Country News.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 3, 28 September 1907, Page 2

Country News.

MASTERTON. (rnoM oun own cohrespondent.) Mr. W. T. Mansfield, who hau just boo nappointcd acting town clerk and engineer to tho Masterton Borough Council, is' a recent arrival in New Zealand. Ho was formerly clerk and surveyor to tho .Kingsbury Urban Dictrict Council, Middlesex, England, which position ho held for six years. Mr. Mansfield will commenco his now duties on October Ist, at a salary of £30 a year. Mr. Brown who is retiring from the position of town clerk to tho Masterton Borough Council, after thirty years of excellent service, has been granted one year's leave of absence. Ho will leave Masterton shortly on a holiday tour, and then will afterwards return and take up his permanent residence in tho town. It is roported hero on excellent aut-' hority that Mr. E. P. Rawsou, clerk of tho Court and Sheriff of Masterton, will be appointed a Stipendiary Magistrate ,rcplacing Major Kcddcll, who has retired after forty years service. Mr. Rawson has taken his solicitor's degree and has more than a district reputation as an authority on law. v' ■ ■

The Mastcrton District Hospital, which is now x in course of erection will not be fully completed till the end of November. The building is being constructed on the most modern lines, and tho cost with drainage and a septic tank, will run into about £10,000. .

The influenza epidemic this year is regarded as tho most. severe since. 1902. So far fully three hundred families have been attacked and the disease is still exceedingly, prevalent. The wedding of Mr. Alfred .11. Greenfield, of Wellington, second sou of Mr. A. Greenfield, late Stipendiary Magistrate, to "Miss Isabel O Con noil, second daughter of Mr. M. C. O'Connell, of "Kingswell,"' Masterton, was solemnised to-day i,i St. Patrick's church, by, the Very.. Rev. Doah McKenna." The church was; crowded Miss Vida O'Connell was bridesmaid, irith frieuds of tho contracting parties while Mr .J. AVhittaker was best man. Mr. and Mrs. Greenfield will reside in Wellington. A Press Associaton message states that the rainfall in that hush district durng the past few days is reported to have, been phenomenal. Around Pahiiitua the country has been Hooded, the water in somo parts rising to the fenco tops. ...-'-.'• A poll was taken yesterday on a proposal to raise a loan of £12,000, for a gasworks, building plant, etc. It was carried by 110 vote std 51. Little interest was taken in the poll, as out of over 1000 ratepayers. on the . roll .only 16] voted.

The ltov. J.N. Buttle, Methodist minister, who recently returned from a trijj to Samoa, Tonga, and the Fijis, is a pronounced believer in the new desiguation of "Dominion "as applied to New .Zealand, as he thinks that this country' is.'destined to become tho predominating power amongst many of "tho Pacific Islands. Speaking at .tho. Dominion celebrations at; Masterton school,.Mr. Buttle declared himself heartily in sympathy with tho proposed change of .namo,. which,' ho said, marked a point in-: tho history of the country. He regretted that somri people hero deprecated the idea ■ of. si chango of name from " Colony," to' ''.'Dominion'." ;He was of' opinion •that'the New Zealand of the future •would iloom ..very, much/, larger "than tho New. Zeala'ri'd'qftho'present.. The bounds, of .the colony, had already been expanded by,-' ; including', adjacent islands, and that principle of expansion would ..yet be , more widoly adopted. The view expressed by Sir George Grey as 1 to the ultimate forma-, tion of an inter-island federation was quite within range of -political vision.. The trado'of the islands was New Zealand!s heritage, and he hoped that New, Zealand would, in future, keep a very watchful any movement which would have as its'object cession of any of the islands to any foreign Power. • J The scholars' at the,Masterton _ District High School celebrated Dominion Day on Wednesday, Patriotic speeches wero delivered i by the Revs. J. N. Buttle and A. T.-. Thompson, and Messrs. R. Brown and H. C. L". Robinson. At the conclusion of tho proceedings the following 'motion was carried v by. acclamation: "That the scholars; of the Masterton District High School telegraph to tho Premier, Sir Joseph Ward, their hearty congratulations upon tho proclamation of tho Dominion of New Zealand." ; FEILDINC. Death has been very busy with his reaping hook up hero of late. Yet anotner death was recorded yesterday —that of Mr. William'M'DougalJ, of Waituna Mist, at the age of sixtynine. Mr. M'Dougall .had resided in this district for forty-one years. He leaves live daughters, six sons, and twenty-threo grandchildren. The executive of tho Fielding centra of tho Athletic Union has allotted tho following dates:—Foxtail; November 9; Fielding, December 26; Manawatu and West ..Coast Caledonian Sports, Easter Monday;.and iwahuri, March 17. C. W. Meated was' disaualified for a year from, November 9, 1907, to November 8, 1903.' .■■•..'.. The Fielding Bowling Club has held its annual meeting. Tho annual report showed that tho club had had a prosperous year, being successful in bringing back the Yate3 feathers from Palmcrston North. Financially tho club is very souud; credit balance, £66. '.-■'■

It poured with rain on and off all day yesterday, and there was no Dominion Day celebration, although ii close holiday was observed. . The Mayor read tho proclamation ,to an •assemblage of a dozen. I learn that at Foxton the proclamation was read to one' reporter and one resident.

The residents are;, getting'.nervous, about the result of• tho past twentyfour hours' rain. The Oroua river is up, and tho country-sido is , getting covered with water. Sheep are in a bad way." and'lambs arc dying off, The Fielding Borough Council proposes to apply to tho, ratepayers for authority to raise £5000 for'.-street and drainage' inipiovementsand .swimming" baths'. The proposition has been referred to a committee for further con : sidcration. _ ■ Yet another old settler, Mrs. Marsh, of Halcombe, eighty-three years of,age, has passed away. Nows comes from Bunnythorpo that agricultural operations were quite at a standstill, and tho outlook depressing for dairymen, as well as pastoralists. Much sickness is also prevalent in tho district. The land is m a very sodden state, and all the watercourses , arc running full. Tho "Star's" correspondent says tho Mangaono is higher than has been known for tho past ton. years. It is running over tho bridge and connecting with Jack's Creek, making a vast body of water which submerged all tho low-lying district. A considerable amount of timber was brought down by the flood in tho Mangaone, putting tho bridge , in jeopardy. Measures havo been taken to clear tho debris away, and a gang of men is employed on tho work. In consequence of> tho fearful weather of late there is a great mortality among the owes, and lambs. A farmer who drove into town to-day says lie has not for years seen so much water lying on tho roads as

is to bo seen along the Kinibolton Road. Floods : havo 'done great damage to the roads of the surrounding counties. Between Waituna and ltcwa there are a down slips ouhalf a niilo of road. ; A ratlior bad slip came down on the road' between Rangiwahia and Kimbolton, and the Wednesday • afternoon coach was unable to get through. The driver rode through with the mails yesterday morning.. Fine, but cold', weather, with a strong wind prevailed yesterday, and the roads were rapidly • diving up. ; Tho post office sito difficulty at Kimbbltou seems to be in a fair way of settlement. A section lias been secured and a two-stbry bulling is to be erected. Rongotea folks are going to make a start with tho school gardens. (From our own Feilding, September 24; • Business people here have, after a'J, followed the example of other places, and decided this morning to close all day to-morrow. t In view of this de-\ cision a holiday'is also to be granted, to the school children. Beyond the v reading of the proclamation of Dominion Day by the Mayor and tho ceremony, of saluting, the Sag by the . school children thero will bi> no demon- ■: stration in Feilding, to-morrow.' TAIHAPE. Boisterous weather -continues throughout the, district, accompanied by hail, rain, and wind. Snow is rev ported at Turimgarero, . and ■ on the Mataroa road trees have been up- • rooted. All the low-lying, country ■: south of'Taihapo is flooded,, and the roads are under water,, the' fields resembling lake?. A slip at Cliff Road • • blocked tho train yesterday, the 10.5 train last .night arriving, at Taihape at 2 o'clock this morning. Slips are reported on the roads throughout Me district. The weather is having a disastrous effect on lambing. Reports from Ohakune and Ractihi are to tha . effect that heavy rains have made the' roads extremely bad there, as' well as ' throughout the'■ district. To-day the same conditions aro prevailing. WOODVILLE. . The nominations, were leceived today vfor the vacancy'in the Borough Council caused by the resignation of. Councillors Nicholas and Shaw. The following were nominated: Messrs. J. Harding, A. Raplev, Tyerman, U. Nodlo, C. Scott, and G.. P. Smith. ' A further exchange, of land has taken place in consequence of the cut to divert tho Mangaat.ua River which ' the Council is making.., Mr. J. Grant gives a corner of his section,for part ,of the fellmougery site.. '

E'KETAH'UNA/ ' , Tho Council has decided to , take .a' poll on a proposal to raise £3000 for an electric lighting fichome. . Tho weather experienced yesterday was exceptionally boisterous.. Fences wore blown down, and sheds and out buildings unroofed., in fact, a hurricanoof an almost unprecedented na-„ .ture was experienced, accompanied by heavy'rain. :-i • • ,'•'■' The children attending the ' public . school were; addressed yesterday by . tho Major and' the chairman of the tho.school coniniitteo "on tho impor-.. tauco' of''the',alteration' of the status of Now; Zealand.';' .The 'National Anthem and songs Wore lustily '. sung. .'; .■"'''•"■•.'"' ';-.