DISTRICT NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 October 1915, Page 2

DISTRICT NEWS.

(From Our Own Correspondents.) OMATA. , After a daily glut of war news, with tire usual feeling of "hope deferred" ■ produced, and the heart made sick by the ever-increasing Roll of Honor, one turns for rest to the pages of youT paper which ■ tell of home life, the little happenings in our immediate and surrounding districts. I doubt not that could a copy of the Daily News flutter down into a trench occupied by our boys at the front they would first seek for some item relating to the locality.sacred to them as "home." While other districts from time to time have to report incidents of a more or less stirring nature, I have been struck by the paucity of news from Omata. This being a dairying district, needless to say, the weather and its varying moods are of absorbing interest to 'the farmer. After a very mild winter and an exceptionally early spring, we have, during the "past few days, been treated to a taste of the other thing. Cold westerly winds and rain have had the effect of checking the upward tendency of the milk supply. Another scourge has lately raged through this district to which many have bowed the head in all humility. After one has spent a week in the clutches of what, for general purposes, we call "influenza," and during that time attended to the pressing jobs about the farm, and twice daily paid due homage to her Majesty the Cow, it is astonishing what a wreck he becomes. But it is good to see the same fellow a fortnight later, when, at the factory, he meets a neighbor who is suffering acutely under the scourge. The advice he can give as to what to do to prevent an attack, and what to take to "shake it off" is, to those with a sense of humor, worth listening to. Unfortunately, the sufferer is rarely in humorouß vein. Mr. Shrimpton, of the Royal Oak Cheese Factory, has got to work in the 1 branch factory recently erected on the ' Barrett Road. The factory is very complete, and capable of dealing with a large supply of milk. , As showing the phenomenal prices at > which cheese was sold last season, the writer has been told that late sale returns to hand show that parcels of Royal Oak realised as high as 102b—surely a record.

Owing to the large number of young men who have gone to the front, and are in training, the labor problem is beginning to be felt here. Most of those who have gone were engaged as producers from the soil, and their work must be done by others. It would be a calamity if our products were allowed to fall off, and so it is the privilege of the young, the old, and those unfit for active service to shoulder the burden and see to it 'that the utmost pound of butter is produced. Thus they will be "doing their bit." A movement is on foot to raise funds to put down a tennis court at the local school. While not wishing to rob the children of any pleasure they ought to enjoy, I recall that last Christmas they were asked, and consented to forego their much-coveted prizes for the benefit of the Belgians. As funds are far more urgently needed now than before, the time seems inopportune to indulge in the doubtful luxury of a school tennis court. The money could be used for a better purpose. Judging by the amount of ploughing being done it would seem that the farmers are fully alive to the fact that if cheques are to be maintained through the autumn months ample feed must be provided.

KENT ROAD. , At the monthly meeting of the Kent School Committee, held in August, Inspector Ballantyne's report was read and the teacher (Miss Kate Smith) was heartily congratulated on the result of her efforts. The report stated: "Order, discipline, and tone of the school, excellent; efficiency of the school, etc., very good; Class P. These children hate been af the school only a few months, yet the work all round is excellent. I'have nc- "ii finer work done by P. child-

WAREA. The annual general meeting if the Cape Eginont Horticultural Society was held in the hall on Oct. 8. The balance sheet Bhowed a credit balance of £32 7s sd. The entire proceeds of the last show ( £2l 12s 3d) have been handed to the Belgian Relief Fund, Officers for the ensuing year were elected, and they decided to hold the 18th annual show a little earlier than usual. On Wednesday last a dance, organised by the Hall Committee, in aid of the piano fund, eventuated in the hall. The attendance was fair; Mr. Barnett supplied music in Ms usual excellent manner, and an enjoyable evening was spent. Recruiting in our little district is not as brisk as it might be. Out of 20 unencumbered apparently healthy young single men only three have gone forward to serve their country, viz., Trooper T. E. Larking (main body), Farrier Corporal J. McLachlan, and Private Cecil Larking (botli of the Eighth Reinforcements). One or two have taken the responsibility of married life on their shoulders, while others are contemplating doing the same, and at a "smoke supper" recently one newly-made benedict entertained twenty odd young men who apparently found their surroundings more to their liking than those endured by our soldier boys on Gallipoli, At a well-attended meeting of ladies on Friday afternoon it was decided to hold sewing bees to help provide clothing for the Belgians, and later (probably early in the year) to hold a fancy fair or small bazaar for the same purpose.

Keen disappointment was felt by the elder residents of the district when they inspected our local hall. To those who guaranteed sums of money for its erection years ago, the unclean and dilapidated state of the interior is indeed an eyesore, and reflects small credit on the young people.