LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22481, 27 July 1936, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

White Island Active White Island appeared to be unusually active on Saturday afternoon, throwing up a huge column of vapour which presented a wonderful sight in the cloudless sky, states the Hkrald's Opotiki correspondent. It is many months since such a high column oi vapour has been seen above the island. Lifelines on River Bank As a safeguard against the possibility of drowning accidents in the Waikato River at Hamilton in future lifelines are to be placed at suitable intervals along the river bank. Boxes for the lifelines have been provided and the Hamilton Borough Council has decided to defray the cost of thfe lines. A boat was recently presented to the police for the same purpose. Excursion Train Popular Between 400 and 500 passengers travelled to Auckland by an excursion train from the north, which reached the city on Saturday morning, 12 carriages being necessary to accommodate them. Many of the excursionists attended the match between the touring English League football team and Auckland at Carlaw Park in the afternoon, and the train left again for Hikurangi at 11.20 on Saturday night. Good Winter Season

Gisborne farmers are experiencing one of the best winter seasons for many years. Stock are in excellent condition, with a minimum of sickness, a large crop of early lambs is expected, and dairy farmers aro preparing for an active season. These factors, together with improved market prices in prospect, it is hoped will make the coming production season the most prosperous farmers have had since the peak of 1929.

Fog in the City Patches of thick fog were encountered in the city and suburbs on Saturday morning, and again at night. There was also a fog over the harbour on Saturday morning, but shipping was not delayed and the liner Monterey arrived on time from Sydney. Motorists found tho patches of fog disconcerting,. particularly on Saturday night, when visibility was reduced to a few feet in low-lying areas. There was a lighter fog in parts of Auckland last night. Passenger Liners Prom Overseas There will not bo a passenger vessel arriving at Auckland from overseas this week, but next week there will be three. The Royal. Mail motor-liner Aorangi will arrive from Vancouver next Monday and the Marama will arrive from Sydney on Tuesday. The following Friday the Mariposa will arrive from Los Angeles. The only passenger vessels arriving at New Zealand from overseas this week will be tho liner Rangitata, due at Port Chalmers from London on Thursday, and the Wanganella, due at Wellington from Sydney on Friday. Fewer Football Accidents With players becoming harder and grounds becoming softer, fewer football accidents are being reported, and only two players were admitted to tho Auckland Hospital on Saturday. While playing in a seventh grade Rugby match for Parnell at Sturges Park, Otahuhu, James Haora, aged 12, of 20 Turner Street, City, had his left hip dislocated. In a third grade League match at the Domain, an Otahuhu player, Thomas Desmond Matthews, aged 18, of Harris Road, Ellerslic, suffered concussion. Both were taken to hospital in St. John ambulances. Bugbears of the Road "I think one of the biggest bugbears on the road is the child whoso feet will not reach the pedals of a bicycle, and yet is allowed by its parents to wrap itself round and under the bars, with one eye pointing here and the other there—it is impossible to tell whether they are going or coming," said Mr. R. P. Furness, president of the Marlborough Automobile Association, when discussing road safety at a meeting of motorists in Blenheim. Another delegate expressed tho opinion that, in future, pedestrians and cyclists who were run down by cars would be prosecuted for negligence. This, he said, was done in Paris, and he considered that punishment for being run over would soon cure people of carelessness.

Early Morning Milk When the Wellington municipal milk department some years ago decided to institute an afternoon and evening delivery of milk in place of a pre-break-fast delivery, there was a loiul outcry against the innovation,, both from the public and the roundsmen. Brit the circumstances governing the receipt of the milk and its treatment at the station were such that an evening delivery was the most convenient. With the pending introduction, however, of the 40-hour week, the conditions will change. With the shorter hours and working a six-day week, with an increase in the number of roundsmen, it will be convenient to revert to an early morning delivery. The rounds are now being rearranged, and six extra roundsmen are to bo employed.

Efflgy on Scaffolding A life-sized effigy hanging by the neck from scaffolding on a building at the corner of New North Road and Morrin Street, Mount Albert, startled many people when they first noticed it during the week-end. The figure, which was that of a man, was suspended by a rope about 20ft. from the ground. Dressed in a shirt, overalls, gumboots and a cap, the effigy caught the eye of many people proceeding toward the city along New North Koad. Motorists and pedestrians stopped momentarily before they realised that a joke had been perpetrated, and throughout both Saturday and yesterday there was scarcely a moment when someone was not examining the figure. "It gave us quite a fright when we first noticed it." n tram conductor said.

Workers and Millionaires "No one on 11 say of tho Minister of Labour in the New Zealand Government that lie aims too low," comments the New York Times in a recent issue. "The other day he was speaking down under in Wellington, New Zealand, on some labour question. In his remarks he declared that he would not bo satisfied 'until the workers of New Zealand are living up to tho standard of an American millionaire.' Obviously lie was not speaking about'moral standards. In that respect the New Zealand wage-earnet already occupies the superior position. No one anywhere nowadays has a high opinion of millionaires. But even by the test of material well-being, if the American millionaire keeps going down and the New Zealand worker keeps going up, it may yet be that some day tho twain shall meet."