As a welcome change, Mr. Pollock at the last meeting of the Council turned his attention to the Peak motor road, the construction of which during the past few days, since the new taxation was announced, has come in for a great deal of criticism. When the idea was first mooted Mr. Pollock was the only member of Council protest: he imagined that joy-riders would disturb the slumbers of Peak residents and that the swiftly moving cars would be 2 danger to the children, At the time his arguments did not arouse much sympathy. Now, however, he has more people. wi him and was emboldened to ask; "Tu view of the fact that abnormal] taxation is being imposed on a'] inhabitants of the Colony in an unsuccessful endeavour to balance the Budget for the current year, will the Government take a referendum of Magazine Gap and Peak' residents with a view to ascertain whether it is the wish of the majority of such residents that a motor road should be made from Magazine Gap to the Peak. If not why not? And also "What is the estimated cost of making such motor road and when was such estimate obtained The Government refused to take a referendum on the ground that the construction of the road had already been approved by the Legislative Council. It will cost $128,000.
Cottapse or Houses.
Two houses near the Central Police station suddenly collapsed early yesterday morning. The occupants were asleep at the time and the roofs, crashing through all the three storeys of the buildings, buried them in debris at the bottom. The outside walls, some of which had been shored up to permit of interior repairs, remained standing. Several people managed to crawl out from underneath the heap of rubble immediately after the disaster, apparently none the worse for their experience. The police and members of the Sanitary Department rescued others, but, at the time of writing, it is said that there are still nine buried and there appears to be little hope of saving them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.