CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20058, 15 March 1935, Page 14

CHRISTCHURCH NEWS

ITEMS FROM THE CITY CHRISTCHURCH, March 14. Personal: A motion of appreciation of the work of Mr George Harper, chairman of the Metropolitan Relief Association, was carried by acclamation at a conference of representatives of local bodies and other institutions, and a delegation from the mass demonstration of unemployed. The Rev. A. W. Stuart, who has been appointed State secretary for the British and Foreign Bible Society in New South Wales has left on his way to Sydney. A motion of appreciation of the work performed on local bodies by Mr James Leslie, who will shortly celebrate his eightieth birthday, was carried by acclamation at a meeting of the Waimakariri River Trust. The chairman, Mr J. H. Blackwell, in moving the motion, spoke of Mr Leslie’s long association with the trust and his work on other local Bodies. Unemployed Meeting: A demonstration of relief workers was held yesterday afternoon as one of a series throughout the Dominion in support of the petition to Parliament asking for better conditions for the unemployed. As a prelude to the meeting 300 men and women circled Latimer Square carrying banners and singing “The Red Flag.” During the meeting exception was taken- to the presence of police, but otherwise proceedings were without incident. With the arrival late in the afternoon of about 300 men from the Rapaki job, who marched through the city, the attendance reached a total of about 1000

men and women and they gave enthusiastic support to the various speeches. Aero Club Staff: Mr S. A. Gibbons, of Wanganui, who was recently appointed instructor to the Canterbury Aero Club, will take up his duties to-morrow. He has been engaged since his appointment on the refresher course, which finished this afternoon, of the No. 2 (Bomber) Squadron of the New Zealand Territorial Air Force. Mr A. H. Brazier, ground engineer to the club, will leave next week to take up the position of chief engineer to East Coast Airways in Gisborne. Mr R. A. Kirkup, who recently resigned from the position of instructor to the club to become one of the pilots for this firm, is now in Auckland, where the machines to be used on the service between Napier and Gisborne will be landed from England. Police Supervision Resented: Exception was taken by the representatives of the mass demonstration of unemployed who were received by a conference of local bodies and institutions yesterday to the close police supervision to which those taking part in the demonstration were being subjected. There were policemen everywhere in Latimer Square, all round and inside the City Council chambers (where the deputation was received), they said. There was nothing to justify such supervision, because the Canterbury Unemployed Association, which organised the "demonstration, had been perfectly constitutional and friendly in all its dealings. The chairman (the Deputy-Mayor, the Rev. J. K. Archer) : We want to meet you on friendly terms, but I must say that if there is anything in this supervision to which you can take objection, then some members of the deputation have only 6 themselves to blame because of their recent behaviour as members of deputations and in the council chamber. I do not say that this supervision is required, but

the actions of some of your members lately might have been construed that it would be required. Encouraging Athletics: If the consent of the Canterbury Centre is obtained, a team of about twenty local athletes will visit Greymoutli on March 30 to compete in an j amateur meeting, with a view to encouraging athletics on the West Coast. Clubs will be asked to nominate both track and field performers. The New Zealand Council will be asked to give £25 towards the expenses of the trip. The King’s Jubilee: The illumination and decoration of Government buildings, including Post and Telegraph Offices, on the occasion of the King’s jubilee celebrations in May next, is proposed by the Government. In pursuance of this plan, the Public Works Department at Christchurch has been asked to furnish estimates of the cost of decorating Government buildings in the city with flags and bunting and illuminating the buildings at night. The estimate, which is to be considered in Wellington at the end of the present week, will also embrace the cost of appropriately decorating buildings m provincial towns in the department’s district. Other centres are being requested to send similar particulars to Wellington. While details of the Government’s intentions are lacking in Christchurch, it is thought that local bodies in the metropolitan area will be invited to cooperate with it in making the jubilee period as festive as possible. City Elections: Citizens’ Association candidates for the City Council, Harbour Board and Hospital Board elections on May 1 next will be announced after a meeting of the association to-morrow night. Nominations will be read over and a finel selection made. Although officers of the association will not commit themselves, there is

reason to believe that the association’s candidates will cause a favourable impression, and represent a particularly strong ticket. The association has already selected Sir Hugh Acland as its Mayoral candidate. He will contest the Mayoralty against the present Mayor, Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P., who is the Labour nominee. Four parties will have candidates in the field, but only the Citizens’ Association and Labour are interested in the Mayoralty. The Socialist Party has nominated two council and two Hospital Board candidates, and the Independent Labour Party has nominated four council candidates. Work of W.E.A.: A request for the restoration of the grant of £3OOO annually previously made by the Government to the Workers’ Educational Association is to be made by a deputation representing the Dominion Council of the association, which will wait on the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education (the Hon. S. G. Smith) in Wellington on Thursday morning next. The New Zealand president of the association (Mr H. D. Acland) will lead the deputation, which will represent Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. The Government formerly made a grant to help the associations in various centres to pay tutors and to assist in making additions to their libraries; this practice ceased in 1933 when the financial position of the country was particularly acute. The associations, however, have been kept in existence, mainly as a result of assistance from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the generous action of tutors in carrying on classes for a nominal fee. Rain Nppdpd:

This morning’s shower will have the effect of making gardens about the city look a little fresher, but beyond that its effect will not be very noticeable, it being far too light and of too short a duration to be of real benefit to the gardens, which continue to show an extremely parched appearance as a result of the low amount of rainfall experienced this year. In many parts of Christchurch, especially on the hills, gardens continue to suffer through the lack of moisture, and shrubs and other forms of plant life are said to be dying in large numbers. One or two light showers have been experienced in some country districts in the past week, but they have not assisted growth to much extent, and in parts, especially on the plains, there still exists an acute shortage of feed.

The records at the Christchurch Magnetic Observatory show that the total rainfall so far this year amounts to 1.82in, compared with 5.88in. for the same period last year, but there has been very little rain since early in November.

Riccarton Murder Case: Nothing has yet been done about extending the time for the reward offered in the Riccarton murder case, which expired to-day, the Minister of Justice (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) told a reporter over the telephone from Wellington today.

An offer was issued on December 14, 1934, of a reward of £6OO for information leading to the conviction of the person who murdered Donald Fraser, licensee of the Racecourse Hotel. Riccarton. in his bed on the night of November 17, 1933. This offer was to remain in force for three months only from the date of issue. That period expired to-day. Superintendent D. J. Cummings, in charge of the Central Police Station at Christchurch, told the reporter that nothing had yet been heard about extending the time for the reward. The notice about the reward outside the Central Police Station has now been torn down, but Superintendent Cummings said that this must have been due to the weather, or possibly small boys, and not to any official action. Over the telephone, the Minister of Justice said that no consideration had yet been given to extending the period of the reward, but he would confer with the Commissioner of Police (Mr W. G. Wohlmann) about it.