OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 35, Issue 9388, 9 October 1903, Page 1

OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.

AVAIPIATA. SOCIAL. A very pleasant social took place oh Friday, September 24th v in Malcolm's Hall, to bid farewell to Miss M'Culloch, our schoolteacher, wh6 is leaving us to take a position as teacher at St. Leonards, after a stay in our midst of about two years. There were upwards of 200 present, showing the esteem Miss M'Culloch is held in in thedistricc, as she has always been willing to assist at every social gathering both in Waipiata and surrounding districts. During the evening, Mr Malcolm, as chairman of the school committee, presented Miss M'Culloch with a handsome dressing case, subscribed for by a number of her friends, and spoke in eulogistic terms as to her abilities as a teacher, and trusted she would be successful in her new school. Mr R. M'Skimming, of Patearoa, also wished her every success, and hoped to see her back again as a resident. Songs were rendered during the evening by Misses H'ore, Coram, Black, Messrs M'Dowell, Herlihy, and Kinsman, and recitations by Miss M'Culloch and MissM 4 Donald, a little girl of five years, who gave a humorous recitation in. very nice styleMANIOTOTO MOUNTED RIFLES. This company held a parade at Waipiata onSaturday, 25th, with the object of recruiting, and I hear that two gentlemen, " willing to shed the last drop of blood of their relations," enlisted and several others have promised to join the company. CRICKKT. Our young knights of the willow opened their season on Saturday last, and played a scratch match; Town v. Country, in which the townsmen scored a decisive victory over the couutrymen, Town 41, Country 9. Both sideshave a lot to learn in this sport, but as there are a number of new players of promise, no doubt the club will give ■ a good account of themselves in the ; coming season. The secretary, Mr j M'Nicol, would be pleased to hear of ! other clubs having open dates for I matches.

HYDE. For the past three weeks, glorious Spring weather has prevailed, and already we have forgotten in part the rigours of Winter. On every hand the signs of Spring are apparent, the pastures are putting on their welcome green mantle, forest trees (deciduous) are budding or breaking into leaf, and already some of the fruit trees in warm and favoured spots are covered with blossom. Farm work of all descriptions is being pushed on with all possible rapidity, but in the majority of cases is sadly behind, the long continued frosts in A.ugust having prevented any ploughing being done. A few winter sown crops of wheat and rye are now showing well above the ground and look very healthy, and a few of the earlier sown paddocks are showing above the surface, but the bulk of the crop still remains to be sown. The soil is in splendid order for working and the seed has every chance of a speedy germination, which is much in favour of late crops. Threshing was completed in the district some three weeks ago, and the bulk of the grain and chaff has b*en carted to the railway station. Many of the yields in oats were somewhat disappointing to growers, being somewhat below expectations. Probably the unusually wet Summer and Autumn caused this,, promoting a heavy growth of straw and preventing the proper filling and ripening of the grain. Many of our farmers cut their oats into chaff, instead of threshing, this method (in the case of heavy straw crops) being much more profitable than threshing. The areaunder cereal crops this year is not likely to be so large as that of last year, the late season being one of the causes, and the very profitable returns from fat stock being another, which will probably lead to a larger area of turnips being-sown. Stock generally;, considering the severe weather of July and August are looking fairly well, though some of the aged sheep are steadily dropping off. The loss in the district from the snowstorm will probably be larger than was anticipated when the snow cleared off. The long period of semi-starvation so enfeebled many of the sheep, especially ewes, that they will not be able to tide over the trying period of lambing, and a larger mortality and smaller percentage is to be expected. Hoggets appear to be doing very well, there being a very small death rate so far, and the fortunate owners of good lines of these are already beginning to see visions of fancy prices "off the shears " in January. On a few farms, lambs were to be seen three weeks ago and have been doing very well, though feed is still scarce and the ewes somewhat low in condition. The fine sunny weather however has been in their favour. It is a moot question if early

lambs are profitable in this district, as an early lamb that does not get sufficient nourishment when young and suffers a check is easily beaten in a fewmonths by the lamb that is dropped a month later when feed is plentiful. Matters in connection with our promised creamery are by no means satisfactory, nor are the prospective supplier a happy family, the casus belli being the site of the creamery building. Two sites were proposed, one in the township and the other about a mile south of Hyde. A vote being taken a majority was declared in favour of the site in the township, but the directors of the Taieri and Peninsula Company decided to build on. the southern site. The supporters of the other site, being in the majority, felt aggrieved at this and some intimated that they would not supply milk if the creamery was put on the site selected by the directors. On the 23rd a meeting of the suppliers was held to endeavour to come to an understanding and a somewhat stormy meetingensued, the result being that matters were further from a settlement at, the termination thin at the begiuniug of the meeting, there being considerable party feeling between the supporters of the rival sites, which is to be regretted. It is said that an Irishman is not happy unless he has a grievance, and if this be true the residents of the Hyde township should be happy for they have a grievance, inasmuch as the local post office has been removed from the township to the railway station, a distance of one and a quarter miles from the township. A public meeting was held and a protest against the removal telegraphed to Wellington, followed by a petition, but all to no purpose, as at the time appointed the post office departed. The Department's reason for the removal was, I believe, the expense of post office official and rent of buildings, etc., when the business could be done by the railway officials. Thus has the era of retrenchment shown its effect in this district and while we may say that it is very necessary and desirable that the moneys of the State should not be needlessly wasted, when the retrenchment causes us personal inconvenience we are apt to think that too much is made of the credit of the colony being somewhat strained. September 26th, 1903. [The above letters were unavoidably held over from last week.—Ed.]