STRATFORD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13938, 20 April 1909, Page 3

STRATFORD.

(From Our ResMfeht^Agent.)

April 17. — Our Borough Council has added* its 'contribution to the chorus of approval of the Dreadnought offer. Imt the \-ote did not pass without an expression of regret from « very consistent supporter -of 'the Gove'rtunent, that the. Premier had' not. taken the opinion; of members of Parliament before committing the country. IJf would indeed have 4>een better iiad lie done so, although the result is not. to^ be* doubted. The Council concluded it» year 01 office amidst expressions of brotherly love and mutual esteem; heated argu-ments-and uncomplimentary allusions were foreign and forgotten, and everyone agreed that' everyone had, in all the differences thact had occurred, been actuated by the best of motives. This is as it should lie for if there isone thing that poisons the life of a place, it is the carrying of public disagreements into prnrate.life. The annual meeting of householders takes place at the State School on Monday week. So far as lam aware there is no burning public question to attract a large gathering. There is a fair attendance at the Teachers' classes at the school to-day. The new and commodious shelter-shed, jtwt finished, is the subject of much admiring com-

The absence of the Budget will make a gap iir many a country househoM this week-end. Without being unduly effusive in their sympathy. Stratford people who got the-news of theMisaster this morning seemed genuinely sdrry for the loss and worry that it woitld cause. I fancy that the notion that fires are good for trade is not so generally entertained as it used to be. Experience is teaching that the loss of an individual's capital, unless in the nature of a transfer to someone more fortunate, is a loss to the community. , As we most of us know, thoro is no 1 great superabundance of capital on tins side of the world at any rate. Comparative scarcity of the "ready is lively to be a feature of the comma winter. Dairy factory secretaries will not have the pleasure of handing out the fat bonus cheques to which the last two or three winter* have accustomed the farmers. The season has,- oi course, been by no means a bad one, either m the quantity or price of produce, but great expectations were formed* at the commencement, which have not be«*n realised, T\» marvel is that the inquiry for and prices obtained tor dairy farms is not affected. ' :