LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16714, 21 April 1922, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

NEWS FROM NEAR AND FAR The ” Lyttelton Times ” and “ Star yy will not be published on Tuesday next, Anzac Day. . The harmful effects of an excess of soda for washing purposes was discussed by Mr AY. H. Rathbone at the meeting of the Waipawa Hospital Board. It had been mentioned that linen at the Dannevirke Hospital was done and had to be immediately renewed. Mr Rathbone drew attention to the quantity of soda crystals bought for the Dannevirke Hospial. The average purchase was 1601 b per month, wheeras at the Waipukurau Hospital, with more washing to do, only 201 b per month were used. Mr Rathbone contended that an excessive use of .soda burns and rots the linen, and the quantity' should be reduced. The Board of Governors of the MT/ean I nstitute met yesterday afternoon ; present —the Mayor (Dr H. T. J. Thacker, M.P.), Mesdames Wilson and Bean, the Revs W. Ready and N. L. D. Webster, Messrs G. Harper, G. A. U. Tapper, H. B. Sorensen and W. F. Hilson (secretary). Accounts amounting to £6ll were passed for payment. Mr IT. Y. Widdowson, S.M.. was added to the Finance Committee. Mr Ready asked for a statement of tlie finances of the Institute. He had seen nothing at each meeting but tlie monthly statement of accounts. The honorary treasurer (Mr Tapper) promised to supply a statement of the board’s financial position at the next meeting. A peculiar difficulty arose over deciding who should be queen of the carnival at Papanui. The carnival has just been completed. At the coronation ceremony last night Mr L- B. Hart referred to the amount of misapprehension that, existed as to who really was queen. The trouble arose, Mr Hart said, over the last minute payment of a cheque in support of the candidature of the Waimairi Queen (Miss May Pearce). That cheque liad turned the verdict in her favour, Mr Hart read two legal opinions as to the validity of the payment of the cheque. One opinion held that a cheque did not constitute payment until it was met Tlie mere passing over of a cheque was not cash and as it had not been met be-ore the time limit it should not have been accepted. The second opinion, was that the cheque, even if given on a bank holiday, was good payment if ac-

cepted by the payee. As to the matter of a cheque being legal tender, it had been held that a cheque given on a Sunday was good payment. If th*.* committee had accepted the cheque as payment no one else could complain. The matter was decided in favour cf the queen on whose behalf the cheque was offered.

Referring to the outbreak of typhoid fever and the notification of twentyfive cases from the Mount Albert district within a week, the Auckland “ Herald” reports that Dr T. J. Hughes, the District Medical Officer of Health, states that there is every indication of a sharp epidemic of the disease in the district. The cases arc widely distributed, and investigations point to the outbreak being due to infection from the water supply, which is obtained from springs in the rock near the auxiliary mental hospital at Point Chevalier, and pumped into the reservoir on Mount Albert before entering the distributing mains. The water mains have been flushed and the reservoir has been treated with chloride of lime, and, although the city supply has been substituted for the local supply, still tlie precaution of boiling all the water used for domestic purposes and also milk should be continued by every householder, as infected water may have been retained in the pipes. It L understood that the water supply in question has been subjected to chemical treatment for some time past. The

Director-General for Health, Dr T. H. A. Valintine, left Wellington for Auckland on Wednesday, and will confer with Dr Hughes, among other matters, on the steps to bo taken to check the outbreak A minor change Ims been made in the present stamp issue. Formerly both the 8d and 2£d stamps were printed i.• blue, of only a slightly different shade, which caused some confusion, and the 7£d, mi unusual denomination, was printed in brown. The Department has now withdrawn the 7£d stamp, and the new 8d stamp is printed in the colour of the old 7£d one, instead of blue. The green 4£d stamp has also been withdrawn, and the Victory £d has been over-printed as a 2d stamp, and is now in general use. The Post Office authorities recently put into force a most drastic regulation, to tlie consternation of at least one resident of Masterton. He received from a friend at Auckland two newspapers, tied so that there could be no doubt there were two, and with a l£d stamp affixed. Usually tlie receiver of papers insufficiently stamped has to pav double the deficient postage, and in the case under notice the local Post Office officials would have collected Id, states the ' Wairarapa Age.” But a genius at the Auckland Post Office resurrected a prehistoric regulation, which provides that if two newspapers are posted in one wrapper and the fact is not clearly stated, they are to be charged at book rates; the result was that a fine of 9d was inflicted on the innocent recipient of the papers. Ln the old building now being demolished at the corner of Shortland Street and Prince Street, one can see how solidly people used to build when Auckland was in its infancy, states the “ Star.” And, although it was one of the earliest buildings put up, it was built of such excellent heart of kauri that some of tlie timber is still as sound as a bell. Compared with the rickety looking skeletons which are now the fashion—the very minimum of strength consistent with holding together—this relic of early Auckland is solidity itself. The studs are six by four inches, and instead of one lonely brace from corner to corner, each space of about six feet is cross-braced with extra bits in here and there, just to make certain. Each corner stud is a six hv six, and extends in one piece from the ground to the t©j> of the second storey. The joists are in keeping. and some of the beams are over a foot thick. Most interesting of all was the method of covering the walls. Instead of iho usual weatherboarding upright boards of exceptional width and thickness were used. Each board was a solid bit of kauri about three feet wide by about an inch and a half thick, tongued and grooved, and a batten fixed over the joint to make it watertight. To buiLd a place on such a generous scale to-da3 r would cost a small fortune. A photograph to send each of your friends is the best way to solve the gift problem- Let Steffano Webb take It. Petersen’s Buildings, High Street. Telephone 1989. 1519