OHINEMUTU.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1696, 10 June 1884, Page 2

OHINEMUTU.

•EBOM OUR SPECIAL COKEE.SPONI)ENT). June 6, 188<£

The investigation of the Roto Hokahoka block was completed yesterday, and judgment wirf pWbabty b'a ( delivered on Saturday or Monday next./ $arly* yesterday, morning the natives were all astir, and' pre'sSfrfty' si great number of them were seen wending their Wa^ ;owards Ngongotaha, some mounted, but the most on foot, accompanied by the Judge and Assessor, both walking. Upon inquiries, I found that they were going but to inspect some pi the land marks on the debatad ground; ■ Well, 1 pitied the poor Judge, who will hWe' to clitnb 1 about 1,900 ft to the top of Ngorlg oiahaUo'pfease these ' ' festive; beauties, ' ' to settc for" place's* and murker which perhaps only existed within their 1 fertile brains. The. expedition returned about 2 tf&Vcii in : the afternoon. On the same afternoon a ceremony of quite another character occurred, viz., laying the foundation of the new Church of St. Faith. Three o'clock was the appointed hour for the detenkinh aifd there were a great many people Of bditi races a^ejnblfjd; to.' take part in the service. But suddenly' ft watf die-; covered that Mr Lundon, the ooniMdtifi) Kad' not yet arrived to put down the first block, so the assembly was kept waiting ti11, 4 o'clock, and as he did not turn up at that hour, His Lordship the Bishop of "Waiapu had to perform the ceremony without the builder being there to fix the foundation. Perhaps he thought this was the least part of his contract. His Lordship preached an impressive sermon in Maori, which was listened to with great attention by the natives. Captain Morris arrived very late Tuesday night (3rd instant). He? had- announced to meet the electors at 7 that evening? they waited very patiently his arrival, ttit& the meeting took place at Morrison's hotel, in-* stead of at Tama-te-Kapua, as was first intended., Tou have already received by wire the result of this meeting, but I may add this, that a Mr G-wynneth, of Cambridge, proposed the vote of thanks and confidence, which was seconded by Mr Vialou. Now Ido not know if either of these gentlemen are on this electorate or not, but as the Chairman, Mr Brent, did not raise the question, I suppose they are. He (Captain Morris) left early next morning for Taupo by coach. Mr Fenton left yesterday in a trap, driven by his son-in-law, Dr Lewis. Very few people have been any the wiser of his (exJudge Fenton' s) sojourn amongst us. Even I had some difficulty in fishing out what his little game was, so oarofitl as he was to keep his movements very dark. But natives are very like the fair sex — the more you caution them not to tell the more they long to let it out ! They can only, keep a secret for a short time. Well, as 1 understand ifc, Mr Fenton is playing a game o£ euchre with Bryce, the natives representing the pack. Now Fenton shuffles them, then Bryce, and so on. So far the ex- Judge has scored three points, to the Native Minister's nil. So the next thing we shall hear is that. Bryce has been euchred by his wily foe (I think I have used the word foe in its proper sense), for I don't think these gentlemen love each other much. But the native sees through this little game, and, with a sly wink, say "By-by me ween." I saw in one of your locals that the Government had offered the natives 5s per acre for the 20,000 acres. Now if you had said 4s it would be nearer the mark. At last liberal Mr John Bryce has opened his heart, and has offered 4s per acre for land that will be worth £2 an acre when the railway is finished. Verily the pre-emptive right is dawning upon us ! Yet the natives fail to appreciate this liberal offer; they might, bye-and-by. "We have had lovely weather lately, with very heavy frosts in the mornings, making the whole of the surrounding hills quite gray. The oldest natives here say they have never experienced such frost so early in the year for the last 30 years, and I quite believe, them.