LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20338, 20 August 1929, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Although still short of the minimum of £I6OO required to maintain the ambulance and nursing services efficiently during the coming year a gratifying response is boine made to the funds of the St. John Ambulance by private subscribers. A donation of £SO was received yesterday from Mr. John Marshall of Romuera. The funds now total about £I4OO, leaving still nearly £2OO to be made up. Any additional sums over £I6OO would enable a small reserve to be built up. The increasing number of cases, both nursing and ambulance, is making heavy calls upon the financial resources of the organisation.

A slight outbreak of fire' occurred on Messrs. McCallura Brothers' shingle dredge at Prince's Wharf early yesterday afternoon when an employee was filling a benzine tank. Tho city fite brigade subdued tlie flames without damage to the vessel.

A slight improvement took place yesterday in the condition of Mrs. M. Brownlee, who was admitted to the Auckland Hospital on Saturday evening suffering from injuries received through being knocked down by a taxicab in Dominion Iload. i

The need of police protection of shops in Dominion Road, between Rocklands Avenue and Landscape Road, was urged by Mr. It. J. Mills at a meeting of the Mount Eden Borough Council last evening. Mr. Mills said that there were about 40 shops in the area, which was not patrolled at night. Frequent burglaries had occurred, some of the shops being enteral on more than one occasion. It was decided to request the superintendent of police to arrange for a patrol of the area.

"We have not had' a member of Parliament on the Auckland University College Council since Sir Maurice O'ltorke," said Sir George Fowlds, at the meeting of the council yesterday, in welcoming the new Government appointee, Mr. IT. 11. Jenkins, M.P., to his seat. Sir George added that Mr. Jenkins would serve as a kind of liaison officer with the House of Representatives. When the Lewisham Hospital was opened at Wellington on Sunday by the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, the .Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, who wns present, said the total, cost was £50,000, of which £20,0C0 had been raised hy public subscription. Later the Mayor of Wellington, Mr. G. A. Troup, said Mr. J. McGrath, chairman of the committee, and Sir Joseph Ward had given the guarantee necessary to enable the work to proceed.

When the Tourville was at Tahiti, which is a French possession, arrangements were made for meteorological work to bo carried on there in conjunction with similar work at Samoa, where the observatory is under the jurisdiction of the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial' Research. During the. cruiser's stay at Wellington her meteorological officer, Ensign Huber, had a number of valuable conferences with Dr. E. Kidson, director of the Now Zealand meteorological service, and was able to complete the arrangements for co-operation between the two island stations. Before the Tourville sailed Ensign Huber expressed his gratitude for the assistance Dr. Kidson had given him, and said that it would be duly acknowledged when the results of his work on the cruise wero put into writing.

Eight lambs were killed by dogs on Saturday night at the Ruakura Slate farm, the loss entailed being between £8 and £lO. The flock worried was composed of crossbreds, but the dogs did not enter an adjacent paddock containing stud lambs valued at lOgns. each.

The wireless telephone convemtion last week between the injured ship's apprentice, Jack Sigrist, in Sydney, and his mother in London, was clearly heard by Mr. W. Taine, of Karitane, Otago. About 6.30 on Wednesday morning VK2ME, Sydney, and GBH, England, were testing on duplex telephony. GBH asked Sydney to inquire about a youth, 18 years of age, who had met with a bad accident, stating that he was in a hospital in Sydney, and that his mother in England was very anxious to know how he was getting on. VK2ME made inquiries at the hospital, and told GBH that he was progressing favourably, but that he was constantly calling for his mother. His mother subsequently spoke to him by wireless, in duplex telephony, VK2ME being connected with the hospital by land-line. London was astounded with the results. On Thursday morning Mr. Taine heard GBH saying that the London papers had given much space to the achievement, and again heard VK2ME. It came through clearly and distinctly, and no doubt was a wonderful feat.

It is the belief of the Mayor, the Rev. J. K. Archer, that a second attempt to burn down his residence was to have been made on Monday evening, states the Christchurch Press of Saturday. Evidently tho inccndiarist thought the Mayor was going to Wellington that night, for there was a ring on his telephone during the evening from a man who asked if tho Mayor was at home. When asked his business tho man endeavoured to explain tho ring by inquiring the address of the young woman who recently wrote to Mr. Archer from England asking the Mayor to find a husband for her. Evidently the man was led astray by a newspaper report that the Mayor was going to Wellington on Monday night, and he refused to give his name. Mr. Archer did not actually leave for Wellington until Tuesday night.

"Is it not a fact that farmers are in the habit of keeping no books of accounts and they rely solely on_ their pass books asked counsel of the local deputyofficial assignee during a case in the Supreme Court at Wanganui. " The ones that become bankrupt do, 1 ' agreed the witness. "Perhaps that is why they bocome bankrupt," remarked the Chief Justice, who presided. A paragraph which appeared in many New Zealand newspapers recently told how a badly-injured dog was left lying a long while on the roadside because none of many passing motorists felt entitled to put it out of misery. Tho inspector for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at Nelson, Mr. F. Soed, told a rcportor the other day that in such a case a motorist should notify tho police or an S.P.C.A. inspector, or, failing either, a justice of tho peace. The last-named was ompowered by the Police Offences Act to authorise any poison in writing to destroy any impounded or stray animal which in the justice's opinion ought to be killed on account of weakness, disease or disablement. Tho local authority would no doubt see to the removal of the carcaso if notified.