General News

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27367, 4 June 1954, Page 10

General News

Hotel Licensee Congratulated A hotel licensee, Mr David Rodgers, of the Ocean View Hotel, Governor’s Bay, was congratulated by the Lyttelton Licensing Committee yesterday on an unblemished record of 46 years as a publican. The chairman (Mr Rex C. Abernethy, S.M.). said that Mr Rodgers had been a hotelkeeper for 46 years and had never been convicted for a* breach of the Licensing Act, nor had any members of his staff. “In a world where none of us are particularly good,” he added, “that is a nice, clean record, and we congratulate Mr Rodgers on it.” Modern Fiction “I don’t like the quality of fiction that is being written these days,” said an English publisher, Mr J. H. Barrett, in an interview in Christchurch yesterday. Modern authors seemed to have lost the power or the will to write properly and the main part of their output consisted of ‘ ‘rather introspective, dirty-minded” material which did not interest him at all. Somerset Maugham was ‘‘still the master storyteller”; the book club of which he was managing director had gathered a selection of 90 of Maugham’s stories in two volumes and had discovered that the first printing of 100,000 copies was insufficient to meet the demand. Marking an Anniversary June 29, the day on which the Christchurch-Sydney air service would begin, was the third anniversary of the Christchurch-Melbourne service, and the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, which had taken a leading part in having Harewood declared- an international airport should have a representative at the welcoming ceremony, said Mr J. Roy Smith to a meeting of the council of the chamber last evening. “It may sound like ballyhoo, but it is good advertising,” said Mr Smith. Stock on Roads Further moves towards obtaining powers for local bodies to ban the driving of stock in urban streets are to be made by the Municipal Association of New Zealand. This was decided at a meeting of the association in Wellington on Wednesday. “It is now felt that a solution of the problem cannot be evaded any longer,” said the president (Mr H. H. Moss) yesterday. “The association is» renewing its representations to the Government and also bringing the matter before the Road Safety Council.”—(P.A.) Council Round £1 Table The new East Coast Bays Borough Council, near Auckland, met this week for the first time, round its own table —a second-hand article bought from an auction mart for £l. The centre leaf was missing and replaced with pine boards. The table is for temporary use until the council secures permanent accommodation. Historic City Block Not Sold “This is an historic occasion,” said Mr L. H. Pollock in his comments before the auction, in Wellington this week, of one of the original town acres drawn in London on July 29, 1839. “This is the first of these blocks ever to be sold in the history of Wellington. The land has been in family since Captain Edward Daniell bought it in the early days/’ The block has an 84-foot frontage on to Ghuznee street and a 132-foot frontage on to Willis street. The total area comprises just over three-quarters of an acre, the remaining land haying been sold privately some years ago. Fewer than 30 people attended the auction, and bidding was slow. Bidding for the block began at £12,500, rose to £15,000 with the second bid, and reached only £16,500. This price did not meet the reserve and the land was passed in. The Nelson Touch Paul Brickhill, author of “Reach for the Sky,” the book describing the exploits of Group Captain Douglas Bader, learnt in Hamilton more about the devotion in which the legless fighter ace was held. Mr J. G. West, formerly a squadron leader under Group Captain Bader and now an accountant in Hamilton, told Mr Brickhili that when Group Captain Bader was reported missing he and three other pilots were sent on a search. Over the English Channel they removed their radio headgear so that if there was a recall to base they would not hear It. Flats In Large Homes Householders with large homes only partly used are to be invited by the Whangarei Borough Council to subdivide into flats, and so ease the housing shortage. The council's move is commended by the Minister of Housing (Mr W. Sullivan) who says he is encouraging other local authorities to take similar action. Manpower for Building Industry The National Housing Council is to set up a committee to estimate the size or the balanced labour force required in the building industry to attain the target of 206.000 houses in 10 years „??,. co j inciI ’ s executive decided in Wellington yesterday that the committee would consist of a builder two sub-trade employers, and two ’subtrade employees. The chairman will ?«! h ?r C ?. m ?, ls S oner of Apprenticeship (Mr H. C. McQueen).—(P.A.) Australian Maori A leading Australian daily newspaper has turned a familiar Maori word into something like an aboriginal S’ o ™-. 1 ” a reference to the activities of the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company, Ltd., it speaks of “the Stateowned pine forests at Kiangaroo." than the Minister over the appalling toll of death and injury on the roads will wonder whether he realises the dangers of this apparently lighthearted approach to a serious problem. Traffic offences—especially the kinds of traffic offences with which the plain-clothes men are dealing—are not a game; they are potential acts of murder. The Minister admits in his latest statement, as departmental officials have admitted bn other occasions, that these are deliberate and flagrant breaches of the law, committed only when the offender is satisfied that no enforcement officer, with or without uniform, is about. There can no longer be any pretence that the offences are unpremeditated or unconscious, and that a friendly warning is all that is needed to make the offender permanently mend his ways. These offences—not technical breaches of the law, but serious acts of recklessness or negligence—are crimes against the law and the community; and the community has no protection against them unless would-be offenders can be deterred by the fear of detection and punishment. The Transport Department knows that the offences are not committed when there is a uniformed officer in sight. It now believes that fewer offences are committed because there is always a chance that an officer may be present, though not In uniform. But it also believes that offences are still being committed when the offender believes that he is not observed by either a uniformed inspector or an inspector in disguise. No-one can doubt that fewer would risk offending if they knew that detection meant not a roadside lecture but the thumping fine and suspension of licence that a court would likely impose. By all means let the hounds of the law use their ingenuity in their necessary work of making the roads safe; but take their muzzles off!