NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 171, 16 April 1937, Page 13

NEWS IN BRIEF

Summer Time Ends Soon

The period of summer time which began on September 27 last year will end at 2 a.m. on Sunday, April 25, when clocks will require to be put back half an hour.

City Destructor to Come Down. A decision to demolish the city destructor at the end of six years and to clear up the Oriental Bay frontage to the corporation yard before the centennial exhibition, was made by the Wellington City Council last night. Noisy Milk Carts.

Complaints having been made about the noise caused by milk carts in the early morning, the Wellington City Council decided last night to obtain from England specifications and drawings of a milk delivery cart with roller bearings, rubber tires and band brakes. The question of using rubber-clad steel horse shoes is also to be investigated.

More Milk Sold. Milk sales by the Wellington City Corporation for March averaged 5746 gallons daily, 235 gallons above the figure for the same month last year, an increase of 4.26 per cent. By the same comparison the cream sales showed an increase of 17.8 per cent. The sales of milk to nearby farmers averaged 184 gallons daily, whereas for March last year they amounted to 157 gallons.

Export of Flax Plants Forbidden. An Order-in-Council gazetted yesterday prohibits the export of phorm-ium-tenax plants and seeds as from today, save with the consent of the Minister of Customs.

Buildings in Wellington. The annual report of the building inspector was presented to the Wellington City Council last night. For the year ended March 31, 1937, the number of permits issued totalled 1311. the value of the buildings being £916.397. The previous year 1161 permits were issued, and the value of the buildings involved was £719.655.

Mining Scholarships. A notice published in the Gazette revokes the existing provisions for scholarships tenable in the New Zealand School of Mines. The scholarships will now be of the annual value of £5O each to successful candidates who, while attending classes at the University of Otago, have to reside away from their homes, and of £3O to successful candidates who are able to reside at their homes while attending the university classes.

Opossum Revenue. Opossums are still a source of revenue to the Wellington City and Suburban Water Supply Board. The receipts in connection with opossum-trap-piijg on the board’s reserves for the year ended March 31 last were £99 15/-.

Sale of Raw Tobacco. A regulation gazetted yesterday prohibits the sale of raw tobacco at less than 1/2 a pound f.o.b. Motueka or Nelson in the case of tobacco grown in tfiie Nelson provincial district, and in the case of tobacco grown in any other district at less than 1/2 a pound, f.o.b. or f.o.r. at the port or railway station nearest to the place at which such tobacco is grown. It is provided that the Minister of Industries and Commerce may in any case where he considers it proper authorise the sale of tobacco at a price less than that fixed. The regulation will remain in force until March 31, 1938. „ Old Beach Revealed.

Excavations for the foundation of the addition to the Union Bank of Australia have reached a level some ten feet below the surface of Lambton Quay. All round the open cut can be traced the line of the old beach, some seven or eight feet below the street level, and on top of that the reclaimed land filling. Below the foot or two of beach sand and mud is rotten rock, which is being displaced with broadbladed pneumatic picks, which go through it like a knife through butter. This rotten rock, though not firm in texture, makes a solid bottom for building operations. As no great trouble Is being experienced with water it is anticipated that good progress will lie made with the foundations now that the site has been levelled. Lift for Carillon.

A recommendation made recently by the management committee of the Board of Trustees of the National War Memorial Carillon that a lift be installed in the carillon tower has been approved. The lift, which will be ordered at once, is estimated to cost £7OO. It will be shipped from England, free of charge and in addition there will be no landing fees. When it is installed, the chamber below the bells will probably be used as a war relic museum, and relics of general interest will be housed there.