THE YEAR TRAVERSED

Taranaki Daily News, 17 April 1935, Page 2

THE YEAR TRAVERSED

HAWERA BOROUGH REPORT. ANNUAL MEETING OF COUNCIL. Reports on the year's working were submitted by officers of the Hawera Borough Council at the annual meeting on Monday night. Satisfaction with the reports was expressed by the councillors. The inspector, Mr. L. Hunt, reported that seven cases of infectious and notifiable diseases were reported as follow: Pulmonary tuberculosis 4,, scarlet fever 1, diphtheria 1, puerperal fever 1. The four cases of tuberculosis Spoiled what would have been the lowest figures of infectious diseases ever recorded in the borough. Fifty samples of milk were bought for analysis and tested well above the required standard. The average butter-fat content worked out at 5.1, which showed the borough probably had a supply equal in butter-fat content to any in New Zealand. Articles of food seized and destroyed were 20 rabbits, 371 b whitebait, one case of smoked fish and one sack of oysters.' A total of 633 dwellings in the borough had a full sanitary inspection and as a result 190 notices had been sent out to effect repairs and renovations. In addition to this all licensed hotels, lodging-houses, premises licensed under the Health Act and fruit shops had at least one inspection in the year. ' For licenses issued under the Health Act the fees collected were £22 2s. Milk vendors’ licenses under the by-laws were £4. Fifty-seven building permits were issued of a total value of £9555, the fees amounting to £23 10s. In prosecutions—a total of 23, the fines totalled £22 15s. A total of 180 dogs was registered, the fees collected amounting to £76 16s. Including 52 new drivers, 915 drivers’ licenses were issued, the fees amounting to £228 15s. Twenty-nine dangerous goods licenses were issued, the fees amounting to £B5 10s. Heavy traffic fees collected totalled £563 12s 2d. . General licenses were issued as under: Lodging houses £4, public halls and amusements £lO, hoardings £l4 3s 9d, taxis £lO, carriers £lB, hawkers £1 10s, drainlayers £2, drainage permits £5, A .total of 211 plumbing and drainage permits were issued, 21 drainage permits totalling 1514 feet in length being tested and passed. Thirteen, dogs were destroyed. LIBRARY PROGRESS. In a long review of the public, library yesterday Miss Hilda Carson, librarian, said progress had! been well maintained, there being increases in receipts, book issues and stock. ! The system of allowing new novels to be held for only seven days had had the effect of circulating them more quickly and thus increasing the book issues. New shelving in the small back room had converted it into a stock room, where books not in continual demand were kept. The total number of subscribers at the end of March was 698, compared with 714 last year and 683 the previous year. There were 406 new members and 422 resignations, a variation of 828 giving a net decrease of 16 members. This decrease was chiefly in adult subscribers —464 compared with 485 last March. The juvenile total showed a decrease of two, while there was an increase of 17 in the intermediate list.

The total ofe receipts, excluding the borough subsidy was £5lB 15s 2d, an increase of £3 16s 2d over that for last year. Special notices drawing the attention of members to the close of the financial year brought a good response, and there were not more than 30 outstanding subscriptions on April 1. Many of these had been paid since. This year the total of book issues was larger than last year’s high total, 79,642 volumes being issued, cn increase of 1633 oh last year’s figures. The increase was most. noticeable. in issues of biography, miscellaneous, fiction and juvenile books. The average daily issue for the year was 362,- coinpared with 251.6 last' year. The total book stock at the end of March was 9853 books, an increase of 453 on last year’s stock. • ■ .

Continuing with the system of adding two or more copies of popular books, the library had this year added 979 volumes. Of‘these 597 were fiction, and the remainder included several fine of travel, biography, etc. Opportunity was taken to buy extra copies locally as much as possible, many being obtained from private libraries at greatly reduced prices, or in cheap editions from the local booksellers.

There were 426 books withdrawn from stock this year, compared with 847 last year. They were donated to -various clubfe and institutions, or sold to subscribers. There were 43 books not passed by the selection committee this year. These were sent back to the bookseller as being unfit for the library shelves. In some cases the high cost was the deciding factor, in others the book had no merit, while some were not passed on account of their moral tone.

CHILDREN’S DEPARTMENT.

The children’s department had proved just as’ popular as before, but little progress could be made until there was more room provided. There was an average of 200 members This year 172 books were added and 76 withdrawn, in comparison with 104 added and 80 withdrawn last year. It was gratifying to see a further increase in the membership of boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 18 years. This year there were 52 on the books compared with 48 last March. Without this department the library would lose a number of readers who had outgrown the children’s .books and could not afford to pay -thb full subscription for the adults’ department. Year by year the New Zealand collection was growing in size and value. This year there was a total of 207 volumes, excluding statistical works, and an increasing number of students and others came to consult these books. The collection of quick reference books, however, was very poor, and though space was limited the reference section would be much improved with the addition of a few standard works. Reporting on the abattoirs’ year, the town clerk, Mr. H. S. Elliott, said the stock slaughtered was classed as follows: Cattle, 1730, prior year 1602, increase 128; sheep, 3976, 5330, decrease 1354; lambs, 556, 707, decrease 151; calves, 181, 143, increase 38; pigs, 774, 705, increase 69.