LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 5, 6 July 1923, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

_ Replying to a question in the House o: Representatives' yesterday, the Minister of Defence (the Hon. Sir R. Heaton Ehodes) stated that the price paid for the purchase oi (.he Sockburn Aerodrome was very satisfactory to the Government. The Minister paid a warm tribute to the enthusiastic work performed on behalf of aviation in New Zealand by the Hon. H. F. Wigram, who had enabled many young men to be trained as pilots. Rather more land than was required for an aerodrome had been purchased, but when some of this was disposed of for building purposes the actual cost to the Government would be reduced a good deal.

Community singing, community advertising, community cooking are all very well and popular; or otherwise, according to the- view .pf the singer, the'advertiser, or the man for whom the cooking ifrfr^p-f c£ mmu! l% S^ges the Wellington City Council does not altogether favour At any rate, it last" evening refund to sanction the erection of 'suth I fmrn ge €Ud °£ *Cowhai vo*<\> Kel-

ofFT,\. S°T "k 16 paS^ •the Commissioner of Taxes ha s been taking action against those, who have failed to return complet statements of land. One of these cases came_ before the Magistrate's Court this niorning, when Read aiid.Fenwi.ck, Ltd', 15, Quin street, were char«d with failure. It was pointed out that the failure to provide the return meant "a great deal of work for the Department. ' A hue of £2, with costs £1 8s was inflicted.

On ; the motion of the Rev. G V .Woodward, seconded by Mr. W 4 Andrews the following motion was adopted by the Anglican Synod last evening:—'"lhat this synod, believing that no system of education is complete which does not recognise religion as the most important factor in the making of character, calls upon church people to support church schools: and strongly rocompiends the clergy to avail themselves of the opportunities of entering State schools, where such permission can be obtained, for the purpose of giving relig ious instruction to the young."

At. the Anglican Synod last evening, the Bishop of Nelson, who is also chairman of the Ne\y Zealand Board of Missions,, stated .that the centenary of Archdeacon Henry Williams would be celebrated on 3rd August. The Rev. Henry Williams landed at the Bay of Isjantla with the Rev. Samuel Marsden on 3rd August, 1923. In order to express the heartfelt thanks of the New" Zealand Church for his great work, it had beon decided to establish a divinity schpolin the diocese of Dornakal, India, whose native bishop had recently visited this country. The school, which would cost some £2000, would be known as the Henry Williams Sqhqpl. An appeal would be made througlibut New Zealand for this sum, which the bishop did not consider a particularly large one. He hoptKl that by 3i'd Augutt the money would be in liaad.

The agreement between the City Council and Mr. J. C. Crawford as to the construction of the Breaker Bay road was formally • approved by the council last evening. The duplication o£ the Lyall Bay tram tracks between Onepu road and Salek street, at an approximate cost of £1350, was authorised by the City Council last evening. A wrong impression as to the number of seats the Orphans' Club was presenting to the city was corrected by Councillor W. H. Bennett, The club, he stated, was providing 78 seats for placing about the city. The Mayor, Mr. R. A. Wright, expressed the thanks of the council to the dub. A speeding-up of the Seatoim tramway service was advocated by Councillor A. W. Parto.-i at last-night's City Council meeting. N.h e trams, he said, were, supposed, according to schedule, to complete the journey to Seatoim in forty rr.mutes; on recently timing a trip he found that the car took fifty-one minutes en route. The Mayor promised that the matter would be looked into. Folk w,ho pass by the Kilbirnie tramway sheds, or barns, aa some call them are inclined to ihink that the City Council has looked ahead a. long way and has built for the future, but 'as a matter of fact the sheds are none too big, and last evening formal authority was given by the council for the acquisition under the Public Works Act of a. further portion ot land to allow of future extension of the sheds

A coal seam' 19 feet in depth was struck in the fourth bore-hole in the Dobson field on the 'Greymouth Harbour property last Thursday (states the Christ, church ';&un"). When coal was last struck in another bore about 2 000 COO tons were proved and this find se'eSis as though it will yield an equal quantity. Oreat praise i s due to; the Governmeirt borer (Mr. W. Warburton) and his staff tor the efficient way in which they have earned out the work.

When it became known that the Post and Telegraph Department intended laying a telephone cable between Ashburton nnd-Tinwald to replace the present ovwhetid wires (states the "Ashburton guardian ). the local Returned Soldiers' Association officials interested themselves in the way of gettine returned soldiers in the work eanjr. The result is that the gang is comprised almost' solely of returned men, at the time unemployed and the result of their work had so" far inlly justified their engagement.

" "Perhaps it is a pity that you did not take the offer." remarked the Mayor Mr. R. A. Wright, at the meeting' of the City Council last evening, when Councillor Mitchell reported that the Lower Hutt Borough Council had offered to subsidise Poppy Day moneys to the extent of 30s in the £. Mr." Mitchell replied that it was not possible' to place all returned men at Lower Hutt under the scheme the Hutt Council put forward for they had to consider where the men were and how they were situated. Mr. Mitchell expressed pleasure at the manner in which the Poppy Day funds were being expended.

Recommendations were made to the City Council last evening by the Finance and Property Committee in regard 'to extraordinary, water supply, the "suggestions made by the coniipittee beine that the present system of charging should continue in force except that ac-cQ-ints shall be rendered half-yearly, and that the minimum charge shall be half the annual water rate, the water rate to be set off against the half-year's ,:hargc only if the charge per 10CO gallons -exceeds the, minimum. It was also proposed that the rate per thousand feet Should be revised to'provide for differential charges in connection with the water supply by gravitation and by pumpiiT*

If we keep them playing it will be plays football w,U keep in better trim than the fellow who goes to pictures on baturclay afternoon," said the president °f 'he Canterbury llugby Union, Mr. S. V. Wilson, on Tuesday niijlit, when he was, asked if the school football competitions should be kept up during the influenza epidemic. The boys, he s^aid would go to the pictures if they did "not Riay football, and if they opened their lungs in the fresh air they would be jess liable to ' infection, (reports the Press ). Mr. R. h. North stated that very few of the boys would be-unable to play.

A question was asked by Councilor Forayth at the meeting, of the City Council last evening as to the reason for the late delivery of milk in some parts of trie city at present, although when the daylight delivery commenced the roundsmen called about midday.' Councillor VV. H. Bennett, chairman of the Milk Committee, said that that had been the result of roundsmen commencing their rounds from the other end, which decision had been arrived at for quite adequate reasons. Councillor Bennett mentioned the advisability of the placing of milk bottles at least two feet above the floor or ground level for sanitary reasons. It was not a sufficient precaution to place them merely on a, verandah or step. Councillor Bennett added that the department had done away with "dumps" in all but four places in (lie city, and that platforms v^e ,. e I|o%y p rov j,j e j} f pi . the boxes as they stood in the streets awaiting collection by the roundsmen.

A reassuring report in respect to the prevailing epidemic of' diphtheria in the city was made at last night's meeting of the City Council. The Health Committee reported, that it was keeping in couch with the officers of the council, and that it would calla special meeting of tho committee, if the necessity arose, to discuss special measures. "This outbreak." declared Councillor W. J. Gaudin, chairman of the committee, "is not in the nature o f an epidemic at all, and it does not by any means indicate that tlie city is dirty." He maintained that Wellington was still the' cleanest and healthiest town in the Dominion. The outbreak had occurred in Kilbirnie and dataitai, two of the cleanest and healthiest, suburbs. The usual precautions had been taken, but to a larger extent thanusual in order to prevent the trouble spreading. He quoted figures showing that the number of cases was decreasing, and added that he' did not. think there was any cause for alarm. Heavy seas experienced along the east, coast of the South Island'recently have been something phenomenal. At Timaru the seas have been running full and very heavy, «>nd the occupants of the Marine parade boat-house and tea rooms had an unenviable experience. The seas' broke °V with the top of the parade, and shattered and carried away all the anding- stages, and a grqat quantity of flooring from the cellar. At least "one pile was carried away, and tho house trembled so on its foundations that the occupants remained outside on the parade. Later they returned to the building, ihe floor, which is on a level with the surface of the parade, is wet with the rush of water. LuckUy no fishing boats were at sea at the time, as they would probably have fared very badly indeed. Three trawlers which returned on Wednesday caught only six'cases of fish between them. The captain of the Kurovy stated on arrival at Timaru that 10 ropes were required to hold the Kurow to the .Qamaru wharf. She was straining bard all the time, and smashed eight fenders to splinters. It was one continual heavy swell along the coast. The captain ascribes tho state of the sea to a great, storm in the offing. ' He states that the fleaa have not been so rough for many years. ' J

Wood-blocking in Customhouse quay is to be continuedto the south end of the .Customs Building, in order to improve tlie entrance to the Kerry

The proposal of the Taranaki Power Board to borrow £350.000 for the devfilopment of hydro-electric power up to two thousand horse-power to start with was carried yesterday by 640 vote E to IU4, says a Press Association message.

The inquests concerning the deaths of the babies found on the property of the late Daniel Richard .Cooper at Newlands were concluded by the Coroner after "The Post" went to press yesterday afternoon. An open verdict was returned in each case.

In view of the heavy excavation work which will have to be done in connection with the Wallace and John streets tram extension, the Tramways Committee of the City Council has advised that the work should not be carried further until the steam shovel ordered for the council is available, probably about the end of September. The proposal was approved by the council last evening.

Shelter sheds are shortly to be erected on the children's playground in front ot the Public Hospital by the City Council at a cost which the Finance and Property Committee recommends should not exceed £200. An instruction was given by the council last evening that the hngmeer's Department should at once proceed with the drawing-up of the necessary plans. ' '

Recently deputations from the Brooklyn School Committee, asking that swimming baths should be built at Brooklyn and the New Zealand Sports' Protection League, with reference to improved accommodation at the various city reserves, waited upon the Reserves rCommiettee of the City Council, but the reports of that committee were not ready for presentation at last evening's meeting of the council.

Credit was given to Councillor J. Burns by the -Mayor at last night's City Council meeting for having been instrumental iii acquiring on satisfactory terms cortain property at Ngaio upon, which to dump spoil excavated in the construction of the .Ngaio subway. Mr. Wright said he wished to publicly thank CcVincillor Bums for his good work. The purchase price, plus necessary legal expenses, etc., amounted to £475, which the council approved for payment.

The new pavilion for the Basin Reserve is so much the nearer for the adoption by the City Council of a, recommendation made, by the Reserves Committee: I:The City Engineer be instructed to prepare immediately plans and specifications on the basis'of the pavilion to ultimately cost £15,000, and x.O proceed with the work of the central portion to provide all the necessary accommodation at an estimated" cost of £10,000, . leaving the' extensions to be completed .... when the balance of the loan for this purpose is raised."

Attention was drawn by Councillor Chapman at last evening's'meeting of the City Council to the marked fallingofF in the number of animals slaughtered at the City Abattoirs during the past month, a decrease of 28 per cent., and he suggested that that' was due to the lack of adequate accommodation and the consequent refusal of butchers to send their beasts there, since they' were bruised and lost in value. He considered' that m the near future the council would be force*! to increase the accommodation in order to retain the patronage of the butchers. - -..■?>

Members of the Thorndon ■ branch of the Amalgamated Society - of' Railway Servants at their last meeting unanimously passed the following motion :— "That this branch 'is heartily in accord with the executive in petitioning Parliament for a permanent Grievance and Wages Board, realising that as far as getting redress from the management is concerned, the society has reached a dead ond. That from railway men's point of view, it is essential, if the unrest ajid dissatisfaction existing in their ranks is to be allayed., that soino new method will have to be adopted. This branch assures the executive of its utniost support in obtaining the board asked for, and whatever steps the executive take in obtaining same, will have the backing of this branch." i . '

Owners and proprietors of premises which harbour large numbers of rats will find it profitable to rid themselves of the pests, in view of a resolution passed by the City Council last night. It was decided that a. charge bq made of Is for every rat caught on business premises in the city by the Corporation ratcatcher. The chairman of the Health Committee, Councillor W. J. Gaudin, said it was only a fair thing to.make a charge; it would make the office of the rat-catcher practically self-supporting. During the first week after- his appointment the rat-catcher caught about 130 nits, but it was not likely that trappings would cont/imve at that rate. Councillor W, J. Aston suggested that restaurants and hotels should be compelled under the new health regulations to install verminproof' larders for -the protection of foodstuffs. Councillor C. H. Chapman supported the charge proposal. He pointed out that a few months ago the council was paying 11s for every rat that "was caught." "This idea," he said, "will let us off very lightly." • '

''I think this is a most vicious system,'' remarked tho Mayor at last night's _ City Council meeting, referring to the fact that certain Corporation custodians are supplied free of charge with light and heat for their cottages. The remark was provoked by a recommendation from the Reserves' Committee that the present arrangements with regard to the lighting and heating of custodians' cottages^ at the various' reserves should not be interfered witfu with two exceptions. _ Mr. -Wright said that the Finance Committee had suggested to the Reserves Committee that the salaries of the custodians should be increased, and that they should be charged for the power and alternating current they consumed He alleged that the suggestion had been ignored, a statement that was denied by % member of the Reserves 'Committee Councillor T.uckie said the committee found that a written agreement h--d been arrived at with the custodians Councillor Monteith protested aeainst any proposal to break the agreement, Councillor G. Mitchell warned the council against establishing a precedent which might be ( taken' advantage of by other Corporation employees. The tramwaymen would be approaching the council foi free tramway passes." An amendment that the clause be referred back to the council was defeated, and the recommendation was passed.