NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 98, 22 October 1938, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Porirua Guardhouse.

"I think that the fort as a historic site deserves to be preserved regardless of the Centennial celebrations," said Councillor R. L. Button at a meeting of the Hutt County Council yesterday afternoon when a proposal to preserve the old military guardhouse, near the mouth of the Porirua harbour as a Centennial memorial in the Wellington Province was being discussed. "I would; suggest," Councillor Button added, "that a symmetrical iron fence should be placed around the house and general repairs should be carried out to arrest the serious decay. The house could be rebuilt and a notice setting out its original purpose and use could be erected at a convenient spot. A subway going under the railway line from the main foad to give access to the 30-acre reserve surrounding the house should also be established." Housing Position Serious. "Reports have been made available during the year of some of the housing surveys in the larger cities," says the annual report of the Town Planning Institute of New Zealand. "The result of the surveys has been to throw the spotlight on to the serious position that exists today in housing conditions in the Dominion, particularly in the larger centres. Whilst the housing scheme of the Government has to a certain extent relieved the housing shortage, and the Government is to be congratulated on the type of houses constructed, yet so far little has been done to remedy the serious position revealed in the reports. It is hoped that in the very near future the Government, in' co-operation with 'the local bodies and private enterprise, will take this matter in hand as one of urgency, and that before our next report is written there will have been at least a start made in dealing with the position." Coats-of-Arms at Takahe. Five new coats-of-arms have now been added to the collection at the "Sign of the Takahe," on Cashmere Hills, states the "Press." These are the armorial bearings of Lord Galway, Lord Liverpool (a former GovernorGeneral), the Bowes-Lyon family (family of Queen Elizabeth), John Robert Godley (founder of Canterbury), and Lord Bledisloe (a former Governor-General). They have been carved in wood and painted in heraldic colours by members of the staff at the Takahe, and some of them have already been hung in the armorial room. A further coat-of-arms, that of Lord Nuffleld, is also being made, and will be added to the collection, which now totals about 90, at an early date. Mr. J. A. Thomson, who is in charge of the work, stated on Thursday that he had submitted a drawing of Lord Nuffield's arms to the Windsor Herald (Mr. Butler), who had made certain suggestions about the design. He expressed appreciation of the assistance given to him by Mr. Butler in his heraldic investigations.