FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Star, Issue 23094, 21 October 1938, Page 3

FIFTY YEARS AGO

FROi ’STAR' FILES

DUNEDIN'S NATURAL BEAUTIES. AMENITIES SOCIETY FORMED. A well-attended public meeting of persons desirous of conserving the natural beauties of Dunedin and its suburbs has formed itself into a society for the preservation of the city’s amenities. Although the object of the meeting was rather a new thing for Dunedin, in Edinburgh a similar association was formed 15 years ago, and its labours have had a wonderfully beneficial effect. It was not to be thought that this second Edinburgh was beyond the old city in natural beauty or offered less scope for the energies of such an association. The meeting approved that a society be formed, to be called “ The Dunedin and Suburban Reserves Conservation Society.” Officers elected were: —President, Mr G. Gray Russell; vice-president, Mr A. Wilson; committee —Messrs Dymock, T.. Brown, J. C. Thomson, J. H. Morrison, C. C. Kettle, Dr Stuart, Dr Hocken, Dr Colquhoun, A. Bathgate, D. White, A. S. Paterson, A. H. Shelton, H. J. Walter, T. R. Fisher, and W. Thomson, jun. [The name was later changed to the Dunedin Amenities Society.] ELECTRICITY TRANSPORTS NEW YORKERS. 9 Electricity, as applied to street surface cars, was put into practical operation.for the first time in New York on September 17 by the Fourth Avenue line. It was eminently successful. • « • • PUBLICITY FOR NEW ZEALAND. Steps are being taken by the Government to advertise the attractions to tourists afforded by the colony. Four maps have been prepared by the Survey Department, showing respectively the Thermal Springs district (North Island), the Mount Cook glacial region, the Lake Wakatipu and Clutha River system, and the West Coast Sounds, with Lakes Te Anau and Manapouri, and the routes to be followed in travelling in each place. Several thousand copies of each map will be published gratis and-will be. circulated through the medium of the Agent-General’s Department, Melbourne Exhibition, and shipping offices in various part of the world. • » • • GORDON OF KHARTUM. A statue to the memory of General Gordon lias been unveiled in Trafalgar Square, London,

COMMANDANT BOOTH’S VISIT. The visit to Dunedin of Commandant Booth, ode Of the sons of General Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, has been made the occasion of a special demonstration. Services were held at the Monument at 7 p.m., and the procession that half an hour later filed along Princes street towards the Barracks included a large muster of suburban and country representatives. Commandant Booth then addressed the gathering, delivering to it a message which his father had charged him to bring. FAMOUS ASTRONOMER’S DEATH. Yellow fever is ravaging Florida. Tile famous astronomer, R. A. Proctor, contracted it, and died on his return to New York. * * * * CIVIL WAR IN SAMOA. The opposing Samoan native armies are still in the field, and several skirmishes have taken place. Tamasese’s party is weakening, but the Germans are trying to embroil the new King Mataafa in a quarrel. Admiral Fairfax, with H.M.S. Calliope and Lizard, has arrived at Apia, and the English residents feel more secure. A contingent of Mataafa’s has been destroyed. • • • • TERRIBLE HURRICANE. Terrible destruction of life and property followed the hurricane which swept the island of Cuba last mouth. The total damage is estimated at 10,000,000 dollars, and over 900 persons lost their lives. Thousands of persons are homeless and perishing from hunger. The greatest damage caused was at Sagua and Isabella, where over 1,000 dwellings were destroyed. Here the sea rose 6ft, and many of those who escaped death from the flying timbers were drowned. A passenger train in Isabella, running 30 miles an hour, was caught by the wind. The rails were bent as if they were hairpins, and the train was thrown into a marsh, which completely covered it. A village called Puebla Nuevo, in the neighbourhood of Sagua, was literally obliterated. Not a vestige remains.