OKAIAWA

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 11 August 1921, Page 8

OKAIAWA

(From Our. Own Correspondent.;

ROUGH FOOTBALL

I Your allegations against the Okaiawa senior team which played in Hawera on Saturday weeifTiave caused a good deal* of feeling in this district. I Jhave not the slightest doubt that you were quite honest in your criticism, but am of the opinion that you rather overdid it. The report of the match was prefaced by a charge of rough play against some of the Okaiawa team. In the following issue you devoted your leading article to the same matter, and, not content with this the Okaiawa team was again dealt with in your sports column i* last Saturday's issue, is this not a case of -"putting the boot in"? You must remembir, sir, fbat even a spectator does not see everything. I was present at the match in^questzon, and the only objectionable thing I saw was an Okaiawa player holding a Hawera man down | after he had collared him. This was j more stupid than rough. lam not aayi ing that there was^not any rough play, [but 1 ctid not see any, although a Hawera resident informed me that a Hawera forward struck an opponent during the game. So you will see there were faults on both sides. The Star , is the second paper .to attack the OkaiI awa team this season, but in neither ; case has the,referee even administered a caution. In your footnote to Mr. Crawford's letter you say that others who were present support what you had ;to say. There are others, including : Hawera residents, who do not., Two of. .these latter, men who have excejtion- , ally good, records both as-players and referees, have expressed the opinion that your criticism was quite uncalled for. arid that what- you said would have j been better left unsaid, l^heh rough ! play takes place there is usually a j motive, in this instance there was no motive so far as Okaiawa was concerned. They have, no animosity towards the uawera team, and, ,as they were well out of the running, they had no desire to win the match, recognising that the j defeat of Hawera would have practically I meant thai the championship would go ,to the" northern end". Your criticism is calculated to stir up feeling between the two clubs, but ram sure that this will not be the case. Now that the issue practically lies between Hawera and Clifton, I am satisfied that Okaiawa residents will pocket their feelings and extend their best wishes to the wearers of the amber and black. FARMERS' PROFITS. There seems to ~be a widespread feel- ' ing among those who are not on the land that the farmers_have been making huge profits during the' past few years, | and they are usually held up as most avaricious persons. It is human nature to do the best possible, and no class can throw- mud" at another in this re- ! spect. ~ Farmers generally admit that they have had a few good years, but they have not been so good as some people imagine, owing to the high..price of manure and materials required on the ■ farm. The: Star has been very fair towards the farmer, and has on several occasjons pointed* out ih*at when the farmer ctoes well it is good for everyI body because there is more money in | circulation. The past season, so far as the dairying industry is concerned, j has been a good one; that ip, for milk alone. In the matter of the dairy 1 farmers' side line (store cattle and hides'* there has been a big drop. A local dairy farmer has supplied me with his .figures for these two lines during the past two seasons. They are as follow. those for the season. 1919-20 in parentheses:—Live stock sold £254 8s 6d (£636 4s 2d), hides £17 Ms \£U 4s Id). This represent a f alling-off this season, as compared with last, of the slibstan- j tial sum of £40£175~9d. When there J is a falling-off io this extent upon a dairy farm there. can be no possible doubt that the wool and meat growers have been hard hit. THE WEEPING WILLOW. Is the weeping willow doomed? The disease which has been reported among them in other districts is very much in evidence here, where old and young trees alike are dying out. It is a great jity, for the weeping willow is one of the most beautiful and useful of our trees. So far as my observations go, it is only the weeping willow that is affected, other varities, so far, having escaped. Old residents will remember a parasite attacking the gorse many years ago, when it nearly all died out. At that time it was regarded as a serious matter, as the .gorse was the only hedge plant we had in those days. Then the peach trees were- attacked, the disease travelling from one end of the Dominion to the other. They have recovered to a certain extent, but the luscious fruit which we once gaifeeTecT by the dray load is now rarely seen in_this district. Could not jome of our scientists introduce some "deadly parasite among the blackberry? j . OLD MANAIA. | . The reminiscences of Old Manaia sen£ I in by Mr. P. Hammonds were intersting reading, more especially to those j who lived m the district in these days. The boy referred to as the best uat in the school cricket team was an Okaiawa boy now a resident of Stratford. This boy had passed the Sixth Standard when, he arrived in Okaiawa from North Canterbury. The boy being desirous of gaining some further knowledge, his fatheK interviewed the local schoolmaster, who remarked: "If the boy has passed the Sixth Standard it is no use sending him to me; he knows as much as Tdo." The boy was then sent over *o the Manaia school and placed under the Rev. George Wilks. a University man. So keen was the boy that he tramped the distance on foot (eleven miles there and back) without a word of complaint. The prowess of the Manaia schoolboys in the cricket field was referred to. They were equally successful upon the football field. At that time the fort in Manaia was occuPied by the Armed Constabulary, usually designated by the abbreviated term A.C.s, under the ccjnmand of Major g^Pn* • Natu' r.aHy among a body of men df this description there were some capable exponents of the various field games, and it was mainly due to the coaching received from these men that the boys of the Manaia school reached such a standard of excellence in their ■ outdoor games.