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Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIV, Issue 281, 7 November 1924, Page 6

For some time Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Company, Ltd., have been engaged in preliminary work in connection with their contract for the construction of the section of the East Coast railway between Wairoa and Tahawai. A large quantity of plant and equipment has already been assembled at Mount Maunganui and transhipped to various points on the route. About 150 men are now. engaged by the contractors, and in course of another few weeks additions to equipment will mean the employment of more men. A teacher in a coastal town is reported (says the Hawera “Star”) to have set out to suppress the slightest sign of the children under his care developing the nicotine habit. In opening the campaign he asked all those children who had ever smoked to stand forward. About 50 per cent, of the scholars, including many of the gentler sex. admitted having at sopie time or other committed the “crime.” He thereupon took on the arduous task of supplying each culprit with six good and sound strokes of the strap. The offence had not been committed in the school surroundings nor was it shown that it had been in practice recently. Many irate parents resent the action taken, and questions are now being asked as to how far the teacher’s jurisdiction extends.