Compiled by Cameron McCullough
SHORTLY after seven o’clock on Friday night last, a storm of more than average violence swept over Frankston.
During the afternoon the heavy clouds presaged that an abnormal change in the weather was imminent, but beyond an occasional shower, nothing transpired until later, as already stated.
Then, and almost without premonition, the storm burst in all its fury. Dust, which had been lying dormant for days, was swept along the thoroughfares of usually peaceful Frankston; doors in houses banged in unison; open windows rattled ominously and cleanly people rushed to close them.
The gale continued to increase in velocity, then, above the turmoil that raged in the heavens, the fire bell rang. No, the members of the local corps were not again testing it on the new tower as they had done the previous evening – it was a real fire this time, the glare of a conflagration over in the direction of Oliver’s Hill, confirmed the alarm which had been sounded.
Inquiries promptly elicited through “The Standard’s” source of intelligence, gleaned the information that a portion of the scrub near Plummer’s Avenue, was ablaze, which, however, the brigade managed to quell before much damage had been done.
Following a series of minor mishaps, consumers of electric current, who had switched on the light, found that it had failed, and many places were plunged into a seeming abyss of darkness.
Oil lamps and candles were brought into requisition, and as of yore, did yeoman service.
Subsequently the telephone service – far from being what it should be at any time – became disorganised, and any attempt to obtain a connection was, for the most part, doomed to failure.
About 4am (Saturday) the gale, which had been fluctuating from low to high pressure, reached its zenith.
Truly, the storm of its kind, and in consequence of an unexpected violence, may be classed as having been phenomenal.
Midnight Chase at Frankston. Local Police Pursue Motorists.
“Beer, beer, glorious beer,” but this time it was gin. Late on Monday night last, gin bottles hurled to the road and footpath from a Melbourne-bound motor car, as it sped through Frankston, resulted in a 60-mile-an-hour chase, which ended at midnight in a capture at Cheltenham.
Senior-Constable Elliott, on duty, lost no time in obtaining a six-cylinder Buick from the Frankston Motor Garage, and then the fun started.
It was a race for life after the vanishing car – a Buick four. A short distance past the Carrum bridge, over which flashed the members of the “blue brigade” at 55 miles an hour, the offending party was overtaken.
As the front car slewed across the roadway, a smash was narrowly averted.
At Cheltenham the first car stopped suddenly with engine seizure, through, it is surmised, overheating.
Two men and two women were in the car. The men were detained, and the names of the women taken.
At the Frankston Court yesterday, as reported elsewhere in this issue, a series of alleged charges were preferred against the men.
The two women will be proceeded against by summons.
Tempus fugit.
The superior and would-be intelligence of some of our civic fathers, especially those who have been in oflice for a period of years, and should know better than to blatantly contend that they are making assertions, and citing authorities in accordance with fact, occasionally baffles description.
Alternatively, it is pleasing to record that in so far as the Frankston and Hastings Shire Council is concerned, there are younger and more mentally robust councillors in whom the ratepayers, as a whole, may, at all times, place implicit confidence in relation to discerning wherein the hitherto flawless element (so deemed) prevails.
In this paramount regard, and treating or analysing the subject under review from it the purely impartial standpoint, as well as in the public interests – seeing it is “John Citizen” who is called upon to pay the piper – we desire to allude to quite recent happenings at the Council table.
In short, last Monday night a special meeting was held with the object of further discussing the new appointments to be created in the office staff personnel.
A full and authentic report of the proceedings was duly published in Wednesday’s issue of “The Standard.” To those who carefully perused the report in question, it must have appealed to them that the debate which ensued was of a somewhat fluctuating kind, even in the abstract.
Previously, a committee, consisting of Crs. Alden, McCulloch and Wells, went into the matter of the Municipal Log pertaining to creating a combined position as Shire Secretary and Engineer, likewise other offices.
This triple entente met in conclave, when, as it later transpired, they ascertained that if a combined office were established in the direction as indicated aforesaid, the salary would be £555 per annum, plus 50 per cent., namely, £832 per year.
Hence, finding themselves between the devil and the deep sea, metaphorically speaking, they decided to convene a special meeting of their confreres-in-office.
In the early stages of this sitting, Cr. Bradbury maintained that from an authoritative source, he had gleaned the information whereby, under the 1923 Log the services of a combined officer could be obtained for the sum of £555 per annum.
The president (Cr. May) interpolated with the remark: “That puts a different complexion on the matter,” but Cr McCulloch averred that the committee had “gone very carefully into the subject of the Log.” Further; Cr. Alden said: “We’ve got the Log here right enough. It is official; Cr. Bradbury’s is not official.”
The Tyabb representative was evidently indignant at the idea of Mt. Eliza’s energetic councillor having taken the precaution of probing the issue at stake, for he added: “He had no authority to go seeking information.”
We feel confident that the ratepayers will applaud the action of Cr. Bradbury, for since then he and Crs. Pratt and Miles have made exhaustive and timely investigations into the actual ruling of the latest Municipal Log, to which Cr. Bradbury referred at the special meeting.
It has now been conclusively proved that the salary in a dual capacity is £555, and that the document, erroneously quoted by Cr. Alden and supported by Cr. McCulloch, was the original claim.
Truly “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” but, apparently, in the hands of Crs. Alden and McCulloch it spells disaster; is a hopeless waste of valuable time, perpetuates the prevailing mania for lengthy and unprofitable debates; moreover, momentarily staggers the credulity of those possessed of a forensic mind and a clear vision.
Lastly, it is the province of a Shire Secretary to advisedly direct the members of the Council when they are prone to trip over obstacles, and put them on the right path of procedure.
His lot, like that of a policeman; may not be “a happy one” – to quote the “late Gilbert – nevertheless, duty is duty.
MR. W. E. Thomason, of Frankston, has returned home after spending a truly sporting time at Kerang, during the duck season.
Mr. Thomason, who on his trip was accompanied by his wife, travelled by motor car to Kerang, via Gisborne.
He found the roads very bad all the way, and came back through Heathcote, where good roads and beautiful scenery prevail.
Mr. Thomason computed that the distance traversed, from Frankston to Kerang, was 220 miles.
From the pages of the Frankston and Somerville Standard, 25 & 27 Feb 1925