LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23545, 4 January 1940, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Legal Vacations After being closed since December 22, the office of the Supreme Court will reopen this morning. The vacation of the legal profession, however, does not conclude until next Tuesday, offices reopening on Wednesday. The Supreme Court itself will resume its activities on February 1. " One Hundred Years " Flags on tlie King's Wharf watch tower yesterday in honour of the departing troops also gave a message significant of the celebration of New Zealand's Centennial year. Instead of being the usual unplanned display of flags and pennants, tlie flags made the signal "one hundred years." Sailors With Beards Visitors to 11. M.S. Ramillies at Wellington have remarked upon the number of men aboard who have full beards trimmed in old naval style. Most of the men are young and tho naval regulation -that men must bo cleanly shaved or wear a full beard is probably responsible for many of the beards, as long hours of duty under wartime conditions may ' not leave much spare time for shaving. Fruit in Demand With tho New Year holidays over, good supplies of fruit and field produce came forward at tho city markets yesterday. There was a good demand for all kinds of fruit, and tho full supply at the markets was sold, prices showing an easing tendency. Vegetables were in poor demand and, with supplies hard to quit, lower prices ruled for most lines, notably peas, beans, cucumbers, marrows, kumaras and cabbages. North Auckland Roads

The main roads generally in North Auckland have stood up to the heavy holiday motor traffic remarkably well. On the unsealed sections corrugations have formed aud the loose metal and dust constitutes not only a nuisance, but also a danger to traffic. However the Highways Board graders have been kept in operation and their work has kept a fair running surface. On account of the dry weather over the holidays, tho traffic is raising large clouds of dust on all unsealed roads.

Passengers Mistake Ships The steamer Tangaroa and the motor-vessel Baroona, bound for Waiheke Island yesterday, afforded an unusual spectacle when they tied together off Brown's Island yesterday morning to transfer two passengers. The passengers, a man and a woman, both visitors from Australia, had boarded the Tangaroa, which was bound for Surfdale, instead of the Baroona, which was bound for Ostend. Two parcels were also transferred.

Soldiers Much Photographed Cameras were in extensive uso by the public to record various phases of the great military parade in the Auckland Domain and the inarch through the city streets yesterday. Amateur photographers, including some with moviug picture cameras, sought elevated levels to obtain the best views, and for this purpose verandahs were thronged, all the way from Park Road near the Domain to the railway station. Shops stocking photographic materials reported exceptional business for the occasion.

Newmarket Traffic Hold-up . A line of returning motor-cars extending from well up Khyber Pass Road into Broadway, Newmarket, testified to the numbers of people who went into the city yesterday especially to attend the civic farewell to the troops of the first echelon. The congestion was increased by other vehicles approaching from Parnell Road, and at one stage it appeared that a hold-up comparable with those experienced on race days would result. However, efficient handling of the five streams which enter the Broadway "bottleneck" lessened the delay.

Damaged Motor-ship The motor-shfp Taupata, -which grounded in Tory Channel on Thursday last, is now on the Patent Slip at Wellington for inspection and repairs. The damage is not serious, although there is a hole of 18in. or more on the port side, just below the port bilge keel. Half of this bilge keel has been torn off. There are superficial scars along the full length of the flat bottom. The Taupata was almost through the channel when she was caught in a very strong set, common in Tory Channel, according to Captain Perano, of the Te Awaiti whaling station. Within the Law Although it is contrary to the city by-laws to gather on shop verandahs to watch processions, three men sitting on a verandah in Queen Street near the Town Hall viewed the entire march past of troops without committing anj T breach. While many hundreds below craned on tip toe to catch a glimpse of tho passing soldiers, these men leaned back contentedly, and enjoyed the entire scene, munching sandwiches the while. Why they remained within the law was that they were carpenters engaged on repairing the verandah, and they were spending a much more interesting lunch hour than usual. Two Minor Fires Two small outbreaks of fire were attended by fire engines yesterday. Little damage resulted when two bales of fibre in a corrugated iron slicd on tho premises of Holmes Brothers, fibrous plaster manufacturers, of 452 Manulcau Road, caught fire shortly after 4.30 o'clock in the afternoon. One engine from the Remuera station suppressed the fire. A small stack of timber and a shed on tho premises of Refrigerators, Limited, Mortimer Pass, Newmarket, were damaged by firo just before eight o'clock last night. Engines from the central and Parnell stations quickly extinguished the outbreak. Power Failure in Theatre The resourcofulness of tlie stage manager and his staff prevented any hitch in the programme when an interruption of the city power supply occurred during a matinee performance of the Switzerland Ice Show and Ballet at His Majesty's Theatre yesterday afternoon. When the lights failed, a quick- thinking comedian kept the crowd amused until, within a minute or two, the sliding roof of the building was opened and the darkened stage was illuminated by sunshine. Further light was obtained by opening exits at the back of the stago and, although the stago presented a rather sombre appearance, the programme proceeded normally until the power supply was restored within about 15 minutes.