LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20965, 31 August 1931, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The express departure platform at the Auckland railway station was thronged last evening, when the teams of schoolboys who have been engaged during the week in the schools' Association football tournament left for their homes in the South. In addition there was a large number of people travelling, the limited express for Wellington being a full train and the second express, which was larger than usual, comfortably filled.

The American auxiliary 3 r acht Northern Light, in which Mr. Zlatko Balokovic, the eminent Yugoslav violinist, and his party are making a tour of the world, left Auckland for Lyttelton shortly before midnight on Saturday. On arrival at Lyttelton in about a week the vessel will go into dry dock for overhaul. Later she will visit Dunedin and from there will proceed to England, via Australian ports, the Dutch East Indies, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

Cuts to the face were received by Mrs. A. 11. Green, of Great South Road, Penrose, when two light cars collided about 5 o'clock last evening at the corner of Market Road and Great South Road, Remuera. Mrs. Green was thrown against the windscreen and had to receive medical attention. Two other passengers received slight bruises. The vehicles were not damaged considerably. " .

Good progress is being made with the repairs to the disabled steamer City of Kimberley at Devonport. The vessel is being fitted with a new crankshaft and a second crankshaft is being replaced aftei' having been taken ashore and inspected. Next Saturday the vessel will go into dock to have a new propeller and stern tube installed.

Pheasants are plentiful in the vicinity of Hobson "Bay, and numbers have been seen on the roadways. One flew into a taxicab travelling along Shore Road on Saturday evening and was killed.

The widespread sympathy aroused by the appeal for the relief of the distress

of the victims of the Hawke's Bay earthquake is further emphasised by the receipt of a donation of £4 by the New

Zealand Herald, from Mrs. P. E. Hamlin, of Kirkwood, Cape Province, South Africa. Mrs. Hamlin formerly was a resident of Hawke's Bay. The donation is in English notes and when the exchange is taken into account is worth £4 6s.

Many motorists, particularly offending ones, are inclined to be sceptical about the capabilities of traffic inspectors to estimate the speed of cars. A defendant in the Magistrate's Court in Wellington last week was somewhat dubious about the method by which an inspector had gauged the speed of his car at 35 miles an hour. Counsel for the City Council remarked that the traffic inspectors employed by the council were all subjected to regular tests in estimating speeds. The inspector who was the witness added that he had estimated various speeds to within three miles an hour.

Early on a recent morning ii sunfish, estimated to weigh was discovered stranded on the New Brighton beach, says a Christchurch newspaper. This is the first sunfish that has been reported at the seaside for some time, and it is considered that the recent heavy seas have been responsible for its appearance.

Christchurch has introduced night tramping to New Zealand. A party of six set out from the tram terminus at Cashmere shortly after three o'clock on a recent Saturday afternoon with the object of walking to Port Levy before midnight. Their destination was reached a little behind schedule time, although the actual walking time for tho 32-mile journey was a few minutes over B>>- hours.

The deer committee of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society has decided to engage a party of three cullers to destroy up to 1000 head of deer at tho rato of 4s a tail. No further culling will bo necessary until July next year. Since deer forests came under the control of tho society the receipts to October 31 last had been £3384. Of this £I2OO was left after expenditure, and £6OO had been set aside for administrative purposes and £6OO for further culling.

A new record has been readied in the number of subscribers at tho Ilawera Public Library. There are now 600 names on tho books, and as each member represents a household there must bo more than a thousand people reading books from the library. Last year the highest number of subscribers was 573.

With the approach of the end of the spawning season, the Otago Acclimatisation Society's trout stripping operations are now almost concluded. The stripping season lias been a successful one, about 4,000,000 eggs having been secured from various streams and lakes in Otago. The hatchery at Waitati is dealing with a large proportion of the ova, many of which will be used to fulfil orders received from other societies. It is anticipated that about 1,500,000 young fish will be available later for distribution in Otago waters.

'•There is a great deal of work going begging in the coal mines on the West Coast," slated Mr. G. Maginness at a meeting of the Citizens' Unemployment Committee in Christchurch. "I would like to know how many miners from the West Coast are registered in Christchurch as unemployed. The Minister of Railways has been badgered in the House for importing Australian coal at a time when we have thousands of tons of coal buried in this country. A scheme might bo evolved by which men walking the Christchurch streets could be employed on the coalfields." It was agreed that the position should bo investigated by Mr. P. R. Climie, a member of the Unemployment Board, who was present at the meeting.

A protest against the slaughter of magpies in the Eyre County, Canterbury, has been entered by Mr. C. D. Blackmore, of Horrelville. He says: —"The council has for three seasons delivered to farmers a deadly form of poisoned grain for the destruction of small birds, with the result that the birds' natural enemies are fast disappearing. At one time in this locality it was a common sight to see 20 or 30 magpies about the paddocks, also wild cats about the riverbed and fences. Both are fast being killed off through devouring poisoned birds. The magpie frequents plantations, destroying nests and devouring the young, roaming the fields destroying young larks, mice, etc. At one time in this district, by means of traps, wo so diminished the small birds that we had a plague of caterpillars and were pleased to see the sparrows increase. Why not save the ratepayers' money, allow magpies, cats, etc., to keep the small birds in check, and the small birds to keep down insect pests?"