FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 109, 4 November 1939, Page 11

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS FROM THE "POST"

TRAMS TO ISLAND BAY

."The proposed extension of the tramway to Island Bay is a matter of considerable interest and importance to the residents of Wellington," remarks "The Post" of this week fifty years ago. ; "Island Bay is a charming suburb, and would be a place of much resort if rendered accessible by means of a tramway. Of the details of the scheme now proposed we do not know much, beyond the fact that application has been made to the local authorities of the districts through which the line will pass, to give their consent to its construction. They will, of course, in doing this have to carefully provide for the. protection of public interests, and they should also, in arranging any contract, bear in mind the probability of the railway line being some day ex- '■ tended to the Bay. In the meantime, however, the tramway will be a great boon to citizens, and to residents in the Island Bay district. The number j of the latter is sure to increase very rapidly when means of access are rendered easier and more regular. There is plenty of room for a populous suburb to "grow up in that direction. It will, however, always be as a pleasure and health resort that the Bay is likely to be best known, and, following the tramway, we may hope to see arrangements made to facilitate sea bathing there. The construction of a swimming bath on a large scale should not; be a matter of much difficulty, and such an institution should pay handsomely. The tramway would also render the Island Bay racecourse much more available for cricket and football matches than it now is. If the terms of the concessions now asked for are at all reasonable, the local bodies concerned should use every effort to promote and assist the project. Outlets from the city are greatly needed in Wellington. A cable tramWay to Karori should be the next proposal." CABLE COMMUNICATION. ■ "The news that the Eastern Extension Company intended to forthwith, duplicate the cable between Australia and New Zealand appeared too good to be true when it reached us without qualification. The secret of Sir John Fender's liberality has now, however, been disclosed. He will duplicate the cable, provided the colonies of New South Wales and New Zealand will guarantee his company the continued enjoyment of their monopoly. This is the real meaning of the 'guarantee against unreasonable competition.' No doubt Sir John Pehder would regard as utterly unreasonable any competition which would divert a portion of the business to another route, or reduce the present enormous rates charged for cable messages. The probability of both resulting from the construction of a Pacific cable being arranged for, has wakened Sir John Pender and his company up, and they wish to mar that project by ensuring that neither New, South' Wales nor New Zealand will favour it. The duplication of the "Australian-New Zealand cable is certainly a very necessary and desirable thing, but we should be very sorry to obtain duplication at the cost of renouncing hope of obtaining communication with the rest of the world via -America. The terms of Sir John Pender's offer are not admissible." THE CEMETERY SITE. "We are not by any, means sure that the determination, practically arrived at by the City Council last night, to establish two new cemeteries, one at each end of the town, is at all a wise one. There are many objections to such an arrangement, amongst> which the increased cost of maintenance is no inconsiderable one. Each cemetery will require custodians, grave diggers, etc., and two mortuary chapels will have to be erected in the place of one. The funds available for ornamentation will also be so. divided as to fail to produce very much effect. The Thorndon end cemetery is evidently to be on the Manawatu Railway line, and the expense of reaching it will probably render it much less in favour as a burial place than the cemetery at the other end of the town. It by no means follows that people will elect to be buried, or to bury their friends, in the nearest cemetery, if there are two. A person living this year at Te Aro, if he has a death in his family and acquires a cemetery site in the Te,Aro cemetery, may be living at Thorndon when the next death occurs in the family. In such a case the more distant cemetery would naturally be preferred. It would be decidedly better to concentrate our dead rather than have cemeteries scattered about in various directions. The Karori site under offer is sufficiently central to suit all parts of the city, and as it is in other reported on as suitable, it is much to be regretted that the Council has not settled the matter by its adoption. The expense of making a road from the Te Aro end of the city is not excessive, and even apart from the cemetery question, the road would be well worth the.£l2oo which it is estimated to cost. Even yet we hope the council will1 reconsider the matter." AGRICULTURAL SHOW. "A great deal of interest attaches to the first show of the Wellington Agricultural Society, because for the first time on a large scale the sheep and cattle and horses of Wairarapa will be shown against the sheep and cattle and horses of Manawatu, Rangitikei, and West Coast. The Hutt will be the common battle ground, and the utmost interest attaches to the display. Stuckey's Herefords cannot be beaten on the West Coast, and though Wairarapa Romney Marsh sheep are famous, it is most likely that they will find their equals in the.magnificent sheep of Messrs. Cobb, Bryant Bros., and Wheeler. . Mr. Wheeler's • Herefords, too, are quite in the front rank. People, too, like Messrs. Wilson of Whenuakura, and Hamilton, of Patea, can send Lincoln sheep which, if shown at the Wellington Metropolitan Show, will prove to be as good as any in all New Zealand." • ;. FEDERATION IN THE AIR. "Whether the remarks of MajorGeneral Edwards or the necessity for Federal Defence have incited it or not, we cannot undertake to say, but undoubtedly the cause of Federation has made a great stride within the last few weeks. A Federal Dominion of Australia, or perhaps even of Australasia, is now apparently within measurable distance. But there is wonderfully little community of thought or sentiment between the Australian colonies and New Zealand, and it is difficult to see what we would gain by more intimate association with our distant neighbours, while we might lose much. It will, therefore, probably be wise for this colony to sympathise with the development of aspirations towards national life in Australia, without seeking to identify ourselves with the movement or be included in it. Long ago, in other matters of even more moment, New Zealand adopted a policy of selfreliance, and we see no reason for departure from that policy."