LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20493, 11 August 1936, Page 6

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Omnibus Receipts Receipts from the Timaru omnibus service last month totalled £766/10/7, as against £636/3/84 in July of last year. Weather Last Month The rainfall for Timaru last month was 3.03 inches, as against .56 inches in July of last year. The sunshine last month was 128.3 hours, as against 125.1 hours in July, 1935. Theft of Tools It was reported to last night’s meeting of the Timaru Borough Council that on the night of July 23 the linesman’s tool box in Park Avenue was broken into and tools were stolen to the value of £l5/3/3. Most of the tools were new and up to the moment. Not Strongly Capitalistic “A general impression seems to exist that institutions such as this are strongly capitalistic—in reality they are to a large extent repositories of savings,” said Sir James Gunson, chairman of directors of the New Zealand Insurance Company, Limited, at the annual meeting. “An analysis of the shareholding of the company discloses that one-third of the 2565 shareholders hold 100 or less shares each, and more than 75 per cent, hold individually less than 500 shares,” said Sir James. Electrical Traction Best “As a practical railway man I realise that electrical traction is best, but steam still has a strong hold, and the capital costs involved are so great that we must proceed with caution,” said the general manager of railways, Mr G. H. Mackley, when presenting the gold medal award of the Cable Makers’ Association to the winner. “I am satisfied, however, as far as electrification is concerned, that what we are doing, although It is only a beginning, will by no means be the least of our activities in that respect.” New Railing For Bridge The belief that steps should be taken to prevent the number of cases of suicide from Grafton Bridge was expressed in a report obtained from the executive of the Auckland Division of . the British Medical Association by the Mayor of Auckland (Mr Ernest Davis) and presented by him at a meeting of the City Council last night. He recommended that the city engineer should be instructed to prepare for submission to a subsequent meeting a plan of such an inclined railing as could be erected without disfigurement to the bridge. The Mayor’s suggestion was adopted. Useless Resolutions “In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, such resolutions by creditors are useless,” remarked the Official Assignee, Mr S. Tansley, at the hearing of some bankruptcy proceedings in Wellington, when one creditor suggested that bankrupt’s discharge should be opposed until he paid twenty shillings in the pound. The Court, he said, did not pay much attention to such resolutions, and when a bankrupt applied for .his discharge what was taken into consideration was his ability to pay and not what his creditors thought he ought to pay. “I don’t know how many such resolutions I have on my files which have been of no effect,” Mr Tansley added. Whalers For Sea Scouts An interesting portion of the cargo which will be discharged at Timaru by the Port Line vessel Port Hunter to-morrow will be two Admiralty service whalers, which have been acquired by the Timaru Endeavour Sea Scouts for training purposes. The whalers, which are 25ft and 27ft long respectively, were brought from Chatham dockyards, and it was largely through the good offices of Rear-Admiral Hon. E. R. Drummond, Commodore of the New Zealand Naval Station, that the Scouts were able to procure them. For some time the Timaru branch has been raising funds for the purchase and transport of the whalers, but through the courtesy of the Port Line, the Admiralty was able to arrange for a remission of freight charges to New Zealand, and the money originally intended for that purpose will now be expended in fitting the craft out for service. As the boats came through the tropics as deck cargo on the Port Hunter, the seams will probably have opened, and a fair amount of reconditioning will be required before the Scouts’ new “fleet” is ready to take the water. The acquisition of the whalers will greatly facilitate the Scouts’ competitions, for up till the present they have been able to use only one boat and the pulling event has had to be decided on a time basis. Now that extra vessels have been obtained pulling races conducted on a proper basis will be possible. Ice Skating Popular The growing popularity of ice skating in South Canterbury was evidenced during the week-end, when large gatherings assembled at the Tekapo and Mt. Harper rinks. There was a full muster at Tekapo on Saturday, and at night a novelty carnival organised by Miss M. Lancell, of Melbourne, for which good entries were forthcoming, proved very popular. Many visitors from Timaru were amongst the 130 who patronised the rink on Sunday. During the week-end exhibitions were given by Miss Lancell, who delighted the spectators with advanced skating, the keynote of which was grace and finish. A strong nor’-wester at Mt. Harper added to the fun of the experienced and to the discomfort of the novice. Although the ice was not in perfect order, it was good enough to provide plenty of enjoyment to the large attendance. Considerable interest was shown in one skater who, manoeuvring a large sail with his arms, made full use of the wind and travelled over the ice at a fast pace. The day at Mt. Harper had at least one humorous incident. The wind caught one of the sledges used to aid learners in their efforts, and away it slid towards an open space of water. A skater, in a gallant attempt to rescue the sledge, set off in pursuit and had nearly reached it when the ice suddenly “gave” and he found himself in the water. It was then he discovered that he had passed the danger flags and was on thin ice.