LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20596, 21 June 1930, Page 12

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The condition of, Mr. William Stafford, who was removed' to the Auckland Hospital from the People's Palace on Thursday in a state of collapse, was reported last evening to bo unchanged. Mr. Tilly, who was knocked down by a motor-truck in Symonds Street on Thursday evening, was reported by the hospital authorities last evening to bo still in a fairly serious condition.

The resources of the King's Wharf power station coped with the extra domand for power last evening occasioned by the late shopping hours. All demands were supplied throughout the day, which was one of the heaviest yet experienced, and there were no interruptions to the service. Slight trouble was experienced with one of the generators during the morning, but the plant was put in commission to meet the afternoon load.

Slippery pavements as a result of wintry conditions in the city yesterday were responsible for a number of minor accidents. A woman, hurrying through Broadway, Newmarket, slipped on the greasy footpath and crashed through the glass window of a chemist's shop, occupied by Mr. D. F. Mainland. The woman escaped injury.

The thirty-sixth anniversary of the birth of the Prince of Wales falls on Monday. There will be no general observance of the day, although the warships in port will dress ship and a Royal Salute of 21 guns will be fired from the Naval Base at Devonport. The majority of the Government departments and insurance offices and banks will remain open, but there will be no sittings of the Supreme Court.

The presentation of a Royal Humane Society certificate to Mr. Trevor Blomfield, of Takapuna, for an attempt to save life on tho West Coast, will be made by Mr. J. W. Williamson, Mayor of Takapuna, at a meeting of the Borough Council next Wednesday. Mr. Blomfield and Mr. J. S. Kinnear, of Mount Eden, made a gallant attempt to rescue Mr. H. J. Adams, who was drowned while bathing at tho mouth of the Waitakere River in January, 1929.

Tho Post and Telegraph Appeal Board will commence a sitting in Auckland on Monday to inquire into matters of promotion of employees of the department. The board consists of Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M.. who will preside; Mr. H. P. Donald, chief postmaster at Auckland, who will represent the department; Mr. E. R. Blewett, of Nelson, who will represent the Postal Officers' Association; and Mr. J. B. Burns, of Christchurch, who will represent the Telegraph Officers' Association.

A novel form of road consolidation is being employed by the Northcoto Borough Council. The shoulders of the concrete are being formed preparatory to tar sealing and, in order to save the expense of providing a road roller, motorists are being requested, by means of painted discs, to run over tho loose metal on the shoulders, with a view to consolidation.

Striking evidence of the possibilities of pumice soil was provided by the exhibition of a number of fine specimen potatoes at a meeting of the New Zealand Land Settlement and Development League yesterday. It was stated that the potatoes were grown at the Guthrie settlement at Atiamuri, near Rotorua. The land on which the exhibited potatoes were grown produced about ten tons to the acre. The potatoes had been examined in Auckland and were freo from disease or other imperfections.

A Stratford motorist had a somewhat startling experience near New Plymouth recently. He was going aloug at a quiet pace, when a car passed him. One of the occupants of this car deliberately aimed a whole apple at the radiator ornament of tho Stratford man's car. Tho aim was good and tho apple burst into fragments. Happily there was no accident, but the Stratford man says that with a nervous driver a very dangerous swerve might easily have been caused.

There was a reversion to steam power on the Christchurch-Lyttelton railway line last Sunday morning, due to a break in the overhead wiring at Gladstono pier, Lyttelton. A broken stay wire caused an "earth" in the system. The ferry train was delayed for about three-quarters of an hour while a steam engine was sent from Christchurch, and tho morning trains were all drawn by steam engines. Tho fault was remedied by mid-day.

"It is like passing a law that everyone is to Lie shot, and then shooting only those -who deserve it," said a .delegate at tho New Zealand Farmers' executive meeting in Wellington this week, when the fireblight regulations were being discussed. Tho meeting had before it a Nelson remit which sought tho amendment of tho regulations. He considered that any regulations which could be administered differently to different people .should be discouraged. Tho Director of Agriculture, Dr. C. J. Reakes, said that it was always tho endeavour to carry out the regulations in a reasonable manner. Where necessary, the regulations wore enforced, but in Nelson there was no fireblight at all, and the movement there was to make preparations against its possible entrance.

Some lime ago a suggestion was mado to the Christchurch City Council that in future the mudguards of cycles be white, so that motorists could see cyclists more easily at night and avoid accidents. This question was referred back to the committee which introduced it, and nothing more has been heard of it. A Christchurch cyclo firm has imported a quantity of white celluloid mudguards, and is equipping all its machines with them. In England whito mudguards are being used extensively. After the suggestion was made to the council it was noticeable that many cyclists in Christchurch painted their mudguards white.

A letter and newspaper clipping received in New Plymouth show that "Anzac Corner," in tho Manchester Southern Cemetery, is still being cared for by loving hands. On April 27, tho Sunday following Anzac Day, several units of the Cheshire detachment of tho Legion of Frontiersmen marched to tho cemetery and paid their Anzac Day tribute of remembrance to the graves of the Australians and New Zealanders who lie buried there. Dominion flags were placed between the graves, and wreaths were placed by Engineer-Commander Bolton, of 11.M.5. Irwell, and by Trooper J. L. Robson, an Aucklander. An address was given by Mr. William Harper, who looks after tho graves and keeps them in perfect order. The ceremony attracted a large number of people to tho cemetery. At the close tho "Last Post" and tho "Reveille" wero sounded by buglers.