FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 117, 20 May 1939, Page 17

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS FROM THE

"POST"

THE TOWN HALL

'Tart of the opposition to the new municipal loan seems to be based on

the question of the site of the proposed Town Hall" comments "The Post" of this date fifty years ago. "An unworthy effort is being made to excite local jealousy on this point. 11 is contended that the site at the rear of the old Provincial Buildings, anc adjoining the municipal offices, is noi sufficiently central for a Town Hall. I' is difficult to appreciate the force oi this objection when we bear in mine the fact that only a street line sepe rates it from the General Post Office that it is surrounded by the principa business and mercantile and professional offices in the city, and that it -= within a stone's throw of the centre -a Wellington's activity, the Queen's Wharf. Why any particular locality should be very anxious to have the Town Hall erected in it, we do not quite know, but the question of site really should not be raised in connection with the loan. It is rather a reproach that the capital city of New Zealand should not have a Town Hall, or indeed a hall large enough for any important public gathering, whethei for balls, lectures, public meetings concerts, or similar purposes. In many

ways the erection of a Town Hall would benefit trade in Wellington, and

tend to render residence in the city more enjoyable. If the building could be designed so as to afford the necessary accommodation for a public free library when it becomes possible to establish one, it would be a still greater benefit to the town. The Featherston Street site would perhaps be scarcely large enough for this to be done there, and if so, the fact af-

fords a strong argument why another site should be chosen. As already point ed out, however, this question of site is not legitimately included in. the issue about to be pjjt to the ratepay ers. If the erection of a Town Ha] is authorised, ratepayers may rest as sured that a suitable site will be found If a return is to be expected from thi. rental of offices in the building, i; must of course be erected in an easily accessible position not far removed from the business centre of the city." THE lONIC DISABLED. "The break-down of the lonic is unfortunate, as being the first serious interruption of the Direct Service which has occurred." [The after crankshaft gave way and the vessel returned to Lyttelton under sail twelve days after her departure for England. In the absence of wireless, of course no intimation of the mishap was received until the vessel returned to port.] "It would be unreasonable, however, to expect to always escape accidents, and in this instance there is cause for thankfulness that the mishap was not greater and that the breakdown occurred under circumstances which enabled a speedy return to be made to a port where repairs can be easily effected. The White Star liners,, like those of the two New Zealand companies, are very fine vessels, but they cannot go on for ever, and the distance they have run during the last four years is something stupendous. Captain Kidley is to be congratulated upon the excellent seamanship he showed in bringing back the vessel under canvas for a considerable portion of the way, and the engineers of the vessel also deserve credit for having so rapidly effected such repairs as permitted some assistance to be obtained from the steamer's ordinary means of propulsion." EXHIBITION OR PUBLICHOUSE? "A great stir has been occasioned in Dunedin over the question of allowing the sale of intoxicating liquors in the Exhibition Building. The Commissioners assume that they will obtain the right to do so, and have, we believe, called for tenders for leasing it. They calculate upon obtaining a large sum from this source. On the other hand, the prohibitionists protest most strongly against the Exhibition being, under any pretence, converted into a drinking shop. Our sympathies are not usually on the side of prohibition, but in this instance we can see no reason Why intoxicants should be sold in the Exhibition, such a sale not being necessary for the comfort and convenience of visitors. As to a special Act of Parliament, which is talked about, we are confident that there is not the slightest probability of the Legislature passing such a measure. We strongly advise the Commissioners to at once abandon the idea of combining public-house-*keeping with the business of showmen. We are sure that they will benefit by doing so gracefully and at once, as if they persist in trying to obtain a licence they will cause a decided feeling of antagonism on the part of a considerable section of the public, and will, after all, fail to obtain their object." CASTING A BELL. "The hour-bell of the Post Office clock was moulded at Messrs. Cable and Co.'s Lion Foundry this afternoon, and the operation was witnessed by a large gathering of spectators. The metallic ingredients were smelted in three separate crucibles, and the various stages of the commingling of their contents in the largest vessel, the weighing of the mass, and the pouring of the then finished bell metal into the huge mould formed in the floor of the workshop, were watched with keen interest. The bell, which weighs approximately 30cwt, will require to remain in the mould until,tomorrow. Its greatest diameter is 56£ in, and the casting is undoubtedly the largest of its kind that has ever taken place in the colony, and the bell will be larger than any either manufactured in New Zealand or imported, being perceptibly larger than the biggest of those in the belfry of the Christchurch Cathedral, which has hitherto held the palm."