TUAPEKA NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 14002, 8 March 1909, Page 7

TUAPEKA NEWS.

[From Oqe Own CoiiEEapoxDi;.\T.]

LAVVRKNCH. March 8. I lie u:niii messenger Death has latelv hcon very busy in our midst, thinning the lauks of the old identities. The iir.st to be called away was Mr Kobert Ford, the helpliiiitc of one of Waitahuna's oldest settlers; then Mr John Matthews, for inaiiy ye.irs in business in Liwrence as a wheelwright and blacksmith; and now Mr Daniel M'Cluskey, of llappv Vallev, Wetherstones. at the advanced age of seventy-four years. Mr who wa.s a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, arrived in Victoria in the early tifties. and followed mining pursuits there for some ycars._ Attracted by the liabriefs rush early in the sixties, he came over to (Jtago, arid shortly afterwards started storekcepmg at Wetherstones and at the Dunstan, later on taking to farming pursuits and settling at Happy Valley, where he occupied a fine piece of agricultural land. The deceased was a man of more than average intelligence, of a thoughtful turn, with a well-stored mind, and at one time took a very active part in any public movement for the general weal of the communitv. He was in delicate health for some time, .suffering a good deal the last month or two from complicated kidney trouble. His wife predeceased him a couple of years ago. He leaves a son and three daughters, who are all well up in years. A ballast engine' that did duty on the Main Trunk line is to arrive here'in a day or two to start work on the LawrenceRoxbiugh railway line. At present the engine is" undergoing an overhaul at the Hillside Workshops. The driver, Mr [■]. Milburn, one of the veterans in the locomotive branch of the service, is now in Lawrence, and has made all arrangements for an early start in the ballast pit. 1 may add that platelaying is pretty well finished a* far as Kvans Flat; the fonrth traffic bridge between Lawrence and h'vans Flat is out of hand, and a start fw been made with the fifth; and fair progress continues to bo ma/lc. with the Rig Hill tunnel, although the boring plant is not yet in position. The weather still keeps very hot. A few showers of rain for the turnip crops and pastures would be welcomed by the Farmers and stonkowners.