LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22608, 22 December 1936, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Holiday Season The Herald will not be published on Friday, Christmas Day. The special Christmas supplement will be published on Thursday. For the convenience of advertisers, the Queen Street office will be open on Christmas Day from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. There will be no publication of the Herald on Friday, .January 1. Orient Liner Orford Engaged on one of the popular summer cruises from Australia to the Dominion the large Orient liner Orford will arrive at Auckland from Brisbane to-morrow evening. She will sail in continuation of her voyage to Wellington and Australia at midnight on Christmas Kve. Rotorua Locomotives A change has been made by the Pailwav Department in the type of locomotives used to draw trains on the Auckland-Rotorua line. In place of the familiar "A. 13." type the more powerful "K" locomotives are now running on the line. The alteration has been due to the need for heavier trains to pull the loads using the route. Air Mail Arriving Air mail despatched from London on December 7 will arrive at Auckland from Sydney by the Maunganui this morning. Another consignment of air mail, which left London on the same date, is also due at Auckland by train this morning. It was brought from Sydney to Wellington by the Awatea, which reached there yesterday morning. Sloop Leith Returning After recommissioning at Wellington, the Imperial sloop Leith, commanded by Commander L. C. P. Tudway, will arrive at Auckland early this morning. 'The vessel left Auckland on December 11. and her former officers and ratings left Wellington for London by the Rangitata last week. The Leith's new complement arrived at Wellington from London by the Rangitane last week. The Longest Day To-day the sun reaches the most southern part of its apparent path and accordingly there is more daylight than on any other day of the year, although there is little appreciable difference for a week or so on either side of the solstice. Although the meteorological season probably began some fortnight ago, the occurrence of the solstice marks the commencement of the calendar season of summer. Cargo ol Motor-cars With about 400 motor-cars stowed below decks and a further 138 on deck the rederal Line steamer Huntingdon arrived at Auckland from Liverpool and West Coast ports of Great Britain on Sunday night. She berthed at Queen's Wharf yesterday morning. Although many of the vehicles were unloaded and taken off the wharf yesterday, there were several huge stacks of the cars in the cases on the wharf last evening. .

City Balance-sheet Certified The fact that the balance-sheet and statement of accounts for the year ended March 31 had boon certified by the Controller and Auditor-General was reported to a special meeting of the Auckland City Council yesterday. The documents were submitted and adopted and on the motion of the Mayor, Mr. Ernest Davis, a resolution was carried congratulating the city treasurer, Mr. Andrew Messer, 011 having the balancesheet returned without any tags.

Daylight Limited Again Late The daylight limited express from Wellington was again half an hour late last night. Scheduled to reach Auckland at 11 o'clock, the express arrived at 11.30. Special trams were waiting to convey passengers to outlying suburbs. Although the express carried only 14 first-class passengers and 70 second-class passengers when it reached Auckland, it was well patronised, a large proportion of the travellers leaving the train at Frankton and other stations further South.

Colonial Service Openings Although there are not many New Zealanders in the British Colonial Service, those who are in it seem to be doing remarkably well and are giving general satisfaction, said Mr. C. Y. S. Sewell, a New Zealander who is stationed iit Singapore as a member of the service, when he arrived at Auckland yesterday by the Niagara from Vancouver. Mr. Sewell came to New Zealand nine years ago on a recruiting visit for the service and was responsible for eight New Zealanders joining it. He is on a private visit this time, but he said that there are still openings in the service for good men.

Award for Bravery The Royal Humane Society's certificate was presented to Sydney Bowker, aged 13 years, at the Onehunga Borough Council's meeting last night. The Mayor, Mr. J. Park, in presenting the certificate, stated that on the occasion of the annual picnic of the Royal Oak school at Titirangi Beach in December, 1935, another lad, Bruce Guildford, aged 10 years, was in danger of drowning when Bowker, who is a good swimmer, dived from a high bank into a deep hole and brought the drowning boy ashore. Mr. Park regretted that the presentation was not being made at a larger gathering of the public. Work for 1458 Men

Nearly 1500 men have been found employment by the Placement Office in Auckland during the past two months. On November 1 after the Placement Office had been reorganised and established in suitable quarters the staff was placed on its mettle by the announcement that an endeavour was to be made to find openings for 1000 men before Christmas. This result lias been more than achieved, as up to yesterday the records showed that a total of 1458 men had been placed. This achievement compares favourably with the activities of the office for the six months up to November 1, during which period 1200 men were found new positions. Christmas Pensions Officials whose duty it is to pay out old-age and other pensions spent a very busy day yesterday in dealing with all classes of pensioners living in the city and suburbs. The payment had been sot forward two days to avoid a clash with the Christmas holidays and to give recipients more time in which tr buy the small luxuries that belong to the festive season. That the concession was appreciated was clear from the laige numbers of pensioners who took advantage of it, including many who had made successful claims under the recent amending legislation. It is expected that practically all of the remaining payments will be made in the three days before the holidays.