LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21899, 7 September 1934, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL

_ Injury to Cyclist Through his overcoat becoming caught in the front wheel of his bicycle in Belgium Street last evening, Mr. Ernest Rich, aged 35, married, of 114 Nelson Street, City, was thrown to the ground, receiving head injuries. He was taken to the Auckland Hospital by a St. John ambulance, but his condition is not serious. Price of Banks Peninsula An old record, found in the borough office at Akaroa, shows that the whole of Banks Peninsula was bought from the Maoris in the early days for about £4OO. That par.t including the Port of Lyttelton cost £IOO. The figures were quoted at the showing of films dealing with tho port to members of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. The Power of Women "I have illimitable faith in the power of women, who do not know their capabilities," remarked Mrs. Kenneth Gordon in an address to the Auckland branch of the League of Nations Union yesterday. Women were apathetic and seemed to think that, to set the world aright, action had to be left to some mysterious "they." "It has been the same throughout history," said tho speaker. Building at Thames Building in tho Thames borough has not been nearly as brisk during tho period from April to September this year as it was for the corresponding five months of last year. The samo number of permits were issued for each period, but the total estimated expenditure this year is lower by over £9OO. For the present year no dwellings have been erected, whereas for the five months in 1933 six were built. Radio Beacons The need of providing radio beacons in the harbour was again stressed at a meeting of the council of tho Auckland Chamber of Commerce .yesterday. It was considered that the provision of radio beacons would encourage shipowners to have the necessary installations provided on their vessels. A communication from the Harbour Board had stated that fog signals at Tiritiri and Cuvier Islands were regarded as being of greater importance than a radio beacon, and their immediate installation was being urged upon the Minister of Marine, the Hon. J. G. Cobbe. Busy Day in Port The port will be unusually busy today, a large number of vessels being scheduled to arrive or depart. The Matson liner Mariposa is due this morning from Los Angeles and will sail again for Sydney in the afternoon, while other overseas ships sailing to-day are the Marama, for Sydney, via Wellington, the Opawa, for London, and the Rangitata and the Koyo Maru, for Lyttelton. In addition, the cruisers. H.M.S. Dunedin and H.M.S. Diomede will arrive from the gulf and berth at Queen's Wharf in the morning, while the Narbada. from Eastern ports, and the Melbourne Maru, from Japan, via Wellington, are due in the afternoon. Treatment o! Sewage The sewage chlorination plant which the Auckland and Suburban Drainage Board recently ordered for installation at the Orakei outfall has been tested and is now ready for use. The intention is to chlorinate the sewage only under the conditions known as "dry weather flow," which occur principally in the summer months. The board's sewers carry a considerable amount of storm-water, and in wet weather the sewage is so much diluted that no measures are considered necessary to prevent a nuisance occurring around the end of the outfall sewer during periods of discharge. With the same purpose finer screens were installed some time ago at the outfall works. The cost of the chlorination plant is in the vicinity of £9OO. i Motorists in Arrears It has been decided by the Automobile Association in Wellington to remove from the register all members in arrears with their subscriptions as at August 31, including those members who are unfinancial for the year 193334. The finance committee reported that at a recent meeting it had before it a list of 47 members who were unfinancial, the subscriptions due ranging from £1 5s to £3 15s, and it recommended that the whole of these be written off. The report added that the committee was of the opinion that the association should go further and purge the roll as at August 31. The recommendation was adopted. The chairman, Mr. E. A. Batt, said that probably it was the first time in the association's history that it was necessary to purge the roll. Miners' Pink Candles

Miners on the Ohinemuri goldfields use candles of a mild pink shade when working underground. This is a custom that has survived from the halcyon days of the field when thousands of men were employed by the major companies then operating. It was found that large quantities of the candles issued to the men were'being taken away from the workings, and to stop this practice arrangements were made with the manufacturers to colour subsequent supplies. It is recounted by present-day miners that this did not completely solve the problem, as within a short time of their introduction, pink candles appeared in many homes, where they were greatly admired, and tho position was further complicated by local storekeepers having pink candles on sale. However, pink candles are still being supplied by the Talisman Dubbo company to its men at Karangahake, the issue being six candles to each two men for an eight-hour shift. A Faith-cure A member of an Auckland local body has had it proved to him that faith can be just as effective as medicine. He was approached recently by a lady who asked permission to gather leaves from the native medicinal shrub known as kumara-hou, which, she said, grow in a certain public reserve. She mentioned several ailments from which she suffered and which she thought the native medicine would relieve. He readily gave the permission she asked. Not long after he met her in tho street and inquired whether the treatment had done her good. The lady was loud in her praises of kumara-hou, and said that she felt very much better in every way for taking it. Having doubted all along that the tihrub oxisted in tho reserve, ho asked her where it grew. She gave him an exact description of the spot, and, on visiting it, he found his doubts justified. The lady had plucked loaves from an ordinary earden shrub, of no known medicinal virtue and not even a native of New Zealand.