After-hours Telephone Wanted For Emergencies

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31345, 15 April 1967, Page 14

After-hours Telephone Wanted For Emergencies

An all-night telephone service for emergency use at Little River was needed, said Cr. T. F. Latham at yesterday’s meeting of the Wairewa County Council. The Little River exchange closed at midnight, and though the county foreman (Mr T. J. Stuart) had an allnight telephone connexion, that was not much use in accidents away from the township, he said. “As we have no policeman, we should be able to ring at any hour,” said Cr. Latham. “On Easter Monday at 2 a.m. trigger-happy blokes were firing rifles at Eastern Valley; but no-one was game to go out and find out what was happening.”

Cr. Latham said a woman living at Lake Forsyth was awakened at 1 a.m. by a man

who staggered, and demanded to be let in. She did not know whether he was drunk or injured. He wanted to be taken to a doctor. Mr Stuart said he bad had an early-morning report that a cattle beast had been shot on a road at Port Levy. It turned out that the beast bad been bought for pet food. Mr W. S. L. Mcßae said he thought there was an obligation on the Post Office to open for emergency calls. The Clerk (Mr W. F. Aydon) was asked to discuss the question with the Post Office.

Help Wanted

The council adopted a Catchment Board suggestion that it ask the National Roads Board, Post Office, Education Board and Little River Domain Board, as non-rateable bodies, to make grants to ease the burden on ratepayers of flood protection proposals at Little River. The board’s classifier (Mr A. C. Norton) told the council that £25,000 worth of nonrateable land in the area as against £68,000 worth of rateable land was a high proportion. With ordinary council rates added, the ratepayers, without relief, would be paying up to 3.45 d in the pound. The council agreed to make a grant to the Domain Board from county rates to enable the board to meet its share.