STRATFORD NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 130, 26 October 1914, Page 3

STRATFORD NOTES.

(From Our Resident Agent.) Saturday. The town was quite busy on Saturday. Farmers woro in town in very large numbers, and business people report an improvement in business. The all-absorbing topic is tlic fire. To-day countless mobs of children are busy raking over the ruins, looking for anything valuable, but I am afraid all o( them will go away disappointed. The Borough Council held a meeting yesterday afternoon, and discussed the loss, and it was generally agreed by the Councillors that ihe new building which will adorn the present site will be built in either brick or concrete. Mr. T. D. Sullivan, borough overseer, was a bad loser by the fire. Some valuable instruments and books (his own personal property) were destroyed. However, the Council will no doubt reimburse him, as the articles lost were used by him in the work of the Council.

The question of whether the new building should include an up-to-date Town Hall is being freely talked about, and will take a lot of discussing by the City Fathers before something definite is arrived at.

There is no doubt that (he present Town Hall is too far out of the way, and has been a "white elephant" since it was erected. Had it been built, as it was first suggested, on the site of the destroyed buildings, it would have paid handsomely. The Council could have had their own picture business, and would have been able to reduce the rates, or made big improvements in the borough by the profit made from the venture.

All day, people in Broadway were accosted by school girls, selling buttonholes for the Belgian Belief Fund, and were well patronised. This afternoon a very large crowd congregated in front of the [lost office, and some fine musical items were given by several citizens. Captain Allen, of Xgaere, recited Kipling's "Absent-Minded Beggar," and it was a treat to listen to it. Money was thrown into the tambourines on the lorry, and helped to swell the fund. Mr. Webster auctioned bunches of flowers, and altogether by the day's efforts over j £SO was collected. Well done, Stratford! t Advices have been received from Mr. 1 and Mrs. T. C. Fookes (who have been! touring England) that they have ar- j rived in Adelaide, and expect to re.uh j Stratford in a week or so. Mr. Fookes i has, I am pleased to say, quite regained ! Lis health, and is looking forward to ! meeting all his old friends again. ' The annual meeting of the Stratford I Tennis Club look place on Friday! night, when it was decided, in order lo j encourage new members to join the club, i to abandon the entrance fee. The jlii- < cers for the present season are:—Pre- ; sident, Mr. Y\'. JL Young; viee-presid-.iiU, Messrs. F. JT, Fusseil, H. IS. Abr*. ham, W. J. Crawsliaw, and Dr. Paget; committee, Messrs. R. B. Anderson, Bntherfurd, Ihisscll, Crawihtiw n»d Ranford. The club decided to have tue official opening on Thursday next. The long-lookcd-for new railway timetable has at last been published by the department. The Railway Manager, Mr. Uiley, is to be complimented on the accelerated speed, especially of the mail tra'-ns. After going into details, I find that a whole four minutes is saved in the run from Hawera to New Plymouth by the mail train. One could hardly expect a Scotch express speed, but saving four minutes in 50 miles just about takes the biscuit. The School Committee met on Friday night, and decided lo hold the annmi'l picnic at East End beach, New Plymouth, on the first Thursday in February.