WAYSIDE NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81912, 29 December 1906, Page 4

WAYSIDE NOTES.

, Mr Harry Bennett. formerly stationer master 1 hltham. is now in charge I'ahiatiiif. 'ilarry" is reluembeiri: as -one of the best," and (lid much fur l-.-t foil: \vh;.:i the town was just oiii.-r.'ii:-.' irom t:ie lnuh township to .lie iSoroiiL'U -1. ' r

Tcehmeal education w::i have to be cleared of some ol it- g.:ni.i"o i 'i i, to retain its prestige. . A-rricullurnt classes. or "nature studies,' are the laughing stuck all til:' w.iv Uiiou::h .ike V airarapa. Here :s an instance of how it is done. A schoolmaster recently received a parcel of shrubs fur planting in the schoolgrounds, and th? placing of the roots in the earth was presumed to be part of the "stud ies." Bat then those ilreadfui little shrubs were really wrapped in sacking, and the sacking front its contact with the earth was not clean. And the schoolmaster liked clean hands. He didn't like soiled fingers. And to have unfastened the sacking would l have meant soiling his fingers and sac rificing his hunired-a .year dignity. What was he to do! Wnat aid be do, ye gods? He planted trees and tacking all in the holes. Vet tlic treea grow, and the classes go on.

But technics! education aims higher than that. It gets to the very house tops, that is, the teachers and child ren are taught tbe delightful pastime ot building little houses out of little bricks. They learn how to construct iittle cardboard boxes by the use of some cardboard, scissors, and illsmelling gum- And, as though the modem youngster cannot find suffi 4, cient mud whercjrith to make mud pies, the State provides him with what is known as plasticine, aud with this the youngster makes funny little figures that look like relics of wayward childhood. And teachers play placticinc mud pies, too. One of them had to travel the other day from Xe<nnxn, just outside Eketahuna, to Xew Plymouth to show to Isaac, the plasticine pie expert, how .excellent were her pies, aud ■ittle brick houses, and little cardboard boxes. And yet there are j leaving school who haw only a nodding acquaintance wjti the three rudi mental? "r's," reitimg, writing and arithmetic.

As thovgii the speed of the train, or, Tat.n-r, the want of speed, were not eziouh to annoy even the most for going of travellers on the Pal mutton Nortrt Jlaßterton evening kain, the Railway Department shameAly neglects the comfort of pisscn The writer has frequently tniover tha line, and never yit has found enough water for a wash. Not that»be requires any more water than any other person, though that sugges tion might easily follow tiie previous sentence. Monday was an exception, perhaps. Much pumping did did bring water, but it was so rusty and evil looking that one was forced to tbe conclusion that the tank had not been emptied or cleaned for a very long time. There is little heard concerning the progress of Masterton. No paid "boomers" sound its praise on train or road. It is not pierced by rail > way, and through travellers note not the* improvements. Save that three years ago the only buildings within right of the railway station were a few shedsf and detached cottages. She town seemed afar off. Stumps and logs intervened between the town and the main defer. Wtat a change! Now Railway street is tenanted from end to end. The town touches the railway. Boardinghouses. shops and dwellings line the road. In the town itself enterprise is ripe. The municipality is widening the streets, and everywhere good concrete kerbed"footpaths are replacing the old sidewalks of grass. Everywhere is the sound of the builder's hammer, and the clink, clink <& the trowel. In the main street € new block, "The Exchange Buildings, is a credit to the town, and would improve many a big ger place. A new hospital of brick is now in course of erection to replace the present wholly inadequate building. The residential portion of the town is extending north, south, east and west, and a stylish suburb has sprung up at Landsdowne, ftverlook ing the borough.

The growth of Masterton lies rather impoverished its water supply, or, rather, the pressure does not seem to be excessive. Suburban folk here are less fortunate here than in New Plymonth, where the suburbs seem to get all the privileges of the burgesses —water, gas and electric light.

Brown and drear, after living in Taianaki, appear the and the bills in the Wairarapa. Grass is hard and dry in the shingly soil, and the country looks poor, compared to the "Garden of New Zealand." In the Woodville to Eketahuna district, where the rainfall is very h«avy, pastures are green, and the landscape more pleasing.

Nearly everyone from Taranaki is supposed to know a lot about oil. Probably much of the misconception that exists is due to the imaginative faculties of some of our Taranaki folk who Had themselves called upon to give information when on tour. Ilie Jiest poliey appears to be caution. Then, when oil is nroved a success, it will be quite easy for us to hit. "101.l you so." And if the field is not all that we could wish, it is equally true to say to any dissatisfied speculator. "Well, I warned you. The pnnci pal doubt in these parts concerns the multitude of small ventures likely to be put on the market tor the beueht of a few capitalists. The limited liability companies create more confid ence.

But a brief star lu the growing towns of the centre of the North Island is ntitlicieiit to hx the opinion that in the matter of window di.-plav New Plymouth shopkeeper* as a whole arc not in the van. not In- a Ion? v. av. Up to-wate methods are the ru'e in Paliuerston and Ma-terton. mure e* pecially in Pahnerston.