There was an attendance of over 2000 people at the Caledonian Ground on Saturday afternoon when the Otago Athletic and Cycling Club conducted an athletic and cycling carnival.
Water tower topples
Milton, April 5: During the height of the storm which passed over Milton this afternoon the water tower, from which Milton derives its supply, collapsed under the strain, and nothing was left but a heap of tangled wreckage. The iron framework supporting the tower, which is capable of holding 65,7000 gallons of water, was wrenched from its concrete base and scattered in all directions, the top iron cover of the tank being thrown into an adjacent paddock. The tank was erected about three years ago.
Courtesy central to safety
From Mr Leslie Churchill, of Roslyn, Dunedin, the following letter has been received: "I think it wise to warn visiting motorists, when travelling on narrow roads in Central Otago, to be very careful on meeting large cars of the various motor services. I have personally measured luggage protruding fully 20 inches from the runningboard on each side. If this fact is not known and taken into consideration, it may lead to a bad accident in some of the very narrow parts. I would also like to draw the attention of motorists to the necessity of those travelling down hill making things easier for the climbing car. Only this week, at Butcher’s Gully, near Alexandra, a Ford car, through not pausing for a few seconds at the broad part of the road, caused a fully loaded six-ton lorry, endeavouring to share the narrow road, to capsize. Observance of these little courtesies by one motorist to another would tend, in a small measure, to ease the hardships at present being inflicted on all motorists by the general bad condition of the roads."
What is this that roareth thus?
The experiment which the City Council is about to make in the running of motor-buses on routes which are not served by the tramway system will be watched with interest. It is expected that the first of these vehicles will be at the council’s disposal this week, and the Tramways Committee recommends that it be run by way of trial between the Monument and the Exhibition and between the tram-terminus at Anderson’s Bay and the cemetery in that district. There should be traffic for the motor-buses, especially when the Exhibition is open, to justify their acquisition, but it is quite possible that the Tramways Committee may have to experiment a good deal before it discovers upon what routes these vehicles can be run with the most satisfactory results. — editorial
Building downturn
Building in Oamaru has been fairly slack during the past month (says the North Otago Times). Only five applications for building permits were issued. The estimated value amounted to £855. The permits were for the erection of two garages, one workshop, one shed and one residence.
Gambling problems
In conversation with a representative of the North Otago Times Mr T.G.V. Blakely of Dunedin, who has spent several years in China, stated that the opium smoking habit was fast disappearing in that country. Gambling, however, was a part of the Chinese nature. They loved it and lived for it and it would never be suppressed.
— ODT, 6.4.1925 (Compiled by Peter Dowden)
