50 years ago
■ The sound of gunfire shattered the quiet air of New Plymouth on Saturday as the Army staged an impressive demonstration of its firepower to commemorate the Battle of El Alamein in World War Two in front of a crowd of 1000, however not all went to plan. A plan to moor the hulk of an old 18ft launch off the mouth of the Waiwakaiho River and use it for target practice failed when the hulk broke it moorings and was
last seen drifting towards Waitara. The hulk was going to be used for target practice by one of the main attractions of the display, the 106mm recoilless rifle. Misfortune struck again when the rifle misfired. After the crowd left the range the shell was detonated by Army experts. Sergeant J. A, Sayers said the hulk later drifted ashore at Bell Block and a team would probably be sent out that day to recover it.
■ More than 3000 people visited the Tupare gardens in New Plymouth on the weekend, creating not only an amazing scene in the gardens, but also a major traffic jam outside. Owner of the gardens, Mr R. Matthews, said the number of people and volume of traffic was totally unexpected. The traffic problem was eventually solved with the assistance of Transport Department officers. Donations from those visiting the gardens raised $600 for the Intellectually Handicapped Children’s Society. The gardens were opened again later that day due to so many requests from visitors.
■ More than 10,000 people attended the New Plymouth Operatic Society’s production of The Pajama Game, which ended its two-week season in the Opera House. The Society’s president, Mr J. W. T. Murphy said he expected a modest profit would have been made from the production as they had performed to a full house most nights.
■ Tongues were wagging reminiscing about the good old school days when 1600 young and old ex-pupils of Ha¯wera High School attended its golden jubilee celebrations at the weekend. The celebrations attracted past pupils from all over the country
and events included an official roll call, a church service, organised sports games and a jubilee buffet dinner and cocktail party at the Ha¯wera Racecourse. Current principal Mr B. V. Cooper said the jubilee was not only a success in bringing old friends together but it also marked the reformation of the old pupils association, which would mean increased support for the school as it began a period of constructing new school buildings that were well designed for their purpose and ‘‘exciting to teach in’’.
■ An orderly crowd of about 1500 gathered at Inglewood’s Jubilee Park for an open air pop night organised by the Inglewood Lions Club and featuring a number of well-known New Zealand entertainers. Maria Dallas, Ray Woolf and Ray Columbus presented a variety of numbers and they were generally well worth hearing. But the audience proved unresponsive almost throughout the evening.
■ Movies: The Lion in Winter Starring
Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole (State), Run Wild, Run Free (Regent Hawera), The Shakiest Gun in the West (Mayfair).
■ 35 Years Ago: Move over McKee – make way for Toe Toe. It looks as though the success story of New Zealand’s onshore oil explorers – Taranaki’s McKee oilfield – is about to play second fiddle to an even bigger oil find. Petrocorp Exploration has begun to test the newly discovered Toe Toe-1 well near Tikorangi and the results look even more exciting than for the McKee field, discovered four years ago.
■ 25 Years Ago: A fisherman on a surfski was left clinging desperately to his longline during a nightmare 1 1⁄2 hour wait to be rescued off New Plymouth’s East End Beach last night. The fisherman had paddled out only in a T-shirt and shorts to tend to his line before discovering he was unable to return to shore. The delay in rescue appeared to be due to a breakdown in communication between police and the Taranaki Life Saving Association.