LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2349, 4 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Huddart-Parker steamer Riverina io due at Auckland from Sydney this morning. .The vessel has no southern mails on board. The same company's Ulimaroa, which is due at Wellington from Sydney this evening, is bringing an Australian mail for Wellington and southern offices.

Five well-dressed men who, to relieve the tedium of the railway journey from a northern race meeting on Saturday ( are alleged to lave indulged in gambling by card playing, were arrested by two plain clothes constables, as the thain was proceeding' on its way to Wellington. They will appear before the.Magistrate at the Court this morning. ...'"■. ■ .

The Maitai, inward, from San Francisco, brought good news from Papeete. There tho people have got oyer their nervousness since the German squadron in the Pacific has been sent to the bottom, and they no longer fear another bombardment. The town is rapidly being rebuilt, and the damaged buildings ~ restored, so that there will soon be little but a few scars on occasional walls to witness the battering the little town received a few months ago. Trade is reported, to be good. Among the passengers on the Maitai were a number of French man-o'-war's-men. from the ill-fated gunboat Zelee, 6unk in Papeete harbour.

Residents of Eastbourne aremuohin" censed against the hooliganism of certain male members of the suburb on New Year's Eve. The young men in question travelled '-the main roadu wreaking- all manner of/damage on ratepayers' propety. Fence pailuigs were torn out and hacked to pieces, a gate was wrenched off its hinges and deposited on top of an adjacent hedge, signboards were torn down, and altogether the youth believed to have been about a dozen in number, did about as much damage as they could possibly do in a nighv.

The report of there being a eoarcity of flour .in Napier was referred to by the Prime Minister, tho Right Hon.' W. F. Massey. • Mr. Massey informed a. Press representative that representations had been received from the Napier Chamber of Commerce regarding the matter. Steps are being taken to provide for the shortage until the supplies of imported wheat come to hand.

Wellington Heads were obscured in a very heavy fog early, yesterday morning, thereby causing much inconvenience to shipping. On inquiries being made on several of the steamers which had entered the port it was, learned that the fog had been right across Cook Strait in a series of banks. -On one occasion all was clear outside,! but the Heads were enveloped and the dense bank of fog could be' observed travelling up the harbour. Suddenly the wind changed and the fog was then to be seen travelling out to The ferry steamer Wahino, with nearly 600 passengers •on board, managed to make port with difficulty, and she was followed' in by several other vessels. The fog -signal at Pencarrow Head could be plainly heard in.the city warning master mariners of their dangers.

An exceedingly narrow escape from what might have been a serious motor accident "occurred, yesterday afternoonon the drive to the residence of Mr. Geo. Scales, Hutt Road, near Petone. "Whilst Sir. Scales was motoring down the drive, accompanied by Mrs. Scales and two other ladies, something apparently wont wrong with the steering gear, with the result that the ' car turned and "dived" down a rather steep incline, levelling shrubs and small trees in its path, for a distance of about 80 feet. The car overturned on the level ground at the bottom. It is thought that a steep drop of about 5 feet accounted for the overturning of the car, and if tho grade had been alike all the way the motor would have probably dashed out into an open paddock and'escaped injury. As it was, the car was wrecked,. but the occupants were scarcely hurt. Mr. Scales was slightly bruised, and sustained a cut hand, whilst the ladies, beyond tho shock such a close call would give, were practically unharmed. Medical aid was obtained, and upon inquiry last evening it was ascertained that all the parties concerned were littlo or none the worse for thdir adventure.

Special collections for tie relief of. the Belgians were taken at tho Salvation Army Citadel yesterday. In all the sum of £55 was collected.

Notwithstanding the faot that the German import trade has boon cut off as by a - knife since tho outbreak of the European hostilities, and that for . a numbor of weoks the shipping of the port of Auckland was seriously restricted, tho amount of duties received by the Customs Department has not shown the BeribUß shrinkage that might have been expected under tho circumstances. The approximate returns for the year completed by the Auckland Customs Department go to' show that such decrease as there was was largely caused by the shrinkage of the gold export. The approximate revenue for the year was £965,828, against £984,302 during 1913. The ordinary revenue frum Customs amounted to £894,016, as against £904,987 tho previous year, a decrease of £10,971. On the other hand tho duties on beer advanced from £28,975 to £29,477, a difference'of £602, while i the duty oh gold dropped from £24,493 to £13,028. During the quarter ended December 31 there were 29 births at-Lower Hutt and 14 deaths. For the year 1914 there were 134 births and 43 deaths. The rat, says the Auckland "Star," is regarded as a continual source of danger from a health point of view, and in Auckland the Sanitary Department of tins City Council not only employs men continually, to destroy tho rodents, but also to supply a hundred per week to the District Health Office, where bacteriological examinations are.made iit. order i that the authorities may ascertain if any epidemic disease is prevalent. For .tho past i'oui- years tho report has invariably been that the rats are healthy. As a rather interesting but gruesome sidelight on tho ways of tho rodents, il may bo mentioned that tho municipal ratcatchers, _ not infrequently in their reports indicate" so maav I'als caught and eo many eaten

in the traps. For inßtance, 'Wednesday's report read: "Firtyrseven..caught; nine eaten." The cannibalistic creatures devour their kind, leaving only the skin enclosed within the grip_ of tlw trai>. The number of fires at Lower Hutt' during the past year was ten. Taihape has been subjected to a mild epidemic of diphfikoria and typhoid fever (says an exchange), but cases under treatment are doing well, and fresh' patients are less frequent than a few woeks ago. The Maoris of the distriot' are reported to be now clear of tyhpoid. •. The Health Officers are pursuing a.! systematic and vigorous inspection with a view to entirely removing insanitary conditions in the borough. . ' ', _ In consequence of the loss sustained in tie fruit trade by the recent hiirri-! cane at Fiji, the question of ike run-) ning of the Island steamers has been' considered by the Union Steam Company, says a northern paper. In-i stead of proceeding from Melbourne and' Sydney to Fiji direct, the Atua 'will< leave Sydney on January 6 for Auckland, and will depart for.the Islands from this port on January 12. Oriirkally, it was intended that the Na'vua should leavo Auckland on January Hfor the Islands, but it has been de- 1 eided to alter the time-table in this respect. The Atua is a larger steamer! than the Nayua, and thus no inconveni- : ence will be caused so far as Auckland;' is concerned. On her trip from Sydney! to Auckland on January 6, the Atua! will take the place of the Maheno, and* the Niagara, leaving Auckland for Sydney on January 11, will run instead'of the Maheno. The Maheno will be sus-' pended from the Auckland-Sydney service only for this one trip. '.* The Petohe Magistrate's Court re-' turns for the quarter ended December' 31 are:—Plaints entered, 25; amount l sued for, £261 45.; amount recovered, £211 15s. 7d.: summonses served by, bailiff, 59; civd fees, £10 12s. j fines, £3 10s.; criminal fees, £1 10s.; summoned or arrested, 26 males and fW females.

A special telegram to the Hawerat 1, "Star'' from Patea states' that', the 1 ? chief Tutangi Waionui died at Pariroa. on Wednesday. He was a general in Titokowaru's army during the Maori '. war. His age was 66. %

The track from Greytown to thi"';.'Tauherinikau River (Hector track) ii£ now clear for horse traffic, says puffr Greytown correspondent. The men ax«£ pushing on with the track from thereby to Omega and Alpha, and on to HcctoiN; A party is leaving Greytown on Sun-< : day on horseback to go as far as Ta'u-'V herinikau ,to inspect the work done and) see where'the new work.is being done.'