LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20562, 13 May 1930, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A young man residing at Takanini, Lou Stewart Grigg, aged 23, was admitted to the Auckland Hospital early yesterday morning with an injury to the head and several fractured ribs, which ho received during a football match played at Drury on Saturday. His condition was ftated last evening to be not serious.

Slight damage to tho rafters was caused by an outbreak of firo at the Fanshawe Street mill of the Kauri Timber Company, Ltd., shortly after seven o'clock last evening. The firo, which was caused by a spark from the mill, was quickly suppressed by the city biigade before it had spread, only minor damage being done.

A small shipment of about a dozen Indian native birds, consigned from the Calcutta Zoo to tho Wellington Zoo, arrived at Auckland by tho Narbada yesterday. They include a pair of common cranes, teal and doves. There were no deaths on the voyage.

Tho scrutiny of the rolls used in tho recent Parnell by-election was still occupying the returning officer and his staff yesterday. A number of absentee votes was cast at distant and out-of-the-way places, and theso were not all received until yesterday. The official recount was begun lasl. evening, and it is expected that it will bo completed tomorrow evening.

A plate-glass window, valued at about £l4, in tho premises of Messrs. Aulsobrook and Company, Limited, Beach Road, was broken during the week-end. When employees arrived at work yesterday morning, they found two bricks, with which tho damage had evidently been done, lying inside the " window. It is thought that an attempt may have been made to enter tho premises, but the window portion is securely shut off from tho other part of tho warehouse.

A quantity of soft drinks and chocolates was stolon from tho shop portion of tho Narrow Neck Public Hall on Friday evening. It was discovered on Saturday morning that a sheet of corrugated iron had been torn from the side of the building and the door to the shop had been forced.

The special committee appointed by the Government to make an investigation of the shops and offices legislation is expected to visit Auckland toward tho end of this month. A number of local trade organisations and employers of labour will give evidence. Tho committee is visiting Dunedin, Invercargill and Christchurch, after which it will come on to Auckland, Tho Auckland sittings are expected to Inst three or four days.

An aeroplane piloted by Mr. Douglas Mill, with Mr. Allen Bell as passenger, flew from Ahipara on Saturday up the Ninety Mile and Twilight Beaches, and then to the lighthouse at Capo Maria Van Diemen. Tho aeropla"no passed on to Te Reinga and a landing was made at Pandora. Tho route then followed was Tom Bowling's Bay, North Cape lighthouse, and thence down the oast coast to Parengarenga and Te Paki station. Yesterday, tho flight to Ahipara via Houhora was completed. The total distance was 200 miles.

Following a petition to the GovernorGeneral asking that the Iluntly Town Board district be constituted a borough, a Gazette notice is published requiring objections to be lodged with the Minister of Internal Affairs before June 8. The population of thq town district in 1928 was 1735.

Eleven candidates offered themselves for tho nine vacancies on the Whitiora School Committoo at tho postponed election held last evening. The following were returned:—Messrs. C. Nisbet, D. Street, M. A. Gall, W. F. Choat, R. Whinoray, A. G. Stevon, A: G. Downes, F. Johnston and I. Webster.

An address on tho Land Settlement League's objects was given by Mr. W. J. Holdsworth, of Auckland, ta a largo gathering organised by tho Hamilton Rotary Club yesterday. A number of representative farmers and business men wero among those present. Mr. Holdsworth spoke along tho lines of his Auckland address. On the motion of tho Mayor, Mr. J. R. Fow, he was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.

To bag 68 ducks and 54 swans in the first three days of the season was the experience of two Christchurch sportsmen who returned from Lake Ellesmere last week. "The first day was the best," they said, "but we had good sport for the next two." Earlier reports from the lake seemed to point to very small bags, but these two men were well rewarded for their trouble. They state that the sport is. not as good now as it was at tllo beginning of the season.

Word has been received at Bluff that deer have invaded tho mutton-bird islands near Port Adventure, and aro considered to be a serious menace to tho muttonbird industry. It is feared that tho deer will trample in tho burrows, which are generally covered with an inch or two of soft peaty soil, and destroy tho young birds. It is expected that natives, on their return from tho islands, will seek permission to kill tho deer if they believe that tho presence' of tho animals on the islands is harmful to the industry.

f Many and varied aro the incidents that cause interruptions to electric-power services. Twico recently in certain areas .of tho Opunako power district tho service has been dislocated for a while—once when a thrush sitting 011 tho high tension wire at Okato, a tiling that it had probably done on numerous occasions, suddenly pecked at an earth guard near by with tho result that a, short circuit was created, electrocuting tho bird, "blowing" a fuso and depriving a largo area of power. Again a wire was found down in another part of the district and tho only explanation was tho discovery of an opossum at tho foot of a polo bearing signs of having been electrocuted.

Somo mean thieves will stop at nothing, and two Invercargill taxi-drivers aro at present feeling rightfully indignant at their despicahlo actions. Patrons of tho taxi rinks know that many of the drivers take a considerable pride in their cars and equip them with extra fittings to add to their attractive appearance. Several of the cars on a certain link aro fitted with coloured marble knobs 011 the gear levers. These knobs, which look attractive and aro serviceable in use, aro fairly costly. Recently two taxis were lured for a dance. Tho drivers • were absentfrom their cars for only u few minutes while waiting for their passengers. When tho drivers returned they found the gearknobs of both cars were missing. Whoever committed the theft was foolish as well as wanton, for tho gear-knobs aro uncommon and conspicuous, so that anyone who used the stolen fittings' would run a risk of being detected,,