STRATFORD RACING CLUB.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 159, 5 January 1914, Page 3

STRATFORD RACING CLUB.

The record attendances on both days •of the New Year meeting of the Stratford Riicinff Club is having the effect' of encouraging the chili to make still further facilities for the public enjoyment.

To the onlooker is seemed on Thursday and Friday that much greater accommodation was required for the public at the l.otalisator house. The figures on the. totalizator were too small to 'be distinct, and at a distance of a very few yards glasses were necessary. Another matter that seemed capable of impiovemcnt was in the size and location of tire boards posting jockeys'names, start, ers, dividends, scratching, etc. These little matters were mentioned, to the Daily News Stratford representative by a i visiting horse owner, and on Saturday J, | opportunity presented itself for a short chat about them with Mr. S. Pitt, one I, of the most prominent members of the clufe. ] Mr. Pitt was found to be fully alive to the situation, and he said that in each and every one of the matters men- t tioncd very great changes will be made during the year, (heater ,facilities will . ■lis provided for the public to ''back their fancy" on the machine, and the new ■ fiont of the totalisaf.or house itself will ( give much larger and plainer figures to indicate the progress of the betting. j The whole of the present notice-boards f j on and about the lawn and bird-cage will; be done away with, and. a large notice-j board will be. erected on the inside of the \ course, opposite the grandstand. This 1 .will be probably as high as a two-storey-1,1 ed house, and provision will be made r for lettering that can ..lie read easily j I from the saddling paddocU, bird-cage; c land lawn, and the "outside." This will; I in all'probability bo.conn"ctcd with the secretary's office by telephone, laid un- ' dergrouiid. and infractions will be given nvr the wire. ''There's another matter, too. that we are considering," said Mr. Pitt, "and that is the er: ction of a tea kiosk before 'the next race meeting. Yes. it will probiiblv he placed in th.. beautiful piece of bush that we have there, but we must - not take it too far away from the stand, > for the public don't want to be away too J long from the lawn-" ' The club's slogan is "progress," and c evidently there is to be no stay. The t rstratford meeting is now one of the most i popular and best-managed meetings on s this coast, and the officials evidently in- c tend to lose no opportunity of still fur- U ther popularising it. The horse-owners 1 were well satisfied this year with the f arrangements for the accommodation c of their charges, and most of them will j probably send horses again next year. t. OUR STREET WATERING J The street, watering plant of the Strat- s ford Borough Council is quite, inadequate., a In our village, when Broadway was the n only street that mattered, one water- \ iiig' cart may have been sufficient.' But 1 tinn-s have changed. To-day Broadway I is not one of our best streets. It wants 1 scarifying, re-metalling, and rolling. If 1 the surface can then be tarred, so much 1 the better: and so much less need for l the constant passing to and fro of a cart > whose sprinklings on days like Thursday ( and Friday fail to really w?t the road, I but disappear in a few minutes. The » council has recently had several streets j J well laid down with new metal, rolled I f in by the latest road-making acquisition i —a "steam road roller. If these are to be kept in good heart they must receive [ a liberal soaking! now and again during j ' the dry weather, else the constant passing of fast traffic and the almost con- , sta'nt, breezes will surely drstroyi the ; binding and disintegrate the roart. Upon special occasions ouch as race days a J much greater area of street needs watering than is at aH possible with the present cart. The council may not feeljustified in laving out a big sum of money to provide for an isolated rush of traffic, but it must be remembered > that whilst the road roller is at work the presence of a water-cart there is frequently a necessity. Not so very long ago we had clouds of dust in Broadway, and shopkeepers peered out from grimy leyelids and growled, "Where is the water-cart?" The question was easily answered. Tt was wetting down the road for the steam road roller. The. present, cart seems to do that work quite well, but a machine capable of more liberaliy laying th • dust is needed in Broadway central. STRAY PARAGRAPHS. Two hundred and sixty-eight babies count Stratford as their birth-place during 1(113. There were. 51 deaths and 84 marriages. December's contribution was ' 22 births, ten deaths, and five marriages. Easter appears to be. a more fashionable linking-up period than Christmas. During December we bad just over 7 1 /. inches of rain, and in all fell on eighteen days. No rain fell after the J.'Uh, but the 10th, with '2.38 inches, helped to | keep up the average. The fall for the yt'iir was 71.06 inches. Inglewood again beat, with 1)3.43 inches for the year, and 9.03 inch's for December. Our monthly .rainfall average is just a shade under 0 inches, and Inglewood's just over Vk inches. So this is not the wettest town iu Taranaki, after all! Don't .leave it too long. fiet-your order in now for one of Dan Malone and Co.'s great value Christmas hampers. All liquors of the best brands. If delivery is required at flag station, please add freight. It's time to have that long promised portrait taken. No need to wait for a fine day. Fast lenses and fast plates make showery weather as good as sunshine. Make the opportunity to-day. McAllister's Studios will give you faithful and pleasing results. Warmer weather Eiakcs neglige shirts more than ever desirable. "The Kash" I has them in new patterns and various materials. Tennis shirts, light singlets and pants, new hosiery, new ties, new I sox, new hats, are here; In fact, an .entirely new stock of men's wearing apparel.—Mullen and Marshall, proprietors. Give him a nine. But let it be a good pipe. Handsome is as handsome does, and our handsome pipes provHe a de- ■ lightful sinoke. Fill the nine with Stan. Sharp's special mixture, or any of the regular brands, all of which are stoeked , here, as well as clears, cigarettes, clear > and cigarette holders, cases, Tjoucaea, ■ MJMtoattMfitin s h"r'° nrrHn P-T1