CANTERBURY NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 502, 8 May 1909, Page 13

CANTERBURY NOTES.

IBT-.TELEGUAPfI~SrjiCIAL CQUUE3PQNDBNT.) Qhrlstchurgh, May 7. ; An attractive.picture of tho future ol Kaiapoi- wBSj SkQtQhed by :tho Mayor at his installation. Ho stated that a Igan for tho construction of bridges had bccji paid off, and; o sum ,of £17C per annum, previously set aside ( for/interest./and : sinking/ fund,' would bo available: for works. In four years another loan would bo paid off, and at tho same time .the.-leases .of, the council's reserves 'at' Dromons' would' fall: in. ■ In. view of the rental, paid, for'an adjoining property, lie had., no/doubt/that the reserves: would bring in a much better rotiirn ywhen leased again /than^theywore doing now. Tenders for. tho construction. of' the bridge ovor ; the Waiau, beyond .-.Cheviot, V closed., with' the Public "'Works Department yesterday. 'For-, ther proceedings aro awaited, with oonsidorable: anxiety, at\Ohoviot, -where a feeling of doubt now exists whether any', tender will be /accepted. 'Several building contractors 'have/'visitedthe site, 'andlthey have .expressed.-; the: opinion 'that tho contract time of eighteen months' is' ridiculously)short for a'/work' of such magnitude:. It would take the successful : six months to get tho. ' timber on to the site,;/ It . is also said . that the Government estimate is on an extremely low basis,'and .the/feeling seems to.be that the .Government -will seize thp. excusq, if tenders exceed .the/,estimate,y.-to'.hang, up the /work .indefinitely. .. ....'■' •' r A/ peculiar accident happened to a motor■cyolisfc coming,. from' Kaiapoi on Wednesday ovening/ A cat,/dazzled, apparently, by tho bipyclo' light, ran right'in his track, getting /tangled up in the front wheel,. throwing-the rider, heavily to the ground, and bruising , him rather severely. On being extricated from the 1 wheel, the cat ran off, apparently unhurt-. . . /'-' ; Uhnstchuroh bakers stato that tlioro. is ho intention on their .'part to, raiso the' prioe of bread, despite -tho faot that tho price lias been; raised in othor cities; :, ' It-is probable that a niombor of the British Antarctio Expedition will tnake a lecturing tour, of Australasia this year, tolling the story of the'work in tho'/Fiir South, and displaying the photographs and kinomatograph films secured by Lieutenant Shackleton. The pictures, some of which havo already been seen in Ohristohnroh,. on tho occasion of Lioutenant. Shackleton's' - lecture, illustrate every phase of tho adventures of the ox- ! pediijon, and tho kjr.cmatogr&ph films, of which some 4000 .or 5000 feet were secured, aro'.unique, • and intensely interesting; They illustrate sleilgo and' motor travelling on tho ioe and snow, .tho battles of tho sturdy ftfotrort with tho iloes niiil bergs, and the ourions habita of the penguins and seals, as well as many othorAntarctic scenes. l)r. Trevor, in speaking at the Mayoral installation at Ashburton, referred to the satisfactory sanitary condition of tho town, and : drew a highly favourable comparison between tho condition of the streets and ■ tho health of ' ;tho ■ town and .what prevailed when ho first settled in Ashburton. Ho gave an instance of a caso, where ho himself held an inquest oil a man who had been drowned in East Street, tho main thoroughfare), and wbosa body was not found till seven days after tho accident. In thoso days', l)v. Trevor romarked, typhus and typhoid fever, with other preventiblo diseases, were most prevalent, .as well as cholera, but since tho inception of the llorougn . Council tho placo had been raised from the status of. a plague-striokon village to that of ono of tho cleanest and most healthy towns in the Dominion. -