HOKITIKA NOTES

Grey River Argus, 24 March 1949, Page 2

HOKITIKA NOTES

-Our Own Correspondent). HOKITIKA, March 23. The Hauiti was ready to sail this afternoon, but there was too much sea on the bar, and she will sail for Wellington as soon as conditions permit. During the stay of the Hauiti at Milford Sound last week discharging cargo, 22 inches of rain fell for the period. The contractor for the Post Office at Hokitika has started moving the Police Station to provide room for the new Post Office. The concrete foundation for the Police Station is ready. The entrance will be from Sewell Street, when the building is completed. Mr F. Millar, engineer at Hokitika for the Works Department, is at present an inmate of Westland Hospital. He is making satisfactory ’progress. .Mr S. Davidson, of the staff of Davidson’s Foundry, has joined the m.v. Hauiti as second engineer, vice Mr C. Ross, who has gone ashore. With cricket, hockey, basebaU, and rugby football all claiming playing areas, the shortage of grounds has been most marked. Some time ago the Hockey Club asked the Borough Council for the right to lease two sections in Park Street, but this was not agreed to, although the club offered to put the areas in order at their own expense. The Cricket Club recently approached the Council, stating that junior teams could not be encouraged as not sufficient grounds were available. The Council intends to meet the position by setting aside the Cricket Reserve at the top end of Stafford Street. Already the basketball clubs have graded an area ready for putting down sealed courts, and there is ample room for many more sports grounds in this area. The Council, in the meantime, will await the report of the Cass Square improvement committee, ■ which is in touch with all of the sporting bodies in town. The suggestion of the Council to make the Cricket Reserve into the town’s main sports ground, catering for all sports, is worthy of support, and if the scheme goes ahead, sports bodies will receive liberal support from the Government. The Rugby Union and the League Club, both require full use of the playing areas at the week-end, and it is fortunate that the clubs play on different days otherwise the shortage of playing areas would be more acute. The Rugby Union spent a deal of money in an effort to bring a football ground into use at the racecourse, but up to the present it has not been used. The meteorological officer reports that five degrees of frost were recorded in Hokitika this morning. Sergeant P. Hutchison, of Kaniere, a member of the local A.T.C.. has completed his instruction in flying, and has made his first solo flight. The death occurred in Christchurch ’yesterday of a former well-known resident of Hokitika, Mr Harold Fuller Cooke, who was manager of the Hokitika branch of the Bank of New South Wales for a number of years before retiring to reside in New Plymouth, later shifting- to Christchurch. He was predeceased by his wife some years ago. and leaves two daughters. The late Mr Cooke was a member of the Pacific Lodge and took a very prominent part in Freemasonry in this district. He was also a member of the Hokitika Bowling Club.