LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20979, 16 September 1931, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

"Probably no Mayor of Auckland has succeeded to office during a period so difficult," said Dr. J. Liston, Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, when acknowledging the presence of the Mayor, Mr. G. W. Hutchison, at a reception tendered last evening to two southern bishops. "I would like to say that we Catholic people feel it a duty and a privilege to offer the Mayor whatever holp we can in the performance of his onerous task," added Bishop Liston, amid applause. Touching later on the same theme, Dr. M. Brodie, Bishop of Christchurch, 6aid the time had come when election to the position of Mayor of a city was due nob so much to ambition as to a spirit of service and self-sacrifice. A slight improvement in the condition of John Stanley Denton, aged 19, of 380, Queen Street, Onehunga, who was admitted to the Auckland Hospital on Monday afternoon suffering from severe head injuries, was reported last evening. Mr. Denton, who was injured as a result of a collision between his motor-cycle and a motor-car, was admitted to the hospital in an unconscious condition, and had not fully regained consciousness last evening. The marketing of the new season's early potatoes has commenced in the Pukekohe district. A grower on Bombay Hill, about six miles from Pukekohe, has already dug about an acre, which, considering the severe spring this year, has given a very satisfactory yield. Growth has been slower than usual owing to the colder weather, but within the next few weeks good supplies are expected to be available for distribution throughout the Dominion.

"Reference has been made to the economic and thrifty habits of the people of Dunedin," said Dr. J. Whyte, Roman Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, in replying to a welcome extended to him at the Town Ilall last evening. "I would liko to say in reply that the parish priest at Queenstown, one of our scenic resorts, is accustomed to say that he can always tell how many tourists are in his church by the number of threepenny bits in the plate. We of the South always contend you have a good deal of our money up hero. However, whether Auckland is indebted to Dunedin, or whether Dunedin is indebted to Auckland, I think we might agree that all debts have been cancelled, as far as we are concerned, by the fact that we have given you as your bishop Dr. Liston." (Applause.) A thief entered the house of Mr. D. Hay, of Grey Street, Hamilton, on Monday night and stole a watch, wallet and keys from Mr. Hay's clothing. There was not much money in the wallet. "There is need for economy and I do not think it is right, to bring a Minister of the Crown all the way from Wellington to open a bit of a bridge," said Mr. F. -M. Waters, chairman of the Manukau County Council, at a meeting of that body yesterday. A letter had been received from the Kaiaua Progressive League suggesting that a joint arrangement be made for a member of the Cabinet to officially open the new Whakatiwai Bridge, and the coast road from Clevedon to Kaiaua. "I do not believe in these functions," added Mr. Waters. "They are absolutely overdone, and there is quite enough to do without spending money in that way," It was decided to advise the Kaiaua Progressive League that, although the council was not favourable to an elaborate opening ceremony it would give every assistance in expediting the completion of the work.

The cessation of hunting, unle. c s it receives greater support, was foreshadowed by tho master of the Pakuranga Hunt Club, Mr. H. Bullock-Webster, when speaking at a social gathering at Puhinui, I'apatoetoe, yesterday, to mark the close of the hunting season. "We have always endeavoured to carry out our hunting in the best English traditions," Mr. BullockWebster said. "We now have one of the best packs we have ever had, but this must bo reduced unless we receive more support. Never in the history of the club have we had so much land offered to us ijy farmers, these offers extending nearly 30 miles out. It will be a great pity if this hunt, the oldest in New Zealand, should go down through lack of support."

Advice has been received in Auckland that the New Zealand champion cindertrack rider, A. Mattson, will arrive from England by the New Zealand Shipping Company's motor-liner Rangitiki on October 1. Ho is bringing with him two of the very latest cinder-track machines, and the experience he has gained during the past season in England should stand him in good stead when racing recommences at the Western Springs speedway late this year. The secret of age is as closely preserved among bishops as among women, if a remark made at a Roman Catholic function at the Town Hall last evening was intended to be serious. Dr. M. Brodio, Roman Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, in referring to his former associations with the Auckland diocese, commented on the progress made since he had left for the South some years ago to become Bishop of Christchurch. "We bishops may never speak of our ages," added Dr. Brodie, as if to explain why he had not mentioned the length of his aboence from Auckland. "To say one has been a bishop for 15 or 16 years does not count at all, for our venerable Metropolitan, Archbishop Redwood, has been a bishop for 55 years. Ho is now 93 years of age, and he is still going strong."

"If a man is unlawfully in your house he may be prosecuted on that account without evidence of any other offence. The same thing should apply with cars," said Mr. F. W. Johnston at a meeting of the executive of the South Island Motor Union in Christchurch the other evening. "We want to catch car thieves before they get away with the vehicles. A man might see a constable and get out of the front seat and into the back. One man caught in a car said he was there to steal apples. There were no apples in the car, so the police could not charge him with stealing something that was not there. The mere act of being in a car without right should be an offence." It was decided to submit the matter for discussion at the annual meeting.

A Christchurch business man who has many calls made upon him for assistance by men out of work, and who has been accustomed to give money to many of the applicants, varied his procedure recently by deciding to give meal tickets. By this means he anticipated that there would be a decrease in the number of applicants, but it did not have the expected effect, and he estimates that on an average it has been costing him about five shillings a day to meet the demand for meal tickets.