WAITARA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143767, 16 April 1912, Page 3

WAITARA.

(From Our Own Corrospond&nt.l April 14.—The proposal to borrow another £IOOO, in order to give a sanitary scheme to the town portion of tho borough, is causing some discussion locally. There is no doubt that a system to effectively deal with sewage in the congested parts of the town is an urgent necessity, as it is more by good luck than good management that a serious epidemic has not arisen ere this. Although there is a uightsoil service,many householders persist in burying same within the restricted area of a quarteracre section, while in some localities,, stagnant drainage water is allowed to flow uncontrolled. This state of things is not satisfactory, and a large heavy foot wants putting down on such offenders, without respect of persons. It is thought in some quarters that tho extra loan will not bo carried at the poll, but it seems to this scribe that so to do would be an act of egregious folly on the part of the ratepayers, if they are not blind to the dangers that now threaten them in consequence of an entire absence of drainage. As a matter of fact, Waitara is and has been living in a fool’s paradise, in this respect. Some ratepayers are very angry at what they consider the excessive water rate, and are against tho drainage scheme in consequence. But what would they ? Their common sense should have told them when tho poll was taken for the water loan that the rates must be higher in consequence. A, water service and all tho other concomitants of a modern town have to be paid for, and tho sooner people recognise this fact the better. , When visitors from Waitara spend a holiday in another town, such as New Plymouth, Wanganui or Wellington, they gnerally come back gushing about how lovely it all was, such conveniences, etc. and then tho same people are generally tile first to' growl at their own town because it does not possess the same advantages; yet, when an effort is made to get into line with other places. there is a big howl over expense. This is the attitude some people are taking up at present. If they did not want the water, why did they vote for it? As to a choice of systems for drainage, I think, with all respect to everybody, that the septic tank proposal is the only one for Waitara.

Mr. Saunders had a packed house on Saturday night last. "Never Too Late to Mend” was the star attraction, graphically described by Mr. Boothman. “Pinocchio” is the star picture for Wednesday evening, being 4000 ft in length, and is as good as it is long. About twenty members of the Waitara Territorials leave for camp at Hawera on Wednesday, The recent rumour of the Pope’s death reminds me that the numeral nine has figured in this pontiff's life in a remarkable manner. Maybe it is a pure coincident, but Pius the Tenth was nine years parish priest of Tqmbolo, nine years canon of Treviso, nine years bishop of Mantua, pine years Patriarch and Archbishop ! .of Venice, and be is now in his ninth year on tne Papal throne. The Pope is not the only man who has bad the pleasure of reading his own obituary. An instance occurs to my mind of a noted “hard case” who lived in a Dominion town which shall be nameless. This individual got financially broke while away on a holiday, and failing to raise > the “necessary” by the usual channels, wired in the name of his pseudo landlady, “Joe died suddenly; forward five pounds expenses,” to his people. The money was sent, and when in due course the relatives arrived for the funeral, Joe was missing. The local paper, too, coming to the conclusion that it was best to let bygones be bygones, lived up to the noble sentiments embodied in the familiar Latin quotation, “De mortuis nil nisi bonum,” and spread itself over the supposed deceased in a very kindly fashion, much to the amusement of the joker. The recent police raid in Auckland which resulted in a large number of citizens being detained, reminds me that Waitara had the name in past years of being a hit of a gambler’s "paradise, and if all one hears is true, jt still is in the running for this questionable hunour. It is said that some of the slickest poker players in the Dominion are to be met in this town, who could give points to Bret Harte’s heathen Chinee, “in ways that are dark and tricks that are vain.” These matters are well known amongst a certain crowd, if the hulk of the general public are blissfully unaware of such.