STRATFORD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144826, 2 November 1915, Page 7

STRATFORD.

FBOU OUR RESIDENT AGENT. Nov. I.—Our rainfall for October was 4.78 inches, for September 4.59, and for August 5.98. Each month was below the average of the past 20 years, but was much above last spring's record. We have had in the three months 151 inches as against 8 inches last spring, and an average over 20 years of about 20 inches. This spring is agreed on all hands to have been a perfect one from the dairy farmer’s point of view, whilst Inst spring was a very bad one. All this goes to show that, while wo conld do with less spring rain than wo usually get, yet a dry spring is disastrous. It would also appear that a wet winter, such as wo had this year, is good for the district.

Last month’s recruiting at this centre was very satisfactory, the number of applications for enrolment constituting a record and the medical rejections being comparatively few. In regard to these rejectees, our authorities should lose no time in adopting Lord Kitchener’s plan of issuing khaki armlets. To guard against fraud, they should be accompanied oy a certificate, and the wearing of one without authority should be made unlucky by the provision of a suitable penalty. There appears to be little or no disposition in South Taranaki to come into an enlarged Taranaki education district. The idea seems to bo to leave well alone, and it is a pity that the people who started meddling with the educational districts did not do the same. There is a well-founded suspicion that the motive underlying the attempt to reduce the number of districts is that it would be a big step towards centralising all educational government in the hands of the departmental officials in ■Wellington.