Kohukohu

Northland Age, Volume 1, Issue 10, 11 December 1931, Page 5

Kohukohu

Valedictory The many friends of Mr. F. Pender met at a social given in his honour in the Town Hall on Thursday night last, prior to his departure for Christchurch, to take up a position in the Sydenham branch of the Bank of New Zealand. During the evening Dr. Mail, chairman of the Town Board, presented Mr. Pender with a cheque with which to buy a momento of his stay of six years in the North. Messrs. A. C. Yarborough (Chairman County Council), W. H. Kirkpatrick (Chamber of Commerce), J. Dougherty (Bank N.S.W.), spoke of Mr. Pender’s services to the community in various ways during his sojourn in Hokianga. Mr. Pender feelingly responded. Mr. Pender left next morning in his car for Auckland. His well-known canine friend, Digger, was also a passenger. Personal Mr. Shirley Fergusson is on a short visit home to father and sister. Mr. Fergusson, who is in the Hastings post office, has upheld the Fergusson name for athletic prowess, and has quite a few trophies for pedestrian events to his credit. He is looking very fit. At present staying with Dr. and Mrs. Mail are Mrs. Bailey, a sister-in-law of Mrs. Mail, and Miss Mail, sister of the doctor. Both ladies are enamoured of the climate and scenery of the North. Opononi’s Picnic Sports For the first time in over thirty years Boxing Day will pass without a sports meeting in Kohukohu this year. Opononi’s picnic sports are to be held as usual, and Messrs, Frankham are putting their boat, the “Hokianga,” at the disposal of the Hospital Board for the day. Tennis Poptflar The Kohukohu Tennis Club is holding a ladder tournament at present, and the courts are in full swing each evening' and half holiday. In all probability an inter-county tournament will be organised for Boxing Day. KAURI FROM WHANGAROA

A raft of kauri logs containing 300,000 ft. of timber, from the Pupuke kauri bush at Whangaroa, was towed to the Kauri Timber Co.’s mill at Auckland by the paddle steamer “Lyttelton” last week, she taking four days on the trip. When the trees are felled and reduced to logs, they are dragged to the tram line by steam haulers and hauled for nine miles to the head of the Whangaroa Harbour, tipped into the water and towed to the assembling spot by launches. Here a hole is bored through the end of each log, through which a chain is passed, this in turn being strung on to a heavy back-bone chain, by which the logs are towed end on to their destination. Towing is slow as well as risky work, the average speed being about two miles per hour, and in bad weather the tug must make for shelter as quickly as possible. A raft adrift on its own would not only represent a heavy loss to the owners, but would 1 be a serious danger to navigation.