In Town And Out

Southland Times, Issue 23826, 25 May 1939, Page 6

In Town And Out

Progress of Traffic Hindered A statement that he felt tempted to increase the fines in cases where vehicles were found standing on the offside of other stopped vehicles was made by Mr R. C. Abernethy, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. “Such acts stop the progress of traffic,” he said, “and the practice would have to be stopped.” < Protective Fence

A fence on the edge of the carparking area at the rear of the main wharf at Bluff will be erected soon. The Bluff Harbour Board decided last night to erect this fence because fears had been expressed that cars might be driven over the edge of the retaining wall into the harbour or that pedestrians might fall into the water. Lake County Rate Increased

The Lake County Council at its annual meeting yesterday decided to make the rate for 1939-40 l|d in. the £l, an increase of Jd.

Consignment of Oranges On Monday a consignment of Jamaican oranges arrived on a bare market in Invercargill. Taking into consideration the time of year, the condition of the fruit was fairly good. There will probably be no more shipments of Jamaican fruit this season.

County Amalgamation The view that the time was coming when the small counties would be compelled to amalgamate was expressed by Cr A. S. McNaught at yesterday’s meeting of the Southland County Council. Cr W. M. Norman agreed with this opinion. The Cook county, he added, had done away with the riding system and then regretted it. The abolition of ridings meant the introduction of the flat rate system in rating. “Now,” Cr Norman said, “the Cook county has no power to go back to the riding system.” Another councillor remarked that Southland county had ridings bigger than many counties.

Flooring in Tram-Cars A suggestion made by Mrs R. Latta, of Waikiwi, for an alteration to the flooring of tram-cars for the convenience of women travelling with perambulators is being adopted by the city tramway department Some difficulty has been experienced in wheeling perambulators along the slatted flooring of the cars and Mrs Latta suggested that the flooring be made level at the parts where the wheels of perambulators run. The city electrical engineer (Mr A. C. Carman) stated yesterday that the suggestion was a good one and was being adopted on all the cars. His department was glad to receive such suggestions which added to the convenience and comfort of passengers. New Road to Winton

Work on the new straight road to Winton has begun and 12 men are at presept employed on the work. It- is expected that within the next few days about 50 men will be engaged by the Public Works Department on this undertaking.

Bluff Railway Service The poor railway service on the Bluff line was discussed at the meeting of the Bluff Harbour Board last night. Mr J. Cameron said the fastest train took 45 minutes to run the 17 miles, while other trains took longer. A rail car was required for the line.. It was decided to raise the question in a remit at the conference of Southland members of Parliament convened by the Southland Progress League.

Automatic Light Installed Since the establishment of a pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Windsor and Herbert streets near the North Invercargill school, it has not been possible forthetram-car standing at toe terminus to project into Herbert street. This has caused some confusion and inconvenience to residents, but the tramway department has now overcome the difficulty by installing an automatic light at the intersection. This .shows when the car is standing at the terminus. Government Loan A decision to invest £2OOO in the Government’s 4 per cent, long-term, loan was made by the Bluff Harbour’ Board last night. The chairman (Mr W. A. Ott) said he thought it would be a good gesture for the board to invest such money as it could spare at present in the loan. The stock would be marketable at any time.

“Cold-Blooded Mis-statement” “Such a statement is a cold-blooded mis-statement of the truth,” was the criticism made by a defendant in a speeding charge heard in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning. He wrote to the Court and stated that his speed was not more than 30 miles an hour; the traffic inspector who prosecuted said that the speed was 50 miles an hour. The defendant was convicted.

Special Show Class Fourth prize in the special class at the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s summer show for 12 fat lambs suitable for export to be shipped to London for judging at Smithfield, was won by Mr James Grant, of Bayswater. This advice has been received by the association from H. S. Fitter and Sons, London. The first three placings, which were announced in The Southland Times about a month ago were:—Southland Frozen Meat Co., Ltd. (Makarewa) 1. G. Stevenson (Dacre) 2, J. Lindsay (South Hillend) 3.

Road to Oreti Beach The Southland County Council is committed to reconstruct and seal the road leading from the Oreti river bridge to the Oreti beach, said the chairman (Cr G. W. Whittingham) in his annual report to the council yesterday. “This work is already laid off,” he added, “and we are now awaiting the dedication of the road and its classification as a main highway.”

Satisfactory Entries The Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association has received satisfactory entries for its swede turnip and chou moellier field competitions, for which entries close next Saturday. Messrs A. Stuart, of the Department of Agriculture at Invercargill, and J. Adams, of Otahuti, will judge the competitions early in June. This is the first time a chou moellier competition has been held.

More Activity Because of an overseas demand there has been more activity in the Invercargill browntop market during the past week. Values to growers for machinedressed seed of export quality have risen to 1/2 per lb for certified and 1/1 for uncertified.