LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1930, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Taranaki County Council has finalised arrangements to purchase a piece of land to enable improvement to be effected to Marsh’s corner, Junction Road, which is r arded as one of the most dangerous corners in Taranaki. A start w’U soon be made with the work.

The necessity of haying the view at" road corners kept clear was stressed at the meeting of the Taranaki County Council yesterday. It was stated that a corner from which trees had been removed was now nearly as seriously obstruc 1 1 by the erection of a sign-board. The inspector was instructed to interview the property owner with a view t® having the sign removed. “Nowadays we have travelled a good distance from the old relations between teachers and pupils,” said Mr. D. P. Evans, headmaster of the Central school at the meeting of householders last night. “We are trying to encourage the idea of teachers as big brothers and sisters to the chi 'ren and of teachers in the infant department as mothers. When I last looked at my strap it was mildewed.” “We used to think 100 per cent, efficiency in examination passes was a wonderful thing,” said Mr. 8. G. Smith, M.P., at the meeting of the householders of the Central school district last ecening, in referring to the fact that examination passes were no true criterion of the schools. “Then later I came across some schools in which the. teachers concentrated on getting five or six children through for 100 per cent, efficiency passes. The other 26 or 30 children were neglected.” The sheep-guessing competition at the Okoke sports resulted in a win for Mr. Ted Whittaker, who guessed 1091 b. The correct weight was 1091 b.

A combined mart and cabaret was held by the Clifton Rowing Club on Saturday as a further effort to gain finance for new boats. The f. notion proved successful, the profit being about £l2. The rates for the coming year for the borough of New Plymouth, as advertised recently in the Press, were adopted at a special meeting of the Borough Council last night.

Arrangements were completed at a meeting of the N w Plymouth Borough Council last night for the purchase of two sections on Mt. Eliot reserve immediately opposite the railway station. It has been suggested that a ladies’ rest room be erected on the site. -— “Talking of slogans,” said Cr. P. E. Stainton at a meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council last night: “How’s this for a slogan to be carried on the tramways? ’People of New Plymouth: Let the trams carry you, or you will have to carry the trams.’ ” During the five years the Westown school has been opened £507 5s 7d has been expended in improvements to the ground and library. Of that amount £253 12s lOd was found by residents of the district, the balance being by subsidy. During the quarter that ended on March 31 five cases of infectious disease were notified in the Taranaki county — two of scarlet fever and one each of enteric fever, tuberculosis and, pneumonia. A . motor-< r abandoned near the Urenui hill on the Main North Road has been there for several days. Some of the parts, including the battery, are missing. The police took the registration number and are endeavouring to discover the owner. When almost at the top of the ladder giving access to the children’s slide at Kawaroa Park, New Plymouth, on Sunday a little girl lost her hold and fell a distance of nearly 20 feet to the ground. There was apparently no one else about at the time and she lay unconscious until her little brother aryived on the scene. She was then taken home. The curious anomaly that with a rapidly growing population in the suburb the attendance at Vogeltown school was falling away was referred to by speakers at the householders’ meeting last night. A suggestion was made that headmasters should refuse to accept pupils residing outside their own districts.

A decision to apply to the Local Body Loans Board for sanction to raise a loan of. £15,000 for street widening purposes, in accordance with a scheme previously outlined, was made at a meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council last night. The meeting was a statutory one for the purpose of hearing objections prior to the application going forward to the Loans Board. No objectors were present and a formal resolution was all that was necessary. The value of the swimming pool at Vogeltown school was stressed by the headmaster (Mr. T. A. Nicol!) at the meeting of householders last night. After explaining that regular instruction in swimming was given under the supervision of teachers he added that there had been less sickness among pupils during the past year, and he was of opinion that the opportunities for the healthy exercise of swimming had contributed to this.

Because of an accident involving one of its foreman while going home after his day’s work the Taranaki County Council yesterday authorised its clerk to report on the feasibility of a scheme to provide for the insurance of the men under such conditions. It was stated that at present the men were insured only during actual working hours, and it was suggested that the council might arrange to have the men covered during “off” hours, provided they were agreeable to pay half of the cost. A further step towards the elimination of the railway level crossing at Waitara Road was made last night when the New Plymouth Borough Council resolved that subject to £5OOO being fixed as the maximum for the total cost of the whole work the council authorise the signing of an agreement whereby ten per cent, of tZi~ cost of the elimination of the level crossing be allocated to the Clifton and Taranaki county councils and New Plymouth and Waitara borough councils in equal proportions. An application for permission to have half-a-dozen sandwich men parading the streets of New Plymouth for three days this week was made to the New Plymouth Borough Council last night by an oil company operating in the vicinity of the town. The application was not enthusiastically received, the general opinion amongst the councillors being that on principle the practice was not one that should be encouraged. “At any. rate it will give employment to half-a-dozen unemployed for a few days,” said Cr. P. E. Stainton. It was resolved to grant the application on condition that the men engaged as sandwichmen be drawn from the ranks of the unemployed. A strange and painful accident with serious results recently befel Mr. W. 11. Jury, a well-known resident of Spotswood. When he was on his way into New Plymouth,-driving a horse and cart, the horse slipped and fell, precipitating Mr. Jury forward out of the cart. His fall was to some extent broken when ho landed on the horse’s neck, but he was rendered practically unconscious, in which condition he was found by a man and two ladies passing in a car. Influenced, it seems, to a high state of determination by a blow he had received on the head when he fell Mr. Jury steadfastly refused to be taken in the car. He climbed once more into his cart, drove to town, and collected his goods as originally intended. Again he refused to be taken home by his son, who had been apprised by telephone of the oceurrene , but drove home himself and after unharnessing the horse he attended to some injuries it had received in its fall. He walked inside only to collapse. Medical aid was su: moned and disclosed the fact that he had three ribs broken, to say nothing of other abrasions and injuries to his head. It is expected that he will be indisposed for some time as he is fairly badly bruised and very sore. How would you like to keep your children just as they are to-day? A photograph is the only way. For excellent portraits at reasonable cost come to Oakley’s Studio, Kash Building (upstairs), Devon Street. 6 Amongst the many bargains to be found at Broome’s Corner are men’s cream rayon scarves, boys’ grey all-wool jerseys, all sizes, 6/6; boys’ blazers, with red piping, white piping, or old gold piping, from 8/6; boys’ fleecy singlets, 1/9; boys, Tiny Tot overcoats, to fit boys from two years to six years, 14/9; men’s English saddletweed trousers, 11/6; men’s all-wool saddle-tweed trousers, 17/6; men’s all-wool cardigans, from 7/6. W. H. Broome, corner Liardet and Devon Streets, New Plymouth.