NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 21, 20 October 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

Much criticism was expanded on the Government workers' dwellings at Miraraar by those who cursorily viewed their foundation? from passing vramcnra and forthwith denounced them as mere rabbithutchea. An inspection cf the cottages now complete conveys quite a different impression, and proves the truth of the old proverb that half-finished work Should never be shown to children and fools. The buildings sj'e commodious and conveniently designed. The rooms are far from being the poky boxes that many people imagined. They are sufficiently large, well-lighted, and airy, and the dividing partitions are solid and sound-proof—a quality conspicuously-ab-sent in too many cheaply-built homes in Wellington. The cost of the five-room-ed cottage, with bathroom and washhouse, on a section -10ft. by 120 ft., is given as .£930, and the weekly cost to the purchaser 225., not including rates. This is extraordinarily moderate as values rule at present. The Government lire heartily to be congratulated on the compact and substantial homes they are erecting, which are in pleasing contrast to some of the jerry-built erections that have disfigured "Wellington iu the past.

Ono aspect of city improvement that lias escaped tho attention rf the City Council anil the 'Town-planning Association is roof painting. Wellington is a city sin-rounded by hills, and from the hills its roofs are its most prominent architectural feature. . Taken as a whole those roofs arc anything ■but pleasant to look upon. Some are clean and painted, but the proportion of rusty and neglected iron roofs is so groat as to constitute a permanent eyesore. The view over Hie Tnorndon flat from the Wireless Station is nn instance in point. From above the district looks like a ramshackle slum in an advanced stage of decay. , Tt is to everybody's advantage that dwellings should lie kept in a'proper state, owners and tenants alike. Neglect, however, Is so general thai; the City Council might very well consider the question of stimulating interest in the subject. Some day, perhaps, we. shall have a by-law dealing with the eyesore of shabby houses.

The efforts to settle the dispute at the Pukomiro mine have apparently failed, and tho northern coal supply remains in a state of partial dislocation. Mr. Hally ascribes the continuation of the trouble to two or three extremists on the committee of the Pukeuiiro Union and the complete misunderstanding of the position by the men. The lOnipany wants an undertaking that the .engine-drivers will not again be called out in the event of a strike, as occurred when the men recently struck to demand suburban rates on the railways. Mr. Hally says this is the first occasion in which it has been suggested that the engine-drivers should be called put in a mine strike, and Hid pumping stopped. For himself he will certainly not be a party to any agreement where the destruction of property is going to be made a. r\eann of settling disputes. It is significant that the South Wales extremists in tho British coal strike talk of taking the same Mep as adopted by the Pukeniiro malcontents and bringing fbout the stoppage of pumping, The Pukemiro dispute may be due to a misunderstanding, but these "misunderstanding?" are becoming the normal condition in all ths> coal mines. The principal part of the misunderstanding is the failure to understand that nothing will come of nothing, and that no work and no ,:<>al mean dearth oud scarcity in every direction, and will presently hit the miners as hard as anybody else,

Captain Russell's continued successful flights indicate that commercial aviation in New Zealand should I>e profitable for seme lime to come, evon if t'onductcd for no other nurposo than providing joyride* for the public. In the li-rger centres it mai* bo questioned whether there are not even now openings for aviation companies to conduct passenger, parcel, and mail services in conjunction v ith the provision of "flips" at moderate prices for people anxious to experience tho sensation of flying. The interest taken in Wellington in the llutt Pftrk flights shows that, each reduction in the flying tariff below the £2 10s. rate for five minutes in the air would find increasingly large- numbers of patrons forthcoming. Home indication of fife regularity of the commercial air services in Britain was given iii a recent number of tho ".Aeroplane." Over a hundred aeropiaucs a week 1 cross the Channel on regular services conveying between 300 and JOO paseeugers. On some occasions the air scrriceo have been conducted when crossChannel' steamers have been weatherbound in harbo'iir. Letters can be sent by nir by marking them "air mail" and putting on a 25d. stamp :'n addition to the ordinary postage, and for a total chaTge of is, Dd. a long loiter can l>a scut to Paris aud another brought back in reply within twelve hours. Air posts are run with similar regularity between London and Brussels and London and Amsterdam. Thcso facts, combined with the local demonstrations, make ennmercial aviation ,look not a very distant thing in tho Dominion. They also deepen tho mystery of what has become of the Air Board and its rejwvt.

A plea for the building of a national highway from one ond of Now Zealand to tho r.thor is made by Mr, W. Stuart Wilson in tho current issuo of the "Radiator." Mr. Wilson's idea is that a conorete road at least twelve feet wide should be built through both islands,

and christened the Anzac Highway, and made a thins; of beauty by the planting of avenues of memorial trees along it. There is no doubt at all that a first-eIaSA arterial road through the Dominion it badly needed. The good roads movement which was to be inaugurated with the coming of motor taxation now eeoms to be in a stnto of suspended animation. Unless enthusiasts like Mr. 'Wilson get together and beat up support for some practicable scheme we shall go from bad to worse in the matter of main roads. Mr. Wilson's idea is that a route for the national highway should be decided on, and then every effort made to arouse .local interest in it along its course. As a means of effecting -this he suggests thai the local bodies concerned should be induced each to put down a mile or so. oi road according to the specification. Once the public get these sample miles of firstclass road he predicts a continually-in-creasing clamour for their extension, and •with its development the scheme would be irresistibly carried on to completion. There is a good deal to be said for this suggestion. It at least gives those interested in this important subject something definite to talk about and agitate for.