LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21297, 26 September 1932, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki's Dry Spell s The lack of rain has been causing serious inconvenienco in central Taranaki. In some cases in farm houses with hot water circulator systems attached to the ranges the occupiers have been unable to light fires in the ranges owing to the tanks that feed the circulators being dry. Children in Earthquake An offer to accommodate up to 25 children from the Wairoa earthquake zone at its health camp at Motuihi has been made by the Community Sunshine Association, which did excellent work of a similar kind last year by taking care of many Hawke's Bay children for some eight months. It is not known at present whether the responsible authorities at Wairoa intend to take advantage of the proposal.

Maoris and Shearing Concern at the failure of Conciliation Council proceedings regarding the employment of shearers and shed workers was expressed at a meeting of Maoris in Wellington, 'last week. A motion was carried expressing tho opinion that independent bargaining would cause endless discontent and would prove detrimental to both employers and employees. It was decided to request the Prime Minister to endeavour to bring the parties together. Amended Railway Time-Tables

Alterations to the time-tables on the Auckland - Whangarei - Opua, Auckland-Papakura-Onehunga and Frankton-Cam-bridge-Paeroa railway services will come into force to-day. The chief amendment to tho northern service is the commencement of a daily express train service between Auckland and Opua, while new time-tables will come into operation on the Kaikoho and Kirikopuni branch lines. Minor alterations in the Auckland-Papa-kura-Onehunga service relate principally to times of departure, as is also the case with the changes made in the Frankton-Cambridge-Paeroa service.

Warning to Cyclists Mainly as a warning to others, a cyclist was prosecuted in the Magistrate's Court in Wellington the other day for exceeding the speed limit over an intersection. Counsel for the City Council said that the cafe was intended to bo a general indication to push-cyclists that they must consider their speed as much as users of other vehicles. There had been a tendency lately for cyclists to rush along streets without regard for tho possiblo danger, both to themselves and others. The defendant had been travelling at about 27 miles an hour across an intersection, and had taken several chains to pull up. The information was withdrawn on payment of costs.

Heavy Traffic Limit The maximum permissible weight limit of eight tens for motor vehicles operating on the Great South Road within the One Tree Hill, Mount Wellington, Otahuhu, Papatoetoe and Manurewa districts has been increased to 10 tons, according to notices in the Gazette. Mr. A. Leese, town clerk of One Tree Hill, explained that originally tho weight limit for heavy motor vehicles on the concrete portion of the Groat South Road was 10 tons, but this was later reduced to eight tons by the Minister of Transport. More recently local bodies concerned had been approached for. their consent to the limit reverting to 10 tons.

Penguin Invasion Penguins have come ashore on the reefs at Kaikoura in hundreds during the'past week. Fishermen state that the numbers of birds are unprecedented in their experience. One fisherman, a former resident of Stewart Island, states that th 0 penguins at this time of the year are migrating south for the nesting season. Examination of captive specimens discloses that th 0 feathers aro coated with an oily substance, apparently through coming into contact with the discharge of oil-burning vessels on the coast. The birds have apparently come ashore to clean their plumage, but, if so, jhey have not been successful in their object, as they show physical weakness, and deaths ashore* are frequent, presumably from exhaustion.

" Very Good Newspapers " A tribute to the standard of New Zealand journalism was paid by the Count de Baillet-Latour last week at th© dinner given in his honour by the sports bodies' of Christchurch. "In other countries, when I have been interviewed," he said, "I have rarely been able to recognise what I actually said in the words attributed to me by the interviewer. Usually it was not an inter vie w f at all; they just put in what they wanted me to say. But in New Zealand I have never found anything attributed to mo that I did not actually say, and if it appeared stupid in print it was my own fault." Tho count added that he had heard high praise of New Zealand sporting writers, who had a reputation for being absolutely fair, and from 'what he had seen ho believed that was so. A Story of Sovoreigns

A civil servant in Dunedin had had five sovereigns in gold wrapped in paper in a drawer in his office for some weeks past. Recently, says the Otago Daily Times, he decided to turn them to account, receiving 26s for each of them. Some months ago, he said, he had two sovereigns and one half-sovereign which he kept in a small ornament on his dressing table at home. His wife had one sovereign which she kept in her purse. One day they went to a trotting meeting and bis wife, seeing that a horse named Gold Sovereign was running, decided to inako a plunge instead of investing tho usual modest halfcrown. The horso won and paid a handsome dividend. On returning home they found the house had been entered and the rooms ransacked. The ornament containing the gold coins had not been overlooked. .Tt was empty.

Newspaper Anniversary Tli© Hawke's Bay Herald, the oldest journal in Hawke's Bay, reached its 75th birthday last Saturday. There are only two older newspapers in New Zealand, they being the Christchurch Times (formerly the Lyttelton Times) and the Tarunaki Herald. The Hawke's Bay Herald has experienced more than the average share of newspaper vicissitudes. It has twice seen tlio whole of its premises and machinery destroyed by fire, the first time being on December 18, 1886, and the second occasion on February 3, 1931, when the earthquake and firo destroyed everything. In 1886 some of the plant and stock of paper was saved and the paper came out as usual on the Monday morning after tlio fire, not having missed an issue. On February 3, 1931, however, not a scrap of metal or sheet of paper was saved, and it was several days before, with the help of the Hawke's Bay Tribune, the journal was able to make its reappearance*