OPUNAKE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume II, Issue 113, 14 May 1881, Page 3

OPUNAKE.

(prom our own correspondent.)

I regret again having to revert to the apathy of the Taranaki Education Board, in not providing school accommodation for Opunake. We have certainly been offered a paltry subsidy of J-40 per annum, provided we obtain a suitable building, but this " suitable building," considering there are no spare buildings here, means an outlay of JIOO, which the residents at present are not disposed to give. Thus, not less than fifty children are deprived of a primary education ; while, on the other hand, our New Plymouth neighbors very shortly will enjoy their high school, in all its splendour. I mention fifty children only, but before long there will be about one hundred. I can point out places in the Taranaki County where good school buildings have been erected, and where the attendance, comparatively speaking, was very limited. Why Opunake, with its steady influx of population, and, I might add, its rapid growth of prosperity, should be ignored in this matter of most vital importance, I cannot understand. Just fancy, on reading the Taranaki papers, we find a notice threatening to enforce the provisions of the compulsory clauses. It would appear that the other portions of this county are well provided for by the Education Board, but the rising generation of Opunake will not have much cause to be grateful to that body for the kindly interest it has taken in educating them. An indignation meeting is suggested by some as a remedy for the foregoing, while others are in favor, at the next Session, of putting the matter before the House. In the meantime, the Press Association will be communicated with, and all possible lawful means will be exercised towards redressing this wrong.

The Government steamer Stella bas laid a mooring-anchor and outhaul-buoy in the bay, and it is understood that within a few days we shall be supplied with a first- class surf-boat.

On Saturday last a return football match was played— Opunake verms Ushotn. The former won by six points. The native prisoners arrived at Parihaka, where they will remain. Numbers of drays laden with provisions daily pass, en. route thither. The coming meeting will be a very large one ; but in June, I am informed, Te Whiti will have finished his work — after which no one can tell what may come.

The Sporting Times says that a great discussion is going on in bur contemporary, the Sporting Life, as to the merits of Scotch and New Zealand oats for feeding racehorses. This is of little consequence to us, our own noble animals Guitar and Jew's Harp being fed entirely on chaff.