Quite a number of local club members competed with success at the carnival although not winning any trophies. Perhaps the most unlucky was the junior boat crew which came a close second in the first heat and won the second heat from the two top Sydney crews, Freshwater and Newport, only to be disqualified for turning at the wrong buoy.

Threat to mayor

After police had interviewed the mayor, Ald Adams, on Friday night last, it was agreed no further enquiries be made regarding a threat to shoot him if he didn’t get out of town. Jenny Cook was startled when she answered the phone at the council chambers. A voice, with what Mrs Cook described as an Arabic accent, said: “tell the mayor to get out of Port Macquarie or someone is going to shoot him”. “I beg your pardon,” Mrs Cook said, and the caller hung up. She told the clerk, Mr W.G. Alcock, who advised the mayor, and the police were notified. Sgt Ernie Bird found the mayor not unduly perturbed when he went to his motel. Ald Adams, he said, was inclined to think some prankster was at work, and it was decided to leave it at that. 

Electricity charges to rise by 12.5 per cent

Estimates adopted by Oxley County Council at the first meeting in 1969, will have the effect of increasing electricity tariffs by 12.5 per cent. The motion carried did not specify the amount of the increase to be applied to commercial and domestic tariffs and a committee will determine this. Council’s officers are working on a formula to apportion the increase to commercial and domestic, with council feeling that commercial users should carry the greater portion. Councillor King maintained that a 12.5 per cent increase now would be better than smaller increases for the next three years, and Ald Norm Matesich said he could not see any logic in using up assets to keep tariffs down.