OPUNAKE.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 February 1920, Page 3

OPUNAKE.

(From Our Own Correspondent). Three buildings are being erected at the. Opunakc beach. The committee to attend to the Pihama racecourse, preparatory to the Opunake B.C. meeting have been busy latelv making improvements, and a staff of workmen are attending to the improvements. The Club had' intended, making hi-' improvements on the course, but this lias been impossible in view of the shortage of cement,, building materials, and 'skilled workmen.

At the last meeting of the Town Board it _ was decided to ' widen the plank bridge over the post-office creek connecting up Fox street.

Is not this method out of date? Fifteen years ago the thoroughfares' across the same creek in Domett street were concreted with a stone culvert. The adjoining street was, a few years later, piffed with three-feet concrete pipes. In this progressive age it is now intended to connect Fox street with planks, whilst three-feet pipes are lying unused in the Board's pipe yard. I'thought plank bridges were discarded years ago by up-to-date local authorities. The Seaside Fete Committee have made improvements to the various side lines on the beach, such as the boatswings, paths, etc., and are making further improvements in readiness for the fete.

j It is- reported that further changes have taken place in two local business firms, newcomers to the district having bought out old established firms. The Opunake main street is now being re-metalled, and a good piece of road is being laid down. Mr. W. Wallis, an ex-Opunal:c resident, now in business as baker and confectioner in C'hristchurch, paid a visit to Opunake last week. Farm values here, like every part of New Zealand, have risen considerably. A farm on the Eltham Road, near Opunake, was bought 12 months ago at an increase of £2 per acre. The same land was sold last week at an increase of €!) per acre. The farms, at the present day. are not averaging in avoirdupois as much milk as they were four years ago. The price is based on the speculative element. Cables inform us that Siberian butter is now being received in England, and huge quantities of wheat from (he Baltic provinces are ready for shipment to England, also that there is a meat glut on that market. If that is so, land values in this country will get stayed. Signs are not wanting that there will be a drop in dry stock. At present values of land a decline in prices means hardship for f-'.ome. The bny scouts, after a. fortnight's encampment at Rowan, returned on Frl-, day. The Presbyterian Sunday School scholars held an enjoyable picnic on the beacli last Friday. A number of country school children have been conveyed io the Opunake beach during the last fortnight to spend an enjoyable time.