LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20618, 17 July 1930, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Severe concussion and head injuries were received by Mr. Donald McConnell, of Racecourse Road, Avondale, when a collision occurred between the motor-cycle he was riding and a bus bound for Avondale, at tlio intersection of the Great North Road and Point Chevalier Road at about 7.30 o'clock yesterday morning He was taken to the Auckland Hospital by the St. John Ambulance.

Three pupils of the Drury School are suffering from diphtheria. Dr. T. J. Hughes, medical officer of health, visited Drury yesterday and examined every child at the school. Ho states that the cases reported are not of a very serious nature and there is no cause for alarm. Only those children who have been in recent contact with the patients are being debarred from attending school.

The condition of Mrs.. Margaret Kimm, of Mount Eden, who was admitted to the Auckland Hospital on Saturday in an insensible state, was reported last evening to be greatly improved, and to be no longer sorious. Mr. W. J. Gallot, who suffered severe concussion as the result of falling from Western Wharf on Monday, was reported still to be in a serious condition.

The Auckland Education Board has been authorised by the Education Department to proceed with the construction of the culvert in the grounds of the Newton Central School. The authority is given on the understanding that the City Council and the Drainage Board will each contribute one-thhyi of the cost.

An instance of father and son being on superannuation from the Railway Department at the same time, an earlier Ciuse than that reported from Christchurch, has beon recalled. Mr. W. Croft, of 8, Balfour Road, Parnell, retired from the service at Taumarunui in March, 1922, after completing 40 years as a railwayman. His father, Mr. R. Croft, also a superannuated servant of the Railway Deprtment, died, at the age of 94, in May, 1922, so that for a short period both he and his son were drawing superannuation payments. This was reported at the time to be the first case of its kind which had occurred.

The unusual courso of producing a doctor's certificate to show that the testator wa3 in possession of her full mental faculties at the time that she made her will was followed by Mr. J. Rukutai in the Native Land Court yesterday when an uncontested application for probate of a Maori woman's will was being heard. " Has the matter of deceased's mental capacity been raised by other relatives?" asked Mr. H. F. Ayson, the presiding Judge. " No, but I obtained a certificate from a doctor who attended her for the last three years of her life in case it was," replied Mr. Rukutai. "It is not usual to anticipate trouble in that way," commented the Judge.

A motion strongly opposing the proposal to extend daylight saving to one hour was passed at a meeting of suppliers to the Kaipara Co-operative Dairy Factory Company, Limited, held at Kaipara Flats. A meeting of suppliers of Wellsford and surrounding districts held at Whangaripo passed a similar motion.

The proposal to abandon the 1931 census was criticised at a meeting of the Auckland branch of the Economic Society last evening. A resolution was passed stating that it was considered such an action would be a retrograde step, calculated to impair the value of all past and future census enumerations. The resolution is to bo forwarded to the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Prime Minister.

The one thing that Mr. Edgar Stead, the Canterbury ornithologist, envies Auckland more than anything else is "the little gulls that come and feed in your back yards." So he told a large audience at tho university last evening. "I do not envy you your great harbour," he said, "or the splendours of Queen Street, but if anything would make mo come and livo here I think it would be those gulls." Referring later to the New Zealand grey duck, Mr. Stead said there was no finer bird in the world for sport or the table. He thought it was much to bo regretted that the European mallard had ever been introduced, because a time would come when it would interfere with the numbers of grey duck.

A new regulation of considerable importance to opossum trappers and those who deal in opossum skins, which was issued in May, is, probably, not very well known. It provides that no person shall present skins to an officer authorised to receive royalty, or deliver any skins to a licensed broker unless they are legibly marked in indelible pencil, or by other similar effective means, with the surname and initials of tho person who took or killed the opossum, his licence number, and the date of taking or killing the animals. No authorised officer is to place the official mark on any skin, and no licensed broker is to accept delivery of any skin, unless it is so marked.

Will tho Underwriters' Association he able to pay tho promised reward of £250 for Uio arrest of tho Christchurch firo raisers, now that there has been a change at tho head of the Police Department? It is considered that tho new commissioner may mako a recommendation in favour of Constable Gillum, who arrested tho men. The acceleration in Ray granted to Gonstablo Gillum would amount in fivo years to £63 18s. A now constable gets 15s a day for tho first three years and 15s 6d a day for the next three years, when his pay reaches 16s. Constable Gillum is receiving 16s a day after a year's service. On March 26,' Constablo Gillum formally applied under the regulations for the reward offered for tho arrest of tho firo raisers, and has not made any application since then. Tho regulations say that a member of tho force* cannot receive any reward or gratuity except with tho consent of the commissioner. In his caso tho commissioner's consent was not forthcoming.

Building operations at Lower Hutt continue to show an increase over last year's record figures. During Juno of last year 50 buildings of a value of £28,255 were erected, while in Juno of this year 61 buildings to a value of £49,404 were built. Of these 31 were wooden dwellings to a value of £30.370, and seven were brick or concrcto dwellings to tho value of £8370.

No fewer than 315 motor-cars were field up for an hour and a-quartor at the south end of the Rakaio Bridge on a recent morning while four trains passed over. Traffic was abnormally heavy on both rail and road that day, but the climax was reached when the blockage took place. Considerably over 315 occupants of motor-cars fretted and fumed, but they had to wait while four strings of rolling-stock rolled by.