LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20880, 23 May 1931, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

} While harrowing land at Huapai yes- ; terday afternoon Victor Thomas Fraser, 5 aged 16, of Puhe Road, Waimauku, was ' thrown among the discs of the machine | and received a lacerated arm. Ho was removed by the St. John Ambulance to the P Auckland Hospital, being admitted an f hour and three-quarters after the ambu- , lance had left the city. The second term at the primary schools 1 and the Seddon Memorial Technical Collego will begin on Monday, while the Grammar Schools and Sacred Heart Colj lege will resume on Tuesday. The Dio- } cesan High School will reopen on Wednesday, but King's College and St. Cuth- , bert's College will not resume until tho following Tuesday. " Prices for good quality apples in Auckland have never been cheaper," stated Mr Harvey Turner, managing director of Turners and Growers, Limited. 1 yesterday. Mr. Turner said good quality ; dessert apples were being sold by fruiterers at around 51b. for Is. Extra fancy i varieties were, of course, selling at higher prices. After being laid up at Port Chalmers ; since she was withdrawn from tho Mel- ' bourne passengor service about tho middle » of March the Union Company's steamer » Maheno has been recommissioned to relieve the Maori and later the Wahine in ; the Wellington-Lyttelton ferry service ; while the two vessels are withdrawn for ', their annual surveys. The Maori will undergo survey first and when she resumes i the Wahine will bo withdrawn. The , ! Wahine will complete her survey on June 25 and the following day tho Maheno , will leave for Port Chalmers to be again , laid up for an indefinite period. | The hearing of five compensation claims arising out of the destruction of the I Whangatane spillway in the Kaitaia drainage district will be commenced at Kaitaia on Tuesday. Mr. Justice Herdman, who will preside over the Compensation Court, will leave Auckland for Kaitaia on Monday. The view that it is a mistake to display all the pictures of an art gallery collection at one time is held by Mr. R. A. Lippincott, who addressed the Sketch Club of tho Auckland Society of Arts last evening on the subject of the use of pictures. If certain of the pictures were stored away from time to time, he said, and special displays made with the others not only would this help to solve the difficult problem of space, but it would also arouse fresh interest in and understanding of the city's art treasures. Of course, the visitor from abroad who wished to see everything in the city in a day or two would not favour such a system, but after all, the public art gallery was for the citizens themselves, and not for the casual visitor. The announcement of a special exhibition in a certain room would be sure to arouse wide interest. The state of the Hamilton-Te Aroha road between Waitoa and Te Aroha was the subject of criticism by the Te Aroha Chamber of Commerce at its meeting on Thursday evening. It was the opinion of members that tho bad state of the road was responsible for a decline in the volume of business, and that motor traffic was being diverted by better routes to the disadvantage of the local business men. It was decided to write to the Piako County Council and the Main Highways Board drawing attention to the state of the road and urging that immediate steps for improvements be takeu. In his evidence at the inquiry in Wellington into ijhe wreck of the Progress, Captain Copland, added a touch of unconscious humour to his evidence. He was speaking about the speed of his ship and his interviews • with the chief engineer on the subject. "As a matter of fact," said Captain Copland, "the chief engineer and I had some words about it when he caught me counting the revolutions of the engine." Captain Radford, of the Opawa, was asked about the speed of his ship. "Well, I can't tell you what her speed is,'' he replied with a smile. "She's a motor-ship you know, and sometimes she's a 'goer' and sometimes she's not." There were no further questions; about the speed of this ship. A proposal to open the club's green for' Sunday play was discussed at length by the members of the Whitiora Bowling | Club, Hamilton, on Thursday evening. Tho proposal was rejected by 34 votes to seven. As a sad reflection upon the reputation of his own profession, Mr. A. T Donnelly, at the Christchurch Boys' High : School jubilee dinner, told a story of j an impending legal action between heaven and liell. When a quantity of j water had overflowed into hell, greatly <am- i barrassing the devil, he had sought an i order against heaven for the abatement j of tho nuisance. The writ was served j upon heaven, and the devil waited vainly for tho opposing counsel to be named. At last he went angrily to Saint Peter and demanded tho reason for such a prolonged delay. "Alas," said Peter, "wo liavo searched fur and wide, hut we can find no counsel.'' Tho Board of Governors of the New Zealand Institute this week considered a proposal by Professors Kirk and Easterfield that the Wellington Observatory be called the Hector Observatory instead of tho Dominion Obsorvatory, as it was now generally called: Professor Kirk said that the observatory was originally known as the Hector Observatory, and he did not know how the name became changed. The board ngresd to tho change, and decided to refer Ihe proposal to the Minister concerned. "The Ilawke's Bay earthquake was a real test for our administration, and for i our hospital system generally, and I am very pleased to be ablo to report that i great admiration has been expressed by the Director-General of Health, and others 1 in a position to judge, of the organisation of our institution, and the splendid work the board's stall was able to do following tho earthquake," said Mr. J. Iv. Hornblow, chairman of tho Palmerston North Hospital Board, when reporting on tho year's operations. "At a recent meeting of tho Hospital Boards Association," he continued, "congratulatory reference was made to tho work done at Palmerston North. Coming as it does from the chairman of the larger boards, most of whom had an intimate knowledge of tho workdone during tho earthquake period, this was particularly pleasing to me."