DIRECTION SIGNS ON POWER POLES

Southland Times, Issue 23773, 22 March 1939, Page 3

DIRECTION SIGNS ON POWER POLES

CHURCH REQUEST REFUSED BY COUNCIL .. The refusal of the Works Committee of the Invercargill City Council to recommend the granting of an application by the Georgetown Baptist Church to erect direction signs on power poles at the corner of Tweed and Morton streets was the cause of a discussion at the meeting of the council last evening. Cr A. W. Jones expressed resentment and criticized the council for not being progressive. “Surely the council could be big enough to grant a request like that,” said Cr Jones. “Here is a church showing progress and we turn it down. We are not progressive. It is an affront to a body of people. We are here to give them a fair go; instead, we turn a reasonable request down willy nilly because a similar request has not previously been granted in Invercargill.” Cr Jones moved as an amendment that the request be granted. Cr A. Scott, chair-man of the Works Committee, said that the committee was unanimous that the request was an unnecessary one and the signs not required. Churches usually were so built and situated that they stood out and required no advertisement. The particular church was well known to its members but not to strangers. Cr Jones: Why give permission to the Automobile Association to erect signs? Cr Scott: They are for the benefit of strangers. Cr E. J. McLauchlan said he could not see why the church should not be granted the request. There were all sorts of strange notices in the town and some of them were not very ornamental. He was surprised to learn that the committee had turned down the request. Cr J. R. Martin explained that the reason why he was opposed to the request was that it was customary for the churches to erect notice-boards in the church grounds. If the council granted the request all public institutions would want similar privileges. Cr G. C. Broughton said that the sign could not be compared with other signs in the city—the one was entirely for church members and the others to guide visitors to the city. Cr A. Wachner: You people have given the defence league a wonderful hearing tonight, but if you could drive the people back to the churches you would be doing a great deal more. The amendment was lost.