LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23002, 1 April 1938, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Groceries Stolen Tobacco and groceries valued at £3O were stolen when thieves entered a grocery shop at 113 Ponsonby Road, City, on Wednesday night. The crime was discovered by a constable. Inquiries were purfeued by detectives yesterday, but no arrest had been made at a late hour. The office was not ransacked and no attempt had' been made on the safe.

Aeroplane on Ship Believed to be the first of its kind to be brought south, a Lockheed HH aeroplane for the New Guinea service is carried on tin? deck of the steamer Roimney, which arrived at Auckland yesterday from Los Angeles. The craft is the latest type constructed in the Lockheed range and is a high-speed 12passenger machine. It will be landed at Melbourne. Tasman Travelleis When she left Auckland last night for Sydney and Melbourne the motorliner Wanganclla carried more passengers than she had taken from the port for a considerable time. There wero .363 travellers, a number which left only about 20 vacant berths. The Sydney Royal Show and other anniversary celebrations are resulting in large numbers of New Zealanders crossing the Tasman. Vandals in Broadway

Interference with the drinking fountains in Broadway, Newmarket, has recently been giving the Newmarket Borough Council a considerable amount of trou.ble, according to a report placed before the council last night. It was stated that one of the; fountains was being continually blocked by small pebbles being dropped into the outlet pipe. It had been cleared at least six times in the past month. The push button of the tap had also been broken by vandals.

Rating Values of Hotels An interesting statement bearing on the values of hotel properties was given yesterday by the city valuer, Mr. P. F. Notley, at the sitting of the City Assessment Court. He showed that while the general increase in rating value over the whole of the city area was 4.8 per cent the increase on the 56 hotels in that area had been 15 per cent. He also mentioned that the increase on these premises for the period from. 1924 to this year had been 51 per cent. Market Road Post Office A new post and telegraph office will be opened next week on the Great South Hoad near the Market Road intersection and will be known as the Market Road office. As it is to be of tlio non-permanent type, it will be conducted by one of the shopkeepers iu the locality. The decision to establish the new office was made because of tlio growth of the district and the* amount of postal and other business to bo catered for in the area, said Mr. H. M. Patrick, deputy-chief postmaster, yesterday. At present the nearest post offices were more than a mile distant.

Farming Problems "Problems in grassland farming we have in plenty, and, although we are proud, perhaps rightly so, of our grassland farming in comparison with that in other countries, it is in the economic solution of these problems that our future lies," said Mr. A. H. Cockayne, Director-General of Agriculture, when speaking at the opening of a new research building at Palmerston North yesterday. Tn the maintenance and improvement of the more difficult grassland, the tussock areas and much lowgrade hill country, the position was far from satisfactory, he added, and it cried aloud for research.

April Fools' Day April Fools' Day will be observed this morning. The origin of the custom ig much disputed, but it is generally agreed that it is in some way a relic of ancient festivities held at the vernal equinox, which began on old New Year's Day, March 25, and ended on April 3 In India, at the feast of Huli, the last day of which is March 31, the chief amusement is the befooling of peoplo by sending them on fruitless errands. Tho custom is known in Scotland as "hunting the gowk (cuckoo)" and the victims are called "April-gowks." In that country, as in others, the word for cuckoo is a term of contempt.

A White Kiwi Evidence that a white kiwi, one of the rarest of birds, probably lived within the last 20 years, is disclosed in the existence of a valuable Maori mat, at present in the possession of a chieftaincss in the Mourea district, between Rotorua and Rotoiti. The mat, which is used only for ceremonial occasions, contains the white kiwi feathers woven into tho design. Tho Maori mat was seen recently by the Bishop of Aotearoa, the Rt. Rev. F. A. Bennett, who stated that he had not heard of a previous case of white kiwi feathers being seen. As far as he knew, not even Maori legend made refercnec to tho existence of a white kiwi.

Passes for Rugby Secretaries The good work performed in tho interests of tho game of Rugby football by club secretaries and coaches was referred to by members of tho Southland Rugby Union when the issuing of free passes "was being discussed. It was decided to includa club secretaries in tho list of those to be issued with passes. Club coaches will again receive passes. "Tho amount of work done by tho coaches is not generally known," said a member, who declared that, apart from their work in tho training sheds, coaches of tho junior teams braved the elements year in and year out "travelling around the reserves, often through mud and slush, with their teams."

Basis ol Oity Valuations Numbers of property-owners approach the City Assessment Court each year in an endeavour to have tho valuations bn their properties reducecj but without understanding the principle on which tho Court works. Some plead hardship and others base their .calculations on what the house cost many years ago. It was necessary for Mr. W. R. McKcan, S.M., again to point out to, objectors at yesterday's sitting of the Court that the valuations for the city were based on tlio annual rental "value less 20 per cent, but that in no case must the figure arrived at be less than 5 per cent of the fee simple. Even it tho objector is occupying the house and has no immediate intention of vacating it this principle applies and the valuer and the Court have to consider what rent a tenant would be prepared to pay.