car driven by Mr. David Jones, of Otahuhu, -and a motor-truck owned by Mr. 0. E. .Jones, of Mauku, and driven by one of bis sons, occurred at tho intersection of Durham Street and Great South Road about half-past six last evening. Neither of tho occupants was injured. Tho roar mudguard and tho body of the motor-car were considerably damaged, while the mudguards and lamp of tho truck were damaged. Owing to rain visibility at the time of tho accident was very poor. As the result of being struck in the chest by a hand-truck which ho was wheeling on tho waterfront yesterday, Mr. T. Wilcox, who resides at Ponsonby, had several libs broken. He was wheeling the truck along Prince's Wharf while helping to unload tho steamer Northumberland, when the truck struck a. bump and tho handles flew up. After treatment by the St. John Ambulance Mr. Wilcox was removed to the hospital. Very little improvement is shown in the condition of tho little bov, Harold James Porter, aged five years, whose parents reside at 116, Carlton Gore Road, and who was admitted to tho Auckland Hospital on Thursday afternoon suffering from a fracture of the skull and a broken leg. Tho child, who was struck by a motor-car in Khyber Pass Road, was in a serious condition when he was removed to tho hospital, and he has shown very little change so far. A severe injury to an eye was received yesterday by Mr. Edmund Morton Green, aged 48, of Nixon Street, Hamilton East. A piece of wood, which Mr. Green was chopping, struck him in the eye, inflicting a wound that necessitated his removal to the Waikato Hospital. Evidence of considerable unemployment among trained typistes and women bookkeepers in tho city was provided by over 200 applications for a clerical position in an Auckland office this week. The great majority of the young women who applied for the position were qualified typistes and nearly all had undergone courses in business training colleges. A note bordering on comedy was struck in the Police Court yesterday at the conclusion of evidence in a charge against a bank clerk, Samuel Fabian Wills, who admitted forging a bank draft for £4700 on the Bank of New South Wales at New Plymouth. Accused had deposited in his own name about £3BOO of the proceeds in various Auckland banks, and the normal banking procedure had to be followed before the police could recover this amount. At the conclusion of the case, Wills was called upon to sign cheques for amounts totalling £3BOO. Although the money was not his, the accused had to sign the cheques before it could be withdrawn from the banks, as ho had deposited it in his own name. A gas main in Vulcan Lane developed a leak on Thursday, and the point of the escape was located yesterday morning after an inspection and a nasal inventory of tho vicinity. The fault was found several feet below the ground surface, and as soon as the ground was opened the gas became so strong that one of the workmen donned a gas-mask and continued the work in the pit alone. Curious passers-by hung over the pungent excavation and smoked with apparent immunity. An announcement that Mr. Guy Wilson, a leading English daffodil grower, would shortly make a trip to New Zealand to see the fine daffodils which enthusiastic growers are producing, was made at the Inst meeting of the Auckland Horticultural Society. Mr. Wilson will be invited to act as judge at the National Daffodil Society's Show to bo held in Auckland in September, in conjunction with the spring show of the Auckland Horticultural Society. Competitors from all parts of tho Dominion are expected, and some high-class exhibits are assured. Seeds of New Zealand native trees have been sent to the Californian city of Sacramento for planting in tho grounds of the new Junior College. The consignment was made up by tho Auckland Advertising Club in response to a request from the Advertising Club of Sacramento. NewZealand trees and shrubs are already well represented in the American city, which is noted for its beautifying activities, and reports indicate that owing to the similarity of tho climate to that of tho Dominion, acclimatisation becomes an easy matter and tho introduced trees flourish luxuriously. A statement that tho Hamilton Chamber of Commerce had passed a resolution protesting against the heavy motor transport on tho Main South Road between Auckland and Hamilton was received with amusement by Mr. H. 11. Sterling, general manager of railways, when a deputation waited on him at Hamilton yesterday. Mr. Sterling described tho resolution as a strange one, coming from business men who were first and foremost responsible for tho carriage of goods by road. If the business men in the cities and towns only co-operated and supported their own railways, this unfair competition would •soou be removed. Strong opposition to the proposal to observe a universal half-holiday on Saturdays was made by Mr. G. O'Halloran at the meeting of tho Waitemata County Council yesterday. Thursday was the present half-holiday in most portions of the county, Mr. O'Halloran stated. His objection was made mainly on behalf of the small storekeepers at the holiday resorts along the East Coast. "Saturday is the only day on which they can mako a living and to enforce a half-holiday on that day would mean taking their living from them," he said. With the exception of .Mr. A. E. Diprose, member for the Kaukapakapa Riding, who stated his district would not be affected, Mr. O'Halloran's views received the support of tho council, which decided to send a telegram to the Government, protesting strongly against any change to a universal halfholiday on Saturdays. Interference with the Morrinsville firo engine which might have had serious consequences was discovered on '1 hursday evening. Tho engine had not been in use since Sunday and was taken out by the official driver, Mr. E. Grigg, for cleaning purposes. It had travelled only a fewyards when flames burst out from beneath the engine. Hoses for cleaning purposes wore handy and Mr. Grigg speedily extinguished the flames. An examination showed a quantity of tow and paper had been packed round the exhaust pipe and the cylinder head. Had the machine been rushed out to n fire at night with half a dozen firemen on board and burst into flames tho results would have been serious. The Nelson system of Bible reading in schools is to bo introduced at the Tuaknu school. A referendum of the parents was taken on the question, and resulted in 44 votes being returned in favour of tho proposal and 15 votes against it. Accordingly permission is being given for tho introduction of this system at the school.