"MOVING BAY."

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 29, 4 February 1910, Page 2

"MOVING BAY."

ROSENEATH REACHING OUT. THE COUNCIL IS MUCH REMINDED. V. Eoseneath does not make much uproar from the housetops, though its situation would lend itself nicely to such a method of attracting attention. Roseneath, appropriately enough, prefers to Work sub rosa, more or less, by deputation and by interviews with the people who matter. Hence the City Council, though not much noise has been made, has been forcibly reminded about the aims and aspirations of 'Roseneath, and there are men on that progressive spur who will continue to prick the consciences of the city elders, on and on, till the last lamp is lighted and the last tap on the last grade always produces water when the hopeful householder turns it on. Roseneath now has a school for about two hundred children. It has only one church (Anglican) so far, but the Presbyterians are preparing to build one. They have a site, and it is expected that a start will be made soon with the building. At present this denomination has services in the schoolroom. " ' WAITING FOR A STORAGE TANK. The lower part of Roseneath is connected with the Wainui water system, but these residents are served only after the "lower-levellers" have had their fill. The supply is apt to fail at any time during the day; the only sure time for a steady flow is at night. Higher up the humble tank has to serve all water purposes. The .people, however, have been promised a storage tank to be located on Mount Victoria. The little reseTvoir will gladden not only Roseneath, but- other lofty residents oa. the adjacent slopes. " Part of the loan for, the extension of the drainage system in the suburbs has been spent in the lowqr areas of Roseneath, but the upper part has not been touched. "Population not sufficient to warrant it," is the City Council's comment, but Roseneath thinks otherwise. "The population is growing, and the work will have to be done soon," states the secretary of the Roseneath Municipal Association. ( • MORE LIGHTING DESIRED. Roseneath expresses itself well pleased with the electric ' lighting dispensed by the City Council in certain portions of the suburb, but asks for more. The corporation has been Requested to continue the street lighting from the tram terminus around Point Jerningham into Evans Bay. The more" elevated uplanders ako guarantee a measure of custom for light and power, aj\d the authorities have undertaken to look into the business aspect of the proposal. FOR THE CHILDREN'S PLAY. The "long paddock" is the children's playground in Roseneath. True, the Town Belt is handy, but it offers no level epaues for certain well-liked games which -eed that commodity. Hence they have to make shift somehow with the roads. Adult Roseneath, sorry for itself and sorrier for the little ones, has extensively petitioned the City Council to form a recreation ground out of a portion of the Belt between Grass-street and the kerosene bond (which is a feature of the landscape disliked by the district). It is claimed that a very valuable transformation of the rather »ough country could be done a* comparatively small cost, and it is mentioned that the ex-Mayor (the Hon. T. W. Hislop) \va-~ strongly in favour of the proposal. The City Engineer was asked to report on it, but his multitudinous duties have not yet permitted him to complete that task: 1 DREAMS, OF' A TRAMWAY. Some years ago Rogencath people, at their own cost, had surveys made to determine the practicability of a new approach to the uplands. The idea was to construct a road across the face of the quarry (near the much-disliked kerosene bond), and bring it tip on to the main road, thus providing a convenient short cut. A deputation recommended t-he scheme to the council, but the engineer's opinion was against it. The residents suggested that when the corporation's men were removing rock from the quarry face they should get two birds with the one throw — the metal and a roadway cut out of the escarpment — and they regret that their wishes have not been, heeded. If this road was made, remarks the secretary, the tram could be brought up through Koseneath to connect with the Kilbirnie line. "We have no hope of getting the tram up unless this is done," he says- "The present main road is^too narrow, ,aud it cannot be sufficiently widened." EXTENDING THE PARADE. Another cherished hope is the exteiv sion of the marine parade as far as Point Jerningham. The present continuation, still in a rough state, goes only to the foot of Hay-street. Progress oh this work was interrupted for some months, but operations have been resumed. When the finishing touches have been applied there will be steps down to the beach and seate for the weary. Expectant Roseneath, eager for the further extension, points enthusiastically at Oriental Bay, as the people's walk, especially on week-end afternoons and at even-tide, just when the sun is going down, and after. The Municipal Association quotes a promise by Dr. Newman to "exploit Oriental Bay, as he considers that it has been very much neglected in the past." WILL THERE BE A RECLAMATION? Inhabitants of Oriental Bay regard the present parade extension as a sort of signed and sealed contract on the corporation's part that there will be no reclamation of the phallows there. A few years ago tne civic authorities secured power from Parliament to drive back the waves a few chains from the shore, but the proposal raised such a "southerly" of remonstrance and indignation that the council's intention was blown out to sea, for the present. "Hands off the beach, the pooi- man's beach," wsis the stern , order, and obedience followed, A few of 'the people — some still extant — did not extend to the foreshore that respect which they enjoined on the council. They hive partly assisted to substitute another reclamation for the one which they banned, by depositing all sorts of unsightly rubbish on the beach. People from other quarters have also helped in the desecration by surreptitiously unloading much-deceased fish and other noisome material on the muchabused strand.

The telephone is in constant use by , farmers pn some parts of Banks Peninsula. When Mr. Ell was holiday-mak-ing at Little Akaloa, he was informed that the private system which exists there is regarded as ' one of the indispensable conveniences of modern life. Short poles are used, says the Lyttelton Times, and each contributor is connected with the whole system and with the Little Akaloa post and telegraph office. The right to use the telegraph office for the despatch of telegrams sent over the telephone wire costs only £1 a year. For 9d connection can be made direct to the Christchurch exchange, and by that , means any contributor to the city system can be communicated with. There and thirteen farmers in the Little Akaloa lytlem; tad all of them m«k« a event deal of vie of it,