Our Stratford Page

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 235, 2 April 1912, Page 3

Our Stratford Page

THE BOROUGH FINANCES. SOME FIGURES FROM THE BALANCE SHEET. At five o'clock on Saturday night, when the borough council offices closed down on the financial year, the balancesheet for the twelve months was ready for the auditor, a feat upon which Mr. Skoglund, the town clerk and borough treasurer, is to be complimented. By his courtesy 1 am enabled (o quote some of the principal figures contained in the somewhat bulky sheaf of accounts. The amount received in rates was £2491 7s 7d, of which the general rate for the year produced £lO5<J 2s lid, the lighting" rate £333 lO.s 7<l, hospital and! charitable aid rate £lO5 17s 2d. and the 10 per cent, penalty for overdue rates £l3 5s (id. Arrears of the previ-1 ous year's rates were £lB Its 3d, and for yea'rs prior to that 14s 2d. license fees produced £Ol3 15s sd, the principal amounts being £230 from publicans and wholesale liquor sellers, £2Ol from auctioneers. £G2 3s M dog-tax, £ls 10s carters' licenses, £25 5s building permits, £lO 5s carriages, and the pound produced £ls 14s 2d. Rents of reserves produced £222 13s 6d. There was received £lB7 10s from the Government in subsidy on rates, and for t'rans-, fer of reserves to the hospital and cjiari-' table aid board £14!) 14s. Sale of gravel produced £lB 12s Sd, and fees and fines £2O 15s. On the expenditure side of the general account the principal items a're:— Salaries: Town clerk, £258 ss; assistant, £32 10s; caretaker municipal buildings, £2(i; inspector, £3l 17s Cd; sanitary inspector, £l3 15s; and Mayor's honorarium, £so—totalling £412 7s Od. Under the heading of administration the principal items are: Poll on elect'ric lighting question, £77 14s lid; printing and advertising. £O3 12s lOd; insurance. £4O 14s sd; legal expenses ,£lB 10s 3d; licensing expenses, £2B 0s 4d; typewriter, £l6. Newwork, maintenance and repairs on streets) accounted for £1284 Is Id; hires and drays, £ll2 18s sd. Lighting of streets iind council chambers cost £238 5s 8d; fire prevention (including uniforms), £134 14s Id.

Under the various sub-headings come the following 1 particulars. Hire of town hall and hoardings produced' £293 7s 6d, and the expenditure thereon was ,-£314 10s lid, of which the principal items were: Caretaker £SO 10s. light £so' 15s Od, and insurance £37 10s. Revenue from the reading-room and: library was £54 19s Od (subscriptions £37 13s od, Government subsidy £ls' U Id, sale of old books £2 4s lid). The expenses we're £OS 17s lid, made up' principally of librarian's salary, £l9 10s; cleaning, £lO 8s; light. £l2; papers, magazines, etc.. £lO Is 6d. The abattoirs earned £7OO 5s 3d, of which £032 5s 3d came from slaughtering fees, £lB from sale of blood audi offal, and £SO from rent of paddocks. The. expenditure under this heading was £528 8s 3d, the principal items being: Inspector, £B4; slaughterman, £B4; manager, £SO; fuel, £42; repairs and maintenance, £3O 5s Id; new wo'rlc, £3B 15s 4d; stumping and ploughing, £23. The actual .profit on the year's working, however, is reduced l>v the amount of £152 10s Od, paid to interest account. The hospital and charitable aid rate amounted to £133 12s !)d, and bank charges (interest, exchange, etc.) amounted to £l3O 8s fid. The debit balance on the geneVal account at March 31st. 1011. was £3798 fis sd, and as the result of the rear's working it has been reduced to £2955 Bs, or by about £S42. In the separate accounts'the Kopuatama cemetery account, into which was paid £B4 12s Od in fees, shows a balance of £2 2s lid to credit. The water account shows a credit balance of £9B'' 2s sd. i The distVict fund account was overdrawn at the bank bv £lOOl 5s 2d, as against £2447 19s 7d,'the overdraft having thus been reduced during the year by £B4O 14s sd. This amount is very near the sum saved on the general account. The amount of rates outstanding is £lls, of which £97 is payable by four people, and will be collected in a few days. Of the balance, at least £lO o'r £l2 is uncoilectahle. and has been for someyears. Mr. Skoglund has done very well in this direction, and his experience in this, his first year of office, will enable him to "shake matters up" in the [year just commencing.

THE PREMIER. j TO VISIT STRATFORD. The Hon. Thos. Mackenzie will be present at the gathe'ring of Liberals in the Stratford Town Hall on Easter Monday night. The Hon. G. Laurenson, Minister of Labor, will also be here, and probably other membe'rs of the Cabinet. From all appearances there will be a very large attendance. The committee has organised a social, with songs between the dancing, and a capable orchestra has been engaged to supply the music. Time will have to be found for a few political addresses. The Hon. T. Mackenzie is a fluent and ente'rtaining speaker, and be add to the .enjoyment as well ■■ '"i the usefulness of the gathering. Librals fvm all parts of Taranaki are expected to lie present at the function, nt which the Prime Minister will give his first add'ress in Taranaki sinee his appointment to the leadership of the Government. A STANDARD AMUSEMENT. "The Cowboy's Bride" is one of the finest films in the new programme which was submitted at Tils Majesty's Theatre, and which will hold .sway for two nights longer. Tt is one of the Kalem pictures, and the Kalem people have not yet sent us a cowboy dYama that was not right up to the mark. The company must have a wonderful staff, for the plot in every case is good, and the manner 'of bringing the story told before the public is always clever, in this film particularly so. The story is old, yet it will never be old, foV it centres round the romantic love affairs of a cowboy and the rich ranchman's daughter. Like many fathers before him. the old gentle-, man declines to countenance an engagement between the two. so they decide to wed without his knowledge or con- ' sent. The escape is thrilling, and so are i the. events which follow in quick suc- | cession. Tn the end love triumphs. "The I Girl and the Fugitive" has a fine dYamaI tic touch throughout, and appeals ifto J the finest emotions. Another remarkabh* [ fine picture, or series of pictures, deJ plots the Hamburg "Zoo" and some of I the inhabitants. Animal life is always i interesting, and pictures taken under such exceptionally fine ci'minislanecs are a real education. Parents should give their children this fine opportunity, i The "Patho Gazette," "Field-Marshal

* * * From Our Resident Reporter. * * Office: No. 3, York Chambers, Stratford. * ***++*+*++++* ft*****************

Villiers," and the comic pictures were also of more than ordinary inte'rest. THE PROPOSED SWING BRIDGE. In the good old days, when wonre work of urgency was .required to he done, and the .public exchequer was low, or perhaps those having charge thereof did not feel justified in incurring .tfue expenditure, men handed'themselves together and formed working bees, each one interested doing what he could towards the desired end. Many a school site has been cleared in this manner, and the workers have felt proud jb r f having given up the necessary time to- { wards something that would benefit their offspring. The practice was revived at Toko .recently in connection with the Coronation Hall, when the settlers all round did veonian work in clearing the site, for the building. Finding that it would take all they could collect, with the Coronation gVant thrown in, to complete the hall, the enterprisina people of Toko put their shoulders to the wheel and cleared the site themselves. Tt has been truly said that God helps those who help themselves, es-1 pecially when a self-imposed task [\k undertaken in the whole-hearted manner in which the el curing of the Toko ' Hall building site was. These preliminary 'remarks are .sufficient introduction to what is to follow, and that is in connection with the proposed swing bridge over the Pate.a river for the benefit of school children. In conversation with an old Stratford resident the other day —who,-by the way, is a practical bridge builder—he brought up the matter of this bridge, and said it would be a good j thing if the people would join together and erect it, the Borough Council find-1 in,g the material. If such a movement could be started, then no objection should be taken by the council to the expenditure, as the amount required to supply the necessary material would be comparatively small. The suggestion is I worth consideration, and no doubt those J having children attending the school will I he only too ready to give a little of their] time for such a worthy object. v THE MAYORALTY. 1 I understand that a deputation of) citizens will wait upon Mr. Masters, I the Mayor of Stfratford, to-morrow (Tuesday) morning, and will request him to offer his services to the ratepayers as Mayor for a further term. STRATFORD A. & P. ASSOCIATION'S GYMKHANA. i AX OVERHEARD CONVERSATION. ] Darby: ''Joan, my dear, I think we j will go and see the Gymkhana on Easter | Monday." i Joan: "Go and see the Jim 1v!>":ut? | ( Why, is he the daddy of all of thai ;iame ! . in the world? I don't think I know him ) anyhow, although the name seems | familiar to me. Where does ho live?" Darby: "Joan, you old goose; it isn't a man at all. It's the greatest novelty ! sports ever held in Taranaki. Horses, motor-cars, menagerie animals, and I j don't know what 'not. You must have seen it in the papers." Joan: "Well! Well! Well! Dearie me! So that is what that awful name means. I have seen it in the papers, and I have '•■■ been wondering for a long time what j it meant. I feared to ask you, because I thought it might not be respectable." Darby: "Respectable! Ha! Ha! ha! ha! You do make me laugh. The name j comes from India, and is as respectable as any Indian nabob." Joan: "Very well, we will certainly go, I but tilings do move sudden these times, as my dear old mother said when the burglar stole the silver tea-pot that had been in our family for generations." It is only natural that when a public holiday is in sight people look about to decide the best means of spedning such a > holiday, and make preparations accord- j ingly some little time ahead. The next public holiday that is being looked forward to as a day of keen enjoyment by young and old, is just a week away, Easter Monday, when the great sports meeting tha't has been so much before the public for some time will eventuate. Those who have not yet made up their minds where to spend Easter Monday should do so quickly, and decide to attend this great novelty fixture. Admission to the grounds is fixed at the very low .price of one shilling, and excursion trains will run from New Plymouth, Hawera and Te Wera.

GENERAL NEWS. Many old settlers here who knew Mr. John Mynott as a butter dealer and ex-

porter in the early clays regret to learn i of his sudden demise. Men of the younger generation will sympathise with Mr. H. J. Mynott in the unexpected loss of his father. Mr. G. T. Murray, District Road Engineer, visited the Stratford Mountain ilouse the other day in company with .\lr. R. McK, Morison, local representative on the Egmont National 'Park Board, .0 inspect the road works recently under construction. i Mr. Jack Morrow, who was injured at j A T hangamomona on Friday in the bush, J was admitted to the Stratford HoHspital lon Saturday. He is progressing favorably. ! The annual meeting of the Stratford .fospital and Charitable Aid Board will be held on Tuesday, April 9th, the ordinary meeting (fixed for to-morrow) having been postponed till that day, ■when Mr. Penn will submit the accounts j lor the year and estimates for the coming year. The opening of the new school building, fixed for April 11th, may take place ion the 18th. If so, the date will be al- | tered to meet the convenience of the i Premier, who has been invited to perI form the function. The foundation stone was laid by the late Premier, Sir Joseph Ward. Lady golfers are putting in a good deal of practice on King Edward Park. The motor-generator for Mme. Barnard's Picture s is now set up. Mr. New- ! ton, manager of the Stratford Electrical Supply Co., will supervise the connection j with the town service, and then the pictures will be illuminated by a light greatly superior to that at present derived from the alternating current supplied by the company, direct current being the best for picture projection. The proprietress of the pictures is nothing if not enterprising. Since opening His Majesty's Theatre a little over a year ago, the building has been enlarged, the roof raised, a dress circle erected, and now comes the installation of the Westinghouse motor-generator, absolutely the best of its kind. Search high, search low, and no 1 etter picture show, if as good, will be found in any town of I Stratford's size.

Mr. 11. L. Abbott, who is residing somewhere on the Main Trunk line, was in Stratford to-day. "Bunny" is looking fit, but the "All Black" reckons he won't be engaged in football this season. Messrs. Crawshaw and Hedditeh, of the Stratford Lawn Tennis Club, will take part in the Easter tennis tournament at VTanganui. "I was glad to see one paragraph in your Stratford notes this morning," said one of the best-known commercial travellers to me just before noon. "It was about those youngsters in the train. Of course, we were young ourselves once, and don't blame the children, but it's a terrible nuisance to travellers." He hoped that the Railway Department would take notice of the paragraph, and make some arrangements by which special carriages could be set apart for the conveyance of children to and from school.