OKAIAWA.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, Issue LXXII, 13 February 1917, Page 8

OKAIAWA.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SPORTS CLUB.

The annual general meeting of the Sports Club was held on Saturday evening, the president (Mr E. G. Betts) being in the chair. There was a sparse attendance, only seven members- putting in an appearance. The secretary (Mr It. H. Penny) produced the animal bal-ance-sheet. This showed that, last year the sports meeting and concert and dance had returned a profit of £23 os 4d. This sum had been made up to £25 out of the club's funds, and this amount liad been voted to the ; Wounded Soldiers' Fund. There was a sum of £45 odd lying to the club's credit in the Post Office Savings Bank. The balancesheet was adopted. After considerable discussion, it was decided that, "owing to a number of the club's best workers having gone to the war, and the war oondjtions_ being more acute than in previous years, no sports meeting be iield this year. It was decided, however, to hold the concert as usual, the <iate chosen being March 8. All profits are to be handed over to the Ladies' Patriotic Committee. Messrs Betts and Penny were appointed a sub-committee to arrange preliminaries and report at a future meeting. ' PATRIOTIC. The Ladies' Patriotic Committee desires to acknowledge the following do3<ations to it« funds during the month of January:—Misses Williams and Betts, each 3s r ; Mesdames Blackmail, Edwards, Newey, Hoilis and Ingram, 2s; Misses Oughton, 4s; Mrs Smith, 9s; Mrs J. Barclay, os; Mrs J. Joll, 10s; Mrs Fran-*-ls. ss ; Mr E. O. Cbivers, ss; Mr F J. Cough, 2s: total, £3 16s. The ladies continue to hold their weekly sewing meetings, when a considerable amount of useful work is accomplished. In addition to making up garments for the Belgian poor, the ladies also find time to do a lot of knitting for the soldiers. 0L TR ROADS. The recent spell of dry weather has hod the effect of making our roads a little rougher fhan usual. Thoso who x-s? the Normanby -road will be glad to fioe the men back at- work there, a s this xond ha s been in a very bad state for eorae time past. As a matter of fact a ! number of settlers out this way have ' Imd goods coming by rail consigned to ' Hawera, preferring to travel The extra 1 rkst.inoe by a good road. The Waimate i dounty Council is tar-sealing its portion j of this road, thus considerably length-' i «mng the life of "the road, and showing 1

some consideration for other ratepayers than those living on the Main Souijh. road. '/The sama Council is also tau-, sealing vthe Mana-ia and ibieet roads, and is'making rapid progress with the work. Both Waimate and Eltham counties have wir-spraycrs, and the value of these machines is very much in evidence in the improved roads in these counties. A little while back I took a run up to Stratford, via the Hastings road, and my summing up of the ; roads was as follows: —Hawera, from fair to bad; Eltham, excellent the whole distance ; Stiratford, a little worse than Hawera. Perhaps Hawera ratepayers may look for something better When the antiquated watering can gives : place to an up-to-date tar-sprayer. THE PRICE OF LABOR. A little while back a paragraph appeared in the Star relative to the high prices which some settlers had paid to Maoris for weeding carrots and mangolds. They had either to pay the amount or los e the crop. A local settler has half an acre of potatoes—a splendid crop—and clean and free from weeds. He asked a Maori what he would dig them for, and the reply was "£lO, or three shillings a bag without sorting." The offer was not accepted. Another ! settler approached the Maoris to weed his mangolds, and they offered to noe them between the rows for £6. This offer was aiso declined, the settler doing what the Maoris asked £6 for in one day between milking times with the horse hoe. This is one of the causes of the increase in the cost oi^ living, the farmer being compelled co limr& production in consequence of the search/* of labor. It was asserted by a writer in the columns of the Star some time a^o that plenty of labor was still available. "Well, a^ neighbor of mine advertised for a. man in three newspapers for a month without receiving a single reply; and yet the Taranttlci Education Board received ho less than 73 • applications for an assistant secretary. Evidently the attractions of the town are very mucn greater , than those of the country, ~.. j VETERAN. -WORKERS. ! -A' witness before the Military Appeal Board last week stated that one of the workers upon his farm was a man of 65 yeairs of age, which drew forth the remark: "More power to him." We have, i out here a settler who has left his I eightieth year "behind, and the amount of work which he gets through in a, d.&y (and every day) would put many a young man to shame.. There are quite a number of elderly settlers m this district, who, while not quite so old as the octogenaiian mentioned, are still capable and willing to do a good day's work. This is one of the secrets of longevity. A man will rust out much quicker than he will wear out. It is noticeable that a man who makes a, competency and retires into idleness, rarely reaches a, ripe old age. • .