NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 118, 12 February 1941, Page 9

NEWS IN BRIEF

Town Clock’s Task

The owner of a Wellington city flat complained the other day that the striking of the town clock kept him awake till all hours if the morning. The clock always seemed to be chiming, he said. He may be interested to know tliat, reckoning the individual notes of each chime as a strike, the town clock strikes 1140 times every 24 hours, mid 416,100 times a year. Refiling Employees.

Retirements from the stuff of the Wellington city engineer’s department this year included Messrs. J. P. Reille, fan attendant, who joined the service iu August, 1913. and W. Bosher, yardman, who lias been with the City Corporation since 1921. More R.S.A. Members.

Membership of the Christchurch Returned Soldiers’ Association has increased by 38 from December 31 last to the beginning of this week. The Auckland centre had 4289 members, the Christchurch centre 3733, the Wellington centre 3548, and the Dunedin centre 2913 on December 31.

Evils of Vandalism. Reference to the prevalence of vandalism throughout the Dominion was made at Monday night’s meeting of the Lower Hutt City Council, when it was decided to urge'upon the Ministers of Education and Justice that educational and coercive methods be increased to check the widespread evils of vandalism. New Concert Company.

Mr. Oscar Natzke, the New Zealand basso, who took part in the Centennial Music Festival, together with Mr. Kenneth Neate, the young Australian tenor, are to tour New Zealand shortly as a concert team under the management of Mr. Dan O’Connor. The tour will open in Auckland on February 22, and a concert will be given in the Town Hall, Wellington, on March 15.

Splitting of CaiTots. Vegetable gardeners in Wellington have this season frequently complained about the splitting of carrots and are at a loss to understand the cause. This occurs when the ground is very fertile and wet weather is experienced, in summer and autumn. The growing portion of the carrot then enlarges rapidlv, and the surface, if it is not able to increase fast enough, splits. Once this occurs the rupture gradually extends. The trouble occurs chiefly when the roots are left in the ground after reaching maturity, and more especially when the weather ■is warm. The roots should be used up before reaching that stage, or, if they do reach it, they should be lifted and kept in a cool shed.

Road Designing. The redesigning of the roadway at the northern end of Kent and Cambridge Terraces will not be put in hand by the Wellington City Corporation before the new financial year. The plan, approved by the city council, consists of tire replacement of a large area of road space, at present scarcely used at all, by lawns and flower beds, to be shaped in conformity with the tramways tracks which traverse this area. It is also proposed to construct a raised platform on the northern side of the tramway tracks opposite the waiting shed, to facilitate the loading and unloading of cars at that busy junction. Coloured Crossing. As permanent crossing indicators the painted designs on roads at street intersections in Wellington have not been a success. The markings had an extremely limited life, particularly in the winter, when the rain and a certain wash of street dirt under traffic soon obliterated the design, leaving nothing but a blurred foundation which could not be seen 10 yards away. For this reason the city engineer, Mr. Luke, hit on the idea of crossings of brightlycoloured concrete. The experiments made in Willis Street and at the beginning of Customhouse Quay (across Willeston Street) were considered so satisfactory that permission was obtained to insert such crossings wherever it was considered expedient to do so. The latest one to be constructed is the 9ft. wide crossing on Wakefield Street on the western side of Lower Cuba Street. Here the colour ,is a bright buff (almost orange), with a four-inch border in white concrete. Tramway Servicemen. Tramwaymen who enlisted in the fighting forces and are now overseas have not been forgotten by their old comrades in Wellington. Parcels have been sent forward to them and they have been received with thankful appreciation. A letter recently received by Mr. A. A. Burns, secretary of the comforts committee, read: “It has been my pleasure since arriving in Egypt to receive much reading matter and a parcel from the committee. I am the only member of the tramways in this battalion, and come in contact with other members of the service only on rare occasions, but feel that I need not express for myself alone but for all the men serving in the forces, appreciation for your wonderful efforts on our behalf. We find encouragement iu the knowledge Jhtit you have not forgotten us, who are so far from homo.” After 40 Years. Commissioner J. Evan Smith, ot the Salvation Army, told Wellington Rotarians yesterday that he started life as a messenger boy at the head quarters of the Salvation Army in London, when he received 6/- a week and a uniform. A little later Lieut.Colonel W. A. Ebbs, now secretary of the army iu New Zealand, entered the service in the same manner, and they had been fast friends and intermittent correspondents ever since. Through uo conniving of their own, they had been once more brought together after 40 years, though their paths through life' had been as divergent as it was possible to imagine. Commissioner Smith said that one of Lieut.-Colouel Ebbs’s experiences while in Italy was an interview with tire man Mr. Winston Churchill had described in his speech of the day before as “that crafty, cold-blooded, black-hearted Italian Mussolini.” “Oliosasso.”

Lieut.-Colonel W. A. Ebbs, general secretary of the Salvation Army, related to members of the Wellington Rotary Club yesterday how he first came 'to hear of the Rotary movement. It was in a railway train in Italy, where a visitor from the United States became informative on the matter. In Italy there was a certain preparation of oil known as "oliosasso,” advertised everywhere. The visitor evidently mistook this word for the name of the station, turning it round on his tongue in between his bursts of information as to the wonder of the Rotary movement. The conversation continued for quite a time, and, as the visitor concluded another apostrophe on Rotary, be glanced out of the carriage window, and again read the word—"Oliosasso.” This so puzzled him that he exclaimed, with some indignation, “Gol darn it! Ain't we goiu’ anywhere?”