NEWS FROM COUNTRY DISTRICTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11731, 13 August 1901, Page 3

NEWS FROM COUNTRY DISTRICTS.

[FROM OCR OWN*CORRESPONDENTS.]

AHOHA. THE ordinary monthly meeting of the Do» main Board was held on Wednesday evening last. There - were present r Messrs. W." H. Wright (chairman), Lay bourn, Sherlock, Bell. Donald, Hirst, and Pilling:. Dr. ;utu/<:>ess having recommended certain" alterations in Jfas.' 1 and 2 baths, it was decided to have the matter attended to. It was decided to have a new tennis court laid down, also to attend to the formation of '■ flowei beds. Mr. Ross, of Waihou, was thanked by tho Board for his information as to trees suitable for the - Domain. The secretary was .-nstructed to write to the railway authorities asking for an extension of the Thame.'! excursion ticket, making it available for return on Monday afternoon.x The following statement of accounts was presented for five weeks ending August. 7:— Baths. £41 2s sd: towels, £3 12." lOd; library. £1 8s : total, £46 3s 3d, betn& a decrease of £9 9s 7d on corresponding period last year. The following is the Board's financial position :—Cash ire hand. £58 17s Id; rash in bank. £112 17s: total, £171 14s Id. Accounts to he paid, £160 6s 9d, leaving 2, credit balance a* date of £11 7s 'Id.

WAIHI. A MEETING of the Waihi Hospital Committee was held in Lawless" clubroom on Friday night. August 9. there being present: Revs. T. Eyfcyn and Olphert, Messrs. T. Gilmour, Haszard, Sense, Elliott, Beady, Clark, Campbell, Livesey, Gooch, Locke. Robertson; Collins. McMillan. Seymour, Gilder, and King'; (secretary). In the unavoidable absence of. the Rev. Father Brodie, the cliai? was occupied by Mr. Thos. Gilmour. : Messrs. Meiklejohn and Stanley attended as delegates of the Karanarahake Oddfellows' Lodge, and they were subsequently elected members of the Sun.lay Demonstration Committee. Mr. : Locke announced that a* a result of his re--cont visit to Karangahakc he had obtained the ; co-operation of the Karangahake: Oddfellows in the Waihi Hospital movement. The treasurer announced the amount to the credit of the hospital fund to ha £283, which, with the Government subsidy, - would h_ £627. r Mr. King's motion, - " That oil subscribers of £1 and over would be entitled to free treatment in the hospital for twelve months after its erection," was adopted. I* was resolved that the local bands, church choirs, and Sunday-schools bs invited to I assist, in the Sunday demonstration on September. 1. A vote of thanks was accorded to Messrs. Me'lor and Willoughby. for free music and the loan of the Acndomj of Music respectively for hospital ball night. Mi.' Livesev's suggestion for the compilation of a special hospital newspaper, to be published and sold on behalf of the hospital fund:on,;; carnival day, was unanimously adopted.v;VAs sub-committee to report thereon was unpointed, comprising the Rev. 1. Bykyn, J. Livesev. and .T. M. Wrigley. "Messrs. Benge and King were appointed to arrange with Mr. N. Pearce for a combined choir from all. the Waihi churches for Hospital Sunday.

HELENSVILLE. .THE Court Star or Helen'sville of the A.O.F. I held their 18th anniversary ball in) the Fores-/ tors' Hall, Helensville, on Wednesday, evening ..." last. There was a very good attendance. Messrs. C. Newman and Lambert acted a« M.C.'s, and Mr. G. F. C. Hosking, the hon. secretary of the committee, assisted to make the company comfortable. Reed's band was in attendance, extras being played by Mr. ■'. ■'■:; F. Dye, Mr. Neumagen (from Auckland), and Miss Newman. • A very enjoyable evening was passed. : •. - OMAHA. THE Rev. G. Frost conducted an " In Memoriam" service at Pakiri on Sunday morning, touching the death, of the late Mr. Frank E. Gravatt. He also held a service in the Leigh ' v •Hall in the afternoon. At the close. Mrs. 0. Gravatt played the "Dead March" in," Saul" . , •very efficiently. There was a good congrega- ■■■■■>. tion on both occasions. " For the last month we have had very bois- ', terous weather. All work on the land 13 at a standstill. Our roads are almost impassable. For the last 30 years we have been taxed to the utmost, and have to put ,up with mud yet, and I suppose it will continual for another generation. ' On July 30 we bad a gale of wind and rain, causing a heavy sea, but about noon the ; wind went down, and it was fine the remainder of the clay. . \S WHANGAEEI HEADS. BAIN of late has been plentiful—in fact, too '..; much so for our personal comfort. One ray : . of hope we do possess, however. Mr. D. C. Wilson, our county engineer, who is a wea- >• ther prophet of 40 years* experience, and v whose weather " saws" are very dependable, v has thrown out a broad hint that this August >\ should prove a fine weather one. Wo all ear- V;' nestly hope so, if only for < the sake of the cattle, who have had a really " bad time of it." •■'..'. .'.'.■' '.. The Rev. E. O. Perry preached hero ;to a. good congregation on July 28. On a previous occasion the weather was so bad that he had to return to Auckland without holding any ? service. This time the weather was all that -1 could be desired. Letters have been' received from the Rev.-. ,'- W. Thompson at Suva, ;Fiji,' and it. would : seem likely, that that gentleman will take •".;.' up his permanent 1 residence; in the sunny- <■ lands of the South Seas. ;, " Our boys" at,sea still continue to do well at their various posts. Mr. " Jimmy" Stuart, ; son of Mr. Duncan' Suart, is now serving as : J second mate on a large steamer somewhere on the coast of South Africa. Masters Willie ', McLood (son of Captain Geo. McLeod),and Murdoch McGregor (son of Mr. Donald McGregor) are now together in the barque Hclene, on their way from the Kaipara to . Adelaide. Thence they will either - ship for . ' a voyage to England or return by the Helena to New Zealand. The former trip is the most likely one they will undertake. Master Donald Urquhart, son of Mr. John Urquhart, is en < V the barque Jessie Craig, and Willie, son' of , Mr. Duncan Urquhart, is with the Union S.S. ; ■'.'.-"i Company in the South. A great deal of minor sickness has been prevalent, especially amongst the female portion of our community. Mrs. McDonald, an' old resident, of over 90 years of age, mother of Mr. Norman McDonald and Mrs. A. Howie, of this place, has been ailing for some time past. Mrs. M. McKenzie has also been very ill, and later on Mrs. D. McGregor and Mrs. Rust were under ■: medical treatment at tha ■:,;■"•: hands of Dr. Hall, of Whangarei. Our Hall Committee have been busy this winter with entertainments.; and have just finished the first year of their stewardship, in which time they have succeeded in paying off five out of the seven £5 debentures which were then issued. • r •.r / School affairs progress steadily, and we : now have-40. scholars on the; roll, with the services iof - Miss Bella McGregor as pupil-.' ■.: teacher. Notwithstanding the bad weather, ■ ' the averages for -June and July were over 36. Our local teacher was nominated for the Paeroa, and Mercury Bay Schools, but owing to the illness of Mr 3. Bust he found it neces-'••"■■":; '"'■ sary to withdraw from the latter nomination. :: Speaking generally, the condition of ? the r roads this winter may be said •to be good. The new road to the whart has suffered most, '-.- owing to much traffic and the want of surface, metalling. .: ■> " . I am sorry to say that we shall soon lose our respected neighbours; • Mrs. Fowler and family, who intend to remove very shortly to Onehunga. They have been resident here now for six or seven years, and arc highly ; esteemed - in the community. For the ■ past three years Mrs. Fowler has acted as local postmistress . and telephonist, and the places of herself and family will be hard to fill. Both publicly and privately then loss will be heavily and severely felt. I regret to hear that Mr. Duncan McKenzie, our mail contractor, has been laid aside for : ' some weeks with an attack of rheumatic'-•-•>■'■ fever. • ' ■

Mr. H. Worthington, of Marsden Point, had a • very rough experience when crossing to here on July 30 with the Auckland mails. When about 150 yards - from the point his boat was struck by a whirlwind and overturned in the rough sea., Though struck by "■ the boat, he managed to strike out for the shore, much hampered by an oilskin coat, . but landed safely far below the wharf. For- V : tunately he had taken the precaution to tie ; the mails to the thwart of the boat before starting, and they were rescued with the boat by the crew of the s.s. Clansman, which was . anchored a short distance away. Letters and papers got a .good soaking, but that was better than losing them altogether. TOTARA NORTH. SOME excitement has" been aroused in this district lately by the case of Penny v. Hayes The : affair vras the .climax: of. a: scries of squabbles and disputes, such as often <xeur ' between country neighbours, especially when both own stock; but, nevertheless, it astonished ' everyone to hear that Mr.' 'iay<»3 had been arrested in Auckland for stealing one. of Mr. Penney's sheep.; It seems that the two men had a dispute 113 to the ownership of the. animal at the time of Mr. Hayes' de- .■":■ * parture for Auckland, but as he persisted in " taking it with the rest of his fleck Mr. Pen- V ney retaliated by sending a telegraphed war- U; rant for his arrest. Mr. 1 :' Hay e? was- ac-: :;. tually arrested in the evening, when: it : was too late to find bail, and locked up with ] common* criminals. As Mr. Hayes is one of■■■.-;'-. the largest landowners in the district, chairman of the School Committee, and in other ."■.■.-;■ ways a prominent. public man, it came as an .; unpleasant shock to most people to find that : such p state of affairs was possible. Early next mornincr Mr. Hayes was hailed out, and shortly afterwards returned to Whangaroa. When the case was tried in Court last week, the ■ magistrate decided that the sheep was Mr. Hayes' own property, so now we hear that he intends to sue for damages. The wharf on the other side of the harbour .'V is to be repaired and improved. If the Northern Steamship Company would return the compliment, and make a few much-needed alterations in their passenger boat, such as providing some comfortable sitting accommodation on deck, and improving the lighting and the ventilation below, we would all be profoundly grateful. ' '■-" •