Town Talk

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 92, 18 April 1929, Page 6

Town Talk

Local Body Elections. Nominations for candidates to contest tho local body elections on May 1 close at 12 noon to-day at the City Council Chambers. Gifts of Clothing. Acknowledgment is made by the Swankers’ Club of gilts of clothing made by Mrs R. AlcNei], of ALangawoka and A.lr s Skelton, of WanganuiBurnt Papa Roads. Absence of metal for reading has induced settlers in parts of Wanganui’s hinterland to burn papa (clay) to complete surfaces on homestead drives. In localities above Taihape this practice is in vogue on several farms, the brick-like material produced acting quite well as a substitute for metal on roadways where there is a minimum of traffic. Wet Raetihi, “1 don't see the need for a cupboard like that at Raetihi any more than at any other place,” said Mr AV. Adams, at the Wanganui Education Board’s meeting yesterday, when a request from the school that a cupboard be built round some heatnng pipes was under discussion. “It’s a very wet place, you ]>now, ” Mr Ilornblow remarked. It was decided to agree to a recommendation by the architect that a drying rack be built in lieu of a cupboard. School Accounts.

The practice of school committees incurring liability for repairs to buildings without first consulting the Board was strongly condemned at a meeting of that body yesterday, when an ac count for replacing windows at a Palmerston North School was submitted for payment. Part of the account was approved, but the major portion was held over pending an investigation by' the architect. Children’s Magazine. A proposal by a Wellington firm that it establish a children’s magazine and seek support from school children in tho Wanganui district for contributions of short stories and articles, and to sell copies at twopence each, did not meet with favour at the meeting of the Wanganui Board yesterday. “It sounds to much like comnicriialism,” a member remarked. An Old Friend. AX hen a letter was before the Wanganui Automobile Association last night to the effect that th e city engineer had been authorised by the council to report on fencing off the footpath on the Dublin Street bridge and submit an estimate of the cost to be co.isideied when framing the estimates, a niemler remarked that the proposal was an old friend- He had brought the matter up at an annual meeting live years ago. The Shooting Season. A fortnight hence the 1929 shooting season will open. Au (Jkoia sportsman stated yesterday that it was hard to predict what quantity of game would be available. Shooting seasons now a days were not what they used 10 be. Game had thinned out and there were trespass restrictions on practically every' farm, which, though no doubt advisable in many respects, certainly influenced some sportsmen against taking out licenses.

Chrysanthemum Season. City gardens boast a line display of chrysanthemums at present, the hues and sizes of these profusely flowering shrubs beiug suggestive of much painstaking work on the part of amatour gardeners. The Wanganui Horticultural Society has details for the annual show well in hand, it having been decided TO utilise the old museum building for the occasion this year. These premises trj at present being renovated in readiness for to-morrow week. Detonator Cards.

The Education Department is fully alive to the risks children run through coming in contact with, live detonators, and an evidence of what was being done to protect human limb from this danger, was contained in a detonator card for use in schools which was placed before the Wanganui Education Board’s meeting yesterday. Various types of detonators were wired on to this, and above appeared a notice warning pupils of the risk they ran in handling them. The Board expressed itself in full accord with the Department’s activities to cope with a difficult prob-

Fire in Oar Engine. The ringing of the siren at the corner of Victoria Avenue and Guyton Street, and the sight of a man vigorously belabouring, with a mat, flames which leapt forth from a stationary' motor-car near the corner, made an exciting interlude iu the dinner hour, about 12.30 yesterday. The engine of the car, which is owned by Air Hassall of Grey Street, caught lire a:*d a passerby promptly seized a mat from the doorway of a shop nearby and quenched the outbreak as the lire brigade arrived on the scene. The car escaped with slight damage.

Third Party Risk. Third party insurance premiums will fall heavily on the big service car firms, which employ buses for the conveyance of passengers. A vehicle which has sealing capacity sufficient for 26 persons, including the driver, demands a premium of £2B each year. Smaller vehicles will be charged £l2. When these amounts are added to the annual license fee for registration and contributions to the heavy traflic tax are taken iuto consideration it will be realised that the introduction of tho third party insurance scheme will be no light burden to some. Education Board Minutes.

The question as to whether or not the minutes should be read at each meeting of the Wanganui Education Board appeared to reach finality yesterday when Air J. K. Ilornblow read a clause from the Education Act which stated quite clearly that the minutes must bo read. The opinion of Mr E. F. Hemingway that the procedure the Board had followed in the past, of taking the minutes as read, would cover the position, prompted Air James Aiken to enquire whether passing, a resolution that they be taken as read was tantamount to not reading them. In view of the wording of the Act. a notice of motion by Air A. 8. Coleman was withdrawn, and it would appear that the Board will carry on in the future as it has done in the past-