LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20678, 25 September 1930, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Head injuries were received by Mr. Donald Campbell McMillan, aged 78, of 8, Bulwer Street, Dovonport, when ho was knocked down by a motor-lorry in Manukau Road, near Mahuru Street, yesterday afternoon.' Ho was admitted to the Auckland Hospital. His condition is not seriouii.

The arrest of two men suspected of theft from a "bach" at Waitakere was made in the city by Detective Allen and Constable .Moore yesterday. The premises were broken into last week and practically every article of furniture was removed, the value of the missing property being estimated at £35. The men will appear in the Police Court this morning

Pedestrians crossing Grafton Bridge shortly after four o'clock yesterday afternoon were startled to see a man of about 60 years of ago mount the northern parapet at the highest point above the gully. He was grasped and held by a passer-by until tho arrival of a constable. There were many people on the bridge at the time, and Mr. J. Bennett, of 85, Wakefield Street, ran forward and hold the man. The attention of a constable, who was returning from the Auckland Hospital by bus, was attracted by a scream from a woman passenger. He immediately dismounted and took the man in charge.

To validate grants made by local bodies to tho cancer campaign fund and the obstetrical fund a clause is to be included in this year's Finance Bill. Advice to this effect was received by the Newmarket Borough Council last evening from tho Minister of Internal Affairs.

"It has been stated that the Education Department needs a staff of clerks to correct the mistakes of local controlling bodies, but I think the converse applies," said tho chairman, Professor A. P. W. Thomas, at a meeting of tho Auckland Grammar School Board yesterday, when a letter was received from the department admitting a mistake in computing the salary of a relieving teacher. The department previously disputed a paymont made by tho board, and when its attention was drawn to a circular upon which the board had acted, the department replied that "the provisions of the circular were inadvertently overlooked."

A decision to pave in concrete the approaches to tho railway overbridge in Victoria Crescent, Newmarket, in the near future was reached by tho Newmarket Borough Council at its meeting last evening. The works committee recommended that tho work should bo put in hand at the samo time that tho improvement at tho corner of Crowhurst Street and Gillies Avenue, a loan for which was recently sanctioned by the ratepayers, was carried out. The council decided to adopt the recommendation and to proceed with the necessary formalities in regard to the Crowhurst Street proposal.

Tho first meeting of the Birkenhead Firo Board is to bo held this afternoon. This information was \ communicated to the Borough Council last evening in a letter from the Department of Internal Affairs. The board comprises tha following members: —Mr. L. R, L. Moller, the Government representative; Messrs. M. Cuqiming and C. H. Wyatt, apby tho insurance companies; and Messrs. It. R. Hayman and A. ,G. Jasper, appointed by tho Borough Council.

Differences between red and white manuka from a commercial point of view were described by a valuer giving evidence in tho Supreme Court yesterday. Most of the firewood seen in timber yards was. white manuka, ho said, as the red manuka was of little value for firing. The white manuka had a rough, stringy bark, whereas the bark of the red manuka was smooth. Largo whito manuka was very rare now, as it was of very slow growth.

A watch that had never before failed him in 45 years of service was blamed by a New Plymouth minister for his 20 minutes' lateness to church last Sunday morning. Sensing further delay, a retired minister in the congregation stepped into the breach some minutes after the honr of eleven and carried out the first part of the service. Ho was busy with a short tfddrcss to tho children, with the appropriate text "I am ready," and was drawing a parallel with his experience of the moment, when the appointed minister arrived. As he handed over the service the first minister remarked to the congregation that the appointed preacher, his junior in years, would not mind: "I am his senior, I am 79, and he is merely 70."

A Christchurch resident who recently visited the Yosemite Valley, tho great national park in the United Stktes, and ona of tho world's largest tourist centres, says he was surprised to find that among a huge collection of tourists' literature there could bo* found only one leaflet on Now Zealand. This was supplied by a private company in tho Dominion, and there was no Now Zealand Government literature available. There are always thousands of guests visiting tho resort. Tho oversight has been brought to the notice of the New Zealand, authorities.

An incident which was responsible for considerable laughter occurred at the annual smoke concert of the New Zealand Institute of Power and Marine Engineers, hold in Wellington last Saturday evening. Mr. A. Thompson, lato second engineer of the Tahiti, who was seated alongside the chairman, was requested to propose the toast of "Absent Friends," which ho did in his broad Scottish brogue. When he resumed his seat, the chairman, Mr. P. Mackenzio said, amid laughter: "I wish to point out the national characteristic of the Scot. Mr. Thompson has just drunk this toast with my glass of whisky.". Some of tho churches in Christchurch have decided, in view of tho electric power shortage duo to tho situation at Lake Coleridge, to discontinue evening services and hold them in the afternoon. Two churches have been carrying out this policy since September 14, and it is possible that others will fall into lino next Sunday if the shortage is not alleviated. In most cases tho matter has been left" to the discretion of individual ministers, but many of them take up the attitude that in attending the churches families effect a greater economy than would result from • the cessation 1 of the evening services. A church attended by 50 families uses only 10 lights, one Anglican clergyman pointed out. Many of the churches are "economising in other directions. Power organs are being used as little as possible, and galleries closed. Social, functions are being postponed in many cases* t