Page 6 Advertisements Column 2

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17068, 28 September 1929, Page 6

Mrs. Bavin, wife of Mr. T. R. Bavin, Premier of New South Wales, is convalescent and lias embarked from London on the Orfortl. —A. and N./.C.A. The thanks of the Gisborne Borough Council were conveyed to the Gisborne R.S.A. in a letter received by the executive of the latter body yesterday, for tlie valuable aid given in tbo direction of financing-relief works for returned men. The association so far lias made available £303. and has undertaken to provide another £l5O, though the latter instalment will not he available for some time. The Borough Council has agreed 'to find the money for disbursal in the meantime, and in that way keep the relief works under way while there aio returned men seeking relief from unemployment. The work accomplished through the R.S.A. contributions was the subject of gratifying reference*in the Borough Council’s letter. High living costs are a feature of daily life in Australia, or at least in Sydney, according to the experience of Mr B. H. Aislabie, who has just returned from a trip across the lasman Sea. One of his relatives in the New South Wales metropolis has a house built on tlie side of a hill, the section being roughly about a quartet 1 of an acre, hut so steep' that comparatively ljttlo use can he made of it. Hie dwelling is a six-roomed house, and nothing pretentious, though modern and really well built. The cost was between £3OOO and £‘looo. Within a stone’s-throw- another house only slightly larger, and occupying a corner section, was rented at £lO per week. These houses are in a good residential suburb, one of the host about Sydney, hut tlie prices are representative of what the average business man has to nay to he anywhere near his place ot business. Hotel life is almost prohibitive in cost for the average man. Though his tout' of the West Coast districts did not include a visit to the Maruia Valley, where the worst results of tho earthquake were felt about Murchison, Mr B. C. Jeffreys, of Gisborne, saw many of the evidence of the eartlv quake, and from conversations with the residents was fully convinced of the extraordinary nature of the upheaval. However, ho observed that good progress lias been made with the restoration work, and in some areas the principal reminders of the earthquake were tlie numbers of new iron chimneys, replacing brick stacks ruined hv the shake. The days of terror through which the West Coasters passed have left their mark more convincingly upon tlie people themselves than upon the buildings and public works even, and they still provided an inexhaustible fund of reminiscence, readily tapped by any visitor. As a matter of fact, any tourist who was previously unaware of the occurrence of the earthquake might easily overlook the tangible evidences left by the disaster.