NEWS FROM COUNTRY DISTRICTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11162, 7 September 1899, Page 7

NEWS FROM COUNTRY DISTRICTS.

[FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.] JIUXTLY. phvrf is a revival in cricketing at Huntiy. Church were accepted from Mr. bulb. Taupiri, the price being £JSU. GLEN MURRAY. The out-stations here are sliowiig good grii; bush-falling .is progressug,.ami off by BrewHian -. L ung's eideavours -Abridge across the Opuatia is greatb needid. WAIIII. Mr. Victor has received great the able manner Tt I V well :Utended. The tt's'"eu»- » fortunate have such a good school in the neighbourhood. HAMILTON. » m«&<tfSSgS ™ dience in order of I'inero 3 corned}. Compaq The niovthe Hamilton lomed} Compai}. M* it quUe up°thle a Vu"ndarU of iFi.?i ti,i> verv best of the professional comSSSst«." Sen 'bv"" Mr. Manning it » manner that i l lra,w^^«t»eaUi^ fetaasg proved herself an apt pn.il. ; The part of faction of Uie audience, although at lines srr o^rnßs§sk £,fas CT'ffiThat sn? to «n----»J3 «rt&? Iv Dev. as Geoffrey l\-edderl,nn, l |S iviri effectivclv. Miss (lillespie. as Ruth licit. evidenced that she M ew® made his first appearance on the sUgt. n virt was a small one, '<ut of sutM'.ri uu niirtnnce to indicate that he will Jerome a valuable addition to the Comedy Company. TV ore were frequent bursts if applause t o®' «ocietv ri nnder tiie leadership of Mr. S '"" played some excellent selections between lb oris ami previous to the nsirg of tie cur • This is only a -ecent talent, and bids fair to excel any that have " ( Durinp°the performance intimation waS given to the audience that at its termination ft was proposed to make a presentation to Mr 0 Speight, who was to be married the next dav. He was taking the part of " Boulser." The curtain rose on a | of which " Bouleer" was the central flgur , with his lather pot and shaving.brushi in h hinds The Mayor of Hamilton (Mr. W. Lev) til en came forward, and stated that til pleasing duty had been deputed to him to the footballers, cricketers, and general pub to nresent the suite of furniture on the stag to Mr. C. Speight, who V as known throug out the colony as being in the ! front ranK ad footballers, and was known to alll ™° ft the advantage of his acquaintance as -loll" good fellow. On behalf of the donor® he wished "Charlie" Speight a long and liappv married life. The audience then stood up and cheered, and subsequently -For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," to the w companiment of the orchestra. Mr. ®Lech. was too ranch affected to make a long H« e He only said, "1 thank you all lor yonr kindness. I can say no more. OHATJPO. There was only a moderate muster omt for Mr. W. J. Hunter's cattle sale on mints dav-about 250 head, dairy cows being in tn majority, of which over 80 head were Petition many of a good class, for which 9S P followwas0llowwas keen, and prices were good. "» ( , ing are the quotations:-Dairy cot . class), £5 to £7 2s 6d: fair to avia 5 • £4 to £5; old cows, from £2 103 4 M t0 £5 good springing heifers, from & " 3 ss; ordinary, from £2 12s to £3 10». yearlings. £1 is; 18 months to J & from £2 5s to £2 13s; good 2}yr steers, w »•_ mixed calves (Well wintered), £1 J' ™-J from ing steers. £1 14s; empty store « • 1(J £2 to £2 15s; small, fat steers, from M to £6 12s 6d; fat cows, from « »s " * wool About 400 sheep were yarded. ewes, in lamb. Us 4d; halfbred e«es, m lamb., 6s 9d.

I On Thursday two of Mr. W, Taylor's heavy I draught stallions were on view. These horses , were imported from the South. Lord Elderslie is just three years old, and has not yet ; done growing. He is a grand-looking horse. ] Better Times is a regular plum, compact and Well built. Both horses were in the pink of condition. I Mr George Ennciman, who is the accredited agent of the Freezing Company, noiv attends all the sales in the district. for the purpose of forwarding the interests of the company. The sales afford him the opportunity of meeting the farmers, and arranging to purchase stock from them privately suitable for exportation. TE AWAMUTU. i On Friday evening last a number of the ifriends of Mr. Watson tendered him a smoke concert, in order to afford them a fitting opportunity to bid him farewell previous to his departure from the district. Mr. J. 13. Teasdale occupied the chair, and made a suitable speech, expressive of the regret his friends felt at his departure. Mr. Watson, in responding, said that during the whole of liis travels he had not met warmer friends than those he had made during his residence in Te Awamutn. He was. however, not going far away, and it would always be a pleasure to him to do anything in his power for the promotion of the interests of his friends in Te Awamutu. He had come to the colony for the benefit of his health, and he was glad to say had derived great benefit. A written address was presented to Mr. Watson, which expressed tlio high appreciation in which he is held by the Te Awamutn people, 50 of whom had appended their signatures. PAPAROA. Tile Public Library trustees are expending about £10, including the last special grant, in tho purchase of new books. Twenty-eight volumes have been added to the shelves, and an order for about 40 more has been placed with Messrs. Wildman and Lyell. The now books will form a choice selection. The subscription feo is made as low as practicable. Anyone wishing to join for three months may do so on payment of Is. The monthly meeting of the Band of Hope was held this week, and was as good as usual. The meetings maintain an interest among a wide circle. Immediately afterwards, the committee of the Mutual Improvement Society mot to prepare the syllabus of the coining year. There will be some interesting features. At the first meeting on September 13. the press will he criticised; and subsequently, there will bo a model parliamentary election. The coining general election is not attracting much interest with us, beyond an inquiry from some quarters as to whether anyone is coming out to contest the Marsden seat. There is, however, a good deal of interest felt in the local option poll. The county flection matters are not so quiet. The intending candidates for the suffrages of the l-atepaye-s are feeling the pulse of the district, anxiously seeking to win a few votes which shall place them in tho premier position on the Bth November. I should like to add my meed of praise of the AUCKLAND WEEKLY NEWS. It ranked high before as a journal possessing great literary merit, and furnishing information on almost every conceivable topic, for all classes of readers; but for the last 18 months it has been doubly welcome in tho home, on account of the beautifully illustrated supplement that has been forthcoming week by week. Tho pictures have been clear, both 111 outline and detail, and the portraits faithful to life. Much sympathy is felt for Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Tibbits. who lost- their little son the other day after a short illness. He was thought to be recovering on Tuesday, but was in an early grave on Thursday.— Correspondent.] AURORA. The late easterly heavy blow is said by the old settlers to be tho worst ever felt in the district. On Tuesday evening two of Marsden's prohibition champions, the Rev. Rothwell and Mr. Mackesy, with Mr. liashim, a gentleman from Wellington, got a meeting together at lour hours' notice, and entertained everybody with a diagram showing the names of different articles used every day by people in this colony; and the amount of drink which is only consumed by adults, costs double tho money that is spent on bread, which is consumed by man. woman, and child. Mr. Mackesy manipulated that wonderful machine called a phonograph, and made it laugh, talk, sing, and give out a brass band entertainment. If country people knew what a grand fund of amusement that little machine is capable of producing in the hands of Mr. Mackesy, neither wet weather, dark nights, broken culverts, nor bad roads, would keep them at home when a phonograph was in their district. Three small contracts for road work have just been let by the Road Board. It is a great pity the country ratepayers do not start a ratepayers' union, or something that would mean strength enough to put metal on our roads instead of throwing their money away year after year on muck. The Government has tried its best to stop gambling, but have to confess the contract is too big. The Government has tried its best to put people on tile land, but that contract appears to tie too big also. As our Ministers find both jobs very awkward to manage, thev should try the other way about, and take a leaf out of the Frenchman's book, and put up all our out-of-wav sections of land now lying idle by Government. lottery. This style of gambling would at least bring more revenue to county councils and road boards, and would ultimately mean better roads. The man that will split a halfpenny into two. and bid tile farthing for the farmer's wife's dozen of eggs, as was done at one of Auckland's auction rooms last week, ought to be made to fight his way out of a hie barn, "charged" with farmers' wives and daughters. The late bad weather played sad havoc among the very young lambs, and many farmers will have cause to' remember the year 1899. The County Council is offering a reward of £5 for the conviction of anv person digging up tile public road®.—[Own Correspondent.! MULLET POINT. The winter, I may now venture to say, is past, as I notice the blossoms on the almond, peach, and plums making their appearance. With the exception of a few nights of severe frost, and tile heavy south-east gale, tile winter has been favourable. The gale did considerable damage to till plants above ground. Fortunately the early potatoes were mostly underground. Orange and lemon trees where exposed suffered most. Tile past week has been fine, with mild showers which have been the means of refreshing all .voting plants, and they are now looking well. The coming general election, although a long time off yet. is already causing a stir, and it seems the country settlers are determined to return members who will act with justice to represent them. Mr. Monk, member for Waiteiuata. may be classed as such, lie has worked faithfully for his constituency, and I venture to predict that he will be returned. A Hand of Hope meeting was hold in the schoolhouse, Mullet Point, on the 23rd August. The young people have agreed to meet monthly. Mr. A. Algio was voted to the chair. The meeting was opened by singing the Ist hymn, Stuikey and Moody. The chairman said he was pleased to meet with them again, and hoped their meetings would be continued, as it required their combined efforts to keep the drink traffic ill check. Songs wcro given by Messrs. R. Qoldsworthy, S. Algie, W. Moore, and 'Mrs. S. Algie; readings by Mrs. Moore and the chairman; recitations by Miss A. Algie and Miss L. Dawson.—[Own Correspondent.] , WAIPU. The recent wet and stormy weather has kept the farmers behind with their crops, and has had anything but an improving effect on our icads. Improvements which should have been made early in the Bunnner were left till winter was on lis, and in consequence the improved (?, parts are the worst on the roads when the rain comes. The gale has improve.! our riter entrance partly blocking up tho old channel, and doing much to make tho new one deeper and straighter. The Caledonian Society has started a class for the teaching of our national dances, and a number of voting people of both sexes are coming forward to learn. It is hoped that, under the able tuition of Mr. 1). A. McKay, the new beginners will make sufficient progress to compete at the society's sports. Mr. John McGregor is back again among us. and though his sight has suffered severely by his accident, it is pleasing to Know that he will not be totally blind as was at first feared.—[A Correspondent.]

WAIUKU. On the evening of August 25. the SteelePayne Bellringers gave an entertainment in the Temperance and Public Hall. Unfortunately, rain set in early in the afternoon, and continued during tile evening, preventing a large number from being present. Nevertheless the building was nearly filled. Mr. Steele, in bis opening remarks, said that under the circumstances he was surprised to see so many present, and that those who had honoured him in facing the weather should not be disappointed, and they would give the full programme right up to the mark. The audience was delighted, and several encores were responded to. I believe it is the intention of the company to pay the district another <-isit shortly, when it is to be hoped the weather will bo more favourable. On Saturday, August 26, Mr. Whitehouse. of kinematograph fame, paid the district a second visit, and was greeted with a full house. The views shown on the canvas were much appreciated, as were also the songs, etc.. given through tho phonograph.—[Own Correspondent.! «