LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20768, 10 January 1931, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The business life of the city will resume its full normal course on Monday, when thoso offices which have been closed for the longest period over the holidays will reopen. Members of tho Auckland Law Society, who commenced their vacation on Christinas Eve, will recommence their duties on Monday, while tho Auckland Stock Exchange, which closed on tho same date, will also reopen.

A large number of people left Auckland by train for the south last evening. Accommodation on the limited express was taxed, while tho second train, which included several extra carriages, carried a full complement of passengers. The third express, which was tho last of the holiday relief trains, was well patronised.

Over 800 bags of overseas mails, including two lots from England by different routes, will ho delivered in Auckland early next week. Tho Royal Mail liner Niagara, which is due at Auckland from Sydney about six o'clock on Monday morning, has English, Eastern and Australian mail, including 435 bags for Auckland, tho English mail having come via Suez. The Royal Mail liner Monowai is due at Wellington from S,in Francisco at six o'clock on Monday morning, and has English and American mail, including 362 bags for Auckland. The Mamma, which left Sydney for Wellington yesterday, a day after tho Niagara sailed, is expected to have a small quantity of Australian mail for Auckland. She is duo at Wellington on Tuesday morning.

A ready response has been made to tho appeal by the Si. John Ambulance Association for extra invalid chairs. The association possessed 12 chairs, but all these were on loan, and owing to the urgent demand for others an appeal for more was made through tho Nkw Zealand Herald just before Christmas. Five additional chairs have been obtained, including two spinal carriages, two invalid chairs and a cane lounge, and they are now available for loan.

The "baby" Austin motor-car, owned by Dr. R. Maxwell, which was removed from outside his residence, Park Road, Grafton, on Thursday evening, was recovered yesterday. Tho car was found at Mount Eden about 6 a.m. by the Mount Eden police.

The traffic tally at various points in tho city, made in connection with the traffic outlet schemes now before the City Council's engineering department, is almost completed. A census of all traffic has been taken at 32 points, principally street intersections of importance to the schemes, and the details are now being compiled and analysed. The information will be incorporated in an interim report which the city engineer, Mr. J. Tyler, expects to present to tho council next month. It is probable that similar tallies will be made at regular periods in future, possibly onco a year.

Moving on an incline in Victoria Road, Devonport, yesterday, an unattended motor-lorry gathered speed and collided with a telegraph pole at the corner of Victoria Road and Clarence Street. The impact caused a short circuit of the fire alarm wiring which tho pole carried and a call was registered at the station. The brigade, however, was saved the trouble of answering the summons owing to the fact that the tape machine, which registers the alarm, makes a distinction between a short circuit and a genuine call. The defect was later adjusted.

The peaks lining the Mueller Glacier in the Mount Cook region are often neglected by mountaineers for others of greater height and less interest in other parts of the district. However, on January 2 the summit of Darby Peak and of Jean were reached by Dr. F. 11. McDowall, of Palmerston North, who climbed the Footstool recently, and Guide F. Chapman. They made their ascent from the Mueller Hut. and after hours on tho trail reached the Hermitage that night. Although the weather was indifferent and they were in the clouds all the time, the climbers found their trip intensely interesting. Darby Peak is 8287 ft. high, while the Footstool is 9073 ft. in height.

When the Waimakariri River came down in flood last Sunday two members of a picnic party, Mr. William Johnson and Miss A. Johnson, of Cashmere, wero marooned on an island for eight hours. Tho other members of the party were Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Aldridge and their five-year-old son, also of Cashmere. In tho forenoon the party got on to Temple Island, which is about 100 acres in area, without any difficulty. Mr. and Mrs. Aldridge and their son wero bathing in the river before lunch, when tho flood suddenly came down. They received enough warning to enable them to wade across to the mainland, but by tho time Miss Johnson and her father attempted to cross tho water had risen and was flowing very swiftly. They regained tho island and wero unable to find another avenue of escape. Mr. and Mrs. Aldridge had some trouble in getting assistance, but eventually help was obtained from settlers, and Mr. and Miss Johnson were transferred by horse and dray to tho mainland.

Although crops of all sorts are looking very well at present throughout Canterbury, rain would bo welcomed, states tho Christchurch Times. The hot, dry weather and heavy winds that have pre vailed for the last three weeks have already had the effect of making tho land very dry, especially in tho lighter parts. Oats have suffered fo some extent from the wind, as most of them are now ripe. Tho damage is reported to be not great, but there has been a certain amount. Wheat has not ye* suffered. Tho crops are well forward, and although rain would undoubtedly help filling out, it is not urgently needed yet. Farmers are not yet seriously affected by the dry weather, but if the present hot gales continue for another week or ten days without rain, the crops may suffer.

So strong was the north-westerly wind on top of the Pnekakariki Hill on Wednesday (hat motor vehicles, especially motor-cycles, had some difficulty in reaching the summit. The wind blew through some of the cuttings near the top of the hill with terrific force. At n cut-* ting two or tlireo hundred yards from the summit tlireo motorcycles were brought to a standstill by an exceptionally strong gust. A motor-car, which was following closo behind, was also pulled up and, in fact, was forced back by the strength of the wind. The engine stalled, and it was necessary to put the foot brake and hand brake hard 011 to stop the car. When the car eventually got through, the three motor-cyclists took shelter behind it, and remained thero until Paokakariki was reached. Besides having to struggle against the wind, motorists had to contend with a dense fog, which necessitated all vehicles having their headlights on.