Untitled

Evening Star, Issue 22593, 10 March 1937, Page 8

The Main Highways Board has a big programme in hand, and its present tour of inspection has been carefully planned so that every minute is accounted fori When the board arrived at Clyde 'at the appointed minute the members of the Vincent County Council were somewhat perplexed that their chairman was not there, but he phoned from Cromwell to say he would be late. “ We are due in Cromwell at 10.30,” said the deputy-chairman of the board, “ and Mr Ritchie, your chairman, can see us there; so in the meantime tell us what you want us to know, for we have a busy programme.” The county chairman had time in Cromwell to reflect Diat there was more than “ time and tide ” that waited for no man. Under the placement scheme of the Labour Department, work has been found for 2,931 men since its inception in May of last year. Of that number, 1,678 were placed in permanent work, 761 in temporary positions, and 492 in casual work. During the week ended last Saturday. 75 men were placed in work in Dunedin, and 1,020 throughout the Dominion. The danger to motorists driving even at a moderate speed at corners from large mobs of stock on the country roads was stressed by the secretary of the Automobile Association (Otago) in a report to the executive last night. He suggested that a man should walk in front of each mob to warn oncoming traffic, and the association decided to have the proposal discussed in official circles. At the monthly meeting of the Mosgicl District High School Committee' the rector reported that the school reopened with 306 pupils in the primary ami 82 in the secondary departments. He recommended that the prizes be distributed next Friday afternoon, and the postponed annual concert bo held after Easter. This, was agreed to. It was, decided to support the scheme of daily milk distribution to children, and to co-operate with the authorities in making it a success. The sum of £1 was voted to the Ex-pupils’ Association for prizes for children at the picnic on Easter Monday. The janitor’s fee was raised to £IOO per year. The need for the immediate erection of additional out-offices for the secondary pupils was mentioned, and it was decided to urge the hoard to have this attended to immediatclv.

The cruiser Achilles, from Picton. called at Auckland this morning and lauded a rating, Alexander Churchill, suffering from appendicitis, who was sent to the hospital. His condition is fairly serious. The Achilles then resumed its cruise to the Bay of Islands. —Press Association. The . showroom of the Broadway Motor Cycle Company, in Khyber Pass, was entered by burglars last night. They prised open the window of the manager’s office and, finding a key in the general office drawer, opened the safe and stole £lo.—Auckland Press Association. In an outspoken reply to the plea of a deputation representing the North Shore boroughs for the harbour bridge to be undertaken by the Government as a national work Mr Savage demanded that it should first prove to the Government that the people wanted the bridge. “ I can’t see any violent enthusiasm at all,” added the Prime Minister. On his return to Wellington he intended getting the Treasury to analyse some of the figures that “ had been spilled about for years. I have occasion to believe that these will be very different from what we have seen in circulars of recent years.” When convinced that there was a demand for the bridge from Auckland, then they would consider tackling the job.—Auckland Press Association. A novel case was before the magistrate, Mr Freeman, at Invercargill today, when Percy Denton, of Bluff, a baker, pleaded guilty to three breaches of the Board of Trade regulations regarding the price of bread, which he had been selling delivered at over-the-counter price. Counsel said previous to the regulations there had been cutthroat competition, which had enabled employers to pay very low wages. Defendant had defied the regulations from the start. Denton was fined £5 and costs.—Press Association. Probate was granted by His Honour Mr Justice Kennedy in the estates of Jane Ethel Roberts, spinster, Oaraaru; and Joseph Crane, farmer, Waitahuna. “ In view of the magnitude of the housing scheme launched by the Government, and especially the absence of constructive information when we came into office, I think wo can now claim that idleness has not been part of the Government’s bousing policy,” said the Hon. W. E. Parry (Minister for Internal Affairs), speaking at the Municipal Association Conference at Timaru last evening. “ Let me emphasise that the Government, working in co-operation with the local bodies, will not he content until every family and every person in this fair Dominion of ours has a proper and comfortable home to live in,” he said. The old argument as to the boundary between Otago and Southland has apparently not been settled to the satisfaction of the automobile associations in these two districts, as the secretary reported to the Otago executive last night that the Southland association had erected a number of signs on territory definitely within the Otago boundary. He explained that the Southland county boundary is two miles from Willow Bank and thenre to the north side of Waikaka, making the Waikaka Stream a natural boundary. Asked whether Coronation Day would be observed as a public holiday, the Prime Minister (Mr Savage) said the Government had not considered the matter yet, but he thought that a holiday would probably he observed. “It seems a fair thing,” he added. He did not expect to be unduly delayed in his visit overseas. He would probably be back in New Zealand early in July, and the session of Parliament would begin about the middle of August. Complaints having been received, the secretary of the Automobile Association (Otago) has inspected the road from Portobello to Harrington Point, and reported to the executive last night that it is in a bad state. The road carries considerable traffic, as only .approximately one and a-half miles were not a highway. A probable way to ensure direct attention to that section would be to ask that it be declared a highway. The association decided to make the request to the Main Highways Board. ■ “ We have been voted £3,000,000 for the construction and reconstruction of main highways,” said Mr Baker, de-puty-chairman of tho Main Highways Board, to a meeting of the Cromwell Borough Council on Monday morning, “and wo are getting on with,the job of spending it. We are glad to have your opinion that the money is being well spent in the Cromwell-Clyde Gorge.”

■‘The City Council is taking longer to widen the Anzac Highway bridge over tho Leith than it took to build it,” remarked Mr G. W. Sundstrum at last night’s meeting of the Automobile Association (Otago). He said the deviation was causing inconvenience to frequent users of the highway between Port Chalmers and Dunedin, and, on his suggestion the association decided to ask the City Council to expedite the completion of the structural work. An appeal case, which was stated by counsel to be of great importance to the farming community, was heard in the Supreme Court yesterday, by His Honour, Mr Justice Kennedy. The appeal was made by Archibald W, Douglass against the decision of Mr H. W. Bundle S.M., in a case heard in the Magistrate’s Court at Polmerston. Damages were awarded to William Ritchie for the loss of a mare alleged to have been injured, as a consequence of the negligence of a groom, by a stallion owned by Douglass. Mr A. N. Haggit appeared for the appellant, and Mr I. B. Stevenson for the respondent. It was contended by the appellant that the decision of the magistrate was wrong in law and that there was no evidence of negligence on the part of the groom. After hearing lengthy legal argument His Honour reserved his decision. From “ M.C.” comes 5s for the S.P.C.A. fund, promoted in the interests of sheep dogs.

Eye strain —for eye comfort, for belter vision, consult Stunner and Watson Ltd., opticians, 2 Octagon, Dunedin.—[Advt.J