CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 278, 16 April 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

PATEA HARBOB. The Patea Harbor Board lias received a report from Air. Vickerman as to the cost of the work suggested as desirable at Patea; harbor. His estimate, which provides for the erection of two walls, a tug and putting the Board's hopper dredge in order, runs into £150,000. If rock cannot be obtained for the walls, concrete blocks will have to be used. This will, the engineer says, entail an additional expenditure of £102,750, or a total of £252,750, a tidy little amount, which no doubt will set our southern friends thinking. Something, however, has to be done to the harbor to render it safe for shipping. The easiest way out of the difficulty is, of course, to close down the port before Nature completes the work she is now bysily engaged upon there, and utilise the deepsea harbor now approaching completion at Moturoa. This course probably would not commend itself to those with vested interests in the port, but it would prove the wisest in the long run, and save the district the huge sum of money estimated above as required to make a harbor of the port, which even then may not be successful, as has been the case with so many other river ports, through no fault of the, engineers.

THE HALF-HOLIDAY QUESTION. The Eltham Borough Council, acting on the advie'e of its solicitors, has decided that the petition to take a poll on the half-holiday question .is informal. It is understood that application will bo made to the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus to compel the Council to grant a poll on the question of the half-holiday. The Hawera town clerk has received legal advice that the petition presented to the Hawera Borough Council asking that a poll of the electors be taken on the half-holiday question, is valid. As returning officer, he, according to the Star, will now make the necessary arrangements for taking the poll in conjunction with the municipal elections. As far as is known at present, Hawera will be the only municipality in Taranaki to take a vote of the electors on the question.

THE BATTLESHIP AND THE CHILDREN. Our Stratford correspondent forwards the suggestion that' on the occasion of tire visit of H.M.S. New Zealand to New Plymouth the various societies interested' in the improvement of New Plymouth's watering-place status should combine in showing hospitality to the children of the country schools. The vessel will be here in June, and travelling by train will not be of the pleasantcst then. Would it not be possible for the associated bodies to have hot water, tea, and -sugar ready at the Breakwater for the children? Parents would doubtless provide the edibles. In addition to the hot water scheme, a quantity of tea might be made, and served in mugs to those children unaccompanied hv parents or guardians. The cost would not be heavy, and the appreciation of the children would doubtless be great. Tf necessary, the country schools committees might be asked to contribute towards the cost, but more than likely (he Navy League, the Tourist and Expansion fiCague, the Foreshore Improvement Society, the East End Reserve Committee, and the Seaside Improvement Committee would be able to finance the scheme quite easily, with the addition of personal assistance.

A SUCCESSFUL MOVEMENT. Reporting to the Expansion and Tourist League on Mondnv evening, the secretary mentioned that he had experienced 110 difficulty in collecting the subscriptions that had been promised. On the contrary, general satisfaction was expressed with the results that had already attended the efforts of the League, one subscriber going as far as to promise

to double his donation ( £5 ss) if the League continued to do the good work | it had been doing. The subscriptions' for the first vear will total between £350 and £4OO. and it is hoped to increase the amount next season by another £IOO. Nearly all of the subscriptions are for three years, and there is very little doubt that when the three years' period is up subscribers will, if things, go on as they have been going, regard the expenditure as a remunerative investment and make an annual allocation accordingly. The number of visitors to the district during the past four months has been unusually large, i one reliable investigator estimating the increase over ordinary years as between 1800 and 2100. Expressed in terms of pounds, shillings and pence, this will have meant the introduction of over £IO,OOO additional to the town in the 1 summer months. The publicity campaign and the efforts generally of the League have undoubtedly been responsible for much of this increase. Next year even greater success should be achieved, for evei'y visitor this year will, if he is possessed of an appreciative soul, no doubt sing the praises of the unrivalled beauty' and attractions of the district to his friends, whilst the effect of the advertising campaign conducted through the press and by pamphlet, as well as by that ever popular medium, the cinematograph, is bound to be more marked in the second year than in the first. Pushing the attractions of one's district 1s very much like pushing the goods of a shop: the public have to be informed of them, interested in them, convinced of their worth, and then the desired result follows as a natural sequence. The Expansion and Tourist League, it can : confidently be claimed, has lost no chance of pushing its "goods," and, backed so whole-heartedly as it has > been in the past by the townspeople, | there can be little doubt of the ultimate I and lasting beneficial effect of the movoI ment.

DEVELOPING OUR RESOURCES.

The League is now engaged on a scheme that bids fair to be successful.' It is in connection with arranging for visitors to the Auckland Exhibition at the end of the present, year to break their journey, going, or returning, at New Plymouth. The Government Tourist Department and Cook's have promised to arrange itineraries accordingly, whilst the steamship companies are also promising their support. A tetter or, more interesting place than New Plymouth at which to break a long journey —or even a short one, for that matter—does not exist in the Dominion. The visitors to the Exhibition who decide to do so will not be sorry. There are one or two things, however, New Plymouth must see to in the near futflre. The first is to secure more accommodation for visitors. At times during the past few months the available accommodation was fully taxed, and some visitors Who had not made their arrangements in advance, were hard put to it to obtain! lodgings. It is stated that one of the local hotels intends making considerable additions shortly. If this is done, it will to some extent relieve the holiday congestion. What is wanteu, however, is an up-to-date seaside hostelry. There are several splendid sites. That such an establishment would pay, and pay handsomely, we have not the slightest doubt. A Tarariaki gentleman, who has travelled extensively, remarked the other day that the Terminus was one of the best sites for such a place as we have suggested that could be found in New Zealand; indeed, it could not be surpassed in any other part of the world. It is right in the town, adjoining the station, alongside the sea, with a magnificent promenade running past it. In fact, it lacks for none of the advantages of a successful watering place. That a big hostelry here would be liberally supported from, outside and made to pay from tbe start our friend entertained no doubt whatever. This is one of the things we want. The other is to provide a cheap form of transit to the Mountain. We referred to this matter yesterday, and suggested that a touring car, with accommodation for about a dozen persons, would fill the bill ; and prove a good spec for either local motor proprietors or a syndicate. We hope it will appeal to some of the enterprising spirits of the town, and that they will be moved to interest themselves in the proposition. There are other things the providing of which would make for the development 'of the place as a tourist resort and a centre appealing to retired folk, but the two we have mentioned are tbe most pressing, and should be first met.