LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 12 November 1927, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

'The Manaia Municipal Brass Band will render a programme in the rotunda at Manaia this evening, commencing at 7.45 p.m. The Methodist Ladies’ Guild is busily engaged getting ready for a Christmas rainbow fair to be held in the Town Hall, Manaia, on Friday, December 9. l'oung and old will be well catered for. Father Christmas will be in evidence, so the young are in for a good time. Principal J. J. North, of the New Zealand Baptist College, Auckland, is at present visiting Hawera and will conduct both services at the Baptist Church on Sunday next, llis morning subject will be “Limiting God" and in the evening “The Central Message of the Christian Faith." The evening service will commence at 7.30 p.m. The members of the Hawera Minister’s Association, which includes representatives of the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, the Church of Christ and the Salvation Army, have agreed to commence the Sunday evening Service in the future at 7.30 p.m. instead of 7 o’clock. The new order comes into operation to-morrow and will continue till further notice.

The excellent influence created by the training of the twenty boys lor the Male Choir concert was stressed by Mr. E. Dixon at the reception to the assisting artists on Thursday evening. He referred to the remarkable ability shown by Mr.' Fox in this work as was evidenced also in the formation of the boys’ band and orchestra at the Hawera. School and thanked rite parents for permitting their hoys to come and take part in the programme. It was, he added, a new tiling for Hawera and he was convinced the work done now would be excelled in the future. The work of erecting gates and fencing on the Gate Pa Domain, Tauranga, has been completed (states the ‘‘New Zealand Herald’’). This domain embraces the ground where the famous battle was fought, and an inscription in reference to the engagement is to be placed on the gates. Mr. ELsdon Best, writing in the “Northlnnder,” says: "Manaia, on Waimate Plains, Taranaki, is not a Maori place name. Tt was so named by Government, after a Maori chief who lived at Te Kauae. That was in 1875, and soon after that about 10U of us marched south from Pungarehu and built Fort Manaia. Manaia was an old-time personal name of Taranaki. The Atiawa tribe there is descended from an old Polynesian voyager of that name. Sir M. Pomare is a descendant of his —27 generations.” Now that the wharf is finished, the Opunnke Harbour Board is faced with the task of making the port revenueproducing, and that task is a big one, for the prospects of the harbour as a commercial concern are not bright (says the "Times”). It would appear that much more shelter is necessary before a regular shipping service can be established, but in its endeavour to get even a partial service the board deserves the whole-hearted support of every ratepayer in the district.

A welcome was tendered at .Stratford last night by the .South Taranaki Education Institute to the newly appointed inspector, Mr J. A. Henry, B.A. Mr L. J. Furrie presided and there were forty present. 'Speaking in acknowledgment of the welcome by the president, Mr Henry said that since his transfer he had been surprised at the high standard of efficiency particularly in country schools attained in Taranaki. The name of Taranaki was known throughout New Zealand educational circles, particularly on account of the valuable experimental work done here. This pleasing feature was in marked contrast to the province’s almost unknowm reputation a few years ago-