50 years ago
❚ A multi-million dollar dairy factory on a 40-acre site on Whareroa Rd, south of Ha¯wera, was planned by Kiwi Co-operative Dairies Ltd, general manager, Mr J B F Mills, announced.
❚ Built at a cost of $8000, the headquarters building of the South Taranaki Crippled Children Society in Ha¯wera was opened by the Olympic gold medallist, Mr M G Halberg, founder of the Murray Halberg Crippled Children Trust.
❚ Fines for parking infringements were set by the Inglewood Borough Council, ranging from $1 for over parking by half an hour to $5 for more than two hours, the mayor, Mr R W Brown, saying motorists would probably pay less than under the old court system.
❚ Converted from a private hospital at a cost of $65,000, Stratford’s Mariri Home for the Elderly was officially opened by the president of the Stratford Lions’ Club, Mr R Sturmer.
❚ Two ex-Ha¯wera High School students were accepted as pupils by internationally known New Zealand music teachers, pianist Mr Paul Johnstone by Mr Maurice Till of Christchurch and singer Miss Pat Toller by Sister Mary Leo of Auckland.
❚ Four years after joining the Okato Translator Society, which set up a transmitter to serve TV viewers in and around Okato, the 288 life members were each to receive $7 when the society was wound up after the NZ Broadcasting Corporation installed a transmitter at Pukeiti.
❚ Movies: Will Penny (Ha¯wera Regent), Charlton Heston, Joan Huckell and Donald Pleasence; Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (Mayfair), Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and
Katherine Hepburn; Deadfall (State), Michael Caine; What Did You Do In The War Daddy? (Inglewood Civic), James Coburn and Dick Shaw.
❚ Work began on converting the former Swanson Engineering Co building in New Plymouth into a factory for Devon Footwear Ltd, owned by Wellington financier Mr A S Cornish, who had bought the assets of the wound-up firm Burke’s (New Plymouth) Ltd and the new manager, Mr D M Stewart, predicted that in the following year thousands of pairs of shoes would be produced.
❚ Winners of the three sections of the Stratford Horticultural Society’s garden competition, were: Mr and Mrs D M Stewart (section quarter acre or less); Mr and Mrs J Hedditch (over
quarter acre); Mrs J Collins (garden viewed from roadside).
❚ The New Plymouth prison chapel, part of the new $21,000 amenities block, was dedicated before 20 inmates and visitors by senior Roman Catholic prison chaplain the Rev Father L V Downey and National Council of Churches senior prison chaplain the Rev R Goldsmith.
❚ The 25-foot Waitara launch Playmate, with the owner Mr H Smale, Mr E J Yeates and Mr J O’Connell on board, was towed into Port Taranaki by the off-shore drilling support vessel Smit Lloyd10, after breaking down off the Waitara River mouth.
❚ 35 Years Ago: New dining room and lounge complex opened at St
Mary’s Diocesan School, Stratford; new kohanga reo opens in Fitzroy, New Plymouth; Jackie Clark (21) of New Plymouth in New Zealand women’s cricket team to tour England; Blondie Chamberlain wins saloon and TQ titles at Taranaki speedway; John Murtagh (43) of New Plymouth wins $2500 for bowls’ victory at Palmerston North.
❚ 25 Years Ago: Neil Betteridge (18) of Stratford and Shane Death (18) of Ha¯wera awarded Petrochem scholarships; Peter Bryant (New Plymouth) wins $53,000 with 6.92kg snapper in Ninety Mile Beach fishing contest; Taranaki Polytech plans threeyear nursing degree; Taranaki women’s bowls pairs championship won by Barbara Gopperth and Ida Lynski of Pihama.