WAIKATO DISTRICT NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6562, 28 November 1882, Page 6

WAIKATO DISTRICT NEWS.

[from obr own correspondents.]

Hamilton", Monday. Mr. Thomas Russell was a passenger to Auckland on Saturday, having spent a week in the district. He returns, however, to Waikato to-morrow. During his visit he paid a lengthened visit to the Piako and Waitoa Valleys, expressing himself much gratified at the progress made in those districts since he was last there, and at the general appearance of prosperity.

A special meeting of the Hamilton Borough Council has been called for Wednesday evening, the 6th December, to discuss the question of the borough drainage scheme, plans and estimates of which wire recently prepared by Mr. D. L. Campbell, C.E.. to the order of the Council, at a cost of £25. At that time the necessity for a drainage scheme of this kind was very generally acknowledged, for without something of tho kind, on the west side at any rate, the health of the residents is likely to suffer in the summer and autumn months. It will be the duty of the Council to have the plans and estimates, and a report. thereon, prepared, so as to be laid before a public meeting of the burgesses, after which a poll will bo taken either to confirm or veto the carrying ont of tho scheme.

There will, no doubt, be a full house on Tuesday (to-morrow) evening at the Oddfellows' Hall to witness the entertainment given by tho children of the East Hamilton public school, to raise a fund for the establishment of school library. The drama of '•Goody Twoshoes" will be performed by some of the elder pupils, and tho performance will bo varied by wnjs, duets, &c..and by thechildrcn, under V. <• <• ■'mhictorship of Mr. T. A. Bell, the Government instructor of masic in Waikato.

Entertainments of this and other kinds are the order of the day at the present season in Waikato. At Alexandra a tea and soiree will be held on Thursday next, in the Public Hall, in connection with the Wesleyau Church at that place. An entertainment in aid of tho repairs of St. Saviour's Church, Alexandra, will also be held at the end of next month. On Friday evening an entertainment will be held, in aid of the funds of Christ Church, Kihikihi, in the Public Hall of that place, and the ladies of the Hamilton Presbyterian Bazaar Committee have decided to hold a bazaar in the Oddfellows' Hall, Cambridge, on Friday and Saturday next, the last two days of the Cambridge cavalry drill parade. Cambridoe, Monday. The enterprising firm of Messrs. Hally Brothers are about to dissolve partnership, and as a consequence some very valuable brewery, mill, hotel, and other property here, and in other parts of the Waikato, including the Commercial Hotel, Hamilton, will be brought to the hammer.

The following were the other tenders received for the Te Aroha tramway works other than tho accepted one of Messrs. Darrow and Foughcy; namely—Livingstone, £7091 Is Sd ; Brett and Mulligan, £7170 , r « ; O'Brien, £8799 ; Robinson and Gordon, £10,049 Is Sd ; Hunt and White, 110,037 16s lid. As your readers are aware, the Piako County Council agreed to let the work to Messrs. Darnm and Foughey on an amended plan, at the schedule rate of their tender, to cost only some £5250, as in addition to the tramway, according to the plan proposed, there would be the cost of three inclines, and a further sum of £2250 for the upper horse tramway which, with £400 for commission on the work would cost altogether a sum of £13,204 —too large a sum for the menus of the Council as at present available. The portion of the original plan abandoned to reduce Messrs. Darrow and Foughey's tender from £7211 10s to about £5250 will be the whole of the works beyond 68 chains on the main lino and tho upper incline, leaviDg tho cost of construction at £9264. Towards this the Council has a sum of £0000 voted by Government, and a sum of £2000 which may be fairly reckoned upon as the accruing revenue of the next six months.

Piako, Monday. The racecourse here is in excellent order and as there are numerous entries for the principal events—eleven for the Handicap Hurdles, as many for the Piako Cup Handicap, and six for the Trotting Match—a good attendance is looked for.

The site ef the new Tawhare township has been some little attraction to visitors of late, and especially by the small farmer class, as with the township of 149 acres will also be sold over 1000 acres of fine agricultural land, in farms varying from 4 to 79 acres each. The land is in grass, and is a rich alluvial soil, and is most advantageously situated at the junction of the roads leading from Hamilton to Tβ Aroha, Upper Piako, Scotchman's Valley, and Cambridge, and about equidistant frpm the two last towns, and only three milea from a railway station

\jrhile the extensive drainage and reclamation vorks carried on by the Waikato Land Company and on other neighbouring estates will always ensnre constant work to those who may require it to assist them in the work of settlement.