TARANAKI

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1682, 25 May 1904, Page 26

TARANAKI

(From Our Otvn Correspondent).

An old resident, Mr F L. C. Wallath, met with a painfully suddeni end on Sunday evening last at liis residence at Westoun. In the evening he had ascended a windmill to make fast a detached chain, when the fan swung round, and striking him knocked him off the staging on to a kerbed asphalt area some 20 feet below. IHis head struck the kerbing, and fracf tured his spine near the nape of the neck. He lingered till next morning. On Tuesday a representative cortege followed his remains to the cemetery. Deceased was a well-known builder, and was generally liked. He carried on farming on a small scale at »<estoun, including an apiary. _ The loan works for the Borough of lNe>v Plymouth are not progressing as satisfactorily, as they should, and I will not he surprised if there is a popular agitation in the borough ere long. The waterworks extension and sewerage works are being pushed ahead slowly, and the elecv trio light tenders have not yet been dealt with. It is considered in some quarters that the estimates have been fixed too low for the three jobs mentioned, but this is a statement that time alone can prove. The loss of the New Plymouth freezing works by fire -on Tuesday morning last has been the principal subject of conversation since I last wrote you. The direc-. tors lost no time in making arrangements to reinstate the .works, and a start will be made as soon as possible in order to get them ready for next season, which tieminences in September. The directors adopted “a penny wise and ppund foolish'* policy in not having a nightoatchrnan on the works. The fire no doubt originated through the ignition of some place in the boiler house, and had a man been on the premises he qould have detected it when in an incipient stage. I understand that a brick partition wall between the storage and machinery departments will be a feature of the new building. The boldness of the native wood pigeons has been noticeable this year. The Maoris attribute this feature to the fact that the birds have migrated from Marlborough in search of food, and that they are made hold by hunger. The adventures of Captain Pelix Tinner and his barrel-shaped boat have been closely. followed by people here, on account of his first experiment being mrde here. A Mk El. Williams, an ex-fire nan of the IS ew Plymouth Harbour Board, is talking about eclipsing th© feats of Captain Tanner in the boat sailing line. He has made a model of a barrel-bpat, and is-anxious to get someone to build a craft for him on the same lines. Whether he will get'a financier to do so remains to be seen. Politics are as dead as the proverbial door-nail in Taranaki. The members for the district seem to have lapsed into a state of somnolence. * Stratford County and Borough are agitating for a separate hospital district, and no doubt the matter will b© brought before Parliament next session. This question of hospital accommodation at Stratford has been on the tapis for a long timo

■file New Plymouth Carnival Committee is still showing a good deal of energy in its -work, and should the festivities next Xmas and -New Year not prove a success, it won't be for want of enterprise on the part of the Committee. May 17th.