COUNTRY NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9137, 20 August 1888, Page 3

COUNTRY NEWS.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDKNTS.J

Hamilton, Saturday. Dr. Rkxnie, of Golden Chariot fame, has demanded an apology from the Waikato Times, for an alleged defamatory article published bv that paper in refereuce to the patient H. P. McPherson, recently sent up to Auckland for treatment. The apology not having been tendered, the matter has been placed in the hands of an eminent firm of Auckland solicitors, and the damages are laid at £1000. It rained heavily yesterday from the eastward, with half a gale of wind at times, from daylight till late in the afternoon. The wet will seriously interfere with the getting in the wheat crop on much of the Waikato lands. Great excitement prevailed here on the arrival of the Herald with the intelligence that a former well-known inhabitant of Hamilton, Mr. William Cumming, had been lost in the bush at Mercury Bay. The news was received here with much regret, for Mr. Cumming, until the last few years, occupied a very prominent position in Hamilton, and was well known throughout the entire Waikato district. It is sincerely hoped that, although a week missing, some of the search parties at work in the Mahakirau bush will discover him in time to save him from the melancholy fate which it is feared has overtaken him. Mr. Cumming is a powerful man, of strong constitution and powers of endurance, and not unused to the bush, and will probably make for ana reach the coast, which should be searched.

Ohaupo, Saturday. The leasing of the railways or any plan by which they will be worked in a business-like way, is a matter devoutly wished by our Waikato settlers. On Tuesday last a settler in this district sent up from Ohaupo four trucks of cattle and pigs for Hunter and Nolan's sale of the* same day. At Onehunga junction the railway people shunted two trucks of cattle and one of pigs to make room for eheep intended for Buckiand's next day or Wednesday sale, and waggons containing ordinary goods. The consequence was that the three trucks of cattle and pigs arrived late at Hunter and Nolan's sale, and were, indeed, sold by candlelight, only a few butchers who knew of their coming remaining at the saleyards. The owner sustained a loss of £8 on the pigs, as they arrived too late to be drafted.