On the upside is the lazy couple of million from the Berejiklian government to assist with the resurrection of thhe iconic Zig Zag Railway after years of ravages from fire, flood, vandals and thieves.

The support is welcome but long overdue.

And it raises a question that’s puzzling a lot of people.  What happened to the Defence Department’s liability in all this?

Defence was found responsible for the bushfire that wrecked the tourist railway and was expected to make full restitution.

But unless something has flown under the public radar the only involvement has been to help with the clean up after the firestorm that began at the Marrangaroo training base.

On that subject some more government funding for an effective security fence around the entire Zig Zag compound would be welcome. After all it is a heritage tourism site of both national and state importance.

On the downside was the announcement that Western Sydney University is pulling out of Lithgow, at least for 2019. The university spent millions transforming our tatty old library into a first class and sophisticated learning facility with a whole new image to the passing world.

The uni had obviously done its homework before committing to the project but apart from the successful nursing program viable student numbers failed to materialise.

Six years later WSU is retiring to consider its options for a year and Lithgow and those seeking pathways to the future  are again the loser.

(There is no such threat to the Notre Dame rural medicine campus in Lithgow).

SOMEWHERE between primary school and high school common sense sometimes goes out the door. Up to Year 6 it’s rare to see kids outdoors without a brimmed hat.  Not so after the move to high school where it’s concerning in Lithgow to see students walking to outdoor school sport without a hat (or even the largely useless cap) between them. Clearly there’s a need for some hard lessons - perhaps even ‘no hat, no sport’?

WITH elections looming commentators are now working themselves into a lather over the ‘omens’ for the major NSW political parties from the win by an independent in the recent Wagga by election. That’s drawing a long bow; in Wagga there was public anger after their Coalition member was caught out in allegedly dodgy dealings with developers. In Orange it was also a protest vote after the ill judged greyhound fiasco. Hardly likely to set a state wide precedent in the cold light of the polling booth unless there’s mass revelations of dirty deeds by either main party.

NEXT Saturday’s Ulysses Christmas toy run starts from Wolgan Street, Portland, and not Williwa Street as reported last week.