LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 April 1927, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The net proceeds of the sale of work recently held at Okato by St. Paul’s ladies’ guild were £52 14s 4d.

A warning that motorists driving without tail lights would be taken into court in the future was voiced by the inspector for the Taranaki county in his report to the council yesterday. He said that on one night no less than nine ears passed him with “dead” tail lights. The Main Highways Board will visit New Plymouth on Saturday, May 14, according to a telegram received at the meeting of the Taranaki County Council yesterday. A former message stated that the date had not been decided owing to the illness of one of the members of the board.

There were 38 applicants for work at the New Plymouth branch of the Department of Labour at the end of last week, including 18 labourers, 2 motor drivers, 2 clerks, 2 grocers’ assistants, 6 farm hands, 3 painters and paperhangers, a fitter and turner, 2 carpenters, 1 butcher, and 1 plumber. The number of unemployed in New Plymouth is growing steadily, according to the presiden' of the Taranaki Workers’ Council (Mi-. R. Fuulton). He states that last Saturday 69 non-union men attended at the port in search of work on the wharves. Men not in employment are invited to register at the Workers’ Social Hall.

West End school teams were unopposed in the swimming competitions for the Weston and McHardy relay shields for boys and girls resn ctively on Saturday. There were only seven competitors, all from the West End school, for the Dr. Walker Cup, which was decided by 33 1-3 yards breast-stroke and 50 yards free style handicap. Miss L. Mackintosh was first and R. Gayton and W. Hay tied for second place. The survey o.' schools in the Taranaki province recently undertaken is now completed and the results are being analysed by committees of teachers in New Plymouth, Stratford and Hawera. It is a 'engthy business and the final conclusions will not be reached for. two or three months. These will enable the authorities to determine generally which subjects are favoured by the children and in which they are weak, and it will thus be possible to make alterations in teaching methods and in other directions where necessary. The individual results in the separate schools are already being used to classify the pupils better for their work.

At the New Plymouth Rotary Club luncheon yesterday a cut-glass loving cup, presented by the Stourbridge (England) Rotary Club, was formally received. It is a beautiful piece of work, and elicited much admiration. President W. J. Penu, who came from Stourbridge and is acquainted with the industry, gave a short address on the establishment of the industry in that part of England by Hungarians in the 16th century, and described the process of manufacture, his interesting remarks being supplemented by Rotarian R. N. Renaud, whose ancestors were engaged in the industry in the same locality. It was decided to write thanking the Stourbridge club for its beautiful present. The congestion of cases awaiting hearing at the magistrates’ courts of Taranaki was again in evidence at Stratford yesterday, when Mr. R. W. Tate was compelled to adjourn a number of civil cases, some of which had already been adjourned from previous sittings. On reference being made to the list of Taranaki sittings, it was found the magistrate was unable to fix a suitable date for a special hearing until as far away as May 7. By sitting continuously at the various courts on every week-day it would have been possible to sit earlier at Stratford, but the day suggested fell during the usual legal holidays at Easter and was not acceptable to members of the Bar. “We had a record amount of traffic to deal with on the second day of the Waiwakaiho show, and I found that one assistant was quite inadequate to cope with it. Consequently the roads were lined with vehicles parked thereon. Fortunately we got thgm all away without any accident, but it was a very trying day for those regulating the traffic. I should very much like the county bylaws to be amended to give me power to stop indiscriminate parking on roads during functions of this kind,” said the Taranaki county inspector, Mr. R. Area, in his report to the council yesterday. The council decided to take steps to revise the by-laws.

Record nominations for all events have been received for the Uruti annual sports on April 6. Running, chopping and sawing events < mpose a programme of wide interest to spectators and good scope for competitors. Good handicaps have been declared by Mr. J. A. Ibensen, and given fine weather, an excellent day's sport should result.

Dance patrons are reminded of the Supreme Initial Ball which takes place in the Otakeho Hall To-night. All arrangements for the ball are well in hand and the public may rest assured that the committee in charge of the ball have striven in its efforts to uphold the high reputation and popularity that the Otakeho dances have attained. Mr. F. Boulton’s Orchestra of six star artists will be in attendance, and this well known and popular orchestra together with an excellent supper and good floor, should make the evening an enjoyable one from every point of view.