LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20594, 19 June 1930, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Thrown from his bicycle owing lo the sudden breaking of tho front fork, Mr. Wilfred Harding, of 35, Kitchener Road, Sandringham, received slight head injuries. He was admitted to hospital yesterday afternoon, but his condition is not serious. Mr. Harding is 36 years of age and is married. Head injuries were received by Mr. Arthur Schofield, married, aged 49, of 11, Costley Street, Ponsonby, who was struck by a heavy piece of timber while working yesterday morning in the yards of D. Goldio and Son, Limited, Beaumont Street. Ho was taken to hospital by .the St. John Ambulance, and his condition last evening was satisfactory.

Tho announcement that the Director of kir Services, Wing-Commandor S. Grant Dalton, had intimated that a third Government aeroplane was to be handed over to tho Auckland Aero Club, was made by tho president, Mr. S. Mason, last evening. Mr. Mason said this piano was one to subsidise the. Moth purchased out of club funds. Delivery was available immediately, but in order to assist tho Wellington Aero Club it had been agreed that that club should take over the machine, the Auckland Club waiting for tho Wellington Club's machino, which was due in about four or five weeks.

A particularly brilliant meteor was seen in the south-eastern sky about 10.5 last evening. Observers state that it was like a big red ball of fire and lighted the whole sky. It was visible for about two seconds. The meteor was also noticed by Mr. G. A. Pullman, of Koromatua, when he was returning from a meeting. He said it lighted the sky with a dazzling brightness.

The possibility of establishing an aerodrome near the Chateau fongariro, National Park, is being Investigated by Mr. F. C. Chichester, the Wellington aviator, at the request of the directors of Tongariro Park Tourist Company, Limited. FJat areas which may meet requirements are available within a few miles of the chateau. It is hoped to make the park a half-way stopping place for flights between Auckland arid Wellington.

A quantity of good-quality oysters was stored a.t the Government depot yesterday in preparation for the usual brisk demand on the first day of the season which opens next Thursday. The season is newly a month earlier than was the case last year. About 40 men will bo engaged in picking and handling the oysters. The prices are the same as last year.

"This seems a ridiculous amount of money to pay for an audit,'' said Mr. W. J. Campbell, at a meeting of the Auckland Education Board yesterday when advice was received that the fee for the audit of the board's accounts for 1629 amounted to £124 13s. The chairman, Mr. A. Burns, said* the annual charge used to bo about £BO. It was decided to draw the attention of the Auditor-General to the large amount charged.

Complaints mado to the City Council last month by the Now Zealanders' Association regarding the appointment of a baths superintendent and other matters relating to the swimming baths have since been withdrawn. Tho matter arose when a lotter from Mr. C. E. Collins, secretary ol' the association, camo before tho council in May. It was referred to a sub-com-mittee, which subsequently invited Mr. Collins to attend a meeting for the investigation of the complaints. In a letter to the town clerk, Mr. J. S. Brigham, dated June 14, Mr. Collins asks permission to withdraw in full his previous letter, as explanations given by the subcommittee have satisfied him that the council took tho right course when dealing with the matters in question.

A visit to tho new open-air school building at the Avondale South School was made by members of tho Auckland Education Board yesterday. The visitors were conducted over tho school by the headmaster, Mr. W. 0. Lamb, and lively interest was shown by the visitors in the conditions under which the children worked.

" I think we have gone far enough," said a delegate at the New Zealand Farmers' Union executive meeting in Wellington, when the question of extending payment for the conveyance of children to school by vehicular or launch transport to horse-riding was being considered. "Wo aro already paying £4,000,000 for education, and wo shall soon bo paying compensation to children who walk to school." It was nevertheless decided to press for the extended arrangement.

"Tho board does not generally like to interfere in a private fight," said the chairman of the Auckland Education Board, Mr. A. Burns, when tho board was approached yesterday by a deputation from the Woodhill School Committee, which requested that tho Woodhill School should bo consolidated with tho Holensvillo School. Referring to a report that there was opposition to the proposal, Mr. J. King, chairman of the Woodhill Committee, said this was confined almost solely to the Maoris. It was decided to recommend to the Education Department that the Woodhill School should be closed and tho children sent to tho Helensvillo School.

Counterfeit half-crowns and shillings appear to be in circulation in Christchurch in fairly largo numbers. Coins of both denominations have been made with great accuracy and aro very hard to detect, oven by officials in banks. A Christchurch plumber was given a halfcrown recently which ho took as genuino. Ho did not discover that it was not real until ho dropped it accidentally on a concrete floor. Then it broko in three pieces. Tho pieces were taken to two banks. Ono bank submitted tno pieces to exhaustive tests boforo declaring it a fraud. An official in tho second bank, after a closo inspection, passed tho pieces as parts of a genuino coin. Tho coin weighed slightly less than a real ono

In tho courso of a discussion in the Supreme Court in Wellington on Monday on hotel and restaurant kitchens, a witness said that restaurant proprietors were not popular with landlords because of Uia smell of food. Tho city solicitor, Mr. J. O'Shea, suggested that it would be an advantage then if a restaurant kitchon was near the top of a building, as were the kitchens of certain hotels. Tho smell of tho food would "go up." Tho witness, with a smile, replied, "But it will come down, too." Mr. Justice Blair asked whother there was not u servery downstairs in hotels where tho kitchen was situated upstairs. The witness said there would bo odours from a servery also. "Onions aro tho same wherever they are, I suppose," remarked tho Judge with a smilo.