CITY AND SUBURBAN

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 56, 29 November 1929, Page 13

CITY AND SUBURBAN

HAPPENINGS IN AND ABOUT TOWN

A splint-maker has been appointed by the Wellington Hospital Board at a salary of £3OO a year.

Authority was given by the Hospital Board yesterday for the expenditure of £l5 from the Brown McWilliani fund for the purpose of providing extras for the patients at the Otaki Sanatorium during Christmas.

A notice in the Gazette declares the Hutt to be a separate fire district. The new’ area embraces some 155,000 acres, and takes in the Akatarawa, Eretonga. Paekakariki. Belmont, Rimutaka. Waiohine, Wairarapa, Pencarrow, and Onoke survey districts.

The Hospital Board yesterday decided that the members of the Tawa Flat Medical Association be called upon to pay at the rate of 4d. per head per week from January 1 to March 31, 1930, for the maintenance of members and families in the hospital, the position to be reviewed at the end of that period.

Mr. C. B. Robinson asked at the Hospital Board meeting yesterday if it was possible to get a reduction in the water charges from the City Council. The consumption for September was over two million gallons, for which the board whs paying £lO9/8/-. The chairman (Mr. C. M. Luke) said the City Council would not meet them as readily as’it did the Harbour Board, but the Hospital Board would see what could be done in the direction of securing a reduction.

Application has been made by the Wellington Hospital Board to the local Government Loans Board for authority to raise a loan of £21,000 for additions to the Ewart Hospital and the nurses’ home adjoining the hospital, and also to the Public Trustee for a loan of £21,000 for a term of 20 years, with a sinking fund of £3/0/6 per cent. A’ letter was reived by the board yesterday from ..i/. C. A. de V. Williams, Johnsonville, objecting to further loans being raised, saying the levies and fees collected should suffice to meet the needs of the board for the present, and for some years to come.

“I regret very much to have to report that the one tennis court adjacent to the speedway was littered with broken lemonade bottles and flasks containing a more “doubtful” liquid, after Saturday night’s dirt track racing. I need scarcely point out that this practice will damage the courts, and w’ill be a menace to the feet of tennis players.” This w’as the text of a letter written by the principal of the Rongotai Boys’ College (Mr. F. M. Renner) to the College Board of Governors, which met yesterday. Considerable amusement was caused when one member remarked that he did not see the need for the word “doubtful.” There was no doubt about the kind of liquor in the bottles if the labels were any criterion. The -board’s accountant referred the matter to Speedways, Ltd., who promised to attend to it at once.

Patricia Adams, a young child, of Main Road. Johnsonville, slipped down a bank at Johnsonville shortly before 6 pan. yesterday, and sustained a fracture of the left forearm. The Free Ambulance conveyed her to the Public Hospital.

The Red Cross Society is arranging for a garden fete in the hospital grounds on February 22. to raise funds for the installation of wireless equipment at the Victoria Hospital. The following will represent the Hospital Board on the committee: Mrs. Chapman, and Messrs. F. Bennett and J. H. Helliwell, and Mr. W. E. Labone, house steward.

John Kelly, alias Frederick Pratt, aged 29, who pleaded guilty before Mr. E. Page, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court, yesterday, to stealing a silk shirt and a pair of socks, valued at 18/6, the property of George Hay and another, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. Accused, who had a substantial list of previous convictions, stole the articles from fellow lodgers at the place where he was staying. He told the Court that he was under the influence of liquor when he committed the offence.

Mr. F. Bennett inquired at the meeting of the Hospital Board yesterday for the reason of the big increase in attendances in the outpatients’ department, which for the past month had been 4481 patients, against 2913 for the corresponding period last year. The chairman (Mr. C. M. Luke) said the improved facilities had brought more outpatients, and the department was . growing one. The whole question had been gone into when the scale of charges was revised.

Affiong the other road improvements in progress at the present time in Wellington City is the widening of the Pass of Branda. This cleft in the ridge that divides Seatoun from Breaker Bay has long been considered a rather dangerous section of road, particularly as it is only some twenty feet wide, whilst the rush of air through the Pass on a windy day is something to remember. The Pass is being widened by some ten feet, which will at least make it safer for motor traffic and pedestrians.

Though women and girls have for years past entered into men’s positions, some of the older school are apt, at times, to forget that a change has occurred. In the past, when matters became a trifle heated at board meetings and the like, the members were liable to give vent to their feelings in a very forcible manner. At a certain meeting in the city last night, matters became a little strained, and one member evidently unmindful of present times, started out with the traditional “Why the Devil .. ..” Suddenly he stopped short, for he had realised that one at least of those present belonged to the gentler sex. He then proceeded with his remarks in language more appropriate to his company.