PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Evenings. Friday Evening, September 16.

Patea Mail, 16 September 1881, Page 2

PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Evenings. Friday Evening, September 16.

The Harmonic Hall building is n6w so far advanced as to enable a-compari-son to be . made, : The .dimensions are appreciably* larger than the old ' Town Hall, tte auditorium being- broader and rather longer. A spacious gallery can -be added at some future date. The stage is a conspicuous feature, being open the full breadth of the hall," to allow ample sitting space for a large number of choral singers. The joists of the stage are in position, and a miscalculation in the slope is strikingly evidfit. The stage rises too much for ordinary purposes. The rise at the • rear! is 13 inches, presenting an incline too steep for actors or performers to walk without risk of tumbling. A dancer would be unable to preserve a balance. , .Walking up the stage would give the sensation of striking, the' boards too soon, and would seem more of a climb. The error is so palpable that the architect directed the stage-work to be discontinued more than a week ago, to enable the com-mittee-to reconsider the" hew' difficulty The incline is according to instruction, but au error of that kind is excusable enough in the case of persons who had to calculate only from theory. An incline of six inches-in the present depth of stage would be* sufficients possibly five inches-would be "better. The object desired by the committee'was to range the performers in lines, each tier over-looking-the other towards the audience. A simple way to achieve that in a small space would be to have movable narrow footwalks, each about six inches higher than .that before it ; \ then- place long forms between these, each form proportionately elevated ; the. result being that the fourth form would be 18 inches higher than the others,; the third 12 inches, the second 6 inches, and the first on thejstage level. The top step of 18 inches would not be so high as prevent persons Stepping- up or down at the rear; a short movable step being aslo at the rear of ' the middle ' gangway. . The movable footwalks between lines of seats could be in several sections for ease of shifting, though it is evident, that each fobtwalk would be no heavier thin an ordinary. railed form.. r The ( want of a good public half 1S "iycoriiing serious ; and it is a considerable credit' to Patea that a ; lo(Sal society Is able to erect a large hall at a time when the. want is almost a grievance. ( . ' . ;

Im the report oh examination of High School pupils, the Hey James. .Treadwell says three janiors-end three pupils at Carlyle were to have takt

papers in Euclid, but; owing to; the outbreak of measles no’papers wore worked out under that head. Id -Algebra, only one pupil, Henry Contts, took the senior paper. He did fairly well;. . notwithstanding his indisposition, and secured 70 marks. ■

Mr Bright informs * os. that a Silver cup value fifteen guineas is being / sent by- the N. Z. Loan; Mercantile Agency Co, as a prize for the best pten of five long-wool hoggets, to bo offered at the next show, of the Patea D. A., and P. Association, , ; .

A large , hotel is to be erected at Otakehp having-been authorised to accept s tender on behalf of the owner. •• ‘■*