LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22392, 13 April 1936, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Holiday Libations There was an unusual number of arrests for drunkenness in the city during the week-end. No fewer than 12 persons will appear in the Police Court on drunkenness charges this morning.

Many Visitors in Rotorua There has been a largo influx of visitors to Rotorua for the holidays. Hotels have been severely taxed and late arrivals have gone as far as To Puke and Whakatane for accommodation.

Precarious Art Living "Art in New Zealand at present is in a very bad state," said an artist who appeared in tho Magistrate's Court, Wellington, on Thursday, on a maintenance summons. "The living is always precarious," he added, "but just now it is worse than for some years. It is almost impossible to obtain contracts for interior decoration."

Aloe in Bloom An aloe in bloom is an interesting sight in a garden at Port Chalmers. Th ; s class of aloo is of shrub form until it is 50 years old, when it blooms for the first time* and then dies. The owner's grandfather, the late Captain Watson, planted the aloe 50 years ago. This summer it sent up a shoot to a height of about 30ft., and tho shoot is now in bloom.

Four Suflerers Irom Concussion Four cases of concussion were admitted by the Auckland Hospital within 10 minutes just before nine o'clock on Saturday night. Two of the victims were a brother and sister injured in a collision, a young man was injured in another collision, while the fourth was a youth who apparently went to sleep while riding on a truck and fell out on the Great South Road at Papakura. Grass Fire at Onetangi

A grass fire which swept an area overlooking tho beach at Onetangi, Waiheke Island, on Friday, threatened to spread to a week-end cottago owned by Mr. J. McNeil. A band of residents had considerable difficulty in quelling tho outbreak and saving the house, as there was a strong north-easterly wind blowing. Fenceposts ten or eleven feet from the cottage were charred, but the building was undamaged.

Jupiter and Moon A clear sky last night enabled a splendid view to be obtained in Auckland of the close conjunction between the planet Jupiter and the moon. Actual conjunction occurred about 11.30 p.m. on Sunday, when Jupiter was situated less than a degree, or slightly more than the moon's apparent diameter, from the edge of the lunar disc, the planet lying to the north of the moon. Shark Caught in Oakley Creek

Fishing from a 16ft punt in Oakley Creek at about midnight on Saturday, an Avondale resident, Mr. A. H. Sorensen, hooked a nine-foot shark. Putting up a fairly strenuous fight for half an hour, the fish broke away, but was caught again within five minutes. However, it was not for another half-hour that Mr. Sorensen was able to land it in the dinghy. He had been fishing for schnapper and was using an ordinary hea\;y schnapper line. State Pensioners

Recent figures made public by the Minister of Pensions, the Hon. W. E. Parry, eliow increases in the numbers of persons receiving old-age, miners' and blind pensions, but a decrease in the recipients of widows' pensions. The following are the totals at the beginning of the present year, those at March 31, 1935, being given in parentheses:—Oldage, 41,800 (40,141); widows, 4405 (4505); miners, 794 (78$); blind, 498 (474). Maori War pensioners decreased from 65 to 51. Corsair Club's Excursion People from Invercargill, Dunedin, Christchurch, and the West Coast of the South Island wero among the 306 who took part in the week-end excursion to Auckland, organised by the Christchurch Corsair Club. Between 60 and 70 per cent of the visitors had taken part in the club's excursion to Rotorua last year. The veteran of the party was a man from Kaiapoi, aged 87 years, who has patronised the club's excursions to Dunedin, Queenstown and Rotorua. The club specialises in long excursions, and this week-end also arranged one to Dunedin, which was patronised by 600 people. Destruction of Pests Over 14,700 pairs of hawks' feet and 6036 stoats' and weasels' tails had been sent in at a cost to the society in bonuses of £368 and £l5O respectively, states the annual report of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. It was pointed out that it was an open question how many of these pests would be killed if no bonus was given by the society. Sportsmen and many farmers killed them on sight without thought of reward, while some vermin paid for undoubtedly came from beyond the society's border and it would be wise to consider the lifting of the bonus, added the report. Over the past five years £1440 had been spent for 26,187 stoat and weasel tails.

Dog Found on Mountain Members of a party that climbed Mount Egmont on Friday were surprised near the summit when they were joined by an obviously hungry and tired little dog that had previously been seen wandering rather aimlessly about on the high scoria slopes. Obviously determined not to be lost again, it kept close to the heels of the party on the return trip. At the hostel it was identified as Judy, the property of the Murphy family, of the Dawson Falls house, from which it had been missing for some time. Apparently it followed a party of climbers from the south side, but lost them near the summit —and then found that mountains can bo tricky for small dogs as well as for human beings.

Testing lor Bridge As a test of the nature of the ground formation and its suitability for a bridge foundatioi\, workmen are drilling to a depth of 50ft. in the centre of the bed of the Waiwakaiho River at Fitzroy, New Plymouth. The work is an intricate preliminary to the construction of a new bridge for the Railway Department. To avoid tho danger of flooding it has been necessary to erect the plant on the centre pier of the present wooden bridge at a sufficient height above tho river. The Railway Department is to bo supplied with a sample of tho formation at every foot so that it will have a complete section of the strata in tho boro and will be able to estimate with some accuracy the nature of the centre support" required for the bridge.