Shark Tanks in Sea Point

CAPE ARGUS - 1939, December 16

How deceptively small Cape Town’s new ultra-modern aquarium at Sea Point appears from outside was demonstrated to a representative of The Argus today by Dr. C. von Bonde, Director of Fisheries, in a tour of the new building.

The aquarium, which is rapidly nearing completion and should be officially opened some time in the first half of next year, extends underground to more than twice its surface height. The exhibition hall itself is below ground, and below that again are great water-storage tanks.

Through an entrance on Beach Road, the public will do down a broad staircase, paneled in green Transvaal marble, to the exhibition hall. There 42 tanks, ten of them for fresh-water specimens, line the hall behind glass that is 1½ inches thick.

HOLD A SHARK

In this hall, too, the walls are marbled, with copper tank-frames, louvres and other fittings. Some of the tanks are 13 ft. long and big enough to hold small sharks. Daylights, diffused through the surface of water, makes luminous all the marine life in the tanks.

Down in the basement 62 000 gallons of water are stored in darkness in order that no algae may develop in it to cloud the glass of the exhibition tanks. Great air-ducts run through the hidden “service” passages where another 30 000 gallons of water are stored to feed the exhibition tanks. The entire building is air-conditioned.

FISHERIES LABORATORY

The new aquarium, which will be operated, as far as the visiting public is concerned, as a municipal enterprise, is really the “head office” and laboratory of the Director of union fisheries and his staff. For them three laboratories and a photographic dark-room have been provided on the most modern lines.

The aquarium will be one of the “show” places of the Peninsula. The opening, eagerly awaited, is being pushed forward as much as possible and will not be delayed through war time shortage of material, since all the necessary materials are already on the site.

The Fisheries Department staff, it is expected, will move to their new laboratories within the next six weeks.

More Paper salvaged in Peninsula

CAPE ARGUS - 1951, November 19

More paper than ever was being salvaged in the Cape Peninsula in 1951, in spite of the fact that the vast majority of the public seemed to have forgotten all about the paper-saving campaign. 

An official of the City Council’s Cleansing Department said that housewives did not contribute to this improved salvage figures, as most of them mixed their wet waste with paper and bundled it all indiscriminately into their garbage cans.

The improvement was due to the better methods of salvage being used by the authorities themselves. The Cleansing Department had 5 new motor vehicles in service and ordered another 7 vehicles to be delivered within the next 6 weeks. Each vehicle had a separate compartment for waste paper. The ordinary refuse vehicles could not be used for special space for paper, as paper, when tightly packed, was heavier than the other garbage, and made the vehicles lean over at a dangerous angle.

The officer said that they were collecting up to about 6 000 pounds of paper daily, or between 15 and 20 tons a week. It could be much more if the public would only be more co-operative.

CAPE PENINSULA - one of the most beautiful corners of the earth.

DE VOLKSTEM - 1925, 12 October

THE CAPE TIMES - 1933, 10 July

Travelers renowned for their wide experience, amply witnessed that the CAPE PENINSULA is one of the beautiful corners of the earth. Sir FRANCIS DRAKE, the great Elizabethan navigator, wrote: “This Cape is a most stately thing, and the fairest Cape we saw in the whole circumference of the Earth.” 300 years later FROUDE, the essayist, declared: “In all the world there is perhaps no city so beautifully situated as Cape Town.” During his first visit to the Cape in 1925, The Prince of Whales said: “It is indeed a happy circumstance that this city, so rich in historical associations, should be set in such beautiful surroundings, and the impression made on the traveler when the full majesty of TABLE BAY is revealed to him for the first time is one that must remain with him all his life.” Five years later His Royal Highness returned to the Peninsula on a holiday tour.

The Cape has a regular season but midsummer brings the gay crowds. Even during winter, with mist shrouding TABLE MOUNTAIN, the wooded lanes of the suburbs and the old city squares are appealing. 

Winter visitors may find INFORMATION about the ENTERTAINMENTS and ATTRACTIONS that the CAPE PENINSULA offers.

The Entrance Gates to the CASTLE, one of the most interesting historic sights of Cape Town. The LIONS on top of the gates are the work of ANTON ANREITH.

The Statue of JAN VAN RIEBEECK, founder of the Settlement at the Cape in 1652. This statue stands at the PIER GATES. It was the gift of the late Mr. CECIL RHODES to the City. The figure is the work of Mr. JOHN TWEED, of London. 

During the pleasant months of OCTOBER and NOVEMBER special tariffs will enable people to visit CAPE TOWN by TRAIN or by BOAT. Enjoy the GALA SEASON with PROCESSIONS, CARNIVALS, EXHIBITIONS, SPECIAL RACES, DANCES, ETC. 

You don’t want to miss this this opportunity! 

Petrol "War" in Cape Town

CAPE TIMES - April 5, 1933