Kaiapoi smells not all from factory

Press, 29 February 1984, Page 34

Kaiapoi smells not all from factory

A new factory at Kaiapoi had sometimes been wrongly blamed for a bad smell in the town, the Kaiapoi Borough Council was told on Monday. Although the factory had been closed for three weeks it was still blamed for “odours” in the borough. Two complaints had been received by the council while the factory had been closed, said the Mayor, Mr H. W. Cumberland. Cr M. 0. Cleland said that people had smelt “various things” and believed them to be coming from the factory but it was obvious “it had been given a bad name on many ocasions when it was not to blame.”

Cr P. I. Redmond said that he recently tried to track down a bad smell one evening and found that it was not coming from the factory. “When someone smells something, they automatically think it is "coming from that place,” he said. Mr Cumberland said that a meeting between the council and the principal of Protein Technology, Mr Peter Fraemohs, last week had been friendly.

Council staff had said they would help Mr Fraemohs with any problem and he had said he would try to prevent smells annoying people near the factory. The council wanted the

new business to stay in Kaiapoi, said Mr Cumberland. Legal action to close the factory had earlier been consiered by the council if the bad smells persisted. The council agreed on Monday to postpone any action until “everything had been sorted out.” Drain fence A move to fence off an open drain which has worried the parents of some schoolchildren was again defeated by the council. The Pines Beach Road walkway, which runs beside the stormwater drain, is used often by children attending Kaiapoi North school. The walkway is fenced off from the road but not from the drain. Some children had reportedly fallen into the drain. After considering a report on covering and fencing the drain, the works committee decided last week not to fence it. Cr Redmond moved on Monday to amend the committee’s decision. A fence was needed, he said. His motion was lost after brief discussion. Resignation The resignation of the council’s electrical engineer, Mr M. G. Ruddenklau, was “received with regret” by the staff committee.

Mr Ruddenklau, who has been the electrical engineer more than 20 years, will retire on April 30. Mr M. T. Trumper, the electrical inspector and Mr Ruddenklau’s deputy, will be appointed acting electrical engineer on a year’s trial. Mr C. Pullen will be appointed electrical inspector. Mr Ruddenklau said after the council meeting that he would work on a small farm near Motueka when he retired. During his time with the council he had supervised the work which placed 90 per cent of the borough’s electrical reticulation underground. The benefits of the low maintenance for the underground system had already begun to show in the tariffs, he said. Islands poll Nine out of 10 inhabitants on the Falkland Islands would leave if the islands passed over to Argentine control, according to an opinion poll in the “Daily Express” newspaper. Eight out of 10 would still leave if British Administration was continued under Argentine sovereignty, the survey said. But the poll also found that 58 per cent wanted economic and commercial links to be restored with Argentina.— London.