NEWS OF THE DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24890, 14 April 1942, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

A DECISION to run a trial bus service tor church-goers on "Sunday mornings from Elgin road lo the city was reached at last night's meeting oi the City Cornea. A motion moved by Mr E. J. Smith, which was carried, reversed the decision of the Transport Committee not to give the service a trial. Cr Smith said he considered that the many elderly people in the district should be catered for by a bus leaving Elgin road about 10.30 a.m. It was also decided to instruct the committee to give favourable consideration to the question of a similar service from Roslyn and Maori Kill. The trial service from Elgin road will be run for a month.

Water Supply at Fire “ It is very satisfactory to know that citizens have protection in this way.” said Cr R. Walls at last, night’s meeting of the City Council when referring to the good supply of water at the recent fire in High street. " The water supply was all that was required,” lie said. “oven though 15 leads of hose were in use.”

The Humorous Side The alert in Dunedin on Sunday morning was not without humorous interludes. Arriving promptly on call to a casualty in one district the first aid people found their equipment not quite adequate and had some difficulty in deciding what to do with the case. A warden present suggested a way out; “ Knock him on the head and then you can send him to the morgue.” Household Letter Delivery

Of the 19.400 householders in Dunedin only 1100 have failed to respond to the appeal made by the postal authorities to erect letter-boxes at their gates or on the street line. Notices are now being prepared by the Post and Telegraph Department for despatch to thevllOO who have not compiled with the new regulations, informing them that the delivery of correspondence to their residences will cease and that it will be necessary for them to call at the nearest post office for their mail. The war has made heavy demands on the staff of the department, and in Dunedin the ranks of postmen have been so reduced that there are now 10 women on postal deliveries in the city.

Anzac Day Observance Extending an invitation to the Mosgiel Borough Council to attend the Anzac Commemoration ceremonies, the secretary of the Mosgiel Returned Services’ Association (Mr T. Smeaton) stated that the committee considered that this was not only a commemoration of those who had given their lives for their country in the Great War, but also of those who had made the supreme sacrifice for the same cause during the present conflict. It was proposed, he added, to include the names of the local members of the forces who had fallen during the present war on the printed roll of honour issued with the order of service. The invitation was accepted. £81,900 Estate The collection of stamps owned by the late Mr E. H. S. Jackson, which may be of philatelic significance, was bequeathed with his collection of coins to the “ Red Cross Society of St. John.” This was announced by the Public Trustee, who is administering the estate, which has been sworn for probate purposes at £81,900. From the residue, estimated to be between £40.000 and £45,000, a number of public charitable bequests have been made. The value of the stamps has not yet been decided. Mr Jackson died at Wellington on January 22. Until the Great War he farmed a property in the Featherston district. All his life he was interested in stamp collecting, and when he retired 20 years ago it became his great hobby. Few other philatelists ever saw his collection. “ Elastic ” By-law “ The by-law seems to be a very elastic one and I would like to know how the committee arrives at its decisions,” said Cr M. C. Henderson at the meeting of the City Council last night when referring to a statement in the Works Committee’s report agreeing to the conversion of a building into flats although Rie requirements of a minimum frontage and the distance of the building from the boundaries were not in accordance with the bylaw. Cr Henderson said that some people might think that unfair discrimination was being shown in such cases. The chairman of the committee (Cr J. Wilson) said that the bylaw regarding flats was utterly useless in its application to present buildings. If it were strictly observed buildings that were otherwise quite suitable for turning into flats could not be converted.

Parking in Night Emergency What was described as an anomalous position regarding the parking of motor vehicles in an emergency at night was commented upon by the president (Mr p. W. Breen) at the monthb- meeting of the Executive Committee of the Automobile Association of Otago last night. Mr Breen said that two motorists might park in one street, one leaving his car within the required distance of a street light and the second leaving his parking lights burning. If an emergency alert was sounded the street lights would be extinguished, and the s'econd motorist would become liable to prosecution for having his lights burning. The other would also be liable to prosecution because the car would be unlighted in a thoroughfare, and would be likely to cause interference with traffic. It was decided 1o refer the matter to the South Island Motor Union in order to have the problem clarified by the proper authorities.

The Ergot Collection The response in Dunedin to the appeal for the gathering of ex-got has been good, gnd 121 b has been handed over to the Department of Agriculture byMessrs Nimmo and Blair, who undertook the collection on behalf of the department. An officer of the department said yesterday that a considerable quantity of ergot must have been gathered in small amounts by school children, and if these could be pooled at schools and handed in to the collectors the total would be increased appreciably. He added that the season for ergot had almost ended. Two comparatively large collections in Otago had been handed in by the Dunedin Naturalists’ Club and the children of the Hindon School. Both gathered over 28 ounces. The effort by the children was particularly praiseworthy. There are only 14 children at the Hindon School, and they collected ergot to obtain funds to purchase a lawn mower with which to improve the iawns at the school. Their collection rewarded them with the sum of Us lOd.

No Unnecessary Risks So promptly did large numbers of E.P.S. workers respond to the alarm which inaugurated the trial on Sunday morning that many obviously must have risen long before their usual hour in anticipation of an early signal. There were, however, numerous examples of a genuinely quick response, one of them being provided by a young woman living in an outer suburb who, though she was asleep at the first blast of the sirens, was at her post in the centre of th’e city 10 minutes later. The sight of workers running through the streets while planes roared over their heads was one that spectators acknowledged to be deeply impressive, but it did not present a true picture of what would happen in an actual emergency. So many people running through open streets would present an irresistible machine-gun target to an airman. It has been pointed out that, in practice, the proper course for all but the most essential personnel would be to avoid unnecessary risk by taking cover until the worst of the raid was over. The duty of E.P.S. workers was briefly slated yesterday by an official, who 'said that they were required to be at their posts in the shortest time that was consistent with their safey.

Coffee for breakfast. Order from your grocer a tin of “ Bourbon,” (he coffee of quality. Instructions in every tin. Prepared by Durie’s, coffee specialists. 32 Octagon. Dunedin. —Advf