FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Star, Issue 22684, 25 June 1937, Page 2

FIFTY YEARS AGO

FRBM ‘STAR' FILES The celebrations in connection with Queen Victoria’s Jubilee were carried out on a major scale in London. The Queen _ left Buckingham Palace for Westminster at 11 a.m., escorted by a, cavalcade of British and other princes. The enthusiasm of the people along the route was boundless, while the Jubilee was celebrated throughout the provinces with great joy. The ceremony at Westminster Abbey lasted about an hour. The Dunedin celebrations were marred by very cold and wet weather. The volunteers turned out in full dress in the morning, their strength being between 500 qnd 000. They marched to the area that is now Jubilee Park, where a commemorative oak was planted by the mayor. The park was later dedicated as a reserve. The town was illuminated at night, and there was a large fireworks display. Services were held in various city churches. * * * * Mr Thomas Bracken has felt compelled definitely to abandon the idea of seeking re-election for Dunedin Central. Rugby football matches played during the week resulted: Pirates, one try, Kaikorai 0; Montecillo and Union no score; Otago University one try, Canterbury College 0. * *• 4 # * The typhoid fever epidemic still continues in Melbourne, no fewer than 41 cases, of which six were fatal, having been reported to the Central Board of Health during last week, making a total of 1,704 cases reported, and 386 deaths this year-. « * • « Mr J. C. Norman has resigned his position as organist of St. Paul’s ProCathedral, and Miss Jennie West has been appointed in his place. Mr A. H. Norman will continue to act as choirmaster. * * * • The general election campaign has begun. About 100 of Mr (Sir) James Allen’s friends and supporters met at his house to do all in their power to secure his return. Mr William Owen was appointed general chairman of committee, and Mr J. C. Morris honorary secretary. Sub-committees were formed, and in active systematic canvass agreed on. Mr G. F. Richardson, M.H.R. for Mataura, who was present, expressed his sympathy with Mr Allen’s candidature. Mr Allen is opposthe Premier (Sir Robert Stout). * ♦ * * The Sultan of Turkey has ceded tha island of Cyprus formally to England. • « ♦ * Official accounts have reached Washington detailing a great cave in at the Panama Canal works. The slip was caused by underground currents of water which had been disturbed and diverted by the canal excavation. The work now stands about where it did before a spadeful of material was removed. The cut is filled in solidly for a long distance with earth and rock; the latter in great masses. Tho engineers are preparing to begin work on the Culebra cut, which it is calculated cannot be accomplished in less than six years. Mr Nelson Boyd, an English engineer, concludes an article on the canal as follows: —“ The impression made upon my mind by a visit to tho Canal is a sad one. It seems/ as if Lesseps’s success was to be tarnished by a failure at Panama, and a brilliant reputation, earned in the East, !ost in the West. The Suez Canal has >een followed too closely, for this work should have been constructed under very different circumstances. The difficulties were underrated by the early, surveyors and the rate of wages miscalculated. Now there is uncertainty and hesitation about the plans to be adopted, and a tardy striving after economy.” • ♦ * • The Wingatui viaduct, claimed to bo the largest in New Zealand, and probably in the Southern Hemisphere, was officially opened by Mr W. N. Blair (engineer of the _ Middle Island > Railways), accompanied by tho District Engineer (Mr U.ssher), the resident engineer (Mr Cook), and Mr Low, of the Railway Department. The bridge was tested with the heaviest engines in every possible way—standing and running—with the most satisfactory results. The necessary material was wholly manufactured in Dunedin or on the ground—even rto the bolts and rivets.