MATIERE.

King Country Chronicle, 8 November 1913, Page 7

MATIERE.

Own Correspondent. The spring here has bosn an exceedinoly fine one and, with the exception of" a mysterious mortality among the la«;b3, has left l'ttle to be ■desired; indeed, the farmer but for the lest of iambs would have lust the art of growling by disuse of the faculty. The iambs affected were wholly fat and well grjwn specimens, and an autopsy showed blackened intestines as though through some form of inflammation. It U surmised that the flow of milk from the ewes was so profuse as to causa a heavy and undesirable increase of lilocd in the lambs, causing a species of apoplexy. Local tradesmen seem very busy and another saddler is starting in business here. The newcomer. Mr Henderson,' has bad a large, experience of his trade in large centres and should do very well and will prove very welcome ss he is able to undertake shoe repairs. The'want of a cobbler has been i.ur "sole" trouble for a long time. The local butter factory has been turning out a amount of butter lstely. The supply of cream arrives by two waggons as well as by suppliers' vehicles and all dairymen seeiu highly pleased by the present results and the price of butter fat. The bulbcka are now plodding along the roads: though it in to be feared that "Ic'cabod"" hs3 been written up as far a tLe team are concerned as ; practical);,' ail th:< lands from Onrarue to Matiere have been fenced and i with travelling much pick- > ing is left for patient old "blur-y" \ or "boxer." The percentages cf lambs have, in many cases been disappointing, running from SO to 100 per cent. Settlers, however, seem to be working out of ths light-woclled- and unsatisfactory Leicester, which has chiefly hailed from the Waikato and generally has been drawn from the rejects of "the fpt lamb trade. The writer has seen some quite exceptional sheep flecks recently showing that farmers have culled heavily The local Medical Association held iheij annual general meeting in the Matiere Hall on October 25th to consider tbe auditor's report and balancesheet, and both were unanimously adopted. A committee for the coming yaer were elected, and a vote of Shanks was sent per the secretary to the doctor for the past year; the relations between Dr Lu'msden and the committee during the past two years being pai-ticularly happy. Our local youthful celebrationists of Guy Fawkes' discomfiture made great preparations and burnt his effigy, the only fly-in thie ointment was the fact that cue or two young enthusiasts so* cured all the available crackers, the scoop iekingoil the vim out of the gay proceedings \ A requisition largely signed has been circulated here asking an jutside bank to establish a branch permanently in Matiere, and ft is stated the result obtained has rendered the advent of a bank fairly .certain. The marvel has been that no bank has ever started before, [zs there is a preponderance of population in this end of the district. Quite one of the beat stories I have heard, though gruesome, concerns a recent patient in a hospital on the Main Trunk. A lady patient wa» discussing her condition with a lady adjoining and had told her that, though operated en thrice for removal of internal trouble tjhe was told she would not be better till she had her appendix removed. "But," quoth the patient, rebelliously, "I'm not going to have it taken away; I'll have nothing left directly." Afair sized gang are now working at stumping and making ready for a large Government brickworks, which is to be laid ownd near Mr Warren's homestead at the 14 mile peg. The clay has been sent away and tested and found to make first-class bricks and the output will be absorbed b" the Public Works Department in the erection of culverts, lining of tunnels, etc., on the railway formation, which, I believe, is already approaching that locality. One notices pieces of cultivation on nearlya 11 the f.arms of the district at the present time, and the injunction'cf Lord Roaebery to "plough your own furrow" seems to be a favourite cult with thosew ho can get together a pair of horses and a Yankee plough. Too often, however, the pressnee of pig rooting and stumps rather discomcunts Tory feliow's description of the "poughsbare that runs through the soil as a keel through the water." Indeed, when one gets a few blow 3 with the plough handles oris lifted over the plough altogether his sentiments are either very mixed or non-existent. I The near approach of the railway has put great heart in our settlers, and Mr Masssy's promise seems to b« credited with full-face Value. Perhaps this is why the attempt to throttle the railway vote by the Taranald people was resented by the residents here as a whole as an impudent attepmt to deprive them of their birthright, and as an indication that they were ' possessed of better bargaining qualities th"an Esau, a loud outcry has been the result. The main road to the eleven-mile peg from Matiere is ths "hete noir" of w;:ggor.er;3 afc the piv-Eant time, ar.d it is very sirongly urged on the Minister of Public Works in declare the same, r: ; to metEi t!:-' i iVlanv cOi'ii'L'.'.tul-.:''.'.i:"':)3 io yoe.t p.nsc