CITY AND SUBURBAN

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 265, 5 August 1929, Page 13

CITY AND SUBURBAN

HAPPENINGS IN AND ABOUT TOWN

Inglewood Place has been made a one-way traffic thoroughfare for vehicles proceeding south.

In the Hutt Valley on Saturday the distant vista of the sun shining on the snow-clad Rimutakas silhouetted against the blue sky, made a remarkably fine scene.

The necessary formal resolution authorising the loan for the reconstruction of Kelburn viaduct was passed by the City Council at the meeting last week. It is expected that the work will commence shortly.

While playing football at the Lyall Bay grounds on Saturday, a clerk, L. R. Morris, who lives at 19 Barker Street, received injuries to his right leg. He was attended to by the Free Ambulance Service and then taken to the hospital.

His Excellency the Governor-General is to speak at the annual meeting of the St. John Ambulance Association to-night. The Mayor, Mr. G. A. Troup, will preside. Musical items will be given, and an address on the Free Ambulance work is to be given by Superintendent F. Rolfe.

In the month of June 6194 sheep, 1041 bullocks and cows, 599 lambs, 43 calves, and 136 pigs were slaughtered in the municipal abattoirs. The fees received, including the sale of offal and runners, cleaning tripe, and the sale of condemned meat, totalled £1059, an Increase of £lll over June, 1928, but a decrease of £157 on the preceding month.

During the last few days several new buses from the railway workshops at Petone have been put on the Hutt Road for the Lower Hutt-Wellington service. The finish of the buses and the quality of the workmanship generally has been a subject of much favourable comment from patrons of the service.

The St. John Ambulance Association (Wellington Centre) annual report states that the following members of the committee retire but are eligible for re-election: —Canon Sykes, Rev. J. R. Blanchard, Mrs. W. J. Orsboi’n, and Messrs. Falconer and Huggins. In addition there are two vacanies to be filled. Thanks are given to members of the medical profession, class secretaries, instructors, and demonstrators, for their untiring energies, and to the Press.

The city engineer has reported that the Taita Gorge Road, although not yet taken over by the City and Suburban Highways Board, is on next season's paving programme. It has suffered severely owing to slips in the recent heavy rains, and it is possible the programme for paving it may be adversely affected. The engineer hopes to be able to report more definitely at the next meeting of the board. Considerable difficulty was also experienced recently in keeping the Day’s Bay Road open.

At the Basin Reserve on Saturday there were sitting together five men whose interest in the game of Soccer extends over a long period of years, the majority of them in Wellington, while one or two had been great barrackers at Home for big professional clubs. Everyone owned up to having been a player or follower of the code for 45 years, and one of them, the president of the Wellington Association, Mr. J. J. Roberts, said he would admit 45 years, but would not own up to any more. A few more could safely be added. He is one of the best-known supporters of the code in Wellington.

A motor-car was chugging its way up the Mungaroa Hill road yesterday afternoon when the driver discovered that there was no water in the radiator. There was water in a stream nearby, but the motorist could find nothing in which to hold it. A passerby asked if he could assist, and duly provided the motorist with a tin of water. A lady passenger remarked that she didn’t know what was coming over New Zealand. “Once,” she said, “yon couldn’t go half a mile without coming across an empty benzine tin that would do to hold water in. Now you can go over the whole countryside and never see one!"

It is interesting to note the changes made at the City Council table in consequence of the last elections. Councillor W. H. Bennett has made a move up to the end of the horseshoe, to the seat vacated by Mr. Aston, and Councillor R. A. Wright, who at his first meeting occupied the seat vacated by Mr. J. Burns, transferred to Councillor W. H. Bennett’s old seat. The new councillor, Mr. W. J. Hildreth, then appropriated Mr. Burns’s seat, and Councillor G. Mitchell, in order to enable the three Labour members to sit together, changed over to the one which used to be occupied by Mr.' R. W. McVilly. Councillor Forsyth has settled down in the place he had when on the City Council three or four years ago. and which had been occupied by Sir. H. D. Bennett.

The fencing of the airport at Lyall Bay is to be completed at a total cost of £BOO.

The By-laws Committee of the City Council had a request for the refund of a fine and costs amounting to £6 11s. for a breach of the by-laws, but it was refused.

The list of accounts paid by the tramways department as reported to the last meeting of the City Council included £17,506 paid to the Government for the supply of current

Before Mr. E. Page, S.M m in the Magistrate's Court on Saturday, Daniel Burke, a labourer, aged 28, was fined £1 for using obscene language in a public street, and Michael Melville, a seaman, aged 60, was fined 10s., in default 48 hours’ imprisonment, for a second offence of drunkenness.

The list of correspondence at the City Council meeting included a letter from the Wellington Fire Board in respect to the advisability of compulsory installation of fire alarms in factories and business premises under certain conditions. No mention was made of it in committee reports, nor was it discussed in open council meeting.

An incised wound on his right knee was received by a motor mechanic, J. Thomas, on Saturday afternoon, through the motor-cycle he was riding coining into collision with a motor-van at the corner of Adelaide Road and Hare Street. Thomas, who also suffered from concussion and shock, was attended to by the Free Ambulance Service and then taken away to the hospital.

During the half-time spell of the senior football game played at the Petone Oval, much amusement is provided for spectators by a “ten-minute” match, the participants being thirty extremely small boys, known by the designation of “whippets.” These youngsters throw the ball around remarkably well, and despite the fact that they are barefooted, the ball is kicked in fine style.

A tram stopped at the junction of Willis and Mercer Streets on Saturday morning, and a party of about a dozen scouts with one or two scoutmasters began to alight All were off but three and the running-board was not clear when the conductor rang the the bell and the car moved off. A young scout, with his face to the rear of the car, jumped for It and promptly did a backward somersault in the road. The driver heard the shouts and promptly pulled up, and the remainder of the party was enabled to alight safely.

People often run the risk of accident unnecessarily, sometimes in a spirit of bravado or with the thought of letting other folk “see how cool I am.” A heavy lorry was turning into Mercer Street from Willis Street on Saturday morning as a smartly-dressed young worn n stepped three or four feet into the roadway. Hearing the horn she stood still, allowing the front portion of the lorry to pass within inches of her. The driver, however, had occasion to turn a little more sharply, with the result that the back wheels came in very much closer, and the near tire just grazed the toe of one of her patent shoes. The look of unconcern on her face disappeared quickly.

A popular recreation on these fine winter days is “taking the sun.” Lady motorists in particular have discovered that there are few more pleasant things on a clear sunshiny day than to park the car in the vicinity of Point Jerningham or Point Halswell, and there lounge back on the upholstered seats, and take in the glittering harbour scenes whilst enjoying the comforting warmth of their own improvised hothouses. On Saturday afternoon there were about fifteen cars parked on the sunny side of Point Halswell, and over twenty at Point Jerningham, indulging in this attractive form of mid-winter diversion. Some of the occupants content themselves with reading whilst baking; others play cards, bjit most just enjoy the sensation of ‘flockin’ lazy at the sea.”

The annual report of the Wellington Centre of the St. John Ambulance Association, to be presented at the annual meeting to-night, states that with the formation of a centre at Wanganui Wellington suffers a loss of territory. Good wishes are extended to the new centre, which already has 163 first-aid passes, and 20 home nursing passes. Wellington’s figures were 521, against 567 for the preceding year, which also included Wanganui. The men’s auxiliary had given 4152 hours’ service during the year, a fine record. A milestone in the history of the Wellington Association was the opening of the headquarters at Broadway Building. Courtenay Place, by His Excellency the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, where there is a lecture hall and quarters for the Nursing Guild of St. John. The street day realised £174, and a donation of £4B 9s. 7d. was received from the R.S.A. from the proceeds of Rose Day.