At 2.50pm the troop of Boy Scouts was paraded in front of the hall, and a prayer of dedication was offered by the Rev Scott Allan. The Mayor of the city (Mr H.L. Tapley MP) addressing the assemblage, amongst which were several members of the St Kilda Borough Council, said it was a great pleasure to him as Mayor of Dunedin and also as a member of Parliament and vice-president of the Boy Scout Association, to be present on such an occasion. He congratulated the Boy Scouts upon getting such a splendid building as that one. The residents would be exceedingly grateful to the Scout Parent Committee for the results of the efforts it had made to obtain such a building. There was every reason to feel proud of the building. He proceeded to point out that it had been erected, through the instrumentality of the committee, free of cost to the Boy Scouts. He was satisfied that the Parents Committee and the ladies associated with it would see that the remaining sum would be forthcoming.
There was no finer movement in the British Empire than the Boy Scout movement. Mr Tapley then briefly referred to the aims and objects of the Boy Scout movement, which he considered should receive the attention and support of all citizens. He then severed the silken band across the doors and declared the hall open. A short ceremonial was held inside the hall.
On the mat
It happens sometimes that unsightly marks and eventually holes are made in the floor-mat of the driving compartment, due to the driver’s heel pivoting on the mat when the clutch, accelerator and brake pedals are used. Woven mats of coconut or carpet texture wear rather quickly, but even thick fibre mats soon become unsightly. One way of overcoming the difficulty is to fasten small pieces of ridged rubber matting to the floor-mat over an area where the heel usually rests when working the controls. The rubber may be fixed by large carpet nails passing right through to the floor-boards.
Killed by the climate
There are no Emperor penguins left at Auckland, the last of the three specimens having died (reports our correspondent). The first death was that of the female, and at the time the curator and manager both expressed themselves as doubtful whether the other two would be able to stand the violent change from an Arctic temperature to a sub-tropical one. All the birds died of lung infection caused by the change.
New tram cable arrives
The new cable for the Mornington tramway service was transported from the wharf to the tram terminus on Saturday afternoon. The cable, which weighs over 11 tons, is 11,000 feet in length, and is known in the trade as a 3-inch rope, that is, it is 3in in circumference. It is a Bullivant No1 rope.
— ODT, 19.4.1926
