LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20978, 15 September 1931, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

A man was found to have stowed away >n the New Zealand Shipping Company's motor-liner llangitane after she had 'eft Auckland for London on Saturday morning. The fact was reported by wireless to the local agents of the company. There is no chance of the stowaway reaching England by the Rangitano because he will be transferred at sea to a New Zealand-bound vessel if possible. Failing that ho will be landed at Panama and sent back to the Dominion by the fust available vessel. Good progress continues to be made with the work of repairing the EllermanBucknall steamer City of Kimberlcy. The fitting of the new tail-shaft, stern lube and propoller has been completed in the dock. The vessel is to come out of dock at 7 a.m. to-day and berth at Central Wharf, where the remainder of the repairs will bo carried out and the engines will be connected up. The City of Kimbciley is expected to sail for Australia on September 24 to load for England. The new railway coaches for use on the Main Trunk lino were- put into use for the first time last evening, two being attached to the limited express and one to the second express. Similarly, the expresses which will arrive in Auckland from Wellington this morning will bring three of the new coaches with them. Painted an attractive red, the cars were the subject of much favourable comment, the cloth-covered seats promising more comfort than the old leather type. White cotton covers were tied to the head-rest of each seat. The opinion that the crime of arson is frequently committed in New Zealand, and that nine times out of ten the offender escapes punishment, was expressed by Mr. Justice Herdman in the Supreme Court yesterday. He thought peoplo were under the impression that it was not a serious matter to defraud an insurance company. As an indication that he himself took a quite different view regarding this class of offence His Honor passed sentence of five years' reformative detention on the man who had confessed to setting fire to flats at Ponsonby last month. The 15th anniversary of the entry of the New Zealand Division into the Somme offensive falls to-day. This was the first occasion on which the New Zealand troops fought as a division. In 23 days of desperate fighting, the division encountered and overcame the best and most seasoned troops in the German Army. A gavel, made of Texas wood, the gift of the Rotary Club of Dallas, Texas, has been received by the Auckland Rotary Club. In announcing the arrival of the gift at the weekly luncheon of the club, which was held in Milne and Choyce's Reception Hall yesterday, the president, Mr. H. T. Goldie, said a gavel had previously been sent in error from Dallas, on the assumption that Auckland Club was the senior Rotary Club in New Zealand. As this honour belonged to the Wellington Club by virtue of a few days' seniority, the gavel had been forwarded to that body, but the Dallas Club had regarded the two clubs as so deserving of the honour that another gavel had been sent for the Auckland Club. An Auckland amateur gardener found reason subsequently to regard with favour a heavy shower which put an end to his digging during the week-end. His incontinent retreat to shelter made it necessary to retrieve his spade after the rain had passed. It was then that he found that the sluicing of his patch had given tangible results in a half-sovereign which had been washed clear of soil after it had been buried for he knows'not how long. Yesterday he changed the gold for a note at a city bank, when relation of the occurrence prompted a bystander to remark that he might have carried his luck further and found a buyer who would have given at least another shilling for the half-sovereign. The rescue from drowning of Jack Bernasconi, aged 6, of 8, Bournemouth Avenue, who had fallen into a deep pond in Cribble-Hirst Park, Sandringhara, on Saturday afternoon, was effected only by the prompt action of four members of the Manukau third grade intermediate football team. On hearing cries of distress they immediately dived into the water without stopping to take off boots or clothing. After some difficulty, Mr. A. Hitchcock was fible to locate the boy and bring him to the surface. He appeared to bo lifeless and was bleeding from the nose. Private Moran, of the St. John Ambulance, who was on duty at the park, started resuscitation and after a quarter of an hour the boy opened his eyes. Subsequeutly he was taken to his home. He had fully recovered yesterday and was ablo to go to school. " Those who came into touch with Mr. Firth during the long years of his hcadniastei'ship of Wellington College have always known what a tremendous influence ho was in developing the gamo in Wellington," states the Wellington Cricket Association's annual report in paying tribute to the late Mr. J. P. Firth, C.M.G. "A great player himself, as some of his feats with bat and ball for Nelson and Wellington testify, he became naturally guide, philosopher and friend in the cricket field to the thousands of boys who passed through his hands. Probably there is not one of the many boys whoso performances in past school days became part of the cricket history of Wellington who would not gladly admit that the foundations of his success were laid during his school days under a great headmaster who had an unerring eye for merit, a never failing appreciation of honest endeavour, and that indefinable factor in his personality which induced every boy to give of his best." An example of the characteristic optimism of Australians was given by Mr. G. Lawn lecturer in Economics at Canterbury College, in an interview last week. Ho said that a Now Zealander recently met a friend in the Commonwealth and inquired how matters were with him. "The country's gone to the pack—come and have a drink," was the reply. Mr. Lawn said that Australians enjoyed a sunny climate, the call of the beaches, and an unfailing optimism in facing those conditions that the outsider would consider depressing. That was the sort of attitude that was going to solve the problem of the slump. Tho real values of life were still with us. We still had the sun, and as long as we had health, strength and food and shelter we would pull through. Those pessimists who clothed their outlook in gloomy prophecies instead i>f helping the folk who were in need were no good to the - nation.