HOKITIKA NOTES.

Grey River Argus, 25 July 1922, Page 2

HOKITIKA NOTES.

(Our Own Correspondent.) There is an apparent impetus in business circles in Hokitika, if the number of new premises recently opened, ami old ones renov: ted can be used as a criterion. This recalls Dickens’ des- I cription of the evolutions of the small shop in the “ High ” Streets of the Eng- | lish Provincial towns. And judging by the amount of business doing, there will be no need for the manager of the Union Steam Ship Company to send a boat to Hokitika in order to take tired business men to the South Sea Island. A number of erstwhile timber workers have re-opened the cod-fishing industry on the river-mouth, ami so far l their labours have been attended with ! a fair amount of success. We wish [ them good luck. May their catches be ( as prolific as those of John and James, ‘ the sons of Zebedee! Mr D. Nolan, of Okuru, South Westland, is at present on a visit to Hokitika. A result of the untimely appearance of the frost hero, there has been a falling off in the attendance at the ! local picture entertainments. Many peo- ! pie prefer to remain home by the lire ! side during these cold nights. Quite a lot of money has been ex- I pended by the Hokitika Harbour Board in keeping its life saving apparatus ■ in order. Lately some persons un- ’ known have been knotting the lines I attached to the life-buoys. Sooner or , Hater, this practice will result in a| Lirowning fatality, similar to what took, place at Greymouth some few months : lago. It would be well if some of the : residents in the locality gave the police.! a little information regarding the offenders, so that a stop might be put. to their depredations. Mr J. Caliari is at present an inmate’ of the Westland Hospital, suffering from an attack of pneumonia. His many friends will wish him a speedy recovery. The groins thot were constructed some five years ago along the foreshore at the rear of Revell Street, for the purpose of checking erosion, have I begun to show up again, owing to the

| recent seour.s caused by heavy seas. The Wakaiti s: ils at 10 o’clock this evening with a full lord of provisions for tin* settlers at Bruce Bay and Oku ra. The many friends of Mrs AV. Warren, senr, of Hokitika, whose health has been causing her family much anx- ? iety of late, will be pleased to hear that there has been a marked improvement in her condition. We hope to be able to report her return to good health in the near future. The President of the local Progress i League, has written to a Wellington paper in an endeavour to score a point for this locality as against the northern West (’oast t rea. He wrote: —“I notice a paragraph in the “Times” quoting Mr Scajitlebury as stating at a meeting of the Nelson Education Board that he had been on the West ('oast for a week,’“and did not see the sun.’’ Mr Scrntlebury evidently did not select the right part of the West (’oast. I looked in at the local weather department to-day, ami asemtained that the registered bright sunshine at Wellington for the month of

June was 108 hours 5 minutes. At Hokitika, the capital of provincial Westland, for the month of June the bright sunshine registered was 146 hours 27 minutes. This comparison will afford local readers some idea of the amount of bright sunshine enjoyed at Hokitika, the principal centre whence, all tourist traffic branches of! to the scenic points on the West Coast.” An eye-witness to a distressing scene, in Revell Street, of a pet that [escaped from the cure of its adoring mistress handed your correspondent the following screed: — There was a fair maid called Molly, With a smile both contagious and jolly; But when her pet, Dennis, Escaped through the fen-nice, It caused a sensation, by golly. An urchin with legs, fast and fleet, Who was passing just then through the street. With quickness astounding Came back bounding; And placed tin? dear thing at her feet.