LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22909, 11 December 1937, Page 14

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Demand lor Accommodation Hotel accommodation tliroughoift the North Island will be taxed to the limit in tho coming holiday season, according to advice received by the Automobile Association (Auckland). The association expects that many latecomers on motor tours in various parts of the country will bo obliged to join the increasing army of campers. Tame Sparrows Afcahough residents of tho North Shore are familiar with the many tame sparrows which frequent the ferry boats wliilo at Devonport, visitors > to tho soasido suburbs are often surprised by the ready friendliness of the birds. Tho sparrows are invariably to be soon on all parts of the ferries during tho daytime, when they succeed in finding many small particles of welcome food. Extension Loud-speakers The owner of a radio set who provided extension speakers for people who occupied flats in his building, and had only one licence, appeared in the Magistrate's Court before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., yesterday. A Post and Telegraph Department official explained that in such cases a licence had to be obtained for each speaker. Fines ranging lip to 30s were imposed on owners of unlicenced sets, according to the degree to which they broke the laws. Overseas Publicity The need for a greater State appropriation for overseas publicity is urged by the New Zealand Tourist League in its latest bulletin, which is devoted to \ suggestions for improving the Dominj ion's tourist trade. The league adI vocates increasing the present ap- ! propriation of between £16,000 and £20,000 a year to at least £50,000, pointing out that some firms retailing tea and Other commodities in the Dominion spend as much as £15,000 a year on advertising? Level Crossing Elimination A feature of the landscape between New Lynn and Glen Eden at present is the long embankment which is being built to carry the railway over the highway at the Titirangi Road crossing, tho scene of several serious accidents. Farther up the notorious Scroggy Hill a deep cutting is being made and this will carry tho railway under the popular West Coast Road at Croydon Road. The St. Jude Street crossing at Avondale, however, still remains as a menace to traffic. Music at Station Visitors to tho Auckland railway station yesterday afternoon were treated to a programme of orchestral music relayed over tho new public address system. The positions for all the speakers have now been definitely fixed, and the system should bo completely installed by, next Wednesday. Yesterday's programme of music was broadcast over a temporary speaker, which was being used purely for testing purposes. The system will bo in use permanently from Thursday of next week. Australian Christmas Mails Tho most convenient despatch of mails from Auckland for Australian States before Christmas will close at seven o'clock oh Tuesday night for consignment by the Niagara, which is duo at Sydney next Saturday. However, two more mails are expected to reach Sydney from New Zealand close to Christinas. They are by the Strathaird, sailing from Wellington on December 20 and arriving on December 23, and by the Awatea, sailing from Auckland on December 21 and arriving on December 24. Tanker from Bahrein . The first direct ship to visit Auckland from the oil port of Bahrein; in the Persian Gulf, will be the Norwegian motor-tanker Attila, which will arrive this evening and berth at Western Wharf to-morrow morning. Tho Attila, which has' a cargo for Dominion ports, was built at Newcastle in 1930. She will be followed tomorrow evening by tho Norwegian tanker Aramis, from Singapore, via Wellington, which will complete discharge at Western Wharf. The preence in port of two tankers is an unusual occurence. Street Danger The danger of overfilling the petrol tank of a car was exemplified at Pukekohe yesterday. Parked at the head of a line of motor vehicles in the main street was a large car. The camber of the road tilted it slightly, with the tank cap on the lower level. From this petrol dripped at a rapid rate. A carelessly-thrown match from the pass-, ing stream of shoppers might have caused an explosion, for, as it spread over tho tarred surfaco of the road, made hot by the sun, the petrol was vaporising freely. A member of the fire brigade, who was called, moved the car to a level stand. South Pacific Flight A plaque commemorating the fact that the Pan American survey clipper made tho first survey flight from the United States to the South Pacific has been placed on the clipper by the San Francisco Junior Chamber of Commerce. From New Zealand's point of view, the plaque has an unfortunate error —it records the flight as having been made to "Australasia." A New Zealander who saw tho plaque when the clipper was recently at Hongkong had it suggested to him that "Australasia" may have been used intentionally for a political objective, but ho attributed the error to geographical ignorance. He suggests that it would be within the province of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce to make representations to tho San Francisco chamber so- that Auckland would bo given its proper mention on tho plaque. Test lor Motorists City pedestrian crossings were subjected last' night to their greatest test since they were inaugurated for the safety of road users. With larger crowds in Queen Street and other shopping centres than there have been sinco the beginning of the year, motorists passing along tho busiest streets had to drive with the utmost caution and at times so many persons were using the streets as a footpath or else were crossing to the other side wherever they pleased that the diagonal lines of the crossings were completely obliterated from the view of many motorists, and it was only their local knowledge that saved them from committing a breach of the traffic regulations. These difficulties, however, did not prevent the greater majority of motorists from pulling up promptly at each crossing, and what started as a very severe test of the drivers became a conclusive demonstration of the utility of .the crossings.