STRATFORD DAY BY DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 369, 21 April 1910, Page 8

STRATFORD DAY BY DAY.

(From Our Resident Correspondent.) Stratford, April 20.

When the news that Dr. Paget had ■not been nominated for the Mayoralty first spread to-day it was regarded generally as a canard. After it was set beyond all uoubt the town began to laugh, and it is certainly regarded as the joke of the hour. How it came to happen nobody quite knows, but in the meantime the doctor and his committee are being chaffed mercilessly. It is a curious fact that one of the last things t'liat the Doctor said to Mr. Masters before he left for New Plymouth yesterday was to be sure and sign his nomination befoie lie went. The candidates now nominated are Mr. N. J. King and Mr. Masters. What effect the elimination of Dr. Paget's name from the ballot paper will have is very Hard to say, but it is generally thought that his supporters will be about equally divided between the other candidates. The ruthless use of the sub-editorial blue pencil and the vagaries of the wire caused several mistakes to appear in my report of Mr. King's speech in to-aay's notes. In the first place Dr. Paget did not announce that Mr. Masters " had retired from the arena," 'but said that Mr. Masters' health necessitated his taking a. rest, and therefore he would not be able to address the electors. Further, it was made to appear that Mr. King had spent £4OOO on the roads during his term of office. It should have read to the effect that whilst Mr. King had had to exercise rigid economy he claimed that when die left the chair' the roads and footpaths were in a satis--factory condition, "not as good as at present, when the Borough overdraft was up to £2OOO anid £4OOO had been spent." Mr. King's motto should have read, "Progress, with economy." As one speaker remarked during the Mayoral campaign, "the electric light is the burning question of the hour." The public have heard a great deal about the company, its 'history and its past, buit of the future or suggestions as to policy there has been a remarkable silence. Mr. King certainly showed the public that to take over the company would •be a very paying enterprise for the Council, and an inference might be drawn from his remarks that he favored this course. That this ;Ls the public wish is undoubted. The time has ar-l rived when the question of a d«y load J has to be considered. First of all there are a number of factories in which the J electric power would be welcomed.! But what is of still greater importance I is that, providing the price of the cur-l rent is cheap, that it will be an incentive to other firms to commence business here. The Americans have demonstrated in the rapid growth of villages) to large manufacturing towns the value' and the important factor that plentiful and cheap electrical energy is. The heating question has also to be considered. The winter climate of Stratford is very far from mild, and rain is plentiful. What is needed is a ofteap 'heating medium. Firewood is getting scarcer and dearer every year, and the price of coal docs not make it a cheap heating commodity. Whether it would be possible to supply sufficient current for heating and cooking purposes at ti moderate charge without incurring a very heavy expenditure on new plant is a matter for experts to determine. There is the alternative, for heat-in" purposes, of gas. Probably it would be the better of the two schemes, but against it the 'cost of erection of the works and the laying of pipes has to be considered. Stratford may not ibe big enough at present to support electric light and gas, but the time is not very far distant when it will be. To accomplish anything it is essential that the Council should be the dominant power, and before any scheme can be brought •before the public the Council will have to ta.ke over the Electric. Light Company.

Ihe Xgaere Dairy Company will commence the making of the large cheese for the Ilawera Winter Show, on Friday.

■ilr. and airs. C. F. Cork, at one time residents of Stratford, aire. 011 a visit here.

To-day was "pay-day" in Stratford, and business was very brisk.

Mr. C. E. Nicholas, .postmaster at Stratliird. who is on extended leave, left yesterday on a trip to Whangarei.' Four rinks from the Stratford ing Club visit Inglewood to-morrow. The Stratford School 'Committee 'rill wind up the year with a credit balance' of £BO. which, 1111 view of the amount of money spent daring the year 011 improvements, is especially creditable.