NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 90, 13 October 1937, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY

Hutt Road Widening. Support was given by the annual meeting of the Automobile Association (Wellington) last night to a recommendation to the executive, moved by Mr. R. L. Jones, in respect to the proposal to -widen the . bitumen surface along the Hutt Road) between Ngahauranga and the Petone railway crossing and urging the early completion of the work. Working Man Well Off. "The New Zealand working man does not know how well oft he is," said Mr. H. R. T. Spanjer,' who returned to New Zealand on Monday from a tour of Europe, to a "Post" reporter. "If he werc to make a trip Home and see the conditions of the workers there he would be glad to be in New Zeahnd." Mr. Spanjer said that the people te had told about the conditions in New Zealand had hardly thieved him. Wonderful Buildings. Although there is an air of tragedy about modern Vienna and the city seems to have lost its former gaiety, many wonderful buildings are being put up there now, says Mr. H. R- T„ Spanjer, who has just returned from abroad. Some of the huge dwelling houses being built by the municipal authorities are really splendid, and blocks of them are capable of housing 10,000 people. These people pay Vs 6d rent, which includes getting their washing done by a laundry situated in the building. Mangahao and Radio Sets. The retiring president of the Power , Boards and Supply Authorities Engineers' Association, Mr. W. A. Waters, took as the text of his address at the conclusion of the engineers' conference the amazing development of the electrical industry and its acceptance by the people of the world in so few years since it became a real force in everyday life and industry, and to point his argument used a striking New Zealand illustration. "Who would have thought when Mangahao was being built in 1922," he said, "that only fifteen years later, if all the radio sets now in New Zealand were tuned in for an important broadcast, the total power required for bjoadcasting and reception would be nearly equal to the full capacity of Mangahao?" Main Highways Repairs. The annual meeting of the Automobile Association (Wellington) last night passed as a recommendation to the executive, on the motion of Mr. R. L. Jones, that the Highways and Transport Board be requested to in* struct its officers in charge of road improvements (a) that when widening corners or any other part of a roadway, immediately a section is widened, the road surface affected be covered with a firm coating and surfacing completed promptly; (b) that where trucking lines are laid across a roadway for conveyance of spoil, the approaches to the lines be filled in with suitable material level with the lines to save the risk of skidding and accidents, also damage to tyres; and (c) that where disturbance to road surface occurs during widening operations, such as the Para Para Gorge, also the Taihape section, and other narrow highways, suitable outlets be provided to carry stormwater off the section of road during road improvements. Patrol Officers' Salute. One of the speakers at the annual meeting of the Automobile Association (Wellington) last night contended thai it would be a gracious act on the part of members were they to relieve the patrol officers of the association from the responsibility of saluting outside the city boundaries the drivers of cars with the association membership sticker on the windscreen. Mr. E. A. Batt, chairman of the executive, said that he, and he was sure no other member of the executive, would like to see the rule relaxed. The salute was an act of courtesy by the patrol officers—an acknowledgment that they jwere passing a member. It was no hardship to the patrol meri; they developed strong biceps. (Laughter.) Another member of the association suggested that some of the members had joined the association for the purpose of receiving the salute. A third member was quite definite; he said that he knew that was so in the case of some women members., A Chairman's Honorarium.' When it was moved at the annual meeting of the Automobile Association (Wellington) last night that an honorarium of one hundred guineas be paid to Mr. E. A. Batt for his services as chairman oi the executive in the past year, a member objected, saying that he took exception to the honorarium not on personal grounds, but on principle. He understood that no other motoring body in New Zealand made a similar grant. If the chairman was paid anything, he thought all the members of the committee should receive> sqmething. Supporting the motion, which was afterwards put to the meeting and carried without dissent, Mr. E. Palliser, a member of the executive, said that the granting of the honorarium might not be the policy of other associations, but Wellington motorists had an extraordinary association and an extraordinarily good chairman. He had never met Mr. Batt's equal as a chairman; he was the general manager of the association. If ever there was One who earned an honorarium, it was Mr. Batt. Crisis Still to Come. "There are days in which the Christian faith as embodied in the modern Church is being challenged to the core of its being; and many discerning minds believe that the real crisis has not yet fully come," stated the Rev. J. S. Murray, minister of the Kelburn Presbyterian Church, in a foreword to the report presented at the annual meeting of the congregation. He added that it was not at all certain that the Church as a whole was aware of the dangers that threatened or of what was required of her members. A lukewarm attachment to the Church was of no use, for what was needed to meet the situation was clear-sighted zeal and intelligent enthusiasm for all that the Church stood for. Confusing. Keep to the left and overtake on the right, is the accepted rule of the road for vehicular and pedestrian traffic alike, although in the case of pedestrians on the city pavements it is more often a case of go as you please and apologise when you bump into anybody. But in these days when stringent efforts are being made on all sides to educate people to a stricter observance of traffic rules, it seems a pity that the Railway Department should inculcate into passengers the exact opposite of ' the general rule. Loud-speakers at the new railway station now exhort passengers entering and leaving the station to keep to the right and not to the left. The lay-out of the station may make this desirable, .but it is confusing to the pedestrian who endeavours to conform on other occasions with the accepted practic*. |

Point Halswell Road. On the motion of Mr. R. L. Jones • the annual meeting of the Automobile Association (Wellington) decided, as a 1 recommendation to the executive, that, . owing to the popularity of the wateri front drive round the Miramar peninsula, the responsible authority be requested to seal the road around the Point Halswell route as quickly as possible, thereby removing the objectionable dust nuisance. Whale Near Nelson. A whale of considerable size was seen by two yachtsmen cruising in the bay in the vicinity of the Boulder Bank, Nelson. The monster was lying on the surface of the water, its whereabouts being revealed by a plume of spray as it ejected the moisture from its lungs. On the approach of the yacht, however, it raised its massive flukes into the air and /sank slowly into the depths. Though whales are commonly found in the Cook Strait area, they are rarely seen in Tasman Bay, especially in such close proximity to the shore. Price of Petrol. There was unanimous support for the following resolution, moved as a recommendation to the executive by Mr. R. L. Jones at the annual meeting last night of the Automobile Association (Wellington): "That this association, representing over 7500 members in Wellington-, respectfully requests the Government to reduce by at least 4id per gallon the tax on petrol; considers the existing tax unjust; and unanimously supports the motor unions in New Zealand in their endeavour to secure justice In this respect." Shortage of Typists. There is a great shortage of typists in London today, said Mr. H. R. T. Spanjer, who returned to Zealand this week from England and the Continent, tc a "Post" reporter, and an efficient girl has no trouble in getting a job at £3 a week. The, reasons for the shortage, he thought, were the great expansion of commercial activity and the fact that many men who had been affected by the slump were now better off and could afford to marry the girls. ••