In case you missed it, read first:
Bluff News from the 1950s – PART 1
Bluff News from the 1950s – PART 2
Bluff News from the 1950s – PART 3
Bluff News from the 1950s – PART 4
Bluff News from the 1950s – PART 5
Bluff News from the 1950s – PART 6
Bluff News from the 1950s – PART 7
Sites for schools
A CITY Council report of October 1955 projected that “ultimately” the Bluff would be home to 26,000 people, of whom about 7,800 would be school children.
On that basis it was estimated that about 120 acres would be needed for schools.
Bluff Councillor Spanier Marson felt the need to plan for the establishment of schools was overdue. He believed that land under municipal ownership would be insufficient in years to come and that the education department would have to expropriate privately owned land.
Umbrellas up in Bushlands Road bus
The introduction of single-decker buses in Durban in 1954 did not prove popular because, so the complaint went, they were stuffy and poorly ventilated. Some drivers refused to drive them. An additional factor was that they leaked. One rainy September 1955 evening, passengers on board a single-decker bound for Bushlands Road found themselves drenched. The rain came drizzling through the air vents in the roof. So some enterprising passengers opened up their umbrellas in an effort to stay dry.
Water pressure problems
Although the current reduction of water pressure on the Bluff at night is the result of what many regard as misguided council policy, residents in September 1955 had a taste of the experience.
An unusually heavy water demand in the lower parts of the city left points on the Bluff and Montclair high and dry one Saturday evening when water pressure dropped almost to zero. Deputy city water engineer, Cecil Hands noted that residents in the Hilltop, Maxwell Avenue and Lighthouse Road areas had been the worst affected.
To prevent a repeat of the situation, a booster pump was installed near Hilltop Road which was timed to come into use between 2pm and 6.30pm, thus maintaining pressure at peak periods. As might have been expected, a letter on the subject was published in which the writer claimed “the breakdown in our water supplies was the last straw for Bluff residents: our bus service is bad, our roads are appalling, storm-water drainage is non-existent”.
Oil refinery smells
South Africa’s first oil refinery came into operation in January 1954.
It was the result of an investment of £8 million by the Standard Vacuum Refining Company. The refinery was later owned by Mobil and after 1986, by Petronas operating as Engen. Within four months of production, 600 Bluff residents signed a petition against the smells and gases discharged by the refinery (Mercury, 1 April 1954).
The petition was presented to the Mayor, Percy Osborn. Bryant Kennedy, managing director of the refinery promised that within a month everything possible would be done to eliminate the smell. But obviously that did not occur.
In September 1955, a British atmospheric pollution expert, Mr HG Howson, was enlisted to make remedial recommendations. At a hearing he assured the Bluff Protection Association (BPA) that if his recommendations were carried out, they would address the complaints. Mr HL Magid, who represented the BPA, said residents did not want to stand in the way of the refinery’s business but asked for its co-operation in the matter. Director of the refinery, Mr RS Anderson, undertook to implement Howson’s report to the full. The refinery had already spent £30,000 in trying to abate nuisance smells. Despite the complaints of residents, it is of note that the municipality had not seen fit to prosecute the refinery for infringements on any of the by-laws.
Harcourt Hotel
In September 1956 the Durban Supreme Court placed the Harcourt Hotel of Marine Drive, Brighton Beach under judicial management following an application brought by Clover Dairies.
The hotel had repeatedly defaulted on a debt of £237 owned to Clover.
In its judgement, the court found that the current owners, Mr and Mrs S Rubinstein, who had bought the hotel in July 1953, had no previous experience in hotel management. The hotel’s assets, land and buildings were fixed at £76,000. It had recorded a loss of £2,100 in the year ended June 1956.
Judge Neville Holmes expressed confidence that under proper management creditors would recover their losses. The Harcourt Hotel traded for the next 25 years before closing and being transformed into apartment units known as Vistaero.
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