CITY AND SUBURBAN

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 225, 19 June 1929, Page 13

CITY AND SUBURBAN

HAPPENINGS IN AND ABOUT TOWN -

A party of representatives of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce and the Wellington Manufacturers’ Association is to-day to pay a visit to the Hutt Valley railway workshops.

A deputation from the Coach and Body Builders’ Association is to wait upon the Prime Minister to-day in reference to the Customs tariff.

Even business men get excited on some occasions. During the earthquake one rushed into the street shouting, “An earthquake! Women and children first.” He was followed by his staff of girl employees!

A correspondent draws attention to the way in which he says some tramway motormen try to beat the automatic signal lights when turning from Kent Terrace into Courtenay Place, and states that the tramway department should look into the matter before a serious accident occurs,

“Some of the cafes in the - city,” writes "Health,” “are placing cracked dishes on the tables with impunity. The earthquake cannot be blamed for this, and the sooner the Health Department looks into the matter the better, as cracked cups especially are well known f o carry and disease.”

Certainly the nerve of youth is strong—just as the Gypsy Moth was landing from south at the new Miramar airport yesterday afternoon, many children were observed to run forward to meet the machine, at considerable risk of being struck by the propeller.

Complaint that the Hutt River was making inroads into the land on the Belmont side and placing residences in Owen Street in danger, was made in a letter received at last night’s meeting of the Hutt River Board. Information was received from the board’s engineer, Mr. H. Sladden, that the position was being carefully watched.

A man who was in the city traffic office in Civic Chambers having his license renewed when the earthquake occurred on Monday morning, ran into the open without waiting to receive either his license or the £4 15s. change from a five pound note he had placed on the counter. However, he called in an hour later and collected both the license and the change.

Golfers on the Hutt Park course experienced a trying time on Sunday, A football match was in progress, and spectators continued to arrive in twos and threes. Despite the many stentorian “fores” howled at them by irate golfers the would-be spectators proceeded across the fairways unperturbed by the language hurled at them, and even an occasional knock from an almost spent ball.

The work of remodelling the Wellington Trotting Club’s racecourse at the Hutt Park is now well under way. The first grandstand is gradually taking shape, but the roof and supports are yet to be erected. The course itself is being shifted.

The manager of the Winter Show Association has written to the Manufacturers’ Association stating that sufficient fire extinguishers will be placed in the industrial section at th.e Winter Show, He regretted that they were not of New Zealand make, as he had in hand a sufficient quantity of a standard make.

Yesterday an enterprising motor cyclist discovered'a safe way of getting through the Hataitai tunnel. At the entrance on the eastern side he waited for a city-bound tram. Then with plenty of daring, but either in ignorance or great disregard of the by-laws, he rode a few feet behind the tram as it went through the hill. On the other side, however, a tramway official stepped out of the signal box!

♦“When you reach the wanted floor don’t forget to close the door’ is a sign given prominence in large letters in a city automatic lift,” writes “Tired of Walking.” “Whether it has the effect of getting passengers to close the door or not on alighting from the lift is not known, but at the same time the idea is a good one, and should be copied. To leave the door of an automatic lift open is only carelessness, and it would save a lot of time and bother ‘if you people closed the door at the wanted floor,’ and thus thought of others besides yourselves.”

A decree for restitution of conjugal rights tok be complied with within one month was made by Mr. Justice MacGregor in the Supreme Court yesterday against Eva Caroline. Scotson, on the petition of James Scotson, of Lower Hutt. The petitioner stated that he was married in November, 1923, and that his wife left him in October, 1928, and had refused to return. When respondent left petitioner he had two sons at home and she had a daughter, all being children from previous marriages. Respondent was allowed £2O costs.

The fund for boys’ work in the Rotary Club was enhanced yesterday as a result of the earthquake. Representatives of two building firms were fined for making excavations for so many buildings and causing the ’quake; an official of a certain bank was fined because the building did not fall down: the proprietor of another large struc-* ture thought it was worth 2s. fid. because rumour had proved a lying jade; and a local merchant paid up smilingly when the chairman remarked, “I hear some of your oats turned Quaker yesterday."

A serious accident was narrowly averted at the corner of Willis Street and Lambton Quay last evening, when a motorist who was turning into the Quay at a fair speed momentarily let go the steering wheel with his right hand to close one of the doors of the car which had come open. At the time the motorist was also changing gears and the car swung out across the road and x almost crashed into a Lyall Bay -tramcar which was juststopping opposite the Bank of New Zealand. For a second it looked as if an accident must happen, but the driver of the ear swung the vehicle quickly over to the left, and continued on down the Quay. Had any pedestrian or other traffic been in close vicinity at the time, however, the motorist would probably not have been so fortunate.

The report in yesterday’s issue concerning a deputation of property owners of Flagstaff Hill who waited on the Works Committee of the City Council inadvertently contained two errors. The Mr. J. Hardy there referred to should have read Mr. Stewart Hardy. The report states that “the property had been resumed hy the Crown," whereas Mr. Hardy stressed the point at the meeting that the land had never been granted, was still Crown land, and had not been resumed.

The Coach and Motor-Body Builders* Association is nominating Mr. D. H. Taylor as its representative on the Transport Board. >

It is stated that a death has occurred in the Wellington Fever Hospital from typhoid fever. The patient, who came from Lower Hutt, died yesterday morning.

“I like your country and I like your people, but I’m hanged if I like your ’quakes,” said Mr. Colquhoun, Parramatta, Australia, a visitor at the Rotary Club yesterday.

The annual meeting of the Wellington Rotary Club takes place next week, when Mr. J. M. A. Hott will be installed in the presidential chair in succession to Mr. D. J. McGowan.

A severe lacerated wound on the right foot was suffered by K. H. Downes, a carpenter, residing at 3 Park Avenue, Lower Hutt, who was injured in a collision between a motor-cycle and a motor-lorry at the corner of Daniell and Constable Streets early yesterday morning. Downes was attended to by the Free Ambulance and taken to the hospital.

An eleven-year-old girl, Isla Issel, who resides with her parents at Ngatoto Street, Ngaio, was knocked down by a motor-car , in Ngaio, yesterday morning, and suffered from injuries to her head and concussion. She was attended to by the Free Ambulance and taken to a doctor, and then to the hospital.

“The crossing at the Evans Bay slip is not lighted at night,” writes “Observant,” “and is very dangerous for v both motorists and pedestrians. As a matter of fact, the Evans Bay Road and the road around the Oriental Bay sea drive are. .very badly lighted, and pedestrians who use the roads constantly at night are in danger of being seriously injured.”

A machinist at the new railway workshops, Lower Hutt, L. Francis Foote, who resides at Silverstream, sustained injuries to his legs while working yesterday afternoon as the result of a steel plate falling on him. He was attended to by a doctor, and the Free Ambulance afterwards removed him to his home.

“I am rather tired (writes “HillTop") to learn from the Mayor that motor buses do not pay, and that the reason for not instituting new services js owing to the losses that are being made by the buses. Is not the reason why this is the case only too obvious? Would tramways pay if new sections were made to Roseneath and Melrose, or Highbury? Buses do not pay the City Corporation because they are placed on unpayable routes. Allow buses to run through the city to Lyall Bay and Island Bay (in competition with the trams) —that would be the real test. They pay-in London, New York and Sydney. Why not in Wellington? The habit of. the Mayor and Mr. Cable in saying that buses do not pay is misleading. They only do not pay on glaringly unpayable routes.”

At the Hataitai Municipal Electors’ Association meeting on Monday night, Mr. H. Lezard raised the question of charging for water by meters, and suggested that meters should be done away with. Mr. C. Mclntyre: “I think we should be wise to let sleeping dogs lie.” The matter was referred to the next meeting. Subsequently the election of delegates to the Civic League was considered, when four nominations, Messrs. Lezard, Smith, Gray and Mclntyre, were received. Mr. Mclntyre: “If Mr. Lezard goes there we shall be having meters in all our houses." Mr. W. A. J. Claris: “It strikes me we shall get water on the brain.'’ (Laughter.) Messrs. Gray and Smith were elected by ballot.

A proposal for the holding of commercial examinations under the auspices of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce was placed before a meeting of the council last night. The chairman (Mr. E. Salmond) said that all business men knew the difficulty they were sometimes confronted with when it came to employing typists. Some girls, he said, knew a little about bookkeeping and were able to write shorthand fairly well, but their grammar was bad. If examinations were held by the chamber then employers would know that a certain standard had been attained by those seeking work. “I think the scheme will be a success and that it will fill a long-felt want,” he added. The council approved of the proposal.

Mr. G. Sara, of Messrs. Cadbury?, New Zealand, was the speaker at the Rotary Club luncheon yesterday, his subject being “Bourneville," the South Coast resort and headquarters of the Cadbury firm whch he visited a few months ago. He spoke of the early struggles of George and Richard Cad•bury to establish the business in Birmingham, how through the instrumentality of George Cadbury the works were transferred” to the garden city of Bourneville; and the huge strides the factory had made in the last 30 years in buildings and machinery. In the same period the employees had in- ' creased from 200 to 11,000, the employees sharing in the administration through the Works Council elected by them. He referred to the exceptionally healthy conditions under which the employees worked, as proved by death, statistics, and the development of boys and girls, who were of a sturdier type in Bourneville than in Birmingham, both in respect of height and weight for age. He gave an interesting account of the social activities, and how schemes were devised to help those whose labour was displaced by laboursaving machinery.

The following extract from the New Zealand Times” of June 19, 1879—exactly 50 years ago—shows that property owners in the city then were just as dissatisfied with their land valuations as are the owners of 1929 who have just appealed to the Assessment Court “Very great surprise and considerable disgust is expressed by almost everyone on discovering what their properties are valued at for the purposes of the land tax (says the Wellington correspondent of the *Manawatu Herald"), and the objections will almost equal in nun 'er the valuations. Really the gentleman appointed to value' city properties seems to have had immense faith in the present and prospective prosperity of the place.” As events have shown, the “faith in the present and prospective prosperity” of Wellington has really borne fruit, and the" values of “city freehold to-day would probably stagger the valuer and owners of fifty yoara ago,