Kaiwharawhara goes off the rails

A start has been made with the installation of the trackless tram system between Thorndon and Kaiwarra.

Commenting upon the prospects of the experiment, the Mayor (Mr R.A. Wright MP) said that assuming that trackless cars would prove more economical than trams of the usual style, as it was expected they would, the system would be gradually extended to other suburbs. 

The expense of steel rails would be obviated, and it would probably cost less to put down a good surface suitable for trackless cars and all other traffic at the same time than it would to lay and repair rails upon the present surface. The estimated cost of the overhead gear for the Thorndon-Kaiwarra length was £750 — no great figure, and as the car equipment had been supplied to the council on approval by the English manufacturers, the city was in a good position to make the experiment. 

The body, to seat 20 passengers, was at present being built at Auckland, and the car would be running within a few weeks’ time. The trackless car will make a non-stop run from point to point, and will be driven and conducted by one man.

Terrible lizards

The Dinosaurians — the title means "terrible lizards" — were the largest of all the land animals. Some of these reptiles were more than 100 feet long. The earlier forms of Dinosaurians were shaped like crocodiles, to which they were closely related. Later forms resembled the rhinoceros in shape, and others the kangaroo, those Dinosaurians walking on their hind feet, which had only three toes; and their forelegs sometimes were small. 

Diplodocus, one of the most notable of the Dinosaurians, reached in the case of one species, a length of 84ft and a height on the hump of its back of 129ft.

Swift action on unemployment

The Mayor (Mr H.L. Tapley) recently telegraphed to the Minister of Public Works (the Hon. J. G. Coates) asking him to do something to assist the unemployed, and the Minister replied that the matter would receive his immediate attention. The local office of the Labour Department was authorised yesterday by Mr L.B. Campbell (district engineer) to despatch 32 men to the Tarras and Chatto Creek irrigation works, and most of the men will leave Dunedin to-day. It is understood that there is a possibility of further authority coming to hand.

On White, with Mayo

Dr Charles H. Mayo, the noted American surgeon, made the following statement, recently in the course of an interview at New York: "New Zealand has the finest race of men in the world to-day, physically and mentally. They have been drawn mainly from British stock and the immigration system is highly selective. The New Zealanders live out of doors to a great extent and their lives have few artificial elements. They are strong and healthy, clean of mind and body, and far outrank their progenitors in the British Isles."

Three kinds

"There are three different kinds of citizens", said Mrs Beyea, in her lecture in Burns Hall last night. "They are those who have brains and use them, those who have brains and don’t use them, and those who have no brains. The second kind", she added, "are the worst." 

— ODT, 22.7.1924  (Compiled by Peter Dowden)