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LOCAL AND GENERAL

1 The Postal authorities are advised that tho IUI.S. Tahii.'i sailed from Vancouver on December 23 for Auckland. She carries 06 bags of mails for "New Zealand and llti for Australia. Tlig Postal authorities have received advice from London Hint a mail was dispatched for New Zealand on December 23. via Panama Canal. A largo number of Chinese arrived in the Dominion during this year: At Auckland alone no fewer than 751 landed, hut of this number several liad previously resided here. The amount received by the Customs Department by way of poll lax to date this year is •CGti.SOO.

It is understood (says the Uamuru ".Mail") that Sir Thomas "Jlacken/.ic has been oll'ered and has accepted a position on the Hoard of Directors of the National Mortgage timl Agency Company, Ltd. The board holds its sittings in London.

Inquiry was made yesterday as lo the condition of Mr. and Mrs. .1, Downes, who met with n motor accident on the Packakariki Hill road oil lioxing Day. Mr. Downes is already able to leave his bed, and is rapidly losing his bodily soreness. llrs. Downcs, who is in Nurse Lucas's private hospital, is suffering Wore acutely. An X-ray photograph of the injured elbow discloses a fractured bone. Mrs. Downes is recovering satisfactorily from the severe shock she sustained. A Press Association telegram from Christchurch 6tafe that A. lioss, ot' the United Club, won the Canterbury open croriuet championship, and Mrs. Beanland the ladies' championship.

Mr. I''. K. Hunt, S.M., will conduct two inquests this morning. The first will be into the cause.of death of Air. Charles Henry Hall, a wool classer, 72 years of age, who was found dead on the .Koad on Wednesday. The second will be in respect lo Muriel Garrett, Ti years of age, who died ill the Hospital early on -Monday morning as tlie result of being scalded in a cupper of 'boiling water.

Whilst ilr. T. L. Elliott (of Birmingham), now in Wellington, found ' Germany in April last to bo in a state ol direst misery, and a large percentage oi th« people existing on a starvation diet, he found Belgium "overflowing wjth milk and honey." Prices were reasonable there as tilings were, and the country appeared to bo solidly prosperous. Denmark, Norway, and Sweden he found well provided for as far as foodstuffs were concerned. I'rices were certainly high, and raw materials in short supply, but it would not. take very long before those countries were ba'ck to uonnal.

it used to bo said in the bad ola uo.m that an. "Englishman's house is his castle"; but we have changed all that (says tho Sydney "Daily Telegraph"), the h'aiv lients Act Amendment Bill, which the Legislative Council is about to consider, is calculated rudely to dispel any hallucination a house-owner may have that his property is his to do as ho likes with. l''»r instance, he cannot demolish his house without permission oi the Court. Furthermore, the new measure provides that "a dwellinghouse or residential building" shall not be altered in such manner as to render it unsuitable for residential purposes without the permission of the Court. Nobody who was not a lunatic would set about making a dwellinghouse unsuitable for residential purposes, unless with a view to converting it to some more remunerative purpose, into a shop, perhaps, or a picture show. As a shop a converted residence might be worth to its owner three or four times its value for residential purposes. In this measure there al'O other desirable provisions all more or lees tending to disabuse the mind ot the man who owns a house of the delusion that the house belongs to him. It adds a new sharpness to the adage, that tools build houses for wise men to live in, and will enhance l'hther than end the shortage •in houses.

A sensational accident recently occuired at Evcildoune Bstate, near Ballarat, during the process of a stock tale. Among those in attendance at the auction were Mr. Samuel Barrett, a well-khown district farmer., and bis wife. nc.\ woTC driving ovei: the estate in a buggj, and when passing a dam, the water in which is about 20 feet in depth/the horse took fright. Mr. Barrett, who is ot advanced age, endeavoured to .check the animal, but it bounded into the dam. dragging the buggy and occupants with it. Mr. Basil Gumming, a returned soldier, wlio saw the accident, ran to assist. Jumping into the dam, he pullecl Mr. Barrett on to the bank, and he then rescued Mrs. Barrett. The 'horse kicked itself free from the shafts and swam to the bank.

Recently it was suggested in Dannevirke that the Housing Department had agreed to pay carponters 5 per cent, above current wages, It was pointed out that that would be unfair to local builders. The matter Has been brought under the notice of the Government by Mr. A. M'Nicol, M.P., and the Housing Department's reply is' as iollows;— lhe Department has not, up to the present lime, approached tradesmen in Danuevirke with a view to employing them on workers' dwellings. Probably the information given to Mr. M'ls'icol by a local builder arises out of a proposal made by the Hawke's Bay Carpenters' Union to erect •workers' dwellings, the Department to find materials and the union to receive a percentage of the cost tor controlling and supplying the necessary labour Tho proposal is under consideration by the Department, but. no decision ,\as yet been reached." Eighteen dwelling are to be erected at Dannevirke.

Kecenllv a gigantio cylindrical-shaped waterspout, 90 feet in circumference, shot out of the sea to a height of 5000 feet some ten miles off S>ivnua. The phenomenon was (tccompanicd by a cloud of black smoke, which gradually ftSsuXued an opal colouring, and subsided after half an hour, Icavillg tho surface of the' waters covered with snowwhite foam. Italian, seismologists believe the outburst to be closely connected with the recent A Pennine earthquake, which niso caused u fiery eruption on Pisanello I'eak, in the Apuan Alps, the w!/>lo being attributed, to another undersea collapso of strata in the eastern section of tho Gulf of Genoa. The whole of Italian earthquake history during the past 35 years, oxperts say, goes to prove that a seismic spectre is slowly advancing in the direction of Northern Europe, athwart tho Swiss Alps. Remarkable evidence in support of this thesis is now divulged in the fact that 13 hours before tho serious nature of tli? last earthquake was known and realised in Italy itself the Italian Red Cross lieadcNiitrters received a telegram from the inlernaliona] centro at Geneva offering to dispatch instant aid. This came about because, on the basis of the aforementioned hypothesis, the central melcrological inslitutu at 'A 11ricli. where 19 successive shocks were registered in their vivid passage across tho Alps, had been able to give warning as to the exact locality in which the catastrophe occurred.

In the busy central Glreets of Liverpool much curiosity is evinced an to tho identity and life story 0 f n one-legged man, masked and iu khaki, who grinds an organ. His mask is bt' crape, completely concealing his features, and his uniform is that of nn oflicer, minus the rank stnr, but decorated with the JI.C. and 'other war ribbons. Money comes to him freely while lie elands playing. Tho man is said to have served in tho Army throughout tho war, gaining his commission and retiring with thn rank of captain. lie was wounded moro than once before losing his leg. His excuse for his present occupation is that his pension is insufficient, for the needs of hl« family •nd himself,

"The Hospital" (Ivondon) publishes a letter from an Australian medical man making a suggestion for ineomo raising, which, ho says, lias been cavricd out in several hospitals in the Antipodes. Briefly, it concerns a license Tor visitors to be allowed to see their friends at other than regular hours, or, rather, on certain "extra visiting hours" suited to the convenience of the hospital. To obtain the privilege a sixpenny ticket has to be bought, and the sale of these tickets brings in from .£3OO to -ESOO a year for every 100 beds.'

Costing .£4O an ounce, zirconium is one of tlio most precious and useful metals employed by scientists and manufacturers to-day. It derives its name from the mineral zircon, varieties of which, known as jargon and hyacinth, have lon'/ been used by jewellers for women's ornaments. The Existence of the metal zirconium in zircon was discovered 1.10 years ago, but it has been discovered of recent years in large quantities in a certain ore. known as brazilite, the deposits oi which in Brazil are practically inexhaustible. l'he value ol zirconium lies in the fact th«L it is a wonderful subslitulc for other melala. Since platinum became so scarce it has been usfcd m ils stead. The Germans experimental with it with a view to getting urmour-plate superior in hardness to steel. It can withstand siicli high temperatures that it has been found superior to nil other metals for lining electrical furnaces. It is used in the manufacture of wire filaments for electric lights; for X-ray work nnd enamelling. The zirconium industry is a comparatively new one, interesting developments being foreshadowed l>y the discoveries already inade.

As the result of being knocked down by a.taxi-cab in Tory Street, near the Caledonian Hall, late yesterday afternoon, a boy named Henry Pcrliam, four years of age, residing witli his parents nt 73 Tory Street, was admitted to the lios■''pitlll. It appeal's that the taxi-cab was proceeding lip Tory Street on i'.s correct side of the road, and was passing a lorry, when the child suddenly left the footpath to cross ihe street. Whether lie noticed the motor-car or not is not known, but he collided with one of the rear mudguards and was knocked down. Tho driver of the ear pulled up immediately, and alter the boy had bet*n attended to he was removed to the hospital in the car. Tho hospital authorities Teportod last night that the boy was not badly hurt.

A remarkable improvement in the condition of the teeth of children is reported by Dr. 'James Wlieatley, medical officer for Shropshire) in the British Dental Journal. Dr. Wlieatley says that of 37,527 children of' five years of age examined before tlio War, only 5 per cent, were free from carics, whereas now no fewfcr tliar. HA pel" cbnt. are free from dental decay. Dr. Wlieatley attributes this improvement largely to tlio restriction and modification of food during tho war. The chief point of interestis the confirmation of tho belief that the cause of caries lies ill the food, and not in assumed constitutional conditions.

The fact that the United States emerged richer from the war than she war- when it began has not prevented hci from suffering from many of the problem^ 1 that plague other parts of the world. She has a housing question almost as acute as London's. In some ways it is even more acute. New York, with a population of over G. 000,000, is pstiiipited to lack quarters for something liko 500,000. The shortagi?has been accompanied 'by the grossest sort .of profiteering, facilitated by yearly leases. The plight of the miserable home-atelier in the great flat districts, whose gaunt streets grid' iron {lie upptv paTt of New York, has been accentuated by threats of strikes by tlie drivers of moving vans, by plumbers, painters, and others. His regrets for tho good old days of-a ten- years ago,, when there were 5(1,000 too many flats ni the (own, and a month's free occupation was the rule, are the. stock-in-trade of tho comic papers. The price and scarcity of wood and steel have been a majm factor in the problem. Labour troubles come next mid then, perhaps tlie restriction of credit in the interests of deltation.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19201231.2.16

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 82, 31 December 1920, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,992

LOCAL AND GENERAL Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 82, 31 December 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 82, 31 December 1920, Page 4

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