LOCAL AND GENERAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 306, 22 September 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A sitting of the Court- of. Appeal 'will be held to-day. The fire brigade received a call shortly nfter one o'clock oil Saturday afternoon to a five-roomed ! house at No. 8 Poplar Grove (off Tinakori KomI), owned nnd occupied'by Mr. Kichavd' Duffy. The first lioor nnd contents were severely damused before the outbreak was .quelled. I'lie building and furniture were insured in the C'ommrcial Union office.' The Shaw-Sftvill liner Tainui, which arrived yesterday morning, left tho Panama' Canal twenty-three hours before tho Corintliic. There was much excitement and wagering 'between the troops and crews of each-vessel while the.vessels were at Panama as to which wou.l<l reach 'Wellington first. If the Corintliic makes port by six o'clock this morning honours witl be even, but if-sho arrives nfter that-hour the Tainui will take tho honour of completing the voyage in the shortest time - , Supplies of sugar for lccnl consumption' (states a Press Association telegram ffom Auckland) are, being delivered by the Colopial Sugar l?efinini[ Company in quantities sufficient to meet immediate needs, standing orders being executed first. The company is desirous of fillinj orders for other parts of the Dominion', consequently the lighterage plant is engaged to some extent in conveying consignments to coastal steamers for shipment to the south. In view of this fresh orders for sugar Jiave to wait until or-' der6 on tile arc completed. Damage to the extent of some hundreds of pounds was caused by a fire in a store in High Street, Auckland, oil Friday night, occupied by Richards and "Upton, importer?, containing oil and other inflammable material. The insurances are held bv the South British office.—Press Assn. • Those troops who returned by the llorarata on Saturday speak very highly of the hospitality which tliey received at the hands of the residents at Durban. Mention is made of one lady in particular who. it is stated, lias never missed meeting a transport and supplying the troops with oranges, which she takes to tho ship's side in her motor-car. 1 Afterdistributing the fruit shs sets about providing the visitors with entertainment and soon mokes everyone feel at home. A Press Association message from Dunedin states that the Labour Department has served attachment orders on the Green Island coal mine owners, requiring . them to, deduct from wages tho amount of fines • imposed by the Court as the result of the recent strike. Tlio fines and costs amount to £2 ss. per man; At the smoke concert acid on Saturday evening bv the. Customs and Marine. Departments and the Customhouse agents, Mr. G. Allport, Secretary of Marine, in responding to a toast, waxed reminiscent. Mr. Allport first joined the Customs Department about forty-five years ago, but was early transferred tc the Marine Department. lieferring to the expansion in the work of his Department, Mr. Allport snid that there wt:s a great difference in tho administration then and now. Then it was the shipowner and the seaman "was nobody, work in connection with seamen formed a small -part, but times had changed, and now the interests of ajl classes received fair consideration from the Department. An appeal for funds' for propaganda work is 'to he mylo by the Auckland ltailways League. Thu council if thn league has decided to make a canvass of business men for not less than ,£10(10 for the purpose /of propaganda work in advocacy of the early completion of main trunk railways 'in tho Auckland province and in other parts of the North Island. Objection was taken by counsel for defendant in a maintenance case, called at tho Magistrate's Court at Auckland last week; to tho action- of the. plaintiff in having liis'client: arrested while negotiations for a settlement, verts in progress. He stated that 'his'client was about town, and counsel himsolf hod undertaken to accept service ot a summons shoiild this prove necessary, but t.je wife, without the knowledge or consent of her lawyers, had obtained a warrant for her luiiillwnd's arrest by stntinj; that the defendant could not he found. The Magistrate snid ho alwavs required persons desiring such warrants tu make sworn statements, but in fu,':ure they would be callcd upon to, make a sworn written statement that tho 'tafindaut n «uld nui; be found, and if such ftatements proved false, trouble would follow.

, A youna person win lins collected quite an appreciable quantity of penniesfrom faultily adjusted nlot telephones at one time and another coniessed to an Auckland reporter last week that only a day or two,. ago she had taken throe successive' coppors from (lie slot 'phone iust. outside the old Post Office. At the tirat ring the number had keen engaged, and fihe had two pennies lfiturnod into t.ii" tray. She rang again immediately, and received two more. A lew minutes later she returned lo the little box. and there was another penny 'lying in the tray waiting for somebody to pick it up. JI would appear that niar.y folk have received unearned profits in the shape of occasional pennies from these machines at various times, for it is a fact that the public telephones that are distributed about tho street corners often give up more coppers than the Ftrict letter of the law provides. With the obioct ot nncouraging citizens lo take a greater interest in their gardens and street frontaues, the Amenities and Town-planning Roniety of Duuedin has, reports an exchange, arranged a series of' six competitions for prizes, and tlio timo for preparing >».rdens for these has now arrived. The competitions ho expected to induce healthy vivali'y in the production of tidy, attractive, and picturesque surroundings to home's, which must, of course, have tho broader general effect of adding greatly to tho attractiveness of tho whole city. Those taking part, therefore, do mu.cli more tlmn merely confer a benefit on themselves. Tho competitions havo 'been so arranged that people with quite small front' gardens as woll as those with larger and more, expensive plots havo provision made for them,