CHRISTCHURCH NEWS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18651, 21 August 1930, Page 8

CHRISTCHURCH NEWS.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. CHRISTCHURCH, August 20. Coleridge Water Low. Some anxiety is being felt concerning the low level of the water at Lake Coleridge at present, and it is understood that the Public Works Department is considering the diversion of the Acheron River into the lake. If this is done, the water supply will be considerably improved, and should be ample to feed the turbines next winter. During the past month there has been very little rain in the vicinity of the Lake, and the water level has been dropping steadily. The level is now 1659.5 feet, which is 12.5 feet below the normal level. During last week the level dropped 1.7 feet. Next winter will be the critical period at the power house, as the Waitaki scheme is expected to be in operation by 1932. It was hoped to get through next winter safely, but apparently the rate at which the water level has dropped this winter —over seven inches a week—has caused anxiety as to the position next winter. Officials of the Public Works Department have refused to make any statement concerning the matter. Petrol Storage. On charges of storing petrol on their premises without being the holders of licenses, contrary to the city by-laws, six men were fined by Mr H. P. Lawry, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court to-day. Leslie Hardie (chief inspector to the Christchurch City Council), said that these were not very serious offences. Apparently they had been rushing the petrol in before the new tax was imposed. They were the same sort of cases as had arisen at the time of the big petrol bond fire. The offenders all pleaded ignorance of the by-law. Pukeko or Ducks? Frederick Walter Gottermeyer was charged in the Magistrate’s Court today with killing a pukeko at Selwyn on May 22. He told Mr H. P. Lowry, S.M., that he had thought it was a duck he had seen flying overhead, and had blazed at it. The Magistrate: If you can’t tell the difference between a duck and a pukeko you shouldn’t have a gun. Mr M. J. Gresson (who appeared for the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society): The difference in flight between a pukeko and a duck is the same as the difference in speed between a bicycle and a motor-car. Defendant was fined £2 and costs.