29 YEARS AGO.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5443, 3 July 1929, Page 1

29 YEARS AGO.

THE FUTURE OF PAEROA. , The following leader from the “Ohinemuri Gazette” of July 4, 1900, was come across accidentally on Saturday last while searching through old files of this paper. Written 29 years ago, it bears on its general lines striking resemblance to the leader in the ‘‘Hauraki Plains Gazette” last Friday, and aids to forcibly illustrate what was set forth therein Few there are who do not give an occasional thought as to what the future of this town and district is to be. Some are pessimistic enough to say that Paeroa has seen its best days. Well, if we take into the reckoning the fictitious impetus given the place by the great mining boom of three or four years ago, then perhaps the best days from that ' point of view have been and gone. But we venture to say that had no booms ever occurred Paeroa would still have been a town of gradual progress. Its excellent position from an agricultural aspect will ever be. its safeguard. But thousands of acres of native lands in the district must be unlocked and opened for settlement. This is bound to be done ere long. This town has now found its true level and importance, and with its many natural advantages we have no fear that it-will gradually progress until it ultimately reaches the goal of assured prosperity; The town’s greatest blot, to our mind, is the shameful desecration of its beautiful, river by the using of it as a min, ing sludge channel. As has already been pointed out most forcibly by correspondents in these columns,, if this be allowed to continue it is only a question of time when this navigable river- will become useless for' steamer traffic, and in place of a valuable river we shall possess a. veritable ditch of mud. Some people, however —even the Premier, we believe—say that everything must give w r ay to the mining industry, and that no town should ill-treat the goose that lays the golden egg. From the view of those particularly interested in the mining industry, no doubt this argument is logical: but the day is not far distant when Paeroa will have much less interest in milting affairs than it now possesses—when the railway ,is completed to Waihi—unless, indeed, a discovery of payable gold be made close at' hand, the odds against which must now be considered great. Still, with the general expansion of the Auckland province we see no reason why this favourably situated town and district should not continue to prosper—not by leaps and bounds, which is not desirable, but in a. steady and sound manner.

THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO. CORRESPONDENCE. Sii’, —I have noticed on my occasional trips from Te Aroha that the road is no better than it ought to be. I don’t charge the local body of your district with causing the winds to blow and rains to fall, and can quite understand how with a sparse fund at command there is difficulty in keeping the highways passable. But when I actually see with my own eyes, as I did this week, a man taking out mud and slush from a ditch and placing it on the top of a good solid piece of metalled road near Paeroa, you must really allow me to kick a little. Sure- ’ ly this is wrong.—W.S.J., Te Aroha. [On inquiry we find that the action complained of was really done, but by a settler on the road and not by the County Council. The county foreman has written to the settler in question on the matter.—Editor, O.G.] THE KINETOGRAPH.

Mr Edison intends to-show his latest invention—the kinetograph—at the World’s Fair, Chicago. This is an instrument by which every gesture, of a speaker may be photographed, and at the same time every word he utters is recorded on the cylinder of a phonograph. The two devices are then connected —the photographic apparatus and the phonograph. By throwing the phonograph on the screen and starting the talking machine the words and gestures of any speaker can be. reproduced. The effect produced is. that the figure on the screen is doing the talking. Mr Edison is repprted to have invented this machine for his own amusement as a relief from the usual round of laboratory work. He is untiring in his experiments, and when things went wrong, or did not go exactly as he expected, he would turn his attention to the kinetograph. After the thing was completed Mr Edison’s genius was brought to bear on the question of making it profitable, and in this he will doubtless be as successful as in perfecting the invention. Of course, after the photographic plates have been made, and the cylinders for the phonograph are ready, something in the way of motive power is required to make the shadow talk and work his arms. GYMNASIUM CLUB. The Paeroa Amateur Gymnasium Club gave an open night last evening, at the Town Hall, which was largely attended. The brass band, under the able leadership of Mr Brown, played several selections, and Mesdames Cadman and Snodgrass discoursed sweet music and were vociferously encored for their selections. Messrs Rhodes, Lawless, Jordan, and E. and J. Edwards sang, and the club, under Mr Towers, showed their proficiency in marching evolution, and with the dumbells and clubs. Messrs Brenan, Griffiths, and Jordan were very successful in their Roman-rings acts. The programme concluded with an enjoyable dance.