LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21763, 31 March 1934, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Cheap Over-ripe Bananas Low prices ruled at tho City Markets on Thursday for a shipment of 3000 cases of Tongan bananas, which arrived by tho Wairuna. They were in over-ripe condition and it was necessary to clear supplies before tho holidays. Sales were made at half tho usual rates and there was a high percentage of waste. Milk Vending Licences Tho question whether temporary licences to sell milk should bo granted by the newly-constitutod Auckland Metropolitan Milk Council to all persons who havo applied to be licensed, was considered by tho council on Thursday. It was resolved to issue licences for a period of three months to all applicants, who were stated to number about 400. Vehicular Ferries Busy Accommodation on vehicular ferries was severely taxed yesterday and during the peak periods the boats provided were insufficient to cope with all tho motor-cars awaiting transportation across tho harbour. The heavy traffic was due to tho exodus of campers travelling north and picnickers visiting the east coast bays. Tho schedule maintained by the ferries was the same as that on Sundays.

•Large Petrol Supplies Arriving Three oil tankers with bulk petrol for New Zealand are expected at Auckland early next week. The Svokler is due about Monday from Philadelphia with bulk petrol for the Associated Motorists' Petrol Company, and the following day the tanker Lachlan is expected from Palembang with bulk petrol for the Atlantic Union Oil Company, and tho Thordis from Singapore with bulk petrol for the Shell Company. The three vessels will unload at Auckland and Southern ports.

Taranaki's Anniversary The 93rd anniversary of the founding of Taranaki falls to-day. The pioneer settlers, numbering 148, arrived off Moturoa, New Plymouth, from Plymouth, on the William Bryan at 8 p.m. on March 30, 1841, after a passage of 131 days. On the following morning the landing of the passengers was commenced, tho last of the immigrants being placed ashore on April 1. The William Bryan was preceded by the barque Brougham, which landed the surveyors and staff at Moturoa on February 12, 1841. Easter Weddings Confetti on the floor of the corridor leading to the Registrar's office in High Street bore evidence on Thursday of the Easter wedding rush. Nine marriages were celebrated there in the course of the day, which offered the last chance before the office closed. Marriages, however, may bo performed in the interim by ministers of religion, whom public holidays do not bind. This Easter should show an increase in weddings, for the number of marriage licences issued in March totals 228. compared with 209 in the same month last year. Auckland Factories The posting of annual registration notices reveals the fact that there are nearly 2200 factories in the Northern industrial district. However, the total loses some of its significance in the light of the interpretation of a factory as "any building, office or place in which two or more persons are employed, directly or indirectly, in anv handicraft, or in preparing or manufacturing goods for trade or sale. Thus, for instance, cake kitchens and Chinese laundries are regarded as factories, provided they are not "one-man" businesses.

Services to Rugby " Exactly 21 years ago I was first elected as a member of the executive of the New Zealand Rugby Referees' Association, and since 1915, when I was elected president, I have presided over the annual conferences of the association," said Mr. D. McKenzie, of Wellington, who presided at the annual conference of the New Zealand Rugby Referees' Association yesterday. " During those 21 years I have met men in different parts of New Zealand who have done valiant work in advancing the refereeing side of the Rugby game in the Dominion, and as a result have made a host of friends."

Daylight Saving at Easter Apart from the favourable weather so far enjoyed for the Easter vacation the holiday is notable because it is the first Easter during which the benefit of daylight saving is being enjoyed. Summer time, which would have ended cn March 17 under the old legislation, will continue until April 29, when clocks will be put back half-an-hour. The Summer Time Amendment Act, passed in December, will result in an additional six weeks this season and in future years the gain will be even more, owing to the earlier commencement of the period. Instead of clocks being advanced half-an-hour on the second Sunday in October, they will in future be advanced on the last Sunday in September.

Mount Hobson Tunnelling An excellent piece of tunnelling, worthy of the best skill of the goldfields, is being carried out near the summit of Mount Hobson. It is necessary for the valves on tbe service pipes from the new reservoir now being built on the mountain to be kept below the level of the floor of the reservoir and, in order that they may be easily reached, they are to be placed in this tunnel. A feature of this work is the strong timbering necessary to support tlio loosely-knit scoria deposit at this point and pinus insignus poles and slabs aro being used throughout. The tunnel has a height of nine feet, but the concrete lining to bo inserted will have an inside width of seven feet and a height of seven feet. As the work proceeds the space between the concrete lining and the top of the tunnel will be packed with spoil. An Old Newspaper

A copy of tho Gloucester Journal of February 10, 1746, published by Mr. R. Raikes, father of Mr. Robert Raikes, pioneor of tho Sunday school movement, was on view at the last meeting of the Auckland Sunday School Union. The paper is still being published and is one of the oldest county papers in England. The copy now in the possession of the union is somewhat mutilated, but the whole of the two-page issue con be read quite distinctly. Among the strange and interesting paragraphs is an item concerning a sea-creature which can vie with the modern Loch Ness monster. The paragraph states: "We hear from the north that some days ago a sea-creature, known by the name of mermaid, which has the shape of a human body from the trunk but below is wholly fish was carried some miles up tho water of Devron."