NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 208, 3 September 1929, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Power Board and Arapuni. In accordance with a suggestion made at last week's meeting of the Auckland Power Board, and, following a letter from the District Public Works Engineer at Hamilton, the board yesterday > afternoon decided to visit Arapuni next Thursday and return to Hamilton the same evening to confer with the Public Works representatives with regard to the early supply of power to the city from Arapuni. The board will return to Auckland B next day. Auckland's Largest Clock. Made of a slab of marble measuring 10ft by 7ft, the face of the clock of the new Civic Theatre is,the largest in Auckland. It measures about 20 square feet more than the dial of the Town Hall clock, which is Sft in diameter, being circus lar in shape. The dial was hoisted into position r yesterday. The clock will be electrically conB trolled by a master clock, of French manufacture, y which is accurate to within one second a day. - It is also electrically driven, and requires no 1 winding, beinsr run bv batteries. i . Native Diet. 3 A missionary in Ugi views with mingled feel- | ings his approaching return to New Zealand. "It's ten years since I was there/" he writes to a friend, 2 "and I want you to send me up an outfit of clothes [ so that I don't look too much like a woop-woop j when I arrive." Under the civilising influence the natives in the South-Western Pacific, where 5 the small island of Ugi is, have cultivated a taste i for meat and biscuits. One station placed an t order some months ago for 80001b of "cabin i bread," and another ordered 7cwt of preserved meats. Other articles in demand are rice and tobacco, Turkey twill for loin cloths, fish- , hooks, and a varied assortment of chemicals and provisions. i Earthquake Insurance. The president of the Wellington Chamber of • Commerce (Mr. E. Salmond) stated at a meeting | of the council of that body that he had discussed with the chairman of the Associated Insurance 1 Companies the question of earthquake insurance. i The insurance companies were meeting shortly . to consider the question. The proposal had been made that earthquake insurance should vary, as ; did fire insurance, according to the nature of the ■ building. Mr. Salmond remarked that this was . an important matter to the whole of New Zealand. and it would be well to wait before proceeding further, until the companies came to a decision on the matter. Enlarging Newton Post Office. Tenders arc now being called for additions and alterations at the Newton Post Office, for which a vote of £3500 was announced last March. The office serves one of the busiest shopping districts in Auckland, and the present small brick building at the corner of Karangahapc Road and Cobden Street has long been congested. It has not been enlarged since it was erected over 50 years ago. The new building of brick and concrete will lie two storeys high where it joins the old, the floor of which is to be remodelled. When the extensions are completed the post office will be improved out of all recognition, and should meet the requirements of the Karangahape Road business community for many years. Power Board Complimented. "I am examining things in Brisbane in comparison with tiiose in Auckland," says Auckland's late engineer, Mr. W. E. Bush, in the course of a letter to the chairman of the Auckland Power Board, "and I cannot help feeling that Auckland people have every reason to congratulate themselves on the wise and economical administration of public affairs and utilities which they have enjoyed in the past." Mr. Bush observed that Brisbane had a city electricity department, and ' also a city electric litrht company, and even though there was competition, apparently electricity is ! not retailed over there as the Auckland Power Board was able to do it. Loquacious Samoans. J Speaking at Saturday evening's annual re- | union of the Samoan Ex-Service men's Associa- ] tion, which was formed by members of the New ■, Zealand Expeditionary Forces who participated |, in the occupation of Samoa in 1014, Sir George l-| Richa/dson gave some idea of the Samoan people's j ] loquacity and love of speech-making. "Shortly , after I arrived in Samoa as Administrator, a , large number of natives gathered to welcome me." , said Sir George. "The spokesman was a notable c chief, and for upwards of a-quarter of an hour ] he spoke with barely a pause. I turned to an j official and inquired what he was talking about, j 'Nothing very much vet,' was the reply. 'He has only said, "Ladies and gentlemen.""' ( . ! Condemned Houses. 1 c The desirability of demolishing houses which £ are considered unfit for habitation is urged by i Mr. F. N. Bartram in a motion which he has g given notice to move at the next meeting of the ; i City Council, on September 19. He intends to ] ask the council to put unemployed men at work f on the demolition of those buildings which have c been condemned by the health authorities as unfit |"] for human habitation, and also to enforce their by-laws regarding the provision of sanitary con- \ veniences. Mr. Bartram also desires that the l Town Planning Committee should evolve a scheme for the elimination of slum areas, and that the g council should give precedence to any such works r ] suggested by the committee. "There are many houses in the city which have been condemned t for a. number of years, and it is time they were a pulled down," said Mr. Bartram in an interview, o

Unveiling of Cenotaph,

The Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association is appreciative of the efforts made by the War Memorial Museum Committee to ensure the erection of a permanent cenotaph. A decision was made at the last meeting of the executive of the association to thank the committee for its efforts. It is the desire of the association to have the ceremony in connection with the cenotaph performed after the opening of the museum, and that it should be a function for ex-servicemen. In asking the committee to arrange for the unveiling on a date other than that fixed for the opening of the museum, the association urged that the arrangements for the function should be left in its hands, with the co-operation of the Officer Commanding the Auckland Military District. A further request is made to the committee that, as far as possible, all museum appointments should be given to ex-servicemen. In view of the widespread unemployment in the city the association also decided to ask the Mayor (Mr. Geo. Baildon) not to declare a holiday for the opening of the museum.

Waterfront Road

Keen interest is being taken in the waterfront road by the public, probably because a s-ea-level road is a novelty to Auckland. People who know Wellington know liow pleasant it is to drive, or still more to walk, round Wellington's southern harbour shores, round Oriental Bay, Evans Bay, then over to Lvall Bay and round by Island Bay. When Auckland's road, from the end of*the eastern reclamation to St. Helier's Bay, is finished it will be the most popular motor run in Auckland. Work is going on very slowly at present. The macadam surface is completed from Campbell's Point to about the middle of Hobson Bay. It is to be noticed that King's Drive, which is the continuation of Quay Street, is concreted in side strips with a macadam strip in the middle for tram tracks, but the new waterfront road is bituminous macadam from kerb to kerb, suggesting that the city does not contemplate trams will ever run that way, but anyone who has studied these things abroad would he prepared to lay odds that "there will be a tram service to St. Helier's before many more Christmases. The concrete piles have been driven for the bridge hear Point Resolution, and preparations are being made for making the piles for the other bridge—near Okahau Point, or Orakei Point, as it is generally called. The road, except for the first macadamised part, is still in the round, and of course closed to traffic, but on fine Sundays scores of people travel over it —and all agree that it will be a delightful promenade when noLavl-sVM-"