Minister extols Central farming
The Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon R.F. Bollard) on his first official visit to Alexandra said it seemed to him that great development of Central Otago had taken place during the last few years. "In the Waikato district, where I have farmed for years, if we don’t manure our land we get nothing. No manure is required in Central Otago, only water, and lucerne and clover flourish by its aid. I would advise anybody who has a desire to take up and work a piece of land and get on his feet quickly to try Central Otago. He would find that without the expenditure of much capital he could proceed more rapidly in making his land productive. In the north we have to spend much before anything can be got out of the land, but with Central Otago all you have to obtain is water. I hope that on my next visit I shall have the pleasure of seeing an even greater progress than now exists, for I am satisfied that with the introduction of water a splendid future for the district is assured."
Keep paint job dust-free
While it is quite possible for an amateur to make a good job of painting a car, it requires skill and patience and the best materials. A perfect surface is absolutely necessary to secure a satisfactory result. To obtain this, sandpaper and pumice is required to clean off the original coat. Then apply a coat of the best body paint and pumice off. Work this way until a good surface is obtained. The final coat of varnish must be applied with great care. It is essential that the car be placed in a shed where dust cannot obtain entrance. Rig up a tentlike structure over the body and keep the paint shop carefully damped until the work is completed. Even the entrance of a person to the shop during the time that the car is in the painter's hands should be avoided, if possible, as even the slightest disturbance seems to bring in a storm of dust to settle on the paint and make further operations extremely difficult. It is also necessary to obtain brushes of the best quality which will not lose their hair while in use.
New venue for seaside town
Brighton has a new hall, which marks the consummation of the ambition of the earlier residents of the district. It was the Amenities Society's main objective to secure a hall which could seat at least 450 people, and which would serve for dancing and a place of entertainment and, after 14 years, their work in this direction has been rewarded with success.
Steam gives way to motor
The internal combustion engine may be considered to be still in process of development. To be momentarily technical, the largest installation to date of two-stroke single-acting engines is that which is to be found in the quadruple-screw and very palatial motor-ship Aorangi. The mysteries of the vessel’s engine room may be left otherwise to the experts, but the achievement under trial of a speed of eighteen knots, maintained for sixty hours, is surely an excellent advertisement for the motorship.
— editorial
— ODT, 22.12.1924 (Compiled by Peter Dowden)
