Town Talk

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 110, 12 May 1931, Page 6

Town Talk

Rotary Club at Golf Golfing’ enthusiasts of the Wanganui Rotary Club will play their annual match with the Hawera .Rotary Club on Tuesday, May .19. Twenty members will travel to Wanganui to attempt to recover the cup which the local club won last ear. Footpath Appreciated Appreciation of the footpath being constructed by the Waitotara County Council on tho Wellington Auckland highway from Virginia Lake up the hil towards the Friends’ School, was received in a letter to yesterday’s meeting of the Waitotara County Council from the Wanganui Automobile As social io n. Lopping off the Branches. City Council workmen were busy yesterday lopping off the branches of the plane trees lining Victoria Avenue. Owing to the fact that the leaves from these trees*litte r the streets at this period of the year it is found advisable to cut off the branches rather than wait, for all the leaves to drop off. For the next four or five months the trees will present a bare appearance. Unique Trophy. What must be considered a really unique trophy for Rugby football is that which will be at stake in a. match tu be played at Katana to-morrow afternoon. Thu contesting teams will be Katana Old Timers and Patea OldTimers, and they w»U play for the Piri Toa gong, which was brought back from Geneva by Mr W. Katana several years ago. Later in the afternoon the Mako Cup will be at stake in a match between the Ratana fifteen and the Taranaki Kuanui team.

Traffic Inspector’s Salary “I will be very surprised if it costs us anything at all.” said the Waitotara County Council chairman, Mr AV Morrison, at yesterday’s meeting of the County Council. The heavy traffic fees were standing at £2O behind last year, he said, but income had been coming in in connection with the overloading and speeding, and the inspector had earned his own salary. Even he did not pass the intersections like he used to, he said. Ho thought of the traffic inspector (laughter).

Tribes Support Reform. At a large gathering of natives held at the Hiakaitupeka Pah, near Tauniarunui. recently, in connection with the tangi held there over the remains of the late chief Petera Himona, and those of the lato'Rihi Miarino (a chieftainess of note), leading representatives of a number of tribes pledged themselves to support Mr Taite Te Tomo, the present sitting member, at the next coming general election, the Maori King, and the Right Hon. J. G. Coates and his party. The tribes so pledged are: The Waianuiarua, the Ngntihaua, the Ngatimanunui, the Ngatihineiti, the Ngatiliari, the Ngatiraerae, the Ngatiteihi ngarangi. the Rereiiliu, Maniapoto, Tuwharetoa, Waikato, Matakore, and Paretekawa.

Highways Contributions. Figures showing the amounts contributed by the Highways Board to high ways within the county were presented to the Waitotara County Council meeting yesterday by the County Engineer (Mr T. Dix), It was pointed out that expenditure hud been falling during latter years. The amounts were: Auck-land-Wellington highway .1925, £2976, 1926, £5601, .1927, £5258, 1928, £4600. .1929, £3603, .1930, £.1815; Rangitatau watershed. 1925. £741, 1926, £1175, 1927, £1024, 1928, £1375, 1929, £1221, .1930, £1235; Rapanui, 1928, £257, 1929, £335, 1930, £221, Springvale-Francis, 1928, £599, 1929. £612, 1930, £249; HeadsJlosston, 1928, £137, 1929, £l9O, 1980, £35.

County Relief Work. Work under the No. 5 Employment Scheme has been restarted. a daily average of 50 men being employed, re-, ported Mr 'l'. Dix. engineer to the Waitotara County Council, at the meeting yesterday. The Kai Iwi Valley Road and Heads-Mosstown Highway are being widened. Lupins on Montgomerie and Handley Roads were cut; drains are. being cleaned along the Brunswick Road; sand grass is being planted within the Nukumaru Domain and overburden in the Kaikokopu Pit is being stripped. Transport is being found for 25 men only. The Labour Department has difficulty in finding work under the No. 5 Scheme, and they have asked that more men be employed on your Council’s works. The only work on

which they could be employed to advantage, is the Auckland Wellington highway, near Kai Iwi. The district engineer is expected to be in Wanganui shortly, and this proposition will be discussed With him.

Efficient Unemployed. Whether the unemployed men who were taken on under the No. 5 scheme were sufficiently good workman to be left on the job without supervision.

came up at yesterday’s meeting of the Waitotara. County Council. Ur. IL Farley said that he had availed himself of the No. 5 scheme to employ a man who had been working in Wanganui, and he had turned out to be one of the best he had had on the farm. Later, urging that the County Council should pur fur ther works in hand under the unemployment. schemes, he said that it was a good opportunity, which farmers would take without delay if they wore like the County Council ami could get labour for nothing. He thought that if it were possible, the men should bo employed where they could cycle or walk from the city. Ur. Goldsbury remarked that from the age of 15 to 18 he had walked five miles to work and live miles back. Cr. Farley said that he had walked ten miles with his brother over a bush track to sow grass seed. Highway Board Funds Some time ago County Councils re ceived a circular letter from the Waitomo County Council with regard to the, counties’ contribution to main highway works, which bear the High way Board subsidy, being suspended in view of the present state of county finance. ’l'he reply from the Highways Board was received at yesterday’s meeting of the Waitotara County Council. Mr \V. Morrison, chairman of the council and member of the Highways Board, said that tho «TOr«rd iu its recent tour had discussed the whole matter witli the Waitomo Council. Every county tried make, out that they had a better case than anybody else. Tho board was satisfied that they could not do any more than at present. 'l’ht‘y had to make their monev go roumj, and if they took the liabilities of one county thuT would be inundated with requests. They had to give each district its fair share. It was not a matter of what the board wanted to du. but what they could do. It was a matter of £ s. d. and the board had Io make it go round.