The infant had been abandoned on the doorstep of a resident at Otorohanga in the King Country, and discovered there on the morning of February 11.
It was a healthy male child, computed to be a day old at the time it was found.
No clue to the parentage of the child could be found by the police, and the baby was forwarded to the Auckland Door of Hope Home, where it flourished, and had to be given a name and a definite status in the world.
Consequently it was brought before Mr F. V. Frazer, S. M., and, at the suggestion of Mr A. Herbert Jones (relieving officer for the Auckland Charitable Aid Board), it was named Albert King - "King'' as commemorative of the King Country, in which it was born, and "Albert'' probably as being reminiscent of the kingly name "Albert Edward''.
The child's birthday was fixed at February 10, and little Albert King was ordered to be entered on the books of the Mount Albert Industrial School, with a provision that the Waikato Charitable Aid Board, in whose district he first saw the light, should stand sponsor for his maintenance.
• Mr Robt. Lee (manager of the New Zealand Coal and Oil Company) has commenced a scheme of afforestation at Kaitangata, his object being to provide an adequate supply of timber for mining props for use in the local mines.
Already about 40,000 young bluegum trees are ready for transplanting, and in due course these will be planted within the area of the coal reserve.
At present the purchase of mining props involves an annual cost to the company of about £2000, and as the natural bush is rapidly being cut out and the distance for railing becomes greater, the advantage of providing a good supply in close proximity to the mining works will be apparent.
It is estimated that in about 10 or 12 years the company will be able to draw upon its own supplies.
It is not the intention of the company to go in for other timber at present.
• The establishment of fresh-air schools in certain parts of New Zealand is a matter which has recently been engaging the attention of the Hon. J. A. Hanan (Minister of Eduction). He has been obtaining information from various places on the subject, and the evidence obtained so far points to the wonderful improvements that have been made in the health and general fitness of the children in such schools.
"Apart from health,'' said the Minister on Wednesday evening, "one of the advantages of this type of school is that the outdoor life makes it unnecessary for the children to have more freedom in moving about, and so the work done is becoming more rational, and is meeting the requirements of the growing child better than the orthodox sitting-still school. Another point is that these schools considerably reduce the cost of building.''
• On Tuesday two accidents with hooks occurred among the holiday fishers on the rocks at Kaka Point.
One young man got a hook embedded in the palm of his hand, and another met with a more serious mishap of a similar nature.
The hook in this case caught in the second finger of the right hand, and the swing of the sinker sent the hook right in, the force being great enough to break the line attached to the hook.
Fortunately a doctor from Dunedin was at the boarding-house, and attended to the sufferer shortly after the occurrence, extracting the hook without much trouble, although the patient fainted during the operation. - ODT, 2.5.1916.
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