It is proposed to reclaim 15 acres at the head of the inlet, within a wall running from the quarry to the opposite side, and to dredge the other portion of the inlet to a depth of 4ft, forming it into an aquatic reserve 35 acres in area, the spoil to be deposited on the inner side of the wall, and thus at one operation deepening the inlet and reclaiming a large piece of ground.
The committee has raised £200 for improvements in the district and is hopeful of obtaining another £100, and the total amount the Bay Town Board is prepared to double, thus providing £600 towards the work, the cost of which is estimated at £1200.
The committee, supported by other residents, waited on the executive of the Otago Patriotic and General Welfare Association yesterday, and asked it to subsidise its £600 to the extent of pound for pound, the work to be undertaken by a number of men who are at present engaged on the Harbour Board's retaining wall at the south end of the harbour.
That work will be completed very soon, when about 50 men will be thrown out of work, and the committee proposes that 20 of these men should be employed on the wall across the inlet.
The committee is anxious that the work should be proceeded with without delay, as material for the wall could be obtained at the quarry before the works there are closed down and the engine and trucks removed. The executive referred the matter to the Finance Committee for consideration and a report.
• It is strange how many people accomplish the proverbial task of finding the needle in a haystack when they are not really looking for it. The other day a constable in Auckland, with others, contributed through one of the Daily Mail war lists, to a fund to provide men at the front with tobacco.
With each tin of tobacco thus supplied is enclosed a post card bearing the address of the donor of the shilling that has been thus transmuted to tobacco, and a few days ago the Auckland constable was surprised to receive one of these post cards from a member of a Bedfordshire company in France thanking him for the gift.
He was still further surprised at noting that he was claimed as an acquaintance, and at finding the name that the soldier who got the tobacco was a man he had met and had been friendly with in Auckland some months before the war broke out but of whom he had since lost sight.
• An enormous quantity of red cod is in the bay at Oamaru (says the Mail), and those fishing from the breakwater and mole have had excellent bags. Thirty were caught in an hour, and there were many catches of a dozen or so. Groper appears to be the best bait, and the fish are very close in.
• As Mr W. Griffith's mail coach was passing over the Balclutha traffic bridge on Thursday morning on the way to Clydevale, one of the back wheels broke from the hub.
The sudden jolt threw out the passengers - there were eight on board - and for a few minutes the spot was strewn with startled females, scattered mails, and sundry parcels.
Fortunately, nobody was hurt, and the passengers and mails were transferred to another vehicle, which proceeded to Clydevale, the damaged buggy being left on the roadside.
- ODT, 13.4.1915
