NOTES FROM THE BACK BLOCKS

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 105, 13 May 1901, Page 3

NOTES FROM THE BACK BLOCKS

(By Kumi.)

Since I Inst wrote, the weather has been all that could bo desired, until to-day, when it started raining again. Still, we cannot complain, for tho fates have been very kind to us in tho matter of weather during tho past few weeks. The stock are all doing well, which is the main consideration from a sheepfarmer’s point of view., I notice a par in your issue of the 4th, re the arrival of a mob of 260 bullocks from Waihuka Station, for the tdisborno Freezing Works. They were a sight worth looking at. Prime beef, every hoof of them, and spoke well for the country on which they were fattened. The same day on which they loft Waihuka, Messrs Hutchinson sent a mob of 1700 fine wethers to the works. Mr Butler passed through the Motu last week with a mob of 200 mixed cattle from Opotiki, bound for Gisborne. They were a very nice lot. Mr Fraser, the Country Engineer, has been up laying out the remainder of the Waikohu stock track which I referred to

in my last notes, so that as soon as the legal formalities generally attending tho taking of .roads under tho Public Works Act are gone through it will be available' to the public.

Sales and rumors of sales are the order of the day in the Motu at present. Mr Shaw sold out the other day to a Mr Me. Kcnzie from the Wairarapa, and I hear that another of our settlers has received a tempting offer, which it is probable he will accept. Mr Kiddel, of Taranaki, took over his now property yesterday. He is to be congratulated on having one of the nicest little sheep farms in the district. Tho co-operative gang are making good progress with the Motu dray road. It is now open to within two miles of Hansen’s Hotel. Mr J. B. Jackson, the overseer’ deserves great credit fop the able manner in which he is conducting the work. It is a pity that tho fine weather, we have had lately has not been taken advantage of, and more men put on, so as to push the work through.

Mr Patterson informs me that he has his sawmill in good working order, and intends making a start on Monday. He expects to put out about 2000 ft a day for a start, and should he receive sufficient inducement he will enlarge his plant so as to put out over 6000 ft a day. Mr Patterson tolls me that there is any quantity of splendid white pine and rimu within easy working distance ; in fact, there is so much timber that for the first few months they will not have to use either bullocks or trams to get it to the benches. Mr Amoore, from Taranaki, was through the Motu a day or two ago, having a look at the country, and expressed himself highly, pleased with what ho saw. He considers it a great pity to see so much splendid timber lying waste. Wait till we get our railway through, and then things will hum.

There is a great boom on in the Mangatu country. Messrs Haggerty Bros, are felling 1800 acres, Mr Cooper 180 acres, Mr McCullock 1000 acres, Bloomfield Bros. 900, and several of the smaller sellers are having between two and throo -hundred acres down. Every coaoh brings six and seven bushmen up, As showing the way

in which Mangatu has gone ahead during the past two years, I may state that two years ago there was one coach and six waggons on the road during the summer months, while this season there have been two coaches and twelve waggons. Mr Partridge took up about 2000 hoggets the other day to stock his new country. I hear he has a good crop of turnips. Speaking of turnips reminds me of a rather tall turnip yarn I heard some years ago. Several of us had been talking about a turnip weighing ofilbs which had been grown on a neighboring station, when an old Irishman calmly remarked, “ I saw a turnip once that an old ewe eat her way into before lambing time, wintered inside, and brought a splendid lamb out with her at docking time.” AVhat do you think of that, Mr Editor'? I saw a very good line of 180 fat bullocks to-day, bound from Te Hau-o-te-Atua station to Nelson Bros.’, in charge of Mr T. B. Spence. They are a very oven lot. I notice that the Mounted Itifies are going into camp at Mr ,W. Hutchinson’s station, Puhatikotiko. It is an ideal place for a Volunteer camp, and possesses nice flats, with plenty of room for manoeuvring, and good hill country, should they care to do some hill work. They ought to have a good time there, and, should they work up Mangatu way, might even capture the kumi. Additions are to be made to the Pou-

tutu accommodation house. Mr and Mrs McCredie are untiring in their efforts to cater for the travelling public. Additional rooms are to ho put on, and other conveniences attended to that will add to the comfort of travellers.

A decision of some importance to voters and returning officers has recently been given by the Divisional Court in England. The question was, “ Are persons to whom voting papers have been given before the clock strikes the hour at which the poll closes entitled to put their papers in the ballot box after the hour has struck ?” The Divisional Court answered this question in the affirmative, but held that papers must not be delivered after the closing hour has struck to persons who are in the room when the clock strikes that hour. —Law Notes, February, 1891, 48 and 51.