Looking back on South Coast history: August 8 to 11

IN 1952 South Coasters fondly believed that the new infrastructure would mean an end to their water woes.

August 8

1952

“THE Lower South Coast Regional Water Supply Scheme, which will be officially opened by the Administrator of Natal, Mr DG Shepstone, next Friday, eclipses in vision, scope and sheer physical achievement any other human enterprise ever essayed in Southern Natal.”

1975

SOME grand plans didn’t meet with local approval. “Although the piles of the proposed 17-storey block of luxury flats at Ramsgate have already been sunk, ratepayers are intent on fighting to the bitter end against the continuation of the building.”

1976

“SOUTH Coast municipalities are likely to ban skateboards on public roads and sidewalks.”

August 9

1935

POWER outages are certainly nothing new. “The failure of the electric light system for about 16 hours on Monday last had one really bright spot and that is that it most effectively silenced some of those roaring wireless sets.”

1957

RONDALIA, the newly opened family holiday resort in Hibberdene was reported to have catered for 1 000 in July.

1968

“ENGINEERS are busy investigating the possibility of constructing a new road from the Harding road to the sugar mill.”

August 10

1951

CONSERVATION was on the minds of may. “At the first meeting of the executive committee of the Southern Natal Public Bodies’ Association it was decided: ‘That representations be made to the Minister of Agriculture for protection under the Soil Conservation Act of indigenous bush and river mouths along the Natal South Coast’.”

AT the same time, Mother Nature was wreaking havoc along the coastline. “Last weekend Margate’s main beach was severely mauled by an exceptionally high tide, the like of which had not been seen since 1934. So many hundreds of thousands of tons of sand have been dragged back into the ocean and so much unsuspected rock has been exposed that the foreshore is hardly recognisable.”

AND a cold snap had some unforeseen consequences. “Accidents caused by failure to give hand signals have been uncommonly frequent during the prolonged cold spell. Motorists who normally leave a car window open to facilitate signalling have been travelling with all the windows shut to keep out the cold. Because this is not a habit, the driver sometimes forgets that he cannot signal a stop or right turn until the glass has been lowered again.”

1956

“AFTER three years’ work and planning, Dunstan’s TB Settlement at Hibberdene is now in operation. On Monday morning the first 23 patients were transported to it by ambulance from the Port Shepstone Hospital and the scheme at last swung into action.”

MEANWHILE, residents had a new way to keep fit. “The growing popularity which is being achieved by the St Michael’s golf course is evidenced by the fact that, during the past year, 10 714 18-hole rounds were played over the course.”

1982

IT was a good week for education when Port Shepstone’s Technical Institute became a fully-fledged technical college and Port Shepstone High School’s cadet band came second in a regional contest.

1990

“A UNANIMOUS decision has been made by the Port Shepstone council and the Bendigo town board to proceed with the amalgamation of the two towns.”

August 11

1950

“AT Wednesday’s ordinary monthly meeting of the Margate Borough Council, various councillors praised the Port Shepstone and District Child Welfare Society for the excellent work which it has done and is doing in the area. The general feeling was that, although Margate needed its own child welfare organisation, it would be unfair at this stage to withhold the council’s normal annual grant to the Shepstone body.”

1989

AND another issue that is only too familiar today. “The Umtamvuna river catchment area could be under threat from open cast mining of bauxite.”