ITEMS OF INTEREST

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXII, Issue 81, 11 January 1926, Page 5

ITEMS OF INTEREST

BUBAL EXCEPTION. » Taranaki is the only province in the North Island in which the rural population predominates. Its urban population is 30,760, and rural 35,370, exclusive of Maoris, who number about 7500. Small farms, and the dairy industry, are factors in the situation. ARITHMETIC FETISH. "Why should a boy be damned eternally because he can’t get five sums right?" asked Mr Charters, principal of the Whangarei High School, in ' the ocurse of his annual address at the prize-giving. In illustration of his contention that this was not the be-all and end-all of life, the speaker referred to the case of a boy he came across in the Waikato when he was a school inspector. The lad was 13 years of age, and only in Standard 11. On asking the teacher the reason of this, he was informed that the boy was "very thick in the head," his trouble being arithmetic. The speaker questioned the boy, and found that he was fond of reading, and had read one or two books which, the principal was ashamed to say, he had not read himself. He advised the teacher to put him up to Standard IV, and the result was satisfactory. MASTERTON MILLING. The installation of the machinery at the Masterton Hosiery and Spinning Co.’s new fill has proceeded without interruption since the arrival of the plant, and it is expected that operations will commence shortly. DEPARTED LAND-MARK. The Alfredton boarding-house (previously a licensed hotel, in the days of liquor "freedom" in the Masterton electorate), an old landmark on the main road between Pongaroa and Masterton, was totally destroyed by fire recently. HONESTY—BEST POLICY. Mark Elsom, a newsboy, having received a half-crown in mistake for a penny, took the 2/5 to the Lincoln police station, and the police were able to restore the money to its owner. The Magistrates have given the boy a watch.