LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20958, 22 August 1931, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Arrangements aro being made by the Railway Department for tlio second evening express from Auckland to Wellington to stop at Huntly. The alteration in the schedule, which will take effect very shortly, was agreed to at the last meeting of the Railway Board. Advice of the board's decision has been received by tlie Mayor of Huntly, Mr. W. C. E. George, from Mr. W. Lee Martin, M.P. t who was responsible for the matter being brought before the board. Mnny of the articles valued at £55 which were stolen from the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jaines Wylie, 64. Onslow Road, Epsom, on Tuesday have been recovered by the police. Yesterday morning Detective Allan was able to restore to the owners a very old china tea-set valued at £3O and a number of gramophone records. One of the measures of the extent of distress in the country is provided by the social services of the Salvation Army, and at present these are all creating fresh records of, activity. In its relief work the Army is now providing about 30,000 meals a week and finding sleeping accommodation for thousands weekly. At the moment it has 500 children under its care in its various homes throughout New Zealand. > Daffodils and many similar flowers are growing profusely i/i Auckland this year. Not only are the windows of florists' shops attractive with these emblems of spring, but the barrows of street fruit vendors aro frequently to be seen bearing a quota of yellow blossoms. One city florist stated yesterday that every day a large number of growers called at her premises seeking to self their flowers, but so profuse was the growth this year tlia most of them had. to leave without doing business. An alteration has been made in the itinerary of the Burns-Philp steamer Morinda, which is engaged in the new service from Sydney to Norfolk Island and Auckland. On her first trip the vessel returned from Auckland to Sydney, via Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island, arid afterwards she made a trip to New Hebrides and New Caledonia. In future she will proceed from Auckland to Norfolk Island and then to the New Hebrides and New Caledonia, from where she will return to Sydney, via Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. -Under the new. schedule she will leave Sydney on September 5 and reach Auckland on September 14. After calling at the various islands she will return to Sydney on October 2. The musical festival presented in the Town Hall last Wednesday by the combined choir 3 of Auckland secondary and primary schools is expected to result iu a net profit of about £BO. It is proposed that this money should be divided among the schools concerned for the purpose of purchasing music. Favourable weather has prevailed during the lambing season at Ruaknra. About two-thirds of the ewes have lambed in the last fortnight and there is a high percentage o| twins, although the number of lambs born is not as high as it was last year. The sheep are in excellent condition. v A train ran into a mob of sheep on the railway line opposite Mr. D. McL. Wallace' 3 foundry, Te Aroha, at about 5 p.m. on Thursday and several of the animals were killed. The heavy timber of the cattle stop was broken by the impact. A giant boar, measuring eight feet from snout to top of tail, and weighing 4001b., has been killed by an opossum trapper in the Tararuas, Mr. C. E. Blake, of West Taratahi. The monster was well known to hunters, and had killed a number of good dogs. " Your functions are very much higher than mine," said Mr. Justice Blair, when addressing a common jury in New Plymouth this week. As far as he was concerned as Judge, he said, his duties were merely to help them as far as he" could by focussing their attention on the facts and directing them on points of law. They were the sole judges of the facts. " And," he added, "if you go wrong, I know of no Court in the country that can undo the wrong. But if I go wrong there are several courts that can put me right. So from that point of view your duties are higher than mine." " People are apt to forget that there is a great art in listening," said Mr. W. 11. Dixon, judge of the vocal section at the Wellington Competitions. " Musical art is not like water that trickles forth. People must set their minds, as it were, to listen for a specific atmosphere, and specific points for listening requires considerable intelligence." Mr. Dixon added that the true appreciation of singing was in discovering how a singer told his story and created his atmosphere. It might be considered part of the function of the competitions for a judge occasionally to point, the way to the audience in the art of listeuing intelligently. It' was stated by a Wellington business man this week that there had been a steady increase in the influx of Australian copper coins. Inquiries among firms using a fair amount of coppers in the payment of wages showed that there bad been an increase from 18 per cent, to 30 per cent, of Australian copper coins in the quantity supplied by the banks for . the payment of wages. The usefulness of the Canterbury Automobile Association's road patrol may be gauged from the fact that 28,629 miles were covered during the past year and 171 cars were assisted. New members gained by the patrol totalled 387 and the subscriptions amounted to £798 15s 6d. The expenses of the patrol have been £827 4s 2d. In the visitors' book at the hostel at Arthur's Pass appears the name "G. W. Forbes, Hurunui." With evident bitterness some later visitor has added the words in the remarks column "less 10 per cent." A suggestion that gardening work I should bo provided for the men engaged under No. 5 scheme has been considered by the Gisborne Borough Council. The proposal came from the local unemployment committee, which recommended as a means of employing men on work which would be a direct benefit to themselves, the formation of a vegetable garden, to be worked under No. 5 scheme. It was suggested that a reserve could be utilised for that purpose. The vegetables thus grown could be distributed through the relief depot in the usual manner. The council unanimously approved the proposal. . -