LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20716, 8 November 1930, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A voting pKin was arrested in Wellington yesterday, according to advice received by the Auckland police, on a charge of stealing a motor-car, owned by Mrs. G. J. White, of 50, Great South Road. The car disappeared front Lome Street, behind a city theatre, on Monday evening. The Rotowaro mine was idle yesterday as the result of an error made by the men in tho drawing of the cavels on Thursday. When the mistake was discovered yesterday morning the manager, Mr. A. Penman, was notified, but as a fresh inspection of the places would have to be made, which would take a considerable time, the men did not go into the mine. The trouble is only a local one and it is understood tho mino will work as usual next week.

The filling work on the western reclamation has been completed, and the suction dredge removed for its annual overhaul. Work on the reclamation, which has an area of 25 acres, commenced in 1926, and it was estimated to cost £140,000.

Thefts are still prevalent on the Auckland waterfront, losses having been reported on a number of small vessels. On Wednesday night the scow Alwin G. was broken into and a pair of gum boots and food were stolen. The following night a thief visited tho Launch and Jow Boat Company's tug Kuinea and stole a pair of trousers and a pair of boots. Tho intruder left his old trousers and boots in place of those stolen and before he left the tug he helped himself to food.

The proposed surcharge of 3d an ounce for tho carriage of mail by air within New Zealand compares favourably with rates abroad. The charge, which has been fixed provisionally, is one-half of ihe Australian rate, and is considerably lo.ver than the long-distance fees charged in Great Britain and Continental countries. A letter sent by air mail from England to India is charged 3d a half ounce, which is substantially lower than the rates charged by other European countries which make use of the service. Minimum air postal fees abroad arc:—France lOd; Germany, 7d; Holland, 7^d; Italy, Is 7£d. On some foreign services the surcharge is as much as ten times the rate charged from England to India.

A wooden balustrade, erected on the southern side of the ornamental forecourt facing the new railway station is atti acting attention because of a conspicious coat of red lead. This is only the ground paint, for a later coat of neutral grey, which will match the Coromandel granite, of which the adjacent stonework is composed. Wood takes the place of stone for this fence owing to the possible necessity, at some futuro date, of demolishing it to make room for the main line running through the projected Morningside tunnel.. It is constructed in sections, and can bo removed at shortnofice.

A kiwi and two eggs were found recently near Waimiha, north of Ongarue. The discovery was made on tho property of Mr. C. Cross by men who were clearing a site for a mill in the bush. Tho kiwi, which was found sitting on tho eggs in a log, was caught and shown to the children at the Waimiha school, afterwards being returned to tho place where it was found. The -bird, which was a fine specimen, was the first to be found near Waimiha - for a considerable time. Each of the eggs weighed 13joz.

Two notable anniversaries fall to-mor-row. Twenty-eight years ago, on the morning of Sunday, November 9, 1902, tho Huddart-Parker steamer Elingamite struck the Three Kings in a dense fog and 45 of her passengers and crew lost their lives. The naval engagement between the German cruiser Emden and H.M.A.S. Sydney occurred at Cocos Island 16 years ago, to-morrow, tho Emden being sunk by the Australian cruiser.

While about 3000 new books are placed on the shelves of the Christchurch Public Library each year, fully 1500 are taken off. These include books which are soiled and well worn, as well as those for which there no longer seems to be any demand. The books so discarded are sgnt to school libraries and orphanages. Every student sitting for the university examinations at present being held receives either a code-word or a number to mark upon his paper. Those who apportion the code-words, which seem to be chosen at random from a dictionary, sometimes achieve effects of grim humour. Not long ago, says the Christchurch Press, one honours student received rather a shock when he found that he had been allotted tho all -ominous word "Fail": another was heartened by finding that his was "Achieve," but what omen could that student infer who found, ns one did, that his fate depended on the word "Ketchup" ?

" Tho common idea of a saint is the sort of thing you see in a church window," said Archbishop Julius in a sermon in Christchurch last Sunday. " It has a largo dish round its head, it is robed in gorgeous raiment, and it looks quito unlike the rest of humanity. Wo know that is a convention, but it influences us to believe that saints are unlike tho rest of humanity. Tho saints are men and women from tho human race, different from tho others only in their response to God's regard." A deputation from Raetihi waited on tho Minister of Railways, Hon. W. A. Vcitch, at Wanganui a few days ago asking that thero be no curtailment of traffic on tho Ohakune-Raotihi branch lino, and that the Railway Commission's report relating to that lino bo not given effect to. The Minister said ho did not wish to closo branch lines if it could bo shown they could be run without additional expense. Tho cost of maintenance would bo lessoned, involving a reduction in tho speed of tho train, but thero would bo no curtailment of traffic.

A young man who came boforo tho Now Plymouth Court recently on a charge,of obtaining credit for board and lodgings by fraud, and was sentenced to a short term of imprisonment, was, at tho time, jn a very despondent frame of mind. Mr. P. E. Stainton, .T.P., chairman of the Relief Employment Committee, who was on tho Bonch when tho case was heard, inter, csted himself in tho young man, and on his release from gaol, appealed to tho farming community to offer work for the man, who was then in a much hotter state of mind, llis appeal boro fruit, and within a few hours ho had received several offers of assistance, with tho rosult that tho man waa placed in a position in which he will have every opportunity to make good.