PAPATOETOE.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 785, 17 November 1922, Page 5

PAPATOETOE.

ST. JOHN’S PRESBYTERIAN * CHURCH v * 1 CONCERT IN AID OF ORGAN FUND. One of the finest concerts that has aver been given at Papatoetoe was he programme offered on Wednesday, November) Bth, in the local town Hall in aid of St. John’s Presbyterian Church new organ fund, Billed as a “grand cantata” the performance, or series of performances, iul-y justified the name, and it was therefore fitting that a great measure of success attended' the efforts of the contributing artists, whose names were : Miss Lois Evans (soprano) as “Abigail’*; Miss Jessie Bartlett (contralto) as “Michael” Mr H. Richards (tenor, Lyric quartette) as “David” (the shepherd hoy); Mr .than”; Mr T. Seaton (bass) as “Saul” ; and Mrs A. H. Ripley (solo pianists) The songs included choruses - Jf ?For the Joyous Feast, A Thousand Men ” and Hosanna. Solos: “O Carmel Fair (Abigail.), “Sad is the Herat” (Saul), “fair Shepherd” (Michael), and In Awful Caverns” (David). Duets : bmce First My Soul” (David, and Jonathn), l “Long Live the King” (Jonathan and Saull, and also trios and airs. lne balance of he programme was made ,up of irecitations and harp interludes. . , At the conclusion of the programme three beautiful boquets were given to the ladies. GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. EFFECTS OF SMALL CHANGES. AN INSTANCE OF PAPAfOETUE. ‘ Historians say with considerable emphasis that (the British Empire i was not invented or planned out, but simply grew. That is, of course, merely the assertion of a general I principle. It is a part of the great scheme itof things; to the fatalist iff is as inevitable as the wot king of a fundamental law of Nature, and is s a manifestation of the will of the j Divfiate Providence, I<- is the reausa. I tion T of the hopes of free and inde- [ pendent peoples* not a process ol ©rgtanised development nor the fulfillment of a definite aim or purpose, and instances of the principle on a small scale are abundant in EnglishIfcpeaking communities. Australians dhight apply it to Sydney, New Zea- ; fenders to Wellington, or Auckland- ) ©rs to Auckland. The instance that your correspondent is considering. however insignificant, is yet an instance in its own special way. Papatoetoe has shown itself co be a shifting tpwnship, not shifting like quick-sand, but shifting, nevertheless. There was a time when the immediate vicinity of the Great . South Road might justly lay claim to be the centre of the district; that claim must now be shared with the neighbourhood around the Town Hall and the .Pest Office, and the pendulum is steadily swinging in the lat- . ter direction. | A Change Commences. ProvinciaUsts might sav that Prin_ >- cess Street is the Soho of Auckland, feut there the comparison has gone fc-far enough ..Localists must look in vain in Papatoetoe for; a “Queen Street; they might sorrow at the prospect from the station. But that place, which, untiil a few months ago. remained nearly unchanged .in its larger features, begins to take on a new aspect, and if a , point of time he chosen to mark the commencement of that change, that point rightly lies in the extension of what was originally nothing more thai| an offshoot of Station Road, and now promises to become a i thoroughfare of some importance unk der the name of Shirley Road. Developing Shirley Road. Attention has been directed to ' Shirley Road by the beautifying soI ciety of the district, and their work f of planting trees along the road tr a distance of some twenty ains promises to bear future testin*Jtay to their highly successful efforts. The trees are living, and, ■for tr&es, are growing well. On the other sid'e of Shirley Road important changes are taking place, A new brick building isi being erected on the vacant allotments at the turning of he road, opposite the railway bridge and another building, also ol brick, is being commenced on the site of the tumble-down, neglectedlooking blacksmith’s shop, which was only last week demolished. Changes of this nature, will, of course,' make an entirely favourable impression on visitors to the district.. quite different from that given up to the present by a series of dilapidated shops facing the railway Dine. It still remains true that the after effects of first (impressions are difficult to remove, and. the rapid changes, now occurring here, are following, rather than accompanying, a period of considerable building ac. tivity,