CITY AND SUBURBAN

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 288, 31 August 1929, Page 13

CITY AND SUBURBAN

HAPPENINGS IN AND ABOUT TOWN

New rails and sleepers are now being laid down at the Ngahauranga railway station, a large gang of men being employed.

More than one person in Wellington yesterday had occasion to think that spring was well on its way, for from now onwards for about six weeks to two months we are likely to get many sudden showers. Spring may be the season of brightness, but it is also the season of showery weather.

A decree nisi, on the ground of failure to comply with an order for the restitution of conjugal rights, was granted in the Supreme Court yesterday by Mr. Justice Smith, in the undefended divorce petition of John Henry Miles against Dorothy Maud Miles.

A storekeeper of Main Road, Porirua. P. J. Molloy, was admitted to the public hospital shortly after 7 p.m. yesterday suffering from a severe lacerated wound to the right eye. The injury was caused as the result of a light delivery van Molloy was driving going over a bank while rounding at corner at Porirua.

Forty artillery noncommissioned officers from all over New Zealand are at present undergoing a course of training at Trentham, which will be completed on Saturday next. During the past week 75 engineers’ officers and noncommissioned officers have been undergoing instruction, and will finish their course to-day.

Shortly after 1 o’clock on Thursday the City Fire Brigade received a call from Khandallah, where a motor truck was found blazing in an open thoroughfare. The fire is supposed to have been caused by the ignition of petrol vapour by an electric spark. The truck, which is owned by George Edward King, of Petone, was damaged by fire and water. ’ It is insured for £4OO in the Alliance Office.

The folly of boarding a tram whilst in motion was brought home to a mid-dle-aged man last night. The man, seeing his car turning from Lambton Quay to Willis Street, sprinted for it. Grasping a hand-rail, at the rear entrance, he prepared to jump on, when the rear part of the car swung around. The man immediately lost his balance, and fell in the middle of the tram track. Seeing an oncoming tram, he endeavoured to scramble away, but had it not been for the motorman’s prompt application of the brakes, the consequences might have been tragic.

“Put a penny in the slot,” “Try your weight.” These two slogans brought £7 18s. lOd. into the coffers of the Wellington Show Association during the year, according to the statement of accounts. The sum, by being £3 10s. 3d. greater than last year, shows that there were 843 more people at the Winter Show this year who were afraid that they were becoming fat. “Unfortunately,” says “Curious,” “no record is available of the weights registered, but it would be interesting to know just how many times the ‘weiglitees’ declared that the machine lied.”

One of the unnoted slips of last week occurred in the middle of the city. Overloaded with water, a large mass of earth fell off the face of the Wellington Terrace bank, at the rear of shop premises owned by Mr. Thomas Dwan, and occupied as a confectionery store and a Chinese laundry. The earth covered up the outhouses and damaged the back roof of the. laundry. The slip was of such dimensions that it has taken four men over a week io "et rid of the spoil. The breakaway at the top is only about’lo inches from the Terrace footpath, and it is probable that something will have to be done to strengthen the bank in order to save the footpath above.

“Dagonet” writes: “The Mayor has shown how it is possible to save the half a million sterling entailed m tirn scheme of a new water supply from the Hutt River. He has suggested, and with some enthusiasm, that the meter system might be introduced in respect to our water supply, and in that connection he declared it would actually pay the council to provide the meters. As the effect of householders having to pay for what they use would very likely decrease the daily consumption by half, Wellington’s present water supply might suffice for another quarter of a century. Metered water might not mean such a cleanly or healthy people, but it would at once dispose of the necessity of culverting the Hutt River.”

Extensive excavations are being done on the site of the old Albert Hotel, which is to give way to the more modern Majestic. On the Boulcott Street frontage, the excavation is about four feet in depth—a clean yellow clay, with an admixture of rotten rock. This part of the ground formerly formed part of the lawn which flanked the old Union Bank, the original building to occupy the section in the ’so’s.* This building was still preserved when the site was taken over for hotel purposes by the late Mr. John Plimmer, and it was he who added to it from time to time until the whole section was covered save the Boulcott Street entrance.

“As an example of grossly prejudiced writing, the letter of ‘Jasper’ in your ‘City and Suburban’ columns will take some beating,” writes “Cynic.” “The criticism at Roseneath was certainly not more painfully free than the special pleading of this all-knowing individual. Facts do not bother him when he writes that an ex-Mayor of the city in ponderous sarcasm doled out advice to the best Mayor the city has ever had. No such thing ever took place, as Mi. Laren, in speaking, neither tendered advice to the Mayor nor any other person. The Roseneath people know quite as well as ‘Jasper’ that it will require money to provide a new destructor That does not get over the fact of the present destructor and sheds being a hideous eyesore at the entrance to the city’s magnificent marine parade. Further, the matter of improvement in that quarter has been under consideration for so many years, and ■ nothing done, that anyone is justified in raising the matter in the plainest of language. With reference to the new conveniences at Clyde Quay, the structure may be the best in the woi Id in respect of internal construction and furnishing, but it is not what was wanted. There is no tramway or bus shelter shed: there is no shelter shed proper at all. It is not an island safety zone. As a waiting room for ladies it is far too open to the public gaze. The letter of ‘Jasper’ has one redeeming feature: there is a joke in it. He says, ‘Whichever way the wind is blowing there is always shelter bn the other side.’ As all sides are well on to the roadway, presumably the public can . keep dodging round.”

It is announced by the Defence authorities that the Wellington Garrison’s Regimental District rifle meeting will be held on Saturday, November 2.

William Williams, a schoolboy, of 9 The Parade, Island Bay, fractured his left ankle while skating at the Winter Show buildings yesterday afternoon. He was removed to the public hospital by the Free Ambulance.

The Miramar Progressive Association will hold a meeting at Miramar on Tuesday evening, and have invited the Mayor (Mr. G. A. Troup), Councillor R. Semple, M.P., and Councillor R. A. Wright to address the members on local and city matters.

Not onlv do we consume a great deal of canned fruit and vegetables from the United States, but that enterprising country even offers us its fresh fruits. There were on sale yesterday gorgeous “Blue Diamond” plums (each one wrapped separately) at Is. 4d. from California, and alongside them were grapes also from the “Golden State” at 2s. per lb. Other novelties on the market this week are green peas from Is. 4d. to Is. Sd. per lb. (retail), and hot-house tomatoes at 2s. 6d. per lb.

The boys in the Primary Schools Soccer teams who have just been playing in the tournament, were taken to the House of Representatives yesterday morning while the House was sitting. The Auckland boys were entertained to morning tea by the Auckland members. All the boys left by the 2 o’clock train for northern destinations. The Huia hockey team travelled on the same train "to Martou. They are playing at Wanganui to-day.

The musical judge at the competitions commended the audience yesterday for the clap of encouragement given to each of the competitors as they con-’ eluded their performances. He did not know if the children performed other than at the competitions every year, but he thought there were objects of charity which could be assisted by such performances by the children, and this would give them encouragement in their work. In England it was not common to see such a high standard of artistic colour and scena such as they had seen that afternoon outside professional vaudeville, and it was most creditable to New Zealand. When the pendulum swung back from the pictures and talkies he thought there would be plenty of scope for the talent which had been displayed there. It was desirable for the future of New Zealand that this young talent should be fostered and encouraged.

“There’s, a good deal of humbug talked in Wellington by people who say that it is getting increasingly difficult to secure parking space in town,” said a citizen yesterday who has more than a casual knowledge of the situation. “I imagined that there was keen need for parking accommodation in the centre of the city, so I secured a big yard, just off Manners Street, large enough to park eighty cars, and very handily situated to the main thoroughfares and theatres, and advertised the place fairly well, without receiving any satisfaction. I used to charge 6d. for an hour or so, ss. a week and 225. a month, but though I made it known to my friends and the public, I could not make a do of it, and had to chuck it up. I found that even my friends, on whom I relied for a certain patronage, would bring their cars down, and park on the narrow street outside my place, and leave then there all day, blocking the way. You would have thought that some of the business men in the vicinity would have taken advantage of the safety and convenient. of parking there, but there was nothing doing. I am satisfied there will never be any solution to the parking problem in Wellington until people are made to pay.”

He was perfectly sober, so one had to appear to believe him. What he said, in brief, was that a Wellington lady was on a recent stormy night aroused from sleep by the persistent ringing of her telephone bell —not the usual five seconds on and off, but a strange erratic, fitful performance. As it was very late, and a shrieking gale , was attempting to tear corners off the house, she allowed the bell to ring several times before she answered it. When she did (so it is related), she got a rather severe electric shock and smoke issued from the receiver. It appears that in the violence of the gale the telephone wire was making contact with a lighting wire, and each time as the wires met the telephone bell rang. The incident reminded the narrator of an electric accident which occurred when E. W. Mills and Co.’s warehouse was being erected. For the purpose of hauling spoil a horse was attached to “a whip”—a wire rope, which with the aid of a pulley, enabled the horse to pull up loads of spoil. One windy day a live electric wire fell across the wire rope, the invisible fluid ran along this excellent conductor and entered the horse. It did not drop dead. Oh, dear no! It simply stopped in its tracks, shut its eyes, and shivered. “Gee!” cried the man in charge, but Dobbin never “gee’d” an inch. The animal was simply paralysed, and when the reason for its strange behaviour was discovered and removed, it carried on as actively as ever. That was in the days of 105 voltage; what would happen now with our 230 voltage might be quite another story.