LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 1 February 1924, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Three ‘bankruptcies were recorded in Taranaki during January. There were none in the same month of last year. A fifteen-year-old boy wa« charged in the Juvenile Court at New Plymouth yesterday morning with trespassing on the railway line between Belt Road and Moturoa. The police explained that the case wne brought as a warning, but a conviction was not pressed for. The Magistrate (Mr. A. M. Mowlem) accordingly dismissed the information under the Justices of the Peace Act, but ordered the expenses of a witness to be paid.

Inglewood, in common with other Taranaki towns, is showing marked signs of progress, and Louses are particularly hard to secure. Recently a prospective tenant wrote to a land agent in Inglewood and sought to rent a house that ivas on the agent’s books, but was told that the key had been definitely promised to another. The latter, however, on going to the house, found it was already occupied. It appears that the first prospective tenant, undaunted by the refusal, had put his furniture through the window and taken possession, and there he remains. “This boy is extremely fortunate that he is here to-day to tell the tale,” said Mr. R. Day (borough inspector) in the court yesterday when prosecuting a six-teen-year-old boy for riding a bicycle without having attached to it an effective brake. Mr. Day said that the boy rode down Brougham Street at such a speed that he had to awing right across Devon Street in order to turn the corner. Had a motor car or tram car been in Devon Street near the corner at the time, Mr. Day added, there would have been a serious accident. The case was br<> glit as a warning. The boy said his bicycle had a fixed wheel and was always under his control, but the magistrate (Mr. A. M. Mowlem) pointed out that this was not sufficient. A brake must be attached to the machine. The boy was convicted and ordered to pay costs amounting to 7s.

The problem of fitting out the boys for the new rhool term can be easily solved by taking advantage of the sale discounts advertised by the New Zealand Clothing Factory. The “H. 8. brand of school outfits are well and favourably known, and with a discount of not less than ten per cent., they should be doubly attractive.—N.Z. Clothing Factory, New Plymouth.* Through the generosity of the directors of the Tarana'ki Amusements Ltd. the second-hand clothes mart today in aiid of the City East candidate will be held in the shop next to the Criterion Hotel. A wide range of attractive bargains is promised. •From Angus and Robertson, the wellknown Sydney publishers, we have received further copies of the “Platypus” series. They include Henry Lawson’s “On the Track” and “Over the Sliprails,” selected poems by Henry Kendall, Mr. Abbott’s story, “Castle Vaine,” and Mary E. Stone Bassett’s “The Little Green Door.” The books are produced in Australia, and sold at a low rate, and are a credit to both the publishers and the printers. A children’s picnic takes place at the East End Reserve to-morrow afternoon. The gathering is being organised by the reserve committee to give the children a treat before resuming school lessons. Races will be held for the children and a treasure hunt will take place. The band is to be in attendance. Adults will be admitted to the grounds on payment of sixpence, children being free.