INVERCARGILL NOTES.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3614, 18 November 1924, Page 3

INVERCARGILL NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Tine Royal Railway Commission consisting- of Sir Sam Pay and Sir Vincent Raven, which has been inspecting" the New Zealand railway system for the, purpose of (reporting- to the New Zealand Government was in Southland recently and spent some days inspecting the branch lines. During their visit they were ed 1 by the chairman (Mr A. le Hoyles) and Mr W. A. Gow of the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce, who stressed Invercargill’s need for an all-the-ye,ad-round mid-day service between Dunedin and this town. It was reported at a meeting of the Chamber recently that, the Commissioners promised to look into tiiis> matter thoroughly and’ to makei a recommendation to the Government that the service should be re-started 1 if they considered it advisable. Mr J. AV. Smith of the firm of H. and 1 J. Smith, Ltd., arrived back recently from a round-the-world tour. He expresses himself as very impressed' with the business methods he found in practice abroad, particularly in America, where the method’s used to keep down costs of delivering products to' the consumers were' very much ahead of those in vogue here. The Wembley Exhibition he considers the greatest advertisement that New Zealand has ever received and though hei considers another £IOO,OOO should have been profitably spent on the New Zealand Court, still it was a display of which the Dominion should bei proud. At Hull he met Mr Allen, whO' is one of those people most interested in the Orepuki Shale Works where at present £IOO,OOO worth of machinery is lying idle. This gentleman assured him that it only needed the' inducement- by the N.Z. Government of l-8d to [d per gallon on oil produced to persuade the directors tO' reopen the works and make Orepuki the centre of industry which is its right in respect of the valuable shale: deposits found there. The local Radium Fund Committee have received a severe blow. As is known, they originally expected v a £ for £ subsidy on the. money collected in Southland. This was for the purpose of buying radium to' lend to the’ Radium Institute to be established at Dunedin, and they have collected about £3OOO on this understanding. Then the Government decided that only a 10s in the £ subsidy would be granted, and now the local committee has been advised that this did not apply to> any but the four centres, and l the money collected here will not receive' any subsidy whatever. The matter is one which is considerably exercising the 1 minds of the commitf tiee, but they have not yet given up hope of securing a Government subsidy on the money collected. ■ Great public interest has been taken in connection with a question recently before the Southland Fallen Soldiers’ memorial committee as to whether the names of the South landers avlio fell in the Great War should be inscribed, on the memorial. At a meeting of [the, committee recently held the matter was definitely decided, it being resolved that no, names should appear on the memorial owing to- the great difficulty which would be experienced in collecting all names. It was shown that many Southlanders enlisted in the' north, some, going away on transfer or holiday only a few days before, volunteers were called for; consequently there would be certain to bei omissions from the memorial if names were put on. The R,S A; representative at tire meeting said final his Association emphatically opposed the idea, of names being put on the memorial and this no- doubt helped considerably in the decision reached. The memorial is now nearing coni pleition, 43 feet having been built up in thei handsome Bluff granite, while it remains for another 15 feet to, be addled. It is anticipated that, the structure will be completed by March next. When present commitments are, met the committee will have about, £SOO left, part of which will be spent, in preparing an. official list to be lodged in the Council Chambers and 1 onel of the churches. This year Guy Fawkes Day was traditionally honoured by the children of Invercargill, who, were out early on the Wednesday morning collecting perfnies for the festivities. In the evening bon fires blazed all over the town and dozens of luckless effigies of the notorious Fawkes were devoured by the flames amidst the cheers and shouts of the children, while many a grown-up looked on, few of whom could recollect any • time in their youth when tire ceremony was honoured. The reason for the, sudden ret vival of the ancient custom is hard to explain but certain it is that in Invercargill, at least, Guy has caused much amusement and been tire excuse for some high jinks during, the last two years. The first Royal Show to lie held in New, Zealand, which was this year centred at Palmerston North, had one very gratifying result for Southlandcr.s. Two Southland breeders, Messrs R. J. Anderson, Kauaim, and R. R, Johnston, Gore; practically scored every prize in the Border Leicester section. The honours were fairly evenly divided, Mr ‘Anderson being awarded the Royal Champion and Reserve Champion in awes, and Reserve Champion ram, while, Mr Johnston the Royal Championship in rams. The judge said that the Southland sheep stood out on their own and the two breeders were very highly complimented for their line animals. The 13,000 ton whaling ‘•factory” Sir James Clark Ross by name, lias returned from Norway where she spent the winter months, and any day now she will set out for the cold Ross seas again in company with the five chasers, Stars 1, 2,, 3, 4, and 5, in search of whales. Captain Larsen, who commands the expedition is com fldemt that this year a very successful season will be experienced, as thqy are now familiar with the conditions to be faced and are more prepared to, meet them. He wishes to establish a permanent depot at Stewart Island for the company’s operations in the south "and to continue operations in the Antarctic for years, provided this., ( their second trip, proves the success ; they anticipate. The very vexed question which has

: been causing such fireworks between ‘ the Invercargill Borough Council and ; the Invercargill Fire Board, namely. 1 , | whether the. former body was respon;si ole for the keeping of a steam I stand"by plant always in readiness for ' emergency in case of fire, was raised . again at the. last Board meeting. A letter from the Board’s solicitors stated that they considered it advisable for the matter to be brought up at the Supreme Court when the liability, if 1 any, could be decided. The members of the Board expressed their willingness to see the Council bring the matter up if they desired and a motion was passed calling their attention to. thei serious position arising through the stand-by plant being closed.

At the last Council meeting the mo.tiou from the Fire Board was simply received. A report from the Town engineer was read in which he said that arrangements were' now in, hand to supply all the water necessary for present requirements of the town. The councillors received this report with more, enthusiasm, remarking that evidently the matter had been very much magnified by the Board. In the meantime the residents of the town are kept waiting, unable to decide whether to accept the assurances of the. Council or the evil prophecies of the Board concerning the position. And it looks as- if the matter is not yet finished with.