LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 289, 29 April 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Taranaki Circular Road race will he held this year on September 3rd. Tiie route will be the same as last year's.

The next meeting of the Taranaki Land Board will be held on Thursday, Mav 22nd, instead of Thursday, Mav 15 th. J -

The Wellington correspondent of the Lyttolton Times telegraphs that the Government has purchased 5000 acres of Messrs Rcvell and Rowe's estate at Tauranga, suitable for small farms.

Members of the Xorth Taranaki Hunt Club are to be entertained bv Messrs Chancy and Stawlish at the Criterion Hotel on Thursday next, at 11.45 a.m., after which they will proceed to Mr. r! Clemow's jjropcrtv at Omata, where a meet will take place.

There will be a sitting of the Royal Commission on Forestry at the Town Hall, Xew Plymouth, on Wednesday, April 30 (to-morrow) at 10 a.m. Persons desiring to give evidence are asked to attend with their views ready in writing in order to facilitate the proceedings.

The secretary of the Pukekum Park Hoard has just received a cheque for £25 from the Hon. Oliver Samuel as a donation to the funds of the Board. Accompanying the cheque was a letter congratulating the Board, especially Mr. W. W. Smith, the curator, on maintaining and improving the Park.

"It is a terrible thing to see in Xew Plymouth, where there is. plenty of ;elbow room, houses erected on sections only a sixteenth of an acre in sure," remarked Mr. F. P. Corkill in the Assessment Court yesterday. He cited the case of a small slum area which had thus been created in a certain locality in Moturoa.

"That cable seut to London challenging Barry to a race on the Mokau river is by far the best advertisement the Mokau river has ever had." These are the words of a -New Plymouth business man who has just' returned from a trip to Sydney. He went oil to say that everyone in the Commonwealth was interested in the affair and wanted to know all about the Mokau, the extent of its water, and all the rest of it. It's; » pity that the offer was a hoax. There was"a good attendance at Okato nn Saturday night; when a meeting was held for the purpose of electing a Domain Board to take charge of the Domain, which the Okato people have pureed and handed over free of debt. Mr. J. S. Fox presided. The following Hoard were elected:—Messrs. Booker, Fox. Wooldridge, Tower, Stree r t. Larsen, Julian, Shaw and Dailey. Mr. Wooldridge was appointed secretary; and was voted a bonus of £5 for. services rendered to the Board, which had in hand the acquisition; of the ground. "'

Giving evidence in the Assessment Court .yesterday, Mr. W. Bewley stated that he had ascertained that there were 1100 sections in New Plymouth available for sale at the present time. Touching on a case in point—that of an estate suitable • for subdivision—he questioned whether, in face of this tremendous number of unsold sections, it would be possible to sell any appreciable number at a reasonable price. A few sections might be disposed of, but it ; ,was.- extremely improbable whether many would be got rid of in the present state of the 'f* tul market. He could supply plans of •very one of 'the 1100 sections and a '•eat many .more if he had the time. The present demand did "not warrant '"• placing of land on the market. Henry Fynes Callaghan appeared oiv remand in the Magistrate's Court yesterday in answer to a charge of drunkenness. According to Dr. H. A. McCleland, the accused was suffering from the effects of alcoholism,-and that he had many times- previously been under his care for the same thing. From being a strong, healthy man, accused, he said, had bdeh reduced by the effects of drink to his present condition, in which his liver and heart were affected, his'memory weakened, and he had lost his self■control, also his nervous system was shattered and his mind and body afflicted thereby. Tf lie continued 'drinking, concluded the doctor, he 'would'-'hip doubtedly kill himself. The Magistrate (Mr. Crooke) remarked that ihe would feel morally responsible if he allowed such a state of things, and that he felt that he was giving-him a last chance ..by sending him to the Rotoroa Home. The term of his detection will be twelve months.

The necessity for providing school baths was referred to by the chairman of the Central School in his annual report. A movement had been initiated a couple of years ago to fill the gap. Mr. Dempsey having formulated a scheme to raise £350 for the purpose. In this, however, the committee had been blocked by the Borough Council, which body asked for the use of the water and a charge per certain quantity, which would cost die baths £l5O per annum. This charge was prohibitive. "Much water was being wasted by the Borough in flushing Liardet street, and this alone would keep the proposed baths supplied. There was no reason whatever why this water should not he diverted to go through the baths and thence into the water channels, in Liardet street. A* it wns baths were badly needed at the school, the municipal baths being too far away to be taken advantage of by the majority of the children attending the Central' School. Questioned by Mr. H. Roper, Mr. Corkill added that he believed there were certain arrangements wherebv the headmaster was allowed to instruct the children in the art of swimming in the lake at Pukekura Park. All knew, however, liow unsatisfactory it was to take children to swim in a lake. "They are still here," remarked Mr. F. P. Corkill at the annual meeting of householders of.the Central School last night in referring to. the school buildings, "and as far as I can see there is no likelihood of us changing them for a number of years to come, unless they are burnt down or something." Thev' have pot a theorv at headquarters in Wellington that the average life of a building should be .13 years. This building is only 30 years old. but some of it is 30 or 40, or even fiO years old! The Department's theory was. however, he continued, a somewhat ejastic one, many school houses being made to serve a nood.manv years above 33. The speaker "■nve credit to the Taranaki Education Board for having assisted the committee in keeping the building in repair, and added that during the holidays the committee itself had also done good work. Thanks to the energies of the. headmaster and a committee of live citizens No. 2 account had benefited to the extent of £IOO. This had been more than expended in re-tarring the whole of the precincts of the main school and tarring the plavground of the Courtenay street school For the first time, General repairs had also been executed and the Board had met the committee to the extent of providing half the cost of new shelter sheds. WHY GO HUNGRY? Tf your stomach is weak, and vou are snfferinjr from indigestion, don't sacrifice your health and comfort. Eat. all the wholesome food, you want. Then teke one of Dr. Sheldon's Digestive Tannics after each meal. Thev digest, your food, and thus nourish and build you up, while the stomach is recoverins its nntural tone. Is 6d and 2s 6d per tin. Obtainable everywhere.

P'or drunkenness Joseph Martin wa# fined 5s and costs in the Magistrate'sCourt yesterday, before Mr. A. Crooke, S.M. One first-offending ineliriate wa« convicted and discharged.

The Taranaki County Council has re* eeived from the Treasury £125, being tiltbalance of grant towards cost of formation, etc.. upon Carrington Road, and £2O for re-formation and metalling Upper Mangorei Road. The members of the Xorth Taranaki Hunt will be entertained by Messrs. Chancy and Stnndish at luncheon at the Criterion Hotel on Thursday at 11.45. The meet will subsequently be held at Mr. R. Clemow's Ornate We have been asked to state that the art union to have been drawn at Easter'' in connection with the Blenheim hospital fund has been postponed to the first week in May. Ticket holders are therefore advised not to destroy their tickets. Parents were asked by the retiring chairman at Inst night's meeting (A householders in connection with the Central School election not to send their children to school too early in the morning. In some cases the children arrived on the scene as early as 7.30 o'clock. They could not expect the teachers to be there at that time. Children in fact should not "roll up" before a quarter to nine.

The shooting season opens on Thursday. The sound of the gun could b<T heard fairly frequently throughout Sunday up and down the "coast. Possibly it : , may have been returned Territorials' fir-', ing oft' their enthusiasm, or more prob." ably sportsmen getting in some target practice in preparation for Thursday, It might be deemed libellous to suggest; that anyone would be so unsportsman-'. like asjto endeavour to get in early. ."

Monthly meeting of the W.C.T.U. will be held on Wednesday next, April 30, at 3 p.m., ,in the Good Templar Lodge Room.—Advt.