LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1924, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

■ The Christmas Number of the Taranaki Daily News will'be issued to morrow. The issue is bigger than in previous years, comprising twelve pages of topical reading as well as the winning stories and essays in the competitions. New features are introduced this year, including illustrated stories for children, which, with several topical short stories, were secured in England. With. the Christmas Supplement- to-morrow’s issue of the Daily News will consist of twenty-eight pages.

The road between Te Kuiti and Avvakino is at present in good order, according to a report received last night by the North Taranaki Automobile Association.

The popularity of New Plymouth as a tourist resort, still continues to grow, judging by the many enquiries for accommodation, etc., that are being received from prospective visitors by the secretary of the New Plymouth Tourist and Expansion League.

A motor accident occurred at Mangatoki yesterday, when Mr. A. H. Guy, agent for Messrs. Newton M King, Ltd. at Hawera, sustained injuries to his shoulder. Mr. Guy was' proceeding towards Kaponga in a motor car, when a collision occurred between his car and a. car owned by Mr. J. Stackhouse and driven by Mr. Stewart, both of Oaonui. Both cars were badly damaged. “Too much dancing and the wrong, class of moving pictures are having an undesirable effect on the scholars,” said Mr. A. K. Anderson, principal of St. Andrew’s College (Christchurch) at the break-up on Wednesday. He advocated dancing for young people only two or three times a year as they used to. Another necessity was a limitation of pocket money. The necessity for care being exercised by the employees of local bodies when repairing bridges, etc., was stressed by Mr. W. N. Stephenson at the meeting of the New Plymouth Tourist League last night. Mr. Stephenson stated that he had seen a motor tyre that had been practically ruined through picking up a bolt. This, he said, had evidently been carelessly thrown on the road by workmen engaged in repairing a bridge.

The New Plymouth Boys’ High School magazine, “The Taranakian,” edited by the boys of the school and published twice a year, is now to hand. The issue is a particularly fine one, both the scholastic and the social side of the school life being chronicled in a full and comprehensive manner. The success of the school on the football field during the year has been a remarkably meritorious one, and a full record of the season’s triumphs has been included. The loss sustained by the school in the death of Mr. R. H. Rockel, M.A., i s referred to in an article, which pays a striking tribute to his influence and work in all spheres of school life.

The necessity for taking steps to effect an improvement at the Sentry Hill railway bridge is to be placed before the Minister for Railways (th e Hon. J. G. Coates) by the New Plymouth Tourist League. The fact that this is on the No. 1 highway between Auckland and Wellington has, the league considers, rendered some improvement imperative. With the completion of the metalling of the Mokau Road and the bridging of the Mokau River, traffic will increase enormously. Another matter to be placed before the Minister is the need for improving the dangerous crossing at Waipuku. “Modern educational methods demand that teachers discard the autocratic methods practised by their predecessors of a quarter of a century ago, and that they endeavour so to conduct their schools that pupils and teachers alike apply themselves to their tasks in a manner such as to reach a higher standaixl of conscientious effort and moral excellence,” said Mr. D. P. Evans, headmaster of the Central School in the course of his annual report at -the breaking-up ceremony yesterday. ‘’This can be done only by an appeal to the finer instincts of the child, who immediately responds when he realises that he has an important part to play in a community—the school. Only in rare cases,” Mr. Evans said, “do we" now deal with the child who carries out his duties in a careless or perfunctory manner, for each recognises that he meets in the’ school room for the common good of all —a position unattainable where harmony and co-operation are non-exist-

The Rev. E. Palgrave Davy, founder and superintendent of an interdenominational mission to influence for good the young people of the Dominion, is at present giving a series of lectures in New Plymouth. Although the lectures are being held in the Baptist Church, they are entirely of an interdenominational character, and are being attended night by night, by a large number of children and parents from all churches. To-night, at 7 o’clock, Mr. Davy gives his final lecture and it is anticipated that the church will be packed. Mrs. John Craig will sing: “He died of a broken