WANGANUI'S LOST CLOCK

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 81, 2 October 1931, Page 8

WANGANUI'S LOST CLOCK

A SUBSTITUTE SERVICE

Since Wanganui lost, as an earthquake risk precaution, th« Post Office tower, and with it what has since been stated to be the only reliable guide to time in the city, an agitation has been carried on, throug?\ the Press and other channels, to have ati earthquake-proof tower erected on the old site, or the old clock reerected on a different site. One of the sites that has been suggested is the firebell tower in Cook's Gardens, which, since the institution of automatic alarms, has ceased to be required for the purpose for which it was built—as a look-out tower. Tales of business men late for work through the only timepiece in the house refusing to keep going till morning after having been left unwound the night before have frequently been told, and it was as a substitute for their clock that the Wanganui people asked, when the decision was made to discontinue the "time" service at the telephone exchanges throughout tho Dominion, that even though the service might be lost to other centres Wanganui should still have it.

With a view to supplying a public need, various city firms have come forward from time to time with practical ideas intended to keep Wanganui in touch with the march of time. The latest is that of a radio dealer who, according to "The Herald," as the Wellington chimes are broadcast each hour, switches on a radio set near the doorway of his shop go that it is heard for a considerable distance along the,main street. The paper states that it is amusing to see pedestrians come to a sudden halt with a puzzled look on their faces when they turn as a matter of habit to look for the Post Office tower, which is no longer there. The amplification of radio chimes and church bells is carried out to a considerable extent in England, where many churches, and public buildings are . provided with special apparatus to take the place of bells. Under the circumstances there appears to be small chance of Wanganui adopting a bylaw prohibiting noises being broadcast from business premises. .