WEST COAST NOTES

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20302, 30 July 1931, Page 6

WEST COAST NOTES

PERSONAL. (special to THE FBISS.I GREYMOUTH, July 29.. Mr Con Hall has been appointed by the Council of the New Zealand Rugby League to manage the South Island team which will play the North Island team at Auckland next month. Mrs S. Graham, of Kokatahi, left today on a visit to friends in Christchurch. Mrs G. R. Winchester, who has been spending a holiday in Greymouth, has returned to Christchurch. Mr W. J\ Butler left to-day from Hokitika for Wellington. Miss Doris McKay left to-day for Christchurch, where her parents are spending a few weeks. Mr David Stevenson, manager for Messrs John Burns and Co., Ltd., left yesterday on a visit to Christchurch. Miss Jessie Spiers arrived yesterday from "Christchurch on a visit to her parents at Kumara. Mr C. L. George, of Brightwater, Nelson, has taken over the position of manager of the Kumara Dairy Factory. Obituary. * Advice of the death at Auckland today of Mr Albert James Morton, formerly inspector of schools in Westland, has been received at Hokitika. He was inspector and secretary of the Westland Education Board until that body was merged into the Canterbury Education Board, when he was transferred to the* North Island. New Grandstand. The Westland Racing Club is proceeding with the re-erection of its grandstand, which was destroyed some months ago by fire. The refreshment room is to be restored and the ambulance room removed. Plans for the' new stand are on the lines of the grandstand at the Reefton course. As far as possible the new stand will bo erected in ferro-con-crete and will include, as before, quarters for the racing officials, Alexander Mines. Owing to the'heavy snowfall last Monday having brought many trees down on the road to the Alexander mines, and to the amount of snow lying about the mine was idle last week, it' being impossible to get provisions to the men there. Most of the men employed have returned temporarily to their homes in Reefton and Waiuta. Football Cup. Mr A. Nancekivell, of Hokitika, has presented - the Westland Rugby. SubUnion with a silver cup. It has been decided that the cup be played for" in a senior competition, and will be won twice in succession or thrice at intervals in order to become the property of any club. Bankruptcy. The meeting of creditors in the estate of Denis O'Callaghan, labourer, Tc Ringa, was held to-day in the office of tho Official Assignee, Mr A. Naylor. Four creditors were represented, bankrupt being represented by Mr T. F. • Brosnan. In his statement of assets and liabilities, he showed cash in hand £lO, liabilities £207 15s sd, deficiency £197,15s sd. He attributed hiß difficulties to having left work in the sawmills at Kotuku and Te Kinga to. go ' I '

sleeper getting, at which he had done no good. During a flood He lost £IOO worth of sleepers, and had also a lot condemned- When he found his posiiton drifting he called his creditors together and made an offer to pay £5 per month in redaction of his liabilities and under the arrangement paid £lO, but when he found, wages decreasing he was unable to keep up his payments. He had no offer to make. After he had been examined at length regarding his silver pine timber the meeting adjourned' sine die. Karamea River. Mr T. A. Johnston, District Engineer of Public Works, has returned from a visit to the Karamea district, where he has been inspecting the erosion to farm land by the Karamea Tiver, which is causing much damage since the heavy floods at Easter. Mr .Johnston stated that the satisfactory safeguarding land on the river banks will be costly, and in the meantime work must be confined to localities where protection is of vital importance. • Since the Easter floods the Buller County Council has carried out a large amount of restoration work on the Arapito, Umcre, and Oparara roads to ensure temporary access to all those localities. The port of Karamea has not worked since November last, a boat service being maintained to Little Wanganui, where works to obviate the shoaling of the wharf are well in hand. The main highway is in good ordeT throughout, though earthquake restoration work is being continued and will involve an expenditure of £30,000 during the next two years. Timber Industry. A new mill is in course of erection at Buru to take the place of the old mill at Bell Hill, Which will probably not be opened again. The present mill at Euru employed, at its peak, 110 men. To-day there are only 40 working there. In some quarters a slight improvement is looked for from- now on till Christmas in the timber export trade from the West Coast. With the possibility of a good butter season in Australia it is expected that there will be a stronger demand for white pine. At the annual meeting of the Westland Timber Workers'-Union the following were elected officers for the ensuing year:—President, Mr B. Topp; vice-president, Mr J. Doyle; secretary, and treasurer, Mr P. L. Turley. The meeting passed a resolution condemning the members of the Blackball Miners' Union who have seceded to join the Blackball tribute party. Otira Tunnel. The amount of freight railed through the Otira tunnel for the last week was 10,782 tons, compared with 15,713 tons in the corresponding period of 1930