LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20870, 12 May 1931, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The thefts of three motor vehicles have been reported to the Auckland police within the past two days. A Chrysler roadster motor-car, owned by Mr. J. Rutledge, of Parnell, was removed without authority from Liverpool Street, between 7 o'clock and 10 o'clock last night. The vehicle was almost new. About the same time a Morris-Cowley four-seater car, owned bv Air. Ronald Gray, of Mount Eden, was removed from Princes Street. A Sun motor-cycle was removed on Sunday evening between 8.30 and 9.30 o clock from the garage of Mr. J. W. 13. Cornes, of 6, Dornwell Road, Mount Roskill. No trace of the vehicles had been found by the police up to a late hour last night. The condition of Mr. William Lacey, of Ellerslie, who was admitted to the Auckland Hospital on Sunday evening suffering from a fracture of the skull, was reported last evening to be no longer serious. Mr. Lacey was injured through being struck by a motor-cycle at the Great South Road tramway terminus. A number of motor-boats moored at Ponsonby have been broken into within the past few days and ransacked. In several instances entrance to tho cabins has been gained by doors being wrenched from their hinges. In one or two cases tho skylights havo been broken. The property stolen from tho various boats consisted of guns, rugs, foodstuffs, cigarettes and fishing gear. Among tho boats visited were tho Leone, Cyrena, My Girl, Ovalcnc and Phyllis. Petty thieving from pleasure craft in Auckland has been going on for years past and although boatowners have discussed the question of agitating for more adequate protection of their property little has been accomplished.

Good progress has been made with the hearing of criminal cases in the Supremo Court. Mr. Justice Herdman and Mr. Justice Smith opened tho session last Tuesday, when a list of 30 cases was presented. Five were thrown out by tho grand jury. In those that have so far come before a jury a verdict of guilty has been returned in 17 cases and five persons have been found not guilty. Only three cases remain to be concluded to day. In no case during the present has the jury failed to reach an agreement.

When the additional plant at the King's Wharf power station has been brought into operation, an official opening function is to be held by the Auckland Electric-Power Board, in order to bring before tho public the fact that the increased capacity of tho station should ensure continuity of supply and freedom from interruption in the future. At a meeting of the board yesterday tho board-in-commiltee reported that tho matter had been left in the hands of the chairman, Mr. W. J. Holdsworth, to arrange. No date has been fixed foi the function.

A request that all shifts on works put in hand by the City Council under the Unemployment Board's No. 5 scheme should be commenced on Mondays in future was made to the city engineer, Mr. J. Tyler, by a deputation of relief workers yesterday. It was explained by Mr. E. J. IMielan, who introduced the deputation, that if this were done it would be possible to make up during the same week time lost through bad weather, whereas when shifts were started toward the middle of the week it was not possible to do this. Mr. Tyler promised to comply with tho request wherever possible. Several residents living a few miles from To Aroha Mountain reported that a strong light had been visible at nights over the peak of the mountain. The light caused considerable speculation during last week, but tho uncertainty was cleared up yesterday in To Aroha when it was established that the light belonged to a surveyor's camp. A heavy gold chain, with an engraved expanding gold pencil attached, which is believed to have been stolen from a house in Auckland, has been unclaimed at the central polico station for some time. Tho chain and pencil were found in the possession of a man who was arrested in Wellington on charges of house-breaking in Auckland, and their loss has not so far been reported to the polico. The old Kelburn viaduct in Wellington, a wooden trestle, is being taken down and in a week or two will leavo little trace of its presence on the spot where it carried tho traffic between Kelburn and Karori for thirty years. It was redecked about three years ago, the wooden decking having worn out. The old viaduct has been in a fairly precarious condition for some time and there has also been trouble with its abutments, owing to "greasy backs" which rendered it necessary to attend to the eastern abutment some time back. In tho contract for the erection of tho new viaduct is included the demolition and removal of the old one. Immediately after tho opening of the new viaduct preparations for tho removal of the old one began.

Tlio unusual ploa of a defendant, a resident of Geraldine, at the Timaru Magistrate's Court last week, when charged with tailing to produce his motordriver's licence on demand, was that because an inspector of.the Timaru Borough Council staff wao 40 yards over the borough boundary into the Levels County, ho had no right to demand to see the licence. This was over-ruled by Mr. C. R. Or Walker, S.M., who read the section of the Motor Vehicles Act stating that all motorists must produce their licences on demand by authorised officers, lie ordered defendant to pay costs. A further contention by defendant was that there were no instructions printed on the licence issued that if had to be produced on demand. The magistrate reminded defendant that it was incumbent on all road users to bs familiar with the law.

A new scheme for the relief of un. employed girls is to bo tried by the Christchurch Y.W.C.A. It is intended that girls should be employed in domestic work, the wages to bo provided from a fund which has been established for the purpose. These girls will bo allocated to homes where there is need of assistance on account of illness or large families, and where the head of tlio family cannot afford to pay for outside help. The Y.W.C.A. has already had a small sum donated to it for this work and an effort is to be made to increase the fund. It is considered that under this scheme the money will be made to servo a double purpose, in that it will givo employment to girls and will afford much-uceded help to many women.