Local & General

Chronicle (Levin), 1 April 1948, Page 4

Local & General

New Name Needed The suggestion that the time was approaching when the South Island Motor Union might have to ! change its name was made by the Depuiy Mayor, Mr. L. M.- Wright,] when he weicomed to Dunedin the , delegates to the union's half-y early meeting. "Motoring is making pro-1 gress in Stewart Island now. All | they want is some roads," he said, j amid laughter. "If they"'form a; Stewart Island Motor Union 'there j might be some confusion, so that ! you gentlemen would be ..well | advised to alter the riame of your | body to the Main Island Motor i Union." * • : . j : Woman Locked in Library When members of the Palmerston North Municipal Library staff I locked up the building last Saturday afternoon tlifey overlooked a woman using the1 flies in the readI ing room- and for /abou-t half an I hour she had the library oomplete- , ly to. herself. She was released later by the caretaker. A similar I occurfence took place some years I ago when an elderly man was locked in for. a whole" afternoon. When eventually he was released by a libra-rian most profuse in her apologies, he commented that he had not been at all worried; it had been lovely and warm in the library and he would only have spent the afternoon in the Square, anyway. Strange Request ' Four pint bottles, each containing a message, were solemnlv thrown into Cook Strait by a postal offlcial travelling south in the Hinemoa one nignt last week. | The story of the four bottles illusj trates the many strange requests j received by the New Zealand Post I I Office each year. It begari when a woman in Middlesboro, Kentuoky, sent four bottles to the chief postmaster at Christchurch with the request that they be 'Thrown into the oeean at your convenience." Unable to do as she wished he forwarded the bottles to Wellington, from where they were sent on their mission. Enclosed in the Ameriean woman's letter was a fiveeent piece in payment for a reply advising her when the bottles were consigned to the deep. Roads and Races "That representations be made to have one per cent. of the taxation levied on each race meeting paid to the local authority of the district in which the radecourse is situated to compensate for the daniage to '.roads caused by the extrAordinary trafflc oceasioned by the meeting," is a remit ' on . the agenda paper of the annual conftrence of the Municipal Association to be held in Dunedin next month. The remit was forwarded by the Thames Borough Council. In a note to the, remit the secretary of the association, Mr. A. E. Hurley, points out that the principie j embodied ' in the remit would j appear to be applieable atso to [ other organisations whose funcI tions involve fhe eongregation of | large numbers of vehicles, such as A. and P. shows and football matches. | 4 Prefabricated Houses Prefabricated . houses were not popular with American's, who wanted individuaiity in their homes, said Mr. R. G. Bailey, an American [ structural engineer,' .in an^interj view in Christchurch. He explained. ,'that the demand for such I houses had been insufficient to j enable cheap mass production. [ . Moreover, the locations for them Were strictly limited, as no adequate means of insulating . them against extremes of- weather, had been • developed. Tbey might be .used in California or Lower Flqrida, but in more rigorous clifnates they- would not be suitable. Lumber costs had increased greatly in the United States, apd thig tended to impel l home builders 'to seek alternatiye I materials. Suburban arehiteoture I jin America was very similar to that '• in New,Zealandi" . • . v v ;; - ' w. yL . - , , •

Bptter and Meat for Britain During the week ended March 20 a total of 2337 butter and 115,246 •meat coupons was. saved in the campaign to aid Britain." This was a slight increase over the previous week. Gisborne was again in first place on a population basis with 105 butter and 12,609 meat coupons, followed by Nelson with 176 and 11,433 coupons. Not the Right Key! "I don't think it's the l'ight key,". smilingly remarked Mr. John Cameron, the Australian baritone, to" the audience in the Town Hall," Auckland, this- week. - He was referring to the bell of the clock; then striking the hour. Bj a coincidence, the same hold up in the performance occurred on each of ihe three concerts given ove.it Jhe previous seven days. . Up in the Ajr An amusing tale of his early days in Scotland was reiated by the" .Prime Minister, • Mr. Fraser, when he visited John McGlashan College in Dunedin. Together with other schoolboys he used to run along the road heside dignified gentlemen who were concentrating all their attention pn trying to maintain a precarious perch on the top of their lofty penny-farthings. causin^ them conSiderable" - wr ath by callmg out: "Will you hand me down the moon?"