LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22985, 12 March 1938, Page 12

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Highways Board Visit Members of the Main Highways Board will meet deputations from local bodies and the Automobile Association (Auckland) this morning to discuss matters concerning roads in the vicinity of Auckland. Mr. A. J. Baker, deputy-chairman of the board, will preside. House-breaking at Parnell Smashing the lead light glass in the front door, thieves entered a house in Laurie Avenue, Parnell, between Thursday and 10 o'clock yesterday morning. The intruders were evidently disturbed, as no evidence was found of their having searched the promises and nothing of value was stolen. Special Trains to Rotorua Two special expresses will be run to Rotorua to-day to cater for tourists from the P. and 0. cruise ship Strathmore, which arrived at Auckland yesterday from Brisbane. The first train will leave at 7.40 a.m. and the second at 9 a.m. The tourists will return to Auckland at 10.7 p.m. Two hundred and forty and 120 seats respectively were booked last night. Faster Air Mails A day has been gained by a rearrangement of the Sydney-Singapore-London air-mail service. Mails now leave Sydney on Tuesdays and Fridays, instead of Wednesdays and Fridays, and arrive in London 12 days later. Under the best connection conditions the mail reaches London within 15 days of posting in the Dominion. The service operates twice weekly in each direction between Sydney and London. Road to Huia The rough condition of the road between Cornwalilis and Huia, which gives access to \Vhatipu at the Manukau Heads, has been the subject of criticism by motorists. The section near Huia is particularly poor, the surface having broken up to such an extent that drivers of the largest cars have to travel at a walking pace, while those in small models find difficulty in negotiating the road without damaging their cars. Young Teachers Visit Court Court procedure was observed by a party of 12 young men and women from the Auckland Teachers' Training College, who attended a sitting of the Police Court yesterday afternoon. After hearing part of the evidence and legal argument in a licensing case the party was taken into one of the adjoining rooms, where the procedure was analysed. The visitors were later taken on a tour of inspection through the Court building. School Site as a Park Good progress is being made by City Council workmen with the conversion of the old Parnell School site into a park. The steep banks are being sloped and will be sown with grass, which has already been put down over a considerable area. The remainder is being cleared of weeds and other growth and the asphalt of the playground is being removed. When the work is finished tho property will make an attractive reserve in a rather thickly-populated neighbourhood. Railway Embankment Fire Excitement was caused when dense smoke was seen rising from the railway embankment at the back of the Carlaw Park grandstand yesterday afternoon. Engines from the City and Parnell fire stations were quickly on the scene, the fire proving to be an outbreak among the gorse. Members of tho Carlaw Park staff had the flames well under control in the meantime, and the engines extinguished the blaze within a few minutes. The Takapuna and Western Districts brigades were also called to gorse fires yesterday. Temptation of Apples Amusement was provided in the Police Court yesterday by a case involving the theft of a bag of apples by three youths, who were said to be very repentant for their misdeed. Counsel pleaded that apples constituted a strong temptation to boys. The magistrate said such thefts were usually associated with picking apples from trees, and not carrying off sacks which did not belong to the offenders. When an order was made for the return of the property to the owner it was intimated that the apples were valueless, having become over-ripe in the meantime. Aid to Swimming Tuition As an aid to its campaign for teaching swimming throughout the Dominion, the council of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association decided at a meeting in Christchtireh to buy a motion picture projector and films. The projector and films will bo lent to centres affiliated to the association and to clubs and schools, at a small cost. The approximate cost of the projector, it was said, would be £SO; and the council decided to spend £.'3o on films. The manager of the New Zealand swimming team at the Empire Games, Mr. E. C. Isaacs, who is secretary of the Otago centre, said that the council's action was the most progressive it had ever made. Country Side Roads "1 am coming to the conviction that compulsory stop signs, instead of 'Major Road Ahead' signs, will have to be erected on side roads which carry little traffic and where the visibility is bad," said Mr. G. Laurenson, Commissioner of Transport, at a meeting of the executive of the South Island Motor Union in Christchurch. Mr. J. S. Hawkes contended that the "Major Road Ahead" signs had no legal significance and would lull tourists from England into a false sense of security when, on the highway, they approached an intersection; and Mr. Laurenson admitted that New Zealand had no major and minor roads, tho right-hand rule being operative at all intersections. Trout in the North Speaking at a meeting in Whangarei of delegates from the Whangarei and Hobson Acclimatisation Societies, Mr. D. F. Hobbs, freshwater fisheries biologist to the Government, said that there were streams in the North thatwould hold trout; some indeed hold trout, and good ones. This remark was made after Mr. Hobbs had spent several days investigating conditions in both the Whangarei and the Hobson areas. Mr. Hobbs went on to say that some of the streams in the district offered good fishing, although the stocking of streams had been carried out to a limited extent only. Mr. Hobbs recommended that both the societies should combine with one hatchery, but that each could have its own rearing ponds. . ..