LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 19 May 1928, Page 12

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Charged with obtaining £29 from a Wanganui resident by false pretence, a man aged 22 was arrested by Detective Meiklejohn in New Plymouth last evening on warrant from Wanganui. He will appear in court this morning. Hoardings at. Taka puna are to disappear. At a meeting of the borough council the matter was discussed in committee, and it was decided to instruct the (Finance and Legal Committee to prepare a by-law prohibiting the erection of hoardings anywhere within the borough.

Scarlet fever in a mild form is prevalent throughout Taranaki. It had been epidemic in Canterbury for some time the district health officer (Dr. R. J. Meeredy) informed a Daily News reporter yesterday. It seemed to be working northwards now and there were already cases in Auckland and South Auckland. Not one death had occurred through the malady in Taranaki last year, ha said. Work in connection with the clearing out of mud that has accumulated in the upper lake in Pukekura Park is being steadily pushed ahead by the board, and when it is completed the lake should provide a wider space for boats. The silt apparently comes from properties above the park, and has been collecting for some time. To avoid a recurrence of the trouble, the board is considering the question of installing a pump.

Probably about six of the fishermen’s cottages on the Ngamotu beach will be demolished on tho near future. Recently the chairman and secretary of- the Harbour Board, the Mayor, three members of the works committee of the Borough Council, and the health officer (Dr. R. J. Mecredy) made an inspection and decided that many of the buildings were not habitable in their present condition. Some of the cottages are occupied by Europeans and some by Maoris. Although hundreds of houses bear the sign “To Let,” many Auckland people are living two or three families to a house, stated Mr. T. Bloodworth, a member of a trades union deputation which waited on the Prime Minister on Saturday, reports the New Zealand Herald. “There is still a shortage of habitable houses in the city,” he declared. “You may be told there are plenty of houses empty, but that is because several families are compelled to live together in the same house.” He urged a speedingup of State advances for home building.

The New Plymouth Unemployment Committee is at present waiting lot instructions from Wellington as to whether further subsidies will be granted for unemployment relief work. If a favourable reply is received, which is considered probable, operations will be directed to Bailey Road, where forming will be carried out. This completed, the widening of the earthwork on Breakwater Road will be attended to, ami, if funds still permit, Tukapa Street will be cleared on the eastern side and a footpath constructed. A number of smaller works are also under consideration.

Though it needed but a few days to finish the work, operations have been entirely suspended at the relief works on Devon Street West, owing to bad weather. The men have been transferred to Avenue Road, where forty workers are engaged in clearing away the clay embankment at the junction of the Avenue and Tararua Roads. The clay is being used to level Avenue Road, and it is considered that there will be. sufficient to complete the work. It is the intention of the Borough Council to ■ form a kerbed footpath along the eastern side of the road, to extend practically to the borough boundary. Severe body burns were received by I<eo. Hobman, a boy aged 15 years, residing in New Plymouth, when his clothes became ignited by benzine flames in Mr. L. H. Johnson’s garage yesterday afternoon. The accident occurred when the boy was endeavouring to quench a tin of burning waste benzine. Medical aid was summoned and he was removed to the Public Hospital, where his condition was reported last night to be fairly serious. So dangerous did the outbreak in and around the tin appear at first that it was considered advisable to summon the fire brigade. On its arrival, however, the flames were soon put out with practically nb loss to property.

Tom Heeney is to furnish the subject of the latest “stunt”' by the New Zealand Government Publicity Office. Outside th© ring, as well as inside, Heeney is to be used to gain attention for the Dominion. The move just made by the Publicity Office io the taking of a series of shots which are to form a 1000 ft film of Tom Heeney’s birthplace. Two cameramen have just completed a visit to Gisborne for the purpose, and the film is now being edited. It will leave New Zealand on the 22nd of this month, and will go straight to New York, where arrangements will be made to release It all over the United States before the coming fight for the world's heavyweight boxing championship. Scenes about Gisborne, Heeney’s mother and father at their home, and the barn where Heeney learned to fight form sequences in the picture. The whole enterprise was conducted so quietly that residents of Gis borne mistook the cameramen for Americans.

Each successive year witnesses the subdivision of some of the larger hold* ings of dairy land in South Taranaki, and the trend towards the settlement of dairy farmers on smaller holdings. The cutting up this year of the Geary Bros, estates at Manutahi and Meremere will be one of the largest subdivisions of dairy and grazing land of recent years and should afford an excellent opportunity to those farmers . seeking to secure dairy farms of the right size aud quality.

This is an opportunity of a life time. Owing to large stocks having arrived in our store and also the lateness of the winter season we have decided to commence a stock reducing campaign in all departments. The newest of goods are now offered at sacrifice prices. Take advantage now for there will never be such another opportunity. The Hustlers, Devon Street.

Another list of great rebuilding sale savings are being advertised to-day by Messrs. C. C. Ward, Ltd., the busy cash drapers, New Plymouth. As many of these lines are in limited quantities we urge our country customers to mail their orders without delay to avoid disappoint - ment.