Untitled

Evening Star, Issue 19781, 3 February 1928, Page 4

To-day is the anniversary of the landing at Falmouth in 1916 of the New Zealand Tunnelling Corps, under the late Captain (afterwards Major) Waters.

The question of appointing a dog tax collector again exercised the minds of the 'Peninsula County councillors at their meeting yesterday. It seems that the previous title holder, a giited gentleman who, according to one councillor, possessed the right temperament for collecting taxes and exterminating dogs, did not apply for a renewal of Ins appointment. When a successor was chosen from the names of those who had sent in .applications, Cr Miller moved as an amendment that the former collector be appointed. However, the chairman (Cr H. Macandrew) took a firm stand and declared it to be impossible to appoint a man who had not submitted his application, however efficient he might be. Cr Miller then* fore raised the qustion as to whether the procedure at the last meeting had been regular, for he maintained that Cr Irvine had put forward a motion in favor of reappointing the man then in power, and that it had not been put to the meeting. “I might have overlooked the matter at the last meeting,” said the chairman. “Cr Irvine was putting motion after motion, and there was so much small talk going on that it was difficult to know exactly what was happening.” Cr Miller then suggested that tho chairman knew very well that Cr Irvine had put such a motion. “I won’t take that from Cr Miller,” declared the chairman with considerable heat. Cr Malcolm saved the situation bp proposing that the next business be dealt with.

The' Public Works Department announces that a contract for, additions to Seacliff Mental Hospital has been let to the Love Construction Company, pt Wellington, correspondent.

Jlr E. H. Northcroft, the scientist employed by the Department of Scientific and 'lndustrial Research on the work of investigating Now Zealand wool fibres in order to obtain data for the improvement of the dominion wool clip, will visit Christchurch and Dunedin in older to confer with woolclassers (wires our Wellington correspondent). While in the south Mr Northcroft will collect for examination all kinds of wool fleeces to form the basis of his work in Wellington.

Lu connection with a three-days’ carnival which the St. Clair Improvement Society proposes to hold at the esplanade, St. Clair, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, February 16, 17, and 18, the General Committee will recommend to the City Council that vehicular traffic be excluded from the esplanade during the said days, and that the society be granted permission to take up a collection on the esplanade. The object of the carnival is to raise funds for the purpose of subsidising moneys that may be voted by the City Council for making improvements at St. Clair, and for increasing the attractions of the seafront for both residents and visitors.

An application has been received by the Reserves Committee from the Kaikorai Band for the exclusive use of the Botanic Gardens with the right to charge admission thereto on the afternoon and evening of Saturday, March (3, for the purpose of holding a monster garden fete in aid of the funds of the band. The matter is being further looked into, and will be Billy reported on to a meeting of the City Council on February 22. It has come to pass that the Domain Board, appointed at a public meeting at Tomahawk, will now take over the control of the reserves in that riding. At the meeting of the Peninsula County Council yesterday a letter was received from the secretary of the Tomahawk Ratepayers’ Association, who enclosed correspondence from the Government bearing on the subject. The letter stated that if the council wished to control these reserves the Domain Board would bo only too pleased to assist in every way. On the other hand, if the council did not desire to take the reins, the Government would hand the reserves over to the hoard. On the motion of Cr J. J. Malcolm, seconded by Cr R. Morrison, it was resolved that the Domain Board be allowed to assume control.

A letter has been received by the City Council’s Works Committee from the Green Island Borough Council asking the support of the City Council to a remit to the Municipal Conference proposing tiie law bo amended to enable the Main Highways Board to take over and be responsible for main highways in the dominion. In view of the fact that the proposal, if carried into effect, would transfer the control of the main road passing through the city to the Highways Board, the committee is unable to approve of the remit, and recommends, accordingly, that the Green Island Council be aefyised to that effect. St. Clair Beach attracted crowds of people who last evening sought to find some relief at the seaside from the heat. Hundreds of persons thronged the esplanade, many walked along the sand or on the lupins track that leads to St. Kilda, and from 5 o’clock onwards there was a large number in the water, bathers coming and going all the time. About half past seven a man got into difficulties in the water, cramp seizing him in the leg and rendering him fairly helpless. Fortunately, there were a number swimming near him, and these, including a young lady, helped to keep him up. The alarm was given and members of the St. Clair Live Saving Club were in action with their belt and reel in very fast time. Little difficulty was found in bringing in the man, who was little the worse forliis unpleasant experience. The obvious lesson is that persons subject to cramp should not go out beyond the breakers. A radio message received locally last night stated that at the wool sales at Melbourne competition was keen and bidding animated. Top prices were 313 d, Slid, Ski. That an application from Mrs M'George tbafi the now street through her subdivision in Mornington be named M'George avenue he acceded to will be the recommendation of the Works Committee to the City Council on Wednesday night. “I didn’t know pillion riding was not allowed. I’ve seen so many passengers being carried on motor cycles that I thought it was allowed!” said a young man who was charged at the Police Court to-day with pillion riding. Another pillion rider submitted as an excuse thrt he understood it was allowed so long as the cycliso took the back streets of the town. “There are no exemptions to the regulations,” drily commented the magistrate, as he inflicted a fine on the defendant.

Auckland City Council accepted the tender of the British lirrn, Candy, Filters, Ltd., of £33,379 for a filtration plant for the new Huia water supply. There were five tenders.—Press Association.

Applications for licenses and permits have been granted as follows by the General Committee of the City Council: —Eating-houses, 8; sale of ice cream, 13; hairdressers’ shops, 3; milk shop, 1; billiard rooms, 6; second-hand dealers, 7. One application for a taxidriver’s license and one application for a permit to hawk ice cream have been, declined.

Owing to the fact that, under now Government regulations under the Explosives and Dangerous Goods Amendment Act, 1920, tho registration and control of cinema operating boxes in motion picture theatres is now' taken out of the hands of tho local authority and vested in the chief inspector or dangerous goods in Wellington, the General Committee recommends to the City Council that a remit bo sent iorward for consideration at the next municipal conference to the effect that as tho licensing of motion picture theatres is a matter which directly concerns the local authority, the regulations be amended to provide, for local inspection and approval simultaneously with the annual inspection and up proval simultaneously with the annual inspection for the purpose of licensing the building as a whole. The chief immediate glory of the open-air display at the Dunedin Botanic Gardens is of rambler roses on tho pergolas. They make a gladdening sight. Tho beds of gladioli and antirrhinum are also worthy of close inspection, and nobody who visits the gardens just now is likely to overlook the begonia beds and tho wealth of beauty in tho borders devoted to hardy annuals. The “inside” specialty this month is the great show of begonias, the perfection of condition and quite wonderful as to color.

Very little if any of the wool offered at the Dunedin sales this week remains in the agents’ hands. It is estimated that 99 per cent, of the catalogued offerings found buyers, nearly all under the hammer, the rest privately and at once. Bradford bidding secured probably half the total offered. The demand from the Continent resulted in large parcels being destined for Antwerp or other distributing ports in Europe. The Americans took a rather larger lot than usual. Australia also competed, this being uncommon and very much like sending coals to Newcastle, but the mills on the other side of the Tasman Sea wanted our New Zealand wool, and would probably 'have taken more than they got if the price had been lower. Generally stated, it was a good sale, satisfying growers and agents and all concerned.

In reply to an application from the Brighton Domain Board for a grant from the City Council towards putting the Brighton Domain in order, the Finance Committee has replied that it is regretted tb"* i ia wnuest cannot be acceded to.

As under the Noxious Weeds Amendment Act, 1927, the control of noxious weeds within'the city area is now vested in the City Council, the General Committee recommends that the work be undertaken by the council’s sanitary inspectors, and that the sanitary inspectors (Ernest James King, Joseph Ernest Stifling Findon, Albert Langmuir Smyth, and Francis George Thomson) be appointed inspectors of noxious weeds for the city of Dunedin. Mr H. H. Henderson, city treasurer, says that the corporation renewal loan of £40,000 at 5j per cent, was fully subscribed on Wednesday of_ this week, the day it was offered. Sixty-six investors took the lot, an average of over £6OO per investor, and nearly all the subscriptions wei'e from private individuals, not companies. This sort of hives'ing is characteristic of Dunedin, where there are but few enormously wealthy men, but very many possess moderate capital. The treasurer has now si ailed to take money for the Waipori Falls loan, which has a currency of fifteen years at 5.}. About £3O,OuJ of that loan is required at present. Following that will ho the gasworks loan of £30,000. When the Otago Early Settlers’ Museum is reopened it will be found that tho portraits of pioneers, numbering many hundreds, are arranged in the chamber that was formerly the main art gallery, according to date of arrival, from 1840 onwards, so that visitors will have no trouble about finding anyone they are looking for. Mr W. Paterson and his helpers are taking gieat pains to complete the classification of the whole of tho exhibits.

Consideration has been given by tho Tramway Committee to an application from the Tainui Progress League for the inauguration of bus services from Tainui to Cargill’s Corner, and also to St. Clair. In the opinion of the committee there is not sufficient inducement offering in the locality for the running of a regular service, and, in addition, existing services would be seriously interfered with by the institution of cross services from Tainui to the points mentioned. A further suggestion that a bus service might he run from the Stock Exchange to Tainui during busy times is, in the opinion of the committee-, not advisable at the present time in view of the fact that tho existing ten-minnte service is meeting nil requirements. The railway tralfic at the Dunedin station is still very brisk, and will likely he so until the 11th inst., when the "exclusion return tickets expire. The H -34 through express to the north is every day a long train, evidently much preferred to the 8.40 train. Why this should he so is a mystery. The 8.40 is an originating train, therefore scrupulously clean, and it reaches Cnristchurch early enough to allow passengers by the ferry to get a wash and a comfortable tea and then board the steamer in peace before the rush from the second train.

That the tender of Messrs Niven and Co,, Ltd., as agents for John Grieve and Company, of Motherwell, Scotland, for the supply and delivery of a travelling crane with 28ft span for the new power station below the dam at Waipori be accepted, is the recommendation of the E.P. and L. Committee to the City Council. Twenty-four tenders were received for the plant, and the one recommended is the lowest when other factors in relation to suitability of design are taken into consideration. “Some of the papers here beginning to go seriously into the Scot-land-New Zealand Rugby football controversy,” writes “ Diogenes,” the Rugby writer of the Edinburgh ‘ Evening News ’ in a letter to a Dunedin resident, “ and already one feels that a better understanding prevails, the feeling being heightened by the allround success of the Waratahs’ match. Should the All Blacks (third edition) come to this country in the future we would need a still greater Murrayfield to hold the spectators who would wish to see them, and this ground can accommodate 70.000 at a pinch. Considering the cold weather at the time of the Waratahs’ game, and also the fact that it was the team’s fourth match in Scotland, an attendance of 50,000 was more than satisfactory.”

Reporting on the Conciliation Council dispute over the general laborers’ award, the Works Committee of the City Council states : —A complete agreement on all clauses except in respect of wages, was reached by the adoption by the union of the conditions of the. old agreement practically without alteration. On the subject of wages the union asked for Is lid per hour, representing an advance of Id on what is now paid. The matter of wages will now come before the Arbitration Court, where it is proposed that strong exception shall be taken to any increase over the present rate. Owing to the hot weather the city butcher shops are finding business very slack just now. Naturally, people are loth to eat hot foods under the present conditions, and for housewives to prepare it means a domestic grilling which nobody would willingly face. The fruit diet is extremely popular, and when meat is used at all it is generally of the cold variety, accompanied by liberal helpings of salad and tomatoes.

Recommendations for a new taxi stand in Water street will be made by the General Committee to the City Council on Wednesday night. The committee will recommend; —(a) That the stand for taxi cars heretofore appointed on the south side of Water street, and- thence extending in a southerly direction down Bond ttrecr abreast of the old Post Office building, be abolished; (b) that a stand for the use of motor cars licensed for tho purpose of plying for hire be appointed on the north side of Water street, such stand to commence at a point 30ft from the intersection of primes and Water streets, and extending in an easterly direction to within 30ft of the intersection of Water street and Bond street, thence continuing from a. point on the south side of Water street ,'Mlt fern the intersection of Hood street and Water street, and extending m an casteily direction to within 30ft of the inti rse'etion of Water street and Crawford street, all cars to face in a westerly direction and stand pa'dlel to the kerb. On the apolication of the Railway Department tfie city engineer has been authorised to undertake, at the cost of the department, the work of forming and constructing the new road through the Railway Department’s subdivision at Corstorphine, such work to include kerbing and channelling, mud tanks, and connection, footways, and construction of stormwater and foul sewers.

For spectacles that soothe the eyes consult W. V. Stunner, D. 5.0.1., G.A.aC., 2 Octagon. Our business exclusively optical.—[Advt.l