LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20331, 12 August 1929, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A large quantity of mail from overseas, including Europe, will be delivered in, Auckland early this week, The Royal Mail liner Makura, which is duo pi Auckland from Vancouver to day, has English and American mail, including 429 bags for Auckland. The Maunganui is due at Wellington from Sydney this morning and lias 58 bags of English, Eastern, and Australian mail for Auckland. The Marama, which will arrive at Aucklnnd from Sydney to-morrow, has 346 bags of English, Eastern and Australian mail, all for Auckland.

A fracture of the right leg was sustained by Mr. T. Finlnyson while playing Rugby football nt Hot Springs, Helensville, on Saturday afternoon. The injured man, who is a brother of Mr. I. Finlayson, the All Black, was playing for Otamatea against Kaipara in a representative match. He was brought 'to Auckland by truin, and was taken to the Auckland Hospital in the St. John Ambulance.

Five purebred bulls and one pig are on board the steamer Canadian Highlander, which reached Auckland from Canada vesterday morning. The animals wero shipped at Montreal. Three of the bulls arc Jerseys and two are Ayrshircs. Two of the bulls and the pig are for Wellington and the other threo bulls will be landed at Auckland.

The Arbitration Court will commence its Auckland session next Monday, Mr. Justice Blair presiding in the absence of Mr. Justice Frnzer, Avho is studying arbitration matters in Australia. The disputes set down for hearing relate to the trawling soction of federated seamen, abattoir and freezing workers, theatre front of house employees, journalists, fish trade employees other than fishermen, bacon curers, and brick, tile and pottery workers. In addition the Court will hear 16 apprenticeship applications, 20 compensation cases, and a number of applications for the enforcement of penalties. A suggestion that the Sydney Grammar School should be invited to send a football team to Auckland this year to play a match against the Auckland Grammar School was made by the Rev. Jasper Calder during the school jubilee celebrations. There was still sufficient time, lie said, for arrangements to be completed and the match played beforo the end of the winter. In his opinion a magnificent game would result and a, valuable stimulus would bo given to esprit-de-corps.

To make a protest agaiflst the proposed doubling of the primage duty the Auckland Chamber of Commerce has convened a meeting of all business organisations in Auckland, to be held in the Chamber of Commerce Hall this afternoon A decision to call the meeting was reached last Thursday, when the executive was also instructed to frame a resolution 'drawing the attention of the Minister of Finance to the position regarding debenture tax.

Twenty years ago to-day the destructive fire which completely gutted the Strand Arcade occurred. The fire, which caused damage approaching £IOO,OOO, was one of the most disastrous in the history of Auckland. Early in the progress of the outbreak a man who had entered the burning building was cut off by the flames, and stood on the lop fire-escape balcony frantically calling for help. The spectators held their breath, and were the witnesses of a thrilling rescue by Mr. Thomas Robert Macferson, who was cheered lo jtlie echo as he snatched the trapped man, Mr. E. Crouch, from his perilous position and brought him down to safety. In recognition of his heroism Mr. Macferson was awarded the Stead gold medal by the Royal Humane Society, the highest New Zealand award for bravery. The award has been made only four times. Mr. Macferson, who is still employed by an Auckland firm, has also the Royal Humane Society's silver medal for saving people from drowning. A peculiar discovery was made on a farm at To Ralui, near Te Awamutu, recently. While an excavation for a gateway was in progress, a stratum of sandstone about 2ft. thick was being cut through. Embedded in the stone near the lower side was found a piece of beautiful kauri gum. Below the layer of stone was a considerable number of roots of large trees, indicating that ages ago there was a forest there.

A record catch for the season was made by a Maketu fisherman, Robert Curtis, on Friday, in tho vicinity of Plate Island, Bay of Plenty. In fivo hours he caught dozen schnapper. However, his previous record of 45 dozen for a similar day's fishing in 1927 has vet to be beaten.

There are no fewer than 198 blind civilians in tho Wellington district registered with the Red Cross Society. These are visited periodically and the economic situation of each is investigated with respect to pensions. The Red Cross Society has installed 40 crystal radio sets in private homes where blind persons aro living, and last Christmas every one registered received a suitable gift. In this work tho Red Cross is indebted to tho Toe II movement for valuable co-opera-tion.

Questions regarding the proposals for introducing black and blue opossums, musk rats and silver foxes for tho purposo of producing skins for marketing purposes, w r ere submitted to tho Board of Agriculture in Wellington last week, for its opinion. Tho board did not express any objection to introduction of opossums, but notwithstanding the fact that silvor foxes, if introduced, were intended to be kept in captivity, the board was unable to agree to the proposal. It also was opposed to the introduction of musk rats.

The well-known yacht Carnegie, which is on a world cruise, will arrive in Now Zealand early next year, and is due in Lyttelton on January 10. Captain J. P. Ault is in command of the ship, which is being sent out by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of tho Carnegie Institute. Magnetic surveys and investigations into tho nature of the sea floor form the principal part of the work carried out. The Carnegie has twice visited New Zealand in tho course of long world cruises. Sho is unique in having practically no iron or steel in her construction, all heavy metal being non-magnetic.

A glancing bullet was the cause of an unusual accident at tho Timaru Miniature Rifle Club's range during the progress of tho recent South Island championship contest, says tho Herald. Mr. W. Duncan, who was acting as marker, was shot through the nose, and obviously had a narrow escape from serious injury.' It is believed that the missile ricocheted through a partition from another range in the Drill Hall.