SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3196, 16 June 1915, Page 52

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

(Fhom Odr Own Correspondent.) INVERCARGILL, June 12.

The Borough Council and the Otatara Land Proprietary are still at' loggerheads over the tramway. The council have handed it over, and the company decline to receive, contending that it is not in a fit state to bo taken over. Their chief objection is as follows: Originally there was a bridge across the estuary to Otatara, and the corporation undertook to turn the bridge into a solid embankment by tilling it in with mud. This they have done, but the company hold that the stringers tying together the piles of the old bridge are so near the surface that the stringers and not the embankment carry the weight of the sleepers and rails, and consequently would have to carry the weight of the engine and carriages, which might run, into 20 tons, a weight which they could not be trusted to carry. The company hold that until this is remedied by opening up the embankment and filling it in solidly they will not take it over, and hold the borough liable for £2O a week. Jho council; on the other hand, hold that they have done all they undertook to do. If the council are right, the company arc under obligation to run the trams without delay ; but if the company arc right there is very little chance of the cars running before Christmas. In the meantime the road is formed for fifteen-sixteenths of the way. from Invercargill, but nothing is being done towards Unking up the two sections of road by making a bridge of 10 chains across the channel, although both the company and the council are under obligations to jointly approach the Government in the matter. The residents of the district have long ago intimated their willingness to be rated for a fair proportion of the cost of the bridge; but till the contestants have settled their differences the Otatara people cannot got any further forward in this matter. I understand, however, that the Postal Department has agreed to establish a telephone, which will bo kept at the schoolhouse.

The effects of' tbe war arc now being move keenly realised by residents of Southland. many of whose iws and brothers are already reported killed or wounded at the Dardanelles. The nature of tho wounds is in many eases slight. Put in some eases serious enough. The injury to A. A. Smith, the well-known footballer, for instance. is a compound fracture of the upper left arm. ' At yesterday’s meeting of the Southland Education Board it was decided to compile a roll of honour, adviinr the names, of all the tainils of Routbland schools who may be kilDd of wounded in tbe war. Captain Stanley Rico. of Hunter. Sutherland.’ and Piee.' left, for the north yesterday, bavinor ebt°ined a commission in tbe Second Ala.ori Regiment. A movement is on foot to organise a Southland Quern Carnival in aid of tho Patriotic Bunds, and if should result in the raisin a- of n„ aood deal of money. Tbe one bold last winter in aid of the funds of fbr Ruebv Im-on, as a result e.f which IVIIss "Martin. Farmers’ Co-on.. Gore, was crowned, was verv suecessful from a money point of view. and. had not nearly such a popular object. Messrs Ponnahv and Co., rope and twine makers. Dunedin, who some f : me ago bought the Posedale Twine Far lory, are about f o start onerations. At Frhlav’s meeting n F the Southland Education Board tbe following apnointments were’ made Wallace!r,wn—+-mmo-i-.,rv bead teacher. Emma G. W'T'-mis; Eortrose— temnomi-y bead teacher. Thomas AFonfeath ; C’ifden—temporary sole teacher. Geove-o bluff; Wainmmu—tr-mnoriuv sole teacher. James FT, Park; "Wenrlon V-lVy—-joirmovarv solo teacbey. Uiunsay IVT fow ; Otnnt-nu —temnorarv first ass'stant. N -shut T.nnmnt: Colne—temnomrv first assistant. AT ill v Affleck; T.imeliilb —first assistant. Emily TTirur; Cvovdon —tomnornry bond tench or. TTonw TTamilton ; Tisburv —pupil teacher, John Fraser; Bluff—pupil teacher,

Jauo Watson; board’s office —temporary accountant, Reginald Cut-field. Southland’s quota of the Seventh Reinforcements was farewellcd by the people of Invercargill yesterday ■ afternoon. The weather was splendid, and the function was held at the Rotunda, in Post Office square. The men were assembled at the Drill Hall, and, headed by the Garrison Band, they marched along Dee, Esk, and lay streets, and drew up in front of the Rotunda. Ihorc was a dense crowd in the street- and square, and every high building within sigiit or hearing had its windows thronged, and the balconies and parapets of the Albion Hotel and Lewis’s new building were black with people. The speakers were Messrs R. C. Tennant and H. W. Royds, and the Roys. J. Iv. Archer and 11. W. Burridge. r J ho speeches wore of a high order, and must have stirred both the soldiers and the audience. During the function the Ladies’ Patriotic Committee distributed among the recruits hold-alls containing various comforts, which the ladies of Invercargill have been working on for some time past. The detachment left by this morning’s express, a large crowd being present to soo them off. The Railway Department had notified that only passengers would bo allowed on the platform, but five minutes before the departure of the train the gate was opened, and the crowd surged on to the platform, and gave the volunteers a rousing parting cheer.