Balclutha is shortly to be provided with a new and up-to-date post office in place of the rather unimposing structure which has done duty for so many years.
The site of the new building is in the street in which the old building stands, but nearer the main thoroughfare. It will have a frontage of 43ft and a depth of 52ft and will be two-storeyed, and built of brick, finished with rough cast.
The ground floor will be devoted entirely to office uses, and will consist of a mail room 20ft by 30ft, telephone room, post-master's office, public office, strong room, and private box lobby, etc, while the seven rooms on the top floor will serve as the postmaster's dwelling, and will be fitted with every convenience.
Inside, the building will be fitted with steel ceilings throughout, and the walls will be finished with plaster.
The builders are Messrs Hunter and Murray, and it is anticipated that the work will be completed early in December. It is possible that steps may be taken to urge on the Government the desirability of adding a clock-tower to the building. The contract price was 2400.
• The recent bursting and partial removal of two of the weirs on the Leith caused some discussion at the meeting of the Acclimatisation Society last week, when members expressed a certain amount of indignation at what had been done.
Whatever may be the outcome of the discussion, it is to be hoped that the weirs will not be restored in their old form. They were so constructed of loose boulders that the water did not go over, but through them, and the result was that for many months during the past dry season they have held back foul and stagnant pools.
The necessity for having the bed of the Leith kept as free as possible from obstruction is sufficiently indicated by the statement that it carries the sewage of the whole of the North-East Valley, and from Leith Valley and the township of Dalmore.
Altogether it is estimated that some 2000 houses drain into the Leith. In the circumstances it is not surprising to learn that much of the sickness about Leith Street and Castle Street has recently been attributed to the pollution of the Leith. If weirs are necessary let them be kept low and be made of concrete, so that there may be a free flow of water over them.
• Mr J. H. Gill writes us from Sunshine, Anderson's Bay: "While digging in my garden last Saturday I happened to turn over a heavy stone and, to my surprise, I found a large green frog crouched underneath it. The frog seemed somewhat dazed at the sudden inlet of light. I captured him and have him secured in a box, and he appears to be thriving. Is this not a rather strange visitor to unearth in Dunedin? I am quite at a loss to account for its origin. To all appearances he is native to the place."
- ODT, 30.5.1911.
