LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20926, 16 July 1931, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

"In a very Jong experience of medicine I find that perhaps 75 per cent, of womon and 50 per cent, of men exaggerate their symptoms," said Dr. S< A. Bull, Riving evidence in a Supreme Court compensation case yesterday. The witness was drawing the distinction between malingering and .exaggeration, and explained that this exaggeration was nqt meant dishonestly, but patients were carried away by their symptoms and made them out to be more grave and severe than they were.

A fortunate escape from serious injury was experienced by Mr. P. D. Randall, of 5, Broadway, Newmarket, who was struck by a, piece of iron which fell from' a building in Quay Street yesterday morning. The iron grazed his head and inflicted* a deep wound in his shoulder. He was taken to the Auckland Hospital by the St. John Ambulance and was able to go home after receiving treatment.

The use of raupo instead of the traditional feathers for "tarring and feathering" in the early days of the colonisation of the Bay of Islands was mentioned by Mr. J. W. Shaw in an address on "How New Zealand Became Law-abidihg" at the annual social last eveping of the Auckland Justices of the Peace Association. The speaker said the first "vigilance committees" for the establishment of law and order at Russell resorted to the raupo, as feathers were not available. The efficacy of the punishment* was such that no wrongdoer allowed himself to be tarred a second time.

Numbers of petty thefts from the pavilion on the Remuera hockey grounds have occurred in the last few days. In most cases sums of money have been taken from the clothing of players.

The minor outbreak of diphtheria in Otahuhu schools is stated to be well in hand and no further cases have been reported for three days. Dr. T. J. Hughes, medical officer of health for the Auckland central district, said yesterday that some 400 swabs had already been taken with most satisfactory results. Last month there were four cases in the public school and eight this month, while in the kindergarten there was one case in June and one this month. No cases have been reported in the Roman Catholic school since June 30.

Just before the start of the debating contest between the team representing the University of Oregon and an Auckland University College team, at the University College last evening, several pieces of ice were seen to be placed in the drinking water provided for the American students. "Last evening our friends were without their national beverage," said Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie, who presided. "Perhaps that had something to do with their defeat, but we can hope for their greater, success this evening," he said. The visiting team won.

Motorists are advised by the Auckland Automobile Association that the temporary tram stop in Remuera Road, near Omahu Road, has now been made a permanent stop. In the past, the practice has been for the trams to stop before and after school hours, for the purpose of setting down and picking up pupils. It is for the convenience of residents that' the stop has been made a permanent one and in view of this fact not being commonly known, motorists are warned of the change. There have been several narrow escapes lately on account of a tram stopping to set down passengers and motorists following close behind expecting it to continue to the next ordinary stop.

A request that the society should endeavour to prevent shooting game from motor vehicles on the roads was received by the Hawke's Bay Acclimatisation Society this week from the Hawke's Bay County Council. It was considered that the council shbuld insert a clause in the motor licences .it issued stating that holders could not shoot from either cars or lorries. Ifc was agreed that the practice was dangerous and that the law which makes it illegal to shoot on the public highway was one that should be enforced.

Of 28 persons who have been tested at Masterton since the regulations came into force making it necessary for, applicants for motor drivers' licences to be examined before licences are granted, eight failed to pass. In most cases licences were refused owing to the applicants' lack of knowledge of the rules of the road and also to difficulty in starting cars on a steep gradient.

For two years the Wanganui Automobile Association has conducted headlight testing in different centres in its district. In the first tests last year 439 cars were dealt with by the service officer, and about 170 this year. Out of the total there were only seven cars that had the lights correctly adjusted.

A large part of a 63-mile journey at the last week-end was covered by a party of six Christchurch men not in a car, but pushing it. The men, who went to the winter sports grounds at Mount Cheeseman, took 14 hours to return home, instead of the usual four hours. The party left on the return trip at six o'clock on Sunday night and reached the city at eight o'clock on Monday morning, endless snowdrifts having forced them to get out and push. The 16 miles to the footi of Porter's Pass provided nine hours of almost continuous pushing through drifts. Sizes, rate of growth, and the food of trout and tho effect of temperature and other conditions on fish are amongthe things being investigated by Mr. A. W. Parrott, biologist, who has been investigating the rivers of southern Hawke's Bay. His work is part of the research being carried out by the Freshwater Research Committee under the auspices of tho New Zealand Association of Acclimatisation Societies. Beech timber, which was ignored by the early sawmillers, is now gaining in popularity, especially among those engaged in the furniture-making industry, says a correspondent of the Southland Times, and some heavy consignments have beon shipped to Australia. A further use has been found for the product, the making of rifle stocks, and as a result of a trial shipment sent to England the authorities there have been greatly impressed with the timber. Some of the feats of endurance performed by the early colonists seem incredible these days, says a Christchurch newspaper. Mr. Ebenezer Hay, the first settler in Pigeon Bay, used to carry 401b. to 601b. of butter on his back every week over rough bush tracks and return the same day, the distance he would cover being 30 miles.