COUNTRY NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10036, 24 January 1896, Page 6

COUNTRY NEWS.

[from OCR OWN correspondents.) Hamilton, Thursday. The following team has been chosen to represent Hamilton in the match to be played by that club against Taupiri, at Tttupiri, on Saturday : — Browning (contain), Bartou, Buxton, Ewen, Fielder, 4. Gothorp, Hammond, Cox, Ross, Diguan, and Houseley; emergencies, H, Gothorp, Kjulock, and Jack. It has been suggested to arrange a match between the Upper and Lower Waikato, for the 29th inst.

Mr. Martin Casey, of Broadmeadows, has set the settlers generally an example in forwarding, through Mr. Wells, of Cambridge, his yearly donation of £1 to the funds of the Waikato Hospital. By doing so lie really donates £2 49, for the Government gives, £1 4s for £1 of every donation. If every person would give an annual sum of even a smaller amount, we should get rid of a burden, which with its sister burden, charitable relief, is becoming a very serious tax on the community. The following is the return of births, marriages, and deaths, for the quarter ended December 31, 1895 -.-Births, 30, namely, 16 boys and 14girls; marriages, 4; deaths, 5, of which there were 3 males and 2 females, and of these, 3 were hospital cases. The statistics for the district of Te Awamutu, for the year ending December 31, were as follow:—Number of births registered are 58 ; number of deaths, 27 ; marriage licenses issued, 17. In the case of Te Awamutu, the whole of the district included.

The commercial news received from Australia is of an encouraging character, and is very acceptable to our settlors. The weather has apparently cleared up, and harvest operations will be vigorously prosecuted, and what up till the last two days was considered likely to be a bad harvest, will turn out one of the best we have had for years. There was a large gathering at the Wesleyan Chapel yesterday, to witness the marriage of Miss Nellie Davey, daughter of Mr. E. T. Davey with Mr. A. Augur. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. J. J. Mather. The bride was tastefully dressed in a costume of white cashmere trimmed with white surah silk, over which was worn a beautifully embroidorcd voil, the work of a lady friend. The bridesmaids were Miss A. Davey and Miss M. J. Tidd. Messrs. A. Shepherd and E. J. Davey officiated as groomsmen. The church was prettily decorated. In the afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Davey entertained a number of friends at their residence, Claudelaiuls.

Morrinsville, Thursday, The gold duty and goldtields revenue for November last amounted to £7 18s. The balance of grant for the Upper Hill track of £5 15s has been received by the Piako Comity. The following tenders for repairs to the Rotorua Road have been dealt with, the total length to bo re-formed is three miles: A. R. Perrot, 3s 9d per chain ; W. Stanley, 2s fid pet- chhin; C. Crouch, 3s Id per chain; T. Tyson, 3s 8d per chain; G. Floyd, 2s 3d per chain, accepted.

Wuatawhata, Thursday. An accident happened on Monday last to Mr. Herbert Park, of the Whatawhata sawmills, While standing on a scaffold felling a lar.aje tree, about eight feet from the ground, lie fall backwards, and in falling dropped his axe. The axo foil on him, inflicting a very nasty wound, which bled copiously, and indeed frightened his mates, who were unable to staunch it. They carried him into the house, and succeeded in stopping the flow of blood. By last accounts yesterday evening Park was going on satisfactorily, but suffering extreme weakness through excessive bleeding, Cambridge, Thursday. The following tenders received by the Cemetery Committee for keeping the cemetery in order, have been treated uy them as follows C. Purdie,£2s; A. Blackman, £15 and H. Arraer, £15. The latter tenderer, who is the gravedigger, had the contract accorded to him. Mrs. and Miss Thornton left Cambridge for Auckland, m route for England, purposing to live in London. Mr. William Thornton will continue to reside at Maungakawa, and is to be married to-day. The Rev. Edward Walker delivered a very able and interesting lecture on prohibition, in the Oddfellows' Hal], on Tuesday night, to a large and appreciative audience. Ho dwelt at length on prohibition as carried out in the Clutha district, and of the farce of the law to allow one man to grant wholesale licenses when the people, by alarcre majority, voted directly against it. He spoke in very favourable terms of the work of the present Government in the interests of the temperance movement, and also of the* simplicity of the present voting paper. At the conclusion of the lecture he was loudly applauded, and the Rev. L. Hudson moved the following resolution, which was seconded by the Rev. Evans, and carried unanimously: " That this meeting expresses its gratification at the increased measure of popular power in relation to the drink traffio conferred by recent legislation, protests against the action of the Legislative Council in rejecting the national option provisions passed by the House of Representatives, and appoals to the Government to reintroduce those provisions next session, and, in the event of their again being rejected by the Council, appeal to the country upon them at the election. The meeting also protests against the exclusion of clubs from the popular vote, and the enactment of the provision by which, where a parliamentary election is uncontested, the local option poll can be made void by a policy of abstention from voting, and maintains that in the coming session of Parliament these unjust provisions should be repealed." It was also moved and carried, "That copies of this resolution be forwarded to the Hon. A. J. Cadman (member for the district) and to the Hon. Premier." Mr. Joseph Gane occupied the chair. The only question asked the lecturer was that of the chairman as to how the temperance party were to fill the place of the hotels at present if prohibition were carried, and what they intended to substitute for same? > In reply Mr. Walker informed the meeting that there would be no need to fill the majority of the houses, as most of them did not cater for the 'travelling public but were merely drink shops. It would depend on those in charge of the hotels— who made the public most comfortable would survive, while the others would have to go to the wall.'

[fly TELEGRAPH,— OWN (CORRESPONDENT.) Hamilton, Thursday. A man named John Moore was brought up today before Messrs. John Knox and T. H. White, Justices of the Peace, on a charge of being of unsound mind, and was on the evidence of Doctors 'Kenny and Brewis committed to the Asylum. Moore comes from theTe Pnke distr'iot and has been wandering about Taupiri lately until arrested by the police;.

Our roads are very badly in need of repairs,' but it seems we are too far away for any. member of our. Road Board to take interest in us, beyond rating us 'to the highest pos-: sible figure, and spending our rates upon; some fancy road.— Correspondent.]

MULLET POINT. The annual picnic in connection with the Mullet Point Band of Hope was held on the 9th of January in the paddock of Mr. A. Algie. • As the day was fine, and invitations having been sent to the friends of the surrounding districts, they began to gather about teu o'clock a.m., and by noon'about 130 sat down to luncheon, provided by Mesdames Kasper, Goldsworthy, Dawson, Moore, and Algie. After luncheon games of every description were engaged in. and kept up with spirit until about five o'clock, when tea was again provided, all Beeming to thoroughly enjoy it. This being over, the Rev, J. Law, of Warkworth, on behalf of the visitors, proposed a hearty vote of thanks to all who had taken part in getting up the amusements and providing for their wants. Three cheers, were given to the Mullet Point Band of Hope 'and president. The next, and most exciting game of the day was a tug-of-war by the married and single ladies. Having chosen captains to see fair play, the tug commenced, and after a fierce struggle the married ladies succeeded in bringing the young and fair ones along. The next was a contest by the single and married men, and so evenly were the sides balanced that not a single inch was gained for about two minutes. Eventually it began to move towards the married men, and the married men won. The combined ages of four who spent the day at the picnic reached the total of 336 years ; one of them, who is eighty-two years, pulled on the tug-of-war, and celebrated his golden wedding a few months ago. After dark '.' Auld Lang Svne" was sung, and the company patted.— Correspondent.]

VICTORIA VALLEY. Now that all merrymaking is over, and all the people have returned to their normal condition without any serious mishap, we have returned to everyday life again. The weather is still very dry, with no sign of rain. There is still plenty of feed although it is very dry. All descriptions of stock are in prime condition. The harvest is in full play, and to all appearance is going to give fair returns. Oats show up well for forty bushels, which is not bad for this district. I may state that the thermometer has averaged a little over 78deg, in the shade for the past ten days, which is a high average, even for this place. There is quite a large extent of bush to burn in this settlementilhis season. Nearly every settler has got "patch to burn off, as also have the natives. There is quite a number of new buildings in course of erection, which promises well for the future prosperity of this valley. I may state that as all the young people grow up they get married, take up a section of land, and settle down as good and useful colonists. The Victoria Valley Cricket Club, which is a strong one this year, have been successful in every match so far this season. On the 11th instant they played a match, Victoria against Totara, in which the Victorians won.—{.Own Correspondent.]