LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 6543, 23 July 1948, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Farm Settlement Road The Public Works Department has asked the. Waipa County Council to take over the Whatawhata Farm Settlement Road, the council to carry out certain improvements, chiefly repairing erosion in the watertables in a long cutting, and accept legalisation of the road. Money expended on it ip to be claimed as a public works grant. Committee of Managenfent

Members of the Te Awamutu College Committee of Management present at Wednesday night’s meeting of that body were: Mr F. Waters (chairman), Mrs G. Clark, Messrs C. Howcroft,. S. H. West, W. Meyer. The Principal of the College (Mr H. Rochfort) and the ' secretary (Mr L. A. Johnston) were also in attendance. Large Deputation The deputation of ten settlers from the Owairaka Valley district that waited on the Waipa County Council on Monday, was the largest in point of numbers that has waited on that body for many years past. The chairman, Mr Onion, informed a Courier reporter, who commented on its size, that he could not recall a larger. Noisy Transformer

Reference was made by Mr V. A. De Coek, at Tuesday’s meeting of the Te Awamutu Electric Power Beard, to the nuisance created by a noisy transformer near the Commercial Hotel in Te Awamutu. Mr De Coek said the transformer could be heard from as far away as the corner in Market Street. It was agreed that the matter should be investigated by the board’s engineer. By-Laws Relaxed

In view of the easing of the position regarding timber shortage, the Waipa County Council on Monday decided temporarily to relax its building by-laws in respect of erection of one-car garages on farmers’ properties, allowing for the use of specific sub-grade timber. The council’s building inspector was given discretion in dealing with applications.

Useful Headgear Ingenuity was displayed by several men in town yesterday in overcoming a small problem arising out of the Merchant Navy Appeal. Apparently lacking an attachment for the little paper slips indicating their generosity, or being unwilling to undo overcoats in the rain, some of the so-called Unimaginative males were seen jauntily wearing the slips in the bands of their hats.

Water Supply A petition signed by 40 ratepayers in Vardon Road, north of Hamilton city boundary, was referred to at the Waipa County Council on Monday. The petition asked that the area be reticulated through the county area and connected with the city water supply. The preliminary estimated cost was given as £4500, the engineer Mr Macky was asked to furnish a report.

The Royal Visit While the details of the tour to be undertaken by Their Majesties the King and Queen and the Princess Margaret when they visit New Zealand in March next, are not finalised, it is expected that the Royal visitors will spend one if not two nights in Hamilton. Officers of the Department of Internal Affairs have, it is understood, already made a preliminary survey of hotel accommodation that will be required.

Inspection of Electrical Apparatus In a report furnished by the chief electrical inspector, Mr A. J. Tailby, members of the Te Awamutu Electric Power Board were advised at their meeting on Tuesday that 110 installations and extensions, have been tested and inspected during the month; total connections now numbering 10,937, compared with 9911 in the corresponding month of last year. Extensions to date numbered 5939, and the number of installations which were re-inspected during the month totalled 1225.

Schoo] Bus Service “If extensions to school bus routes are made indiscriminately, teachers will be driving buses all day and will have no time for teaching,” commented the chairman, Mr F. Waters, at Wednesday’s meeting of the Committee of Management, Te Awamutu College, when applicatons for extensions of the school bus service were being considered. The committee is required to refer such application to the Education Board, with a recommendation as to approval or otherwise. Cream Stands on Roadsides It was stated at the Waipa County Council meeting on Monday, during discussion on cream stands on roadsides, that there was no possibility of local bodies granting permission for cream stands to be erected, as any such permission would interfere with the right of common usage of the road. The settler who erected a cream stand that caused an accident to a road user was liable for damages. One councillor mentioned that at least one dairy company in the Waikato took out annually an indemnity policy on behalf of its suppliers. The practice of the county council has been to decline applications for permission to erect cream stands.

Concrete Power Poles That concrete power poles were not as good a proposition—economically or otherwise —as the traditional Australian hardwood pole, was said to be the opinion of expert’s when the question came under discussion at Tuesday’s meeting of the Te Awamutu Electric Power Board. It had been suggested by a member that concrete poles might provide a satisfactory substitute in view of the difficulty of importing hardwoods, but it was pointe'd out that steel and other shortages had already negativised similar plans 'of other boards, The chairman, Mr J. T. Johnson, said it had been found also that the concrete poles were too rigid and showed a tendency to break in gales. The relative merits of the two types of poles had been fully investigated by experts, and the conviction expressed that the hardwood poles were the better of the two.