GORE ITEMS

Southland Times, Issue 22511, 20 February 1935, Page 4

GORE ITEMS

Tennis Fixtures, The Eastern Southland tennis matches will be played to-day as set down in the fixtures. The matches that were postponed last Wednesday will be played at the end of the round.

A Hot Day. “ ■ After a period of cooler temperatures the weather in Gore has returned to the heat experienced earlier in the month, yesterday’s temperature being particularly high. For the first occasion since the resumption of school, advantage was taken at the Gore school to release the children for the afternoon, while at East Gore lessons ceased earlier than usual. The Mataura river attracted many of the youngsters for an afternoon’s bathing and adults followed later in the day. o—O—o Gere Bandman’s Success. Congratulations are extended to Mr W. Russell, a member of the Gore Municipal Brass Band, who secured third place in the E Flat cornet solo test at the New Zealand Band Contest this week. The successful cornetist is a youthful member of the band and is still a pupil at the Gore High School.

New Dwelling Destroyed. A rude surprise was experienced by Mr W. H. Hickey, of Waipounamu, yesterday morning when he woke up to find ablaze his new residence, to which he intended to move the same day. The dwelling had been completed only a few days and was just ready for occupation. Efforts were made with buckets of water to subdue the flames, but the task was hopeless. The cause of the fire is not known, but it has been suggested that a defect in the electrical wiring might have been responsible for the outbreak. The house had been erected by Mr D; Stewart, and was insured with the South British Office. Removal Of Ashes.

“I notice in Dunedin that when they are removing the ashes .the contractors put the tins inside the gate after they have emptied them,” said Councillor D. McDougall, M.P., at the meeting of the Gore Borough Council on Monday night. “I think that when we draw up a new contract we might put it in that the tins are to be put inside the gate. It would be much more tidy than the way the present contractor throws them down. As soon as he has emptied them he just lets them drop as if they had come from the skies.” The Mayor (Mr A. T. Newman) agreed that such an arrangement would be an improvement. Tins were frequently damaged through being thrown down.

lengthy consideration at Geneva and elsewhere and, though one definition has been accepted by a number of States it is by no means universally accepted—indeed Great Britain herself has not as yet adhered to this definition. This is a particularly difficult matter—peoples at war usually feel that they are the victims and not the aggressors (and this opinion may quite honestly be held and the facts most difficult to ascertain), but it may not be so difficult to define an “aggressor” in the air, where the facts may often, though perhaps not always, speak for themselves. Again it is not aggression alone that is to bring the guarantee into play, it is “unprovoked” aggression, and here again there is room for differences of opinion, honest or otherwise, as to what is or is not “provocation.” Turning now to another aspect, numerous solemn undertakings by the nations of the world to preserve the peace—the Covenant itself, resolutions by the League of Nations and by the American powers, the Treaty of Locarno and the Kellogg Pact—have not sufficed to remove doubts and apprehensions, which means of course that there is no complete confidence that all nations will honour their obligations. You will judge for yourselves how far these doubts are justified, but it is at least worth pointing out firstly that if previous bonds are not sufficient, anoilier may perhaps fail to add anything material, and that the signature of each additional pledge, adding promises to similar promises, is considered by some merely to throw doubt upon the sanctity of previous pledges, and indeed upon international good faith generally. On the other hand it is perhaps more widely felt that by adding solemn obligation to obligation a breach is rendered more odious and more improbable.

The Present Problem.

Another very important point to consider is that unless the mere existence of these guarantees is sufficient—and this is the basis of the whole proposal—to prevent the unprovoked aggression which it is intended to prevent, then the inevitable consequence of any application of such guarantees as Locarno and the present proposals is war. That is the problem, and on the one side you will find numbers who regard as an absurdity any suggestion that one way to prevent war is to go to war, and on the other a group of people who hold the view that until the efforts of mankind to prevent war can be supported if necessary by the application of force they can never be effective. Another aspect is that a party to this proposal, to the extent that it honours its obligations—and Great Britain would, of course, honour hers—accepts the obligation in case of unprovoked aggression to plunge its people into war. Once a Power party to the arrangement is satisfied that the “unprovoked aggression” has taken place (and ’the decision will of course rest with each individual party) the action sould be automatic and such a guaranteeing Power may find itself forced into war by the action of other Powers in a quarrel for which it is not responsible and over which it has no control.

My final comment is addressed directly to the people of this country. The British dominions are not parties to this proposed pact, just as they were not parties to the Treaty of Locarno, but if the arrangement comes into force, and if ever the nations that are parties to the arrangement are required to apply the proposed guarantees, then there must be no blinking the fact that if Great Britain became involved in war New Zealand would also be involved. This is so, not only because of the legal position as we accept it in New Zealand (though there is some difference of opinion on this matter in certain other dominions), it is so because the sentiment of this country' would inevitably insist on New Zealand standing shoulder to shoulder with Great Britain Jin such circumstances; and, even were .these two reasons absent, any catastrophe that affects Great Britain must inevitably affect New Zealand also, bound up as we are in the welfare of the Old Country. Government Kept Informed. I do not wish to discuss these questions at any greater length. The Government has been, of course, fully informed by his Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, and we must necessarily observe the confidential nature of many of the communications received; but I do wish our people to know of the numerous and difficult questions involved in the present situation.

Whatever one’s point of view I am confident that all will share the opinion that the Old Country has once again taken a bold and courageous step, and has again shown her willingness to face a risk in the interests of world peace and the security of mankind.

Gore Traffic Bridge. The question of the safety of the Gore traffic bridge was raised at Monday night’s meeting of the Gore Borough Council. Councillor D. McDougall, M.P., said that the engineer of the Southland County Council had recommended that the load passing over the bridge should be limited to 10 tons. He did not know what the legal position was, but he wondered what would be the liability of the council if the bridge collapsed under a load of eight tons. He thought that the better plan would be to display a notice to the effect that the bridge was unsafe and that traffic crossed at its own risk. A load of 10 tons might render the bridge so unsafe that a following load of five tons might cause it to collapse. It was agreed to ask the engineers of the Main Highways Board and the County Council to inspect the bridge and fix the maximum load which the bridge could carry. The Works Committee reported that it had made an inspection of the third pier from the western end of the bridge and found that it was seriously undermined, it having been found possible to poke a steel rod four feet under the pier. It was decided to draw the attention of the engineers to this matter.

Alterations To Borough Offices. Plans of the proposed alteration to the Gore Town Hall to provide better office accommodation for the staff were placed before the Borough Council on Monday night. The plans provided that a space of 30 feet square should be made available for offices, including a large space for the use of the public and a large strongroom, which the Mayor explained was a great necessity. He said that if the scheme was carried out it would reduce the size of the town hall by almost half. The Finance Committee had felt that very little revenue was secured from renting the hall and the council might as well have the use of the space. It had been suggested that the rear portion of the hall could be utilized as an early settlers’ museum. Several councillors were of the opinion that the matter should be held over until the end of the financial year or until the new council was elected, and on the motion of Council--lor R. S. Green it was decided to defer consideration of the question until the first meeting in April. Councillor G. C. Hamilton asked whether the council chamber was to be altered or improved, and on receiving a negative reply he suggested that the museum should be housed in that room. “Do you mean the borough fossils?” queried the Mayor smilingly.