TAUPO.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5275, 8 January 1879, Page 2

TAUPO.

[prom oub own correspondent.] iffß I December 29, 1878. ;i§B Christmas Day was spent with*lhe usualiM good cheer at this place. The A.0., TOthlij that hospitality which has become' P ro tJllH verbial, invited all the inhabitants to *§M good dinner, an invitation of which nuni-jH bers availed themselves. The meas-roomi H was tastefully decorated, and the bill #|w fare consisted of all the native and Euronff ]B pean delicacies of the season ; froni| M the havoc made amqngst the ediblesjf m they seemed to be thoroughly appreciated||H On Boxing Day two or three energetigj|B spirits, not to be done oiit of the aportiJ rf ■ usually held on that day in more i civilised; £JM parts, went round with the hat/ mk^lH collected a few pounds. A series oft sports |jH went off in the afternoon ; these/whicH^M consisted of running, swimming^ and|jß jumping matches, were keenly <jontest?dj! tB and, to add to the day's goodltumor^ £■ running and swimming match was got upT BB in which the dusky fair sex displaye(|pM their agility. In the evening a bwljjya^M I given in the school-room, where danwuftj^B | was kept up with great spirit till theama^H hours of the morning. These pleasant Uttloj^B reunions help us to pass an otherwwej^H monotonous existence in this, the^ N^^H Zealand Siberia. -■• -i..'H ■ Poihipi, the loyal chief, is trying to gff^H up a meeting shortly. The re^pn|w^H Assigns for so doing is to s&j> any

Taxipo natives from going to the "Waitara meeting in March next, when they might get entangled in some policy adverse to the present Government. The natives have finished their tangi over the remains of their chief Reweti Te Kume. The days and still evenings have been disturbed by doleful cries, as is the custom of "ye savage/ On the other side of the river, one of the mourners used to give a yell — Bismillah ! it would have have done credit to a howling dervish j but now, thanks to a scarcity of grog and hai, all is hushed, and native matters are quiet. At Messrs Munro and M'Donald's shearing is now finished ; they have got a fair dip, but I am sorry to say that their lambing season was not first class. Messrs Munro and M'Donald have been amongst the earliest successful sheepfarmers in this district, and their career presents a marked contrast to the miser* able failures met with by some of the former runholders in their attempts to settle the Taupo country. Messrs Munro and Oo.'s run contains some 40,000 acres, extending from Runanga to Mohaka, and adjoining the Tauhara blocks on the west. The mutton raised on the run has long been pronounced by connoisseurs to be the . best along the Taupo line, while the wool, I hear, has fetched a better price than any of the Sawke's Bay staples in the home market. These are encouraging facts for intending lessees of the several extensive blocks of country which the Government have lately acquired around this district, and which should shortly be in the market. Our doctors have lately been kept hard at work owing to sickness amongst the native children, among whom whooping cough has been very prevalent.