Looking back on South Coast history: May 2 to 4
The focus was on the sea, with shark nets, a lifesavers' clubhouse and fishing festivals in the news.
Now, 65 years later, it seems that history is repeating itself.
May 2
1952
EDITORIAL comment: “What ails our beloved country? Our politics have gone sour on us and are distilling a deadly poison that is steadily invading every cell of the body politic. In Parliament, eternal legal and ideological wrangling has almost entirely ousted the bread and butter legislation of which, heaven knows, we stand in such urgent need.”
BUT it must have been an otherwise quiet week in the newsroom, as the chickens in the state of Vermont in the United States made headlines with a new egg-laying record, averaging 205 eggs per hen, against the national average of 167 eggs per chicken.
1958
“IT’S laughter and gaiety in the surf at Southbroom once more. Happy holidaymakers, secure behind the new safe bathing enclosure, enjoyed the surf on the delightful beach.”
1975
“TWO prominent Africans have strongly criticised the air raid sirens which nightly announce the African curfew in Margate and Port Shepstone.”
AND someone must have listened. “The curfew shall not ring tonight – nor any other night – unless the local authorities decide to take over the sounding of the siren. The divisional commissioner of police has ordered the police out of a controversial situation by stopping them pressing the siren curfew buttons.”
1986
UVONGO continued to argue over industrial enterprises and consent for the establishment of a batching plant was withdrawn.
May 3
1935
“AS we go to press we learn that Mr DE Mitchell MPC has secured a vote for the tar-macadamising of the road between Port Shepstone and Margate.”
1963
THE system manager of railways informed the Southern Natal Public Bodies’ Association that the weekly one-day shopping service by luxury bus to Durban would be discontinued if it did not receive better support from the public.
May 4
1956
“FINAL arrangements are now being made by members of the Margate Tuna Angling Club for the staging of the first in a series of annual fishing festivals to be held during the sardine run in June.”
AND there was good news for the lifesavers. “Thanks to generous public response and a grant of £500 from the local borough council, construction work is now well in hand for the clubhouse of the Margate Voluntary Surf Lifesavers’ Club, which, during the past 10 years, has rendered such sterling service to the community.”
1973
“QUIET Trafalgar is poised to become a major holiday resort – for a multi-storey, R2½-million block of luxury holiday flats is to be built there, to accommodate a total of about 1 500 people.”
1982
SOME things just don’t change. “Sewage disposal is the Lower South Coast’s biggest problem.
1984
“A MEMBER of the Shelly Beach Town Board has defended the board’s resolution to convert the south side of Voigt’s Park into a municipal picnic ground and the north side into a municipal parking lot.”
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