COUNTRY NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9240, 18 December 1888, Page 3

COUNTRY NEWS.

(.FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.] Hamilton, Monday. Ox Saturday morning a mob of 40 horses, chiefly nacks, and a few ponies, passed through Hamilton, en route for Auckland. They were brought direct from Gisborne by Mr. Deveny, wno reports frightfully rough weather upon the road. Mr. Knox sold the privileges at the Claudelands Athletic Sports, to be held on Boxingthe trilling sum of £4. The publicans' booth in the grand stand was bought by Mr. Bright tor £3, the temperance bootn by Mrs. Coekhead for 10s, and the horse paddock by Mr. Ho wen for 10s. The train on Saturday was late both ways. When it went down in the morning, shortly after leaving Hamilton the water for the engine gave out between Te Rapa and Puuete, and suthcient water had to be got iroin the swam)) in a bucket to enable the engine to run on to Ngaruawahia, and get a full supply of water, and return for the cars wnere they were left upon the line. As a consequence, the return train, which meets the Auckland up train at Huntly, was rendered late, and instead of arriving in Hamilton at twenty minutes to two p.m., did not get in till half-past two o'clock. The grass on tae Lake Forest reserve was sold by auction for removal, by Mr. Knox, on Saturday, for £2 os, to Mr. G. Carter. i. esterday's revival services, in connection with St. Peter's Church, were the first of the series, and which attracted more than the usual congregation. They were conducted by the Rev. J. >X. Hill, of Auckland. Many were present at the morning service, but In the evening the church was literally packed from end to end; and at the services which follmved in the Public Hall, after the evening enurch was out, standing-room was not to be had, many naving to go" away, being unable to obtain admission. Tamahere. Monday. The regular monthly meeting of the Tamahere Road Board was held on There .vere present: Messrs. Rhodes, Barugh, Wheeler, Furze, and Captain Runciman. (chairman). The clerk was instructed to inform Messrs. Vaile and Douglas that unless they take immediate steps to have the arorse removed from the road fronting the farm of Mr. H. W. Tinne, the Board will be ooiiged to do so at their expense. The clerk was further instructed to inform the Hon. the Minister of Public Works in reference to his proposed Public Works Amendment Bill, wnicli would enable local bodies to compel owners of land to eradicate gorse growing thereon, that such an interference with private property as proposed is repugnant to the law of England, and that, moreover, it is inconsistent, unreasonable, and altogether impracticable. It was resoived to gravel about half-a-mile of the central road near Pukemoko. Messrs. Rhodes and Wheeier undertook to see the work carried out. The chairman was authorised to have a water-table put in on the road near \V byte's bridge. Accounts to the amount of £17 lGs 3d were paid. Cambridge, Monday. The supply of excellent cheese hitherto obtained irom the Waharoa Cheese Factory, Matamata, by local storekeepers is now stopped, a Queensland merchant having contracted to take all they can make during the season. The Cambridge factory, which is now receiving betv/een 700 and SOO gallons of milk daily, has commenced to dispose of this season's make of cheese. It is said to be of excellent quality. There is no doubt that a taste for new cheese has been acquired by people generally during the last few years that the factories have been running, and a much larger local consumption is the result. As the store price is 7d per pound, somebody must be making money. The monthly meeting of the Cambridge Highway Board lapsed on Saturday for want of a quorum, Messrs. Forest and J. J. Smith alone putting in an appearance. In terms of a resolution of the Board authorising them to do so, Messrs. Forest and Smith reported that they had accepted the tender of Mr. Charles Crouch to gravel No. 1 station road at B£d per yard in the solid. Mr. Crouch was also employed to fence the gravel pit recently made at Mr. Richardson's farm. At the meeting of the Taotaoroa Road Board on Saturday there were present, Messrs. C. M. hrunskill (chairman), S. Scddon, and H. R. Brunskill. The only business done was to authorise Mr. Secldon to e triploy a man with horse and cart to repair the main road from Cambridge to Nome's comer near Gorton.

DAIRY FLAT. In* your last issue you publish under " Dairy Flat Roads" an extract from a letter whicn Mr. Hardy sent to the Waitemata County Council complaining of the state of the Dairy Flat roads under the control of the i'ukeatua Road Board, especially the road leading to the Black Bridge. He then iaunches out into a diatribe against the Road Board in general and the cnairman in particular, stating that the Board has spent £74 in works on a road which, according to Mr. Hardy, there has actually been counted no less than three live travellers in six weeks I Mr. Hardy does not state the number not counted), and the letter closes with the following choice selection of language :—" The schoolmaster is abroad. Civilisation advances. Two men command conjointly no iess than 60 votes at the Pukeatua Road Board election. Long live liberty, equality, and fraternity !" I should not have noticed Mr. Hardy's meanderings, for the strong persomu animus the letter betrays towards the chairman of the Pukeatua Highway board, its many inconsistencies, and unfair statements, stamps it as the x ,ro( iuction of a diseased mind, and carries its own refutation with it, except to give the public an opportunity of knowing the facts, and judging for themselves. 1. Mr. Hardy appears to charge the state of the Black Bridge Road on the local Road Board, when the very fact of his applying to the Waitemata County Council for a sum of money to be spent in necessary repairs to that road proves that the fault lies at the door 'f the Council, whose road it ,s, as stated by me last week. The said Black Bridge Road is the only legal road to the chairman's residence. 2. The letter states that the chairman of the Pukeatua Road Board lives off a by-road. I may reply that the chairman, to get to this road, had to build and maintain at his own expense a large bridge of over 30 feet span (on private property) over the Rangitopuni River, and the Dy-road referred to is the main overland route from North Shore, Birkenhead, &c, via Lucas' Creek, Riverhead, and Henderson, and the traffic upon it is very considerable at times. »3. It is stated that works to the amount of £74 have been undertaken on the said road within the last three or four weeks. This statement is wrong, the truth being that works to the amount stated have been undertaken since the Ist of March last. 4. Mr. Hardy savs :—" I may mention that this same by-road has received very liberal expenditure in former years." The very liberal expenditure of the Pukeatua Board on this road amounts to about £o0 within the hist 12 years, exclusive of the t?4 mentioned above. 5. The letter says : —"Other roads leading to the beautiful and picturesque estate of the chairman of the Pukeatua Road Board have not been altogether neglected." I presume Mr. Hardy refers to the sum of £70 spent by the Waitemata County Council in road-forming some years ago on the Great North Road, between the residence of the chairman and the Black Bridge, as the Road Board has spent no other moneys near the chairman's residence than those mentioned above. In justice to the Pukeatua Road Board, I should state that the following sums have been spent by the Road Board within the last six months on the by-road leading from the Wade to Mr. Hardy's farm:—Clearing ;ft) chains o£ tea-tree, £4; earthwork and culverts, £42; road-forming and culverts, £10 9s: total, £56 9s, to which has to be added the sum of £14, the cost of a new bridge constructed by the Board last year, making a grand total of £70 9s. So it will be seen that Mr. Hardy has not fared so very badly at the hands of the Pukeatua Road Board after all. I should state that Mr. Hardy cannot use the Black Bridge Road without trespassing on private property. When Mr. Hardy was a member of the Pukeatua, Highway Board, he had the sum of £.">O spent on the road between Riverhead and the turn for his residence in lilting up holes and ruts and laying down a small culvert, which the tirst fresh time occurred afterwards washed away.—[Own Correspondent.]