NEWS OF THE DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1935, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Work at East End. Plans having been approved, tenders for work at the East End reserve. New Plymouth, will be called immediately, according to advice received by the East End committee at its monthly meeting on Tuesday night. Mr. A. R. Milne presided. Arabic Koran Translation. A copy of a translation of the Arabic Koran by Manlana Muhammad Ali received from the secretary of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islamic Society, is now exhibited in the New Plymouth museum. The work was placed at the disposal of the society by Mr. Ahmad Habeeb, Bombay. Five-year-old Pupils. Five-year-old children whose sixth birthday occurs before February 2, 1936, may now be admitted to primary schools, according to the report of the headmaster, Mr. W. L. Wagstaff, at the monthly meeting of the West End School committee last night; He had told the school children to tell their parents, said Mr. Wagstaff. , . Clearing the Track. Keeping the track clear for the cyclists in the Hawera Ramblers Cycle Club road race yesterday was an arduous task for the road stewards. Children, cars and cows were the objects most frequently in the way but the biggest task was the removing of 700 sheep on the HaweraOpunake main road. They were turned aside into a convenient saleyards. Soviet Publicity?

With nothing to indicate from whom they came, two excellently illustrated special Soviet publications of scenes in Eastern Siberia and the Baku oil areas were received by the New Plymouth Public Library recently. Splendidly produced, the publications have been the subject of much appreciative comment by those who have seen them. Mystery surrounds their origin.

Personalities with Southland Team. One of the joint managers of the Southland Rugby team that will play Taranaki at Stratford to-day, Mr. A. Mitchell, played for Otago against Taranaki at Hawera in 1904 and is the father of N. A. Mitchell, a member of the All Black team and a three-quarter weighing 13.3. The other manager, Mr. L. R. Lopdell, is a former Southland representative, and also with the team is Mr. J. C. Millar, a former athlete and billiard player of Dominion repute. Taking No Chanes.

During the force of the gale one night last week a woman residing in a small house on the heights of Titirangi overlooking the Manukau, fearing the gale would blow her home from its studs, gathered up a blanket or two and took shelter in the bus waiting shed on Titirangi Road, says the Auckland Star. About half-past one o’clock in the morning a man found her sound asleep and snugly huddled up in a corner. Good Work.

Eight members of the West End School committee and staff, in laying down 1000 square feet of concrete at a working bee on a recent Saturday afternoon equalled the day’s performance of a good working party, according to Mr. W. H. Jones, when speaking of the work at the committee meeting last night. The work had been most enjoyable, he said, and had been beneficial to the school. In a jocular vein he denied the suggestion of a pupil that the headmaster, Mr. W. L. Wagstaff, since helping with the work, had improved in his ability with the strap.

Victorian Writers Defended. A defence of the literature of the Victorians against the criticism that has been levelled at it in recent years was made by Professor F. Sinclaire, professor of English at Canterbury University College, in an address to members of the Society for Imperial Culture at Christchurch. The Victorians, he said, represented a rich and important epoch in England literature, and in their writings showed qualities that were lacking in the literature of to-day. “If you want to be in the swim,” he advised his audience, “you should start a Victorian cult. I think they are coming back.” Their Labours in Vain.

The expectations of two residents of . Taranaki town rose high, when upon visiting a nearby beach they discovered what appeared to all intents and purposes to be a huge mass of ambergris. Furtively they worked to conceal their treasure from prying and envious eyes, laborously they hauled part of their precious hoard to the top of a precipitous cliff. Two of them not being equal to the herculean task, after due consideration they called in the assistance of a third, «wearing him to secrecy. After many strenuous hours the task was accomplished, a specimen sent for analysis —and their hopes were dashed to the ground. Their find was merely a submarine growth which at intervals makes its appearance in Taranaki waters.