LOCAL AND . GENERAL.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18537, 18 January 1932, Page 6

LOCAL AND . GENERAL.

■ Of the £4,000,000 left by the late Mr Julius Rosenwald, philanthropist, of Chicago, United States, he bequeathed £2,200,000 to charities. His family share the remainder.

The Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company will leave Hamilton by special train after "-the performance on Thursday night, and open at Wellington on Friday night.

. Stormy weather, prevented, the yachts competing in the Balokovic Cup ocean race from Auckland completing the course in the time expected. Ail the boats were forced to seek shelter;

The two youths, Jack and Fielden Luckens, who left; Swanson in two canoes on January 7, and for whose safety some anxiety has been fe.t, arrived at the Shortland Channel on Friday .night.

Gold was _ quoted In London on Saturday at £5 18s 6d an ounce, compared with £5 17s lid on Friday and £6 Os 4d on Thursday. Silver was quoted on Friday at 19 5-8 d spot and 193d' forward, compared with 19 la-lGd and 19 7-8 d on Thursday.

Swarms of caterpillars known as the army worm have taken heavy toll of the Gisborne ryegrass and other crops during the past few weeks, says the Poverty Bay Herald. As a result, the anticipated ryegrass seed production from'* the district will be decreased by 30 per cent.

The British Ministry of Transport has issued a return which shows that the gross- amount received in payment for licences for road vehicles m the 12 months ended November 30, 1931, was £28,000,000. This was £300,000 more than the amount col■ectcd in the corresponding period of the previous year.

There is one farm product in Southland tills year which should, on present appearances, reach a payable price, and that is chaff (says an Invercargill paper). The area in oats-is not up to the average, and crops have not for many years been so light. Given a fair harvest the quality of the chaff will be excellent, but the trouble is very few farmers will have more than sufficient to feed their teams.

At a meeting of the New Zealand Council Royal Life-Saving Society leave of absence for six months was granted to the president, Mr George Bilison, who will leave on Wednesday for Sydney on the Ulimaroa, where he will connect with the Oronsay for England. Mr Bilison will interview head centres of the society in Australia, and expects to attend the annual meeting of the central executive of the 'society in London.

Among the oarsmen training on the Waikato River yesterday was the St. George’s Club senior four, Messrs. Wooihou.se, D’Athreau, Solomon, and Horton. The crew had two try-outs during the day under the direction of Mr G. Barrett, of Auckland,-a wellknown veteran who held several titles about 30 years ago. Solomon, one of the oarsmen, is the All Black footballer. R. Stewart, of the Auckland Rowing Club, who is a contender for the single sculls title, commenced training on the river to-day. He tilled second place for the singles championship last year.

The South Auckland Caledonian Pipe Band will render a programme of pipe selections in the Whitiora district this evening. Changed with, stealing a watch valued at £4 ss ( and 15s 6d in money, the property of Leslie Renez Woolley at Tatuanul last Wednesday, and £3 5s 6d from Charles Henry Murphy on Thursday, Douglas Hinau Moore aged 21 years, was remanded to appear on Wednesday, in the Hamilton Magistrate’s Court this morning. A marked decrease in the number of ’evcl-crossing fatalities in the Dominion occurred in 1931. Thirteen persons were killed, or less than half the number who lost their lives in the previous year, when 34 persons met their deaths. Of the total in 1930, 12 were killed In two collisions, one being at Hikurangi and the other at Sockburn. - The number of deaths in 1928 was 14. A young Pole, Michael Staduicki, arrived in Hamilton—from Auckland this morning, on the first stage of a walking tour round the world. He will walk to the Bluff, and after tramping Australia, will "hike” nis way over the Continent. He anticipates that the tour will occupy from eight to ten years. Between 1923 and 1926 Mr Staduicki completed a walking tour of South America. It is probable that Messrs H. Ayers, of Wellington, and E. Hale, of Marlborough, selectors to the New Zealand Rowing Association, will be present at the Hamilton regatta on Anniversary Day. Mr Ayers coached the 1925 All Black eight-oar crew which was successful in Australia, and he also had oharge of the All Black eights which visited the inter-Empire games In Canada in 1930.

At the last meeting of the Mbrrinsville Borough Council advice was received from the Valuer General of the re-valuation of two properties, in the borough. A property in Studholm Street had been reduced from £I9OO to £540, and another In the same street from £1550 to £950. Members considered if re-valuations of this sort were to continue the borough finances might be considerably upset.