PAPAEOA. (FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3024, 5 April 1867, Page 3

PAPAEOA. (FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

A numerously attend*^ -~~^;H^*-«W foirig here on the 19fch ulfc., on the ground in front of Mr. Parsons's house, where a temporary erection was prepared for the occasion. The object of the meeting was the inauguration of the Paparoa Association, which purposes diffusing information on all subjects connected with the cultivation of the soil, and tending to advance the social and political well-being of the settlement. After a substantial tea, the Key. W. Grrios took the chair. He expressed the deep interest he felt in the advancement of the district, and especially in the young men, upon whom he urged the duty o£ maintaining a gentlemanly deportment and habits in opposition to the roughness supposed to be identic fied with a colonial life. He also advocated the claims of the new society, believing it to be calculated to effect considerable good. Mr. Hook (the Secretary) stated the origin of the Association, and the purposes for which it had been established, and mentioned instances in which ii» utility |had been shown. The sending in of new claims for the county register had been attended to, itie result of which would, it was believed, be that the number of voters would soon entitle the settlement to a, polling-place. Mr. Wilson gave a short statistical account of the settlement, contrasting its present state with a former period of its history. He -stated the number of .homesteads to be 33 ; population, 132 ; cattle, 180 ; acres under cultivation, 350, 13 of which are in .maize. He also mentioned the improvements in means of communication, especially the widening • of the Mangawai Ijtoad, and the erection of a bridge, both of which are now approaching completion; and, further, that the district had been proclaimed under the Highways Act, which would very shortly be. in full operation. Mr. G. Calvebt .remarked an important omission in Mr. WilsonJa statistics, viz., the introduction &&• seven brides into the settlement ; also, the birbta^ the figures for which he regretted his inability to state, the number being legion; The most attractive part of the proceedings of the evening consisted in the singing of several favourite qleei by Mr. and Mrs. J. Chadwick, and two of their children. Mr, H. Little also gave an amusing recitation. •Mr r Mbtoalp, in moving a vote of thanks to the singers, expressed the great gratification he had derived from hearing them. Mr. Rowsbll, of Maungaturoto, seconded the motion. He said he was much pleased by this opportunity of social intercourse with the Paparoa settlers, some of whom he had known and esteemed in the great city of London. Mr. Chadwiok, after returning thanks, more folly explained the objects of the Society, and said ai president he felt much interested in its suooesa. He showed how improvements in the culture of the land and the rearing of animals must conduce to an increase of home comforts, and therefore urged upon all the duty of joining, and so contributing to extend its usefulness. , „ In supporting a vote of thanks to the ladies, >* Mr. Rawlings spoke of the misery of bachelor life in the bush, and expressed his determination to escape from that condition as soon as he could prepare a comfortable home for a wife. A cordial vote of thanks to the chairman having been passed, this most interesting and sucoessful meeting terminated. # *- In the course of the evening a memorial on the subject of a polling-place at Paparoa— for the three settlements Matakohe, Paparoa, and Maungaturoto — was numerously signed. '