LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20968, 3 September 1931, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Only 34 passengers are on board the Matson Line steamer Sierra, which will arrive at Auckland from San Francisco and Los Angeles, via Honolulu, Pago Pago and Suva, at 7 a.m. to-morrow. Throe of the passengers are for New Zealand and 31 for Sydney. Besides passengers Iho vessel has 316 tons of cargo and 1529 bags of mail for New Zealand.

The epidemic of gastric influenza in Auckland shows no sign of abating. The staffs of very few business bouses in the city have escaped, and as soon as one member returns to duty another goes down almost immediately. In some cases, the total of the absentees is an unusually large portion of the staff.

The final term at the Auckland University College will commence next Monday, and continue until the opening of term examinations on October 12. Tho degree examinations will bogin early in November. Classes have been suspended for the short vacation since August 15.

Appreciation of the work being done by the Auckland Automobile Association in instructing school children in "safety first" principles was expressed at a meeting of tho Auckland Education Board yesterday. A request by the association for authority to distribute blotters in schools was granted. It was stated that the blotters would be printed with six rules as a guidance for avoiding traffic dangers.

"It should be possible to half-sole and heel 50 pairs of boots at a cost of £5, or 2s a pair," said Mr. G. Falla, when reporting to last evening's meeting of the Devonport Borough Council on a plan for undertaking the repairs of the footwear of unemployed men in the borough. The sum of £5 is a grant from tho Devonport Welfare League to be administered by representatives of the council. "It is proposed to make a charge of Is 6d a pair at first," added Mr. Falla. Steps will be taken to prevent abuse being made of the scheme, which it is hoped will be in operation by the beginning of next week.

The Newmarket Borough Council was advised last evening by the Railway Department that repairs to the bridge in Manukau Road, on the city side of Broadway, would be effected and the cost charged to the council. The town clerk, Mr. H. Wilson, said the department had previbusly given an understanding to advise tho council in time for provision to be made on its estimates for such work. The last time tho bridge was repaired the council had to pay £l3O. It was decided to draw the department's attention to tho understanding.

School teachers will in future be required to procure their own work books and scheme books for use in preparing work, according to advice received from the Education Department by the Auckland Education Board yesterday. The department stated that it had been decided to discontinue the free supply of books to teachers and that, until the present stock was exhausted, a charge of Is and Is 3d respectively would be made for the books.

A consignment of 30,000 rainbow trout roe, ordered by Mr. C. L. Moor, of Natal, South Africa, left New Zealand on the Monowai on Saturday en route to Durban. This is the first consignment to be exported to South Africa from New Zealand. Should it prove satisfactory further consignments will be sent ' by hatcheries in South Africa.

Daffodil Day will be celebrated to-i morrow, when a collection 'will be held in the city and suburbs by the Victoria and Navy Leagues, assisted by tho Boy Scouts and other organisations. A contribution from the proceeds will be given to the Social Workers' Association. Flowers of all kinds afid seedlings are eagerly sought by the organisers.

Owing to the inconvenience caused, the Auckland Education Board has frequently sought an assurance that school buildings will not be used as polling-booths in districts where there are halls or other suitablo buildings available for the purposo. At a meeting of the board yesterday a letter was received from the Education Department stating that the chief electoral officer had been asked that the board's request should be granted.

Tho Runciman-Patumahoe Road is again open for traffic, repairs having been effected at Montgomerie's Bridge, where a wash-out took place on August 17, making the bridge unsafe and necessitating the closing of tho road. The repair work has been carried out by the Franklin County Council.

"Surprise has sometimes been expressed in Auckland at magistrates making so few ordors under jjidgment summonsed, but I am surprised that magistrates make any orders at all," said Mr. Julius Hogbcn, in addressing the Auckland Creditmcn's Club yesterday on tho law relating to the recovery of debts. "In 99 cases out of 100 I venture to say no order should bo made if the law were strictly applied. Unless a creditor can show that the debtor has a surplus, after maintaining his family, out of which the debt could have been paid, tho creditor is not really entitled to nn order. A judgment summons is a remedy which is really not effective until a considerable time has elapsed after judgment has been obtained."

The belief that tho preparation required for a speech varied inversely with its length was expressed by Mr. W. J. •Holdsworth, president of the ' Auckland Crcditmen's Club, in introducing Mr. Julius Hogben, who had agreed at short notice to address tho club at yesterday's luncheon. "I believe that a five minutes' speech requiros about a week's preparation," said Mr. Holdsworth. "For a half-hour address, two or three days would probably suffico. But for a speech without time limit, no preparation at all should be necessary."

Inside a box in tho back of a car parked in the heart of tho city of Christchurch the other day were four motherless lambs. The owner, a well-known Canterbury farmer, was visiting the city on business and the lambs had to make the trip because there was nobody left on tho farm to care for them. The animals were fed qn milk on the journey.

Five petitions in bankruptcy were filed in the Wellington district last month, as against six for August, 1930. For the eight 'months of the present year, 58 petitions have been filed, as against 44 for the corresponding period in 1930.