DISTRICT NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 273, 8 April 1911, Page 2

DISTRICT NEWS

TIKORANGI. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Ratepayers of the Clifton county hope that the movement to recover rates from occupiers of native lands will be pushed another step forward by the Council. There appears to be a rather general belief that occupiers of these lands mayescape rates on the grounds that they have only an irregular tenure, but the Rating Amendment Act distinctly deals with this aspect of the question, and in such unmistakable language that one might be pardoned for believing that the Act was specially framed for the benefit of the Clifton County Council. The clause reads as follows:—"In the case of native land, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the principal Act, if there is no occupier thereof within the meaning of the Act other than the owner, then the person who\ is in actual occupation thereof shall be deemed to he the occupier for all the purposes of the principal Act and this Act, whether he occupies the land by virtue of a tenancy for any fixed period, or as will, or otherwise howsoever and whether his occupation thereof is lawful or unkwf«l.» Some interest is being evinced in the forthcoming election of members for the Waitara Harbor Board, and it is to be sincerely hoped that whatever the personnel of the new Board may be, no efforts will be spared in maintaining and improving the efficiency of the port. The energetic members or the Public Library Committee are now arranging a social to be held in the hall next week. This is the first of a series which it is intended to be continued throughout the i winter. The local School Commissioners and teachers have decided to utilise some of the proceeds of the school entertainment, held some time ago, in providing the pupils with an evening's entertainment at the biograph pictures, and I understand that arrangements have been made to take them to Waitara on Tuesdav evening next. A dancing class for juveniles is to be opened in the hall on Saturday afternoon and should be well attended, as there are several young people in the district who have had no opportunity of acquiring proficiency in this pleasing and graceful pastime. Indeed, it almost looked at one time as if our residents had, in their pursuit of the utility craze, completely forgotten the lighter and more aesthetic side of human nature, but signs are not wanting of a growing consciousness that the cult of "getting on" is in itself insufficient to satisfy the aspirations and desires of normal minds.