General News

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21970, 19 December 1936, Page 14

General News

Loud-speaker Control of Traffic To control the unusual volume of traffic—pedestrian, cycle, and motor-car—in the city during the Christmas period the Christchurch City Council traffic department will again make use of a loud-speaker car. After its successful experiment with a car fitted with a loudspeaker during November race week, the council decided to obtain equipment properly designed for this purpose, as used in other countries. This new equipment will not arrive for a month or two yet, so that for the Christmas period the traffic department will use a temporary device as before. The use of loudspeaker admonitions is expected to prove particularly useful in controlling pedestrians and cyclists, who constantly take little notice of the signals of officers on point duty, and in preventing cars from blocking traffic by pulling up beside lines of parked vehicles. The Harewood Aerodrome The tenders received by the Christchurch City Council for the construction of the Harewood aerodrome will be considered at the meeting of the council on Monday. Fifteen enquiries about the undertaking were received from contractors, but in the end only five of these actually tendered for the work. The works committee of the council, in whose report the matter will come up, dealt with the tenders at its meeting on Wednesday. Fishing for Week-end The secretary of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society has received the following reports on the fishing rivers:—Waimakariri, Rakaia, Ashley, Hurunui, and Selwyn: clear and in good condition for week-end fishing. An Offending Motorist's Courtesy A tribute to the courtesy of a motorist was paid by an inspector of the Main Highways Board in the Upper Hutt Court yesterday in a charge against Sir James Steele-Maitland of exceeding 30 miles an hour in the borough. The inspector said the defendant was followed at a speed between 50 and 55 miles an hour. The bitumen was wet at the time. The defendant admitted travelling at 50 miles an hour, and said he had come from England, had been in New Zealand only two months, and lived in Auckland. "We were in complete agreement about the speed and the locality, and he even suggested the place in Wellington where I could serve the summons, as he was leaving town," said the inspector. "It is refreshing to come across a motorist of this kind." The defendant, who did not appear, was fined £l.—Press Association. B Class Radio Stations The report of the assessors who were appointed by the Government to value B class broadcasting stations has been completed, and is now in the hands of the Government. The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage), who is also Minister in charge of Broadcasting, said yesterday that preparatory to the Government taking over stations, it would be necessary for negotiations to be entered into with the proprietors of the stations. "We desire to acquire the stations," said Mr Savage, "and those we cannot acquire will have to be subsidised."—Press Association. Regal Lilies at Gardens The main feature of the display at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens during the Christmas and New Year holiday period will be the regal lilies now in bloom at the back of the gardens in the azalea bed. In the rose garden the flowers are now coming out in the second bloom and are making a very fine show. Payment on Public Works "There are nearly 20,000 men in the employ of the Public Works Department in New Zealand to-day, and their average wage has been raised, since the present Government took control to 19s 7d a day, with a maximum of 35s in some cases," said the Minister for Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple), addressing a gathering of employees at the Ashley river protection works yesterday. Mr Semple said that when he took over control of the department it had 11,000 employees, whose wages ranged from 10s a week for the single relief worker, to 12s a day for the married man. In six months the national income had been increased by £12,000,000 a year. "We have to tell the tale of our stewardship to the people in two years' time," he added, "and we shall have to take the consequences. So you can be sure we are not going to be stampeded from the policy which we think is the right one for the welfare of the nation." Bridges in North Canterbury Advice has been received from the Hon. R. Semple (Minister for Public Works) that the Ashley river bridge will be open for traffic by Christmas, although the-work may not be finished. An attempt is also being made to have the Whistler bridge so far advanced that it can also be used by traffic by Christmas. Repairs to this bridge are a much larger job, and the river conditions may be a, deciding factor. Poaching Decreases A marked diminution in the poaching of fish and game in the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society's district during recent years is reported by the ranger to the society, Mr F. W. Pellett. Eigures supplied by Mr Pellett show that in 1931 fines amounting to £213 10s were imposed for offences, including the netting and shooting, snaring, spearing, and handcatching of trout, the shooting of game out of season, the use of torches in fishing on the Opihi river, and a number of minor offences. The latest reports, he said, disclosed a greatly reduced list of offences and poaching was virtually absent. He attributed the decrease to heavy penalties imposed by magistrates, and an increased vigilance by the rangers. Spoken Orders to Traffic Experiments were made yesterday by the traffic department of the Wellington City Council with a voice amplification system on a patrol car. By this means an inspector is able to instruct drivers while their cars are actually on the move. The tests were entirely successful, and although the apparatus is attached only for experimental purposes in the meantime it is anticipated that the system will be adopted permanently.—Press Association. A Productive Investment When a local body in North Canterbury placed a sum of about £6O on fixed deposit in 1882, members little imagined that a subsequent council would have the benefit of £470 from their action. In the last 50 years the principal has grown to eight times its original amount, until the body has now £470 at its disposal. The Rising Generation A Cromwell business man, who loses few opportunities to condemn what he terms the lack of modern education, tells, a story related by his own daughter, who has just secured her proficiency pass. The headmaster asked one of the pupils if he could repeat the alphabet, and the youth, also the possessor of a proficiency pass, frankly admitted that he did not know it. "That explains," said the business man, "the total inability of the rising generation to file correspondence correctly, and why so frequently of late I have been unable to locate the urgently-wanted letter. I have discovered that my office girl,"though possessed of a high school education, does not know the alphabet." Youth and Money "If a young man gets a sum of £2OO at the age of 21 it may all be gone before he is 22," said Mr Justice Fair in the Auckland Supreme Court, when approving the present tendency to postpone to a later age than 21 bequests of money. The case was one dealing with the inheritance of two sons from their mother's estate. Counsel suggested that they receive their share on reaching the age of 25, and this proposal was adopted by his Honour, who remarked that that seemed to be the age when the money would be of most use to them. Adult Art Training The annual art exhibition of the Auckland Workers' Educational Association drew warm praise from the Minister for Education, the Hon. P. Fraser, when he visited it. The Minister said he was much impressed by the quality of the students' work. It was obvious that this part of the association's activities tapped a reservoir of artistic ability which otherwise would have no outlet. The exhibition added another to the many proofs that adult education was of real value to the community.