GENERAL NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18197, 18 March 1921, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS

On Saturday last the annual picnic of the .: Sandymount School was held, when, in good-: . weather, a record number of parents end,, friends attended, and took an enthusiastic _ interest in the childrens’ sports, which wart./- - of a varied and amusing character.- Extra I ,'- prizes were donated by Messrs M3huv' r Robertson, and J. Lomond. Mr T. Mortis,- ■ in thanking those present for their interest and support, referred to the bereavement : sustained* by the chairman (Mr Garr). At the conclusion of the day Mr M. Robert- f son thanked the committee and the teacher* j for their successful efforts in affording ; enjoyable day. , 1 ,J>

“WINGATUI.” ’■ * TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I understand the name “Wingatui” , originated in the circumstance that _ a cer- - tain pioneer, -well known at that tune on .the Taieri, shot at a tui somewhere about tlie spot where the Wingatui Station now stands, but only winged it. Thus the name 1 Wing-a-tui.—I am, eto., March 16, Robert M. Wilkie.

Sir,—ln answer to the letter of “Inquirer” concerning the origin of the name, “ Wingatui,” if I remember rightly, between the'years 63-70, aMr Stevenson, who 1 had a farm and orchard at the Taieri, worried with tho tuis coming down on his trees and destroying the fruit. One V day, when he was sitting _ on his garden”/- 1 seat, be fired at one and wmgod it. After-’ '■ wards that locality went By the name ol Wingatui, Mr Stevenson having winged the tui. He was a member for that district in - . the General Road Board. When the iate, North Taieri Road District was constituted in the year 1871 Wingatui was the name / given to one of the subdivisions in tho di*-, trict, the railway station also'being named' • Wingatui.—l am. eto. . ‘'ii 1 ; Charles Fynmoee. • J Sir, —I have heard from good authority—' indeed, from those to whom the late Mr _W.' * Stevenson, who had a farm in that vicinity, told it—that the name “Wingatm” ; ori^s-w,J nated from his going out to shoot somß , game for a meal in tho early days of Otago, ~. This he failed to do, and on his..arrival ,r; home his wife asked him what he .Had - shot, and he replied: “Oh, nothing; ! only winged a tuT.”—l am, etc., " ’ - Dunedin, March 16. . Interested. ’ -■* ; Sib,—Wingatui received its name from •- stray shot which winged a tui (wing-a-tui). It is really a very misleading word; but so it was intended to be by the humourist - sportsman who coined ifc . The name is not t - a Maori combination of Wi-nga-tui, as that ; combination would be nonsense. Tho Maori letter “nga” and the Maori word “tui” * , would be out of place, and would be an ' absurdity. The query has 'been answered more than once in your paper.—l am, etc., * ' Istabius ,/t, Sib, —As I notice in this moming’s-'Daily - Times an inquiry regarding the origin of the name Wingatui, X may state that the name originated with my late father, Mr. William, Stevenson, who at one time .owned; ■ the property. He arrived here in the;, Philip Laing in 1848. Having gone out to, 0 , have a shot in his spare time with a friend,/, he fired at a tui, wounded the bird-;qn,-the wing, and carried the "winged” bird homo-is to show his wife. His wife turned round to him and said; “ Well,. Wifr-t • liam, the first place you get you- will, call it ;*,, " Wing-a-tui.—l am, etc., ~ f' . C. Stevenson. ' • North-East Valley, March 16. 1 Sir, —“Wingatui” is not a Maori word. ; neither is it a corruption of “Uingatui. Wingatui Farm was once owned by a-Mr Stevenson, who waa summoned for' shooting at a “ tui,*’ which he winged. In consequence of this he declared that any place he owned would be called “Wingatui” (Wing-a-tui) by him. The railway station ~ took its name from the farm. I give this. ‘ information on good authority, having.- • heard it from a relative of Mr Stevenson.— I am, etc.-, W. B. Wedge. Palmerston, March 16. - ■ • [The above is . a selection from a number’ of letters we have received. We do -not, think it necessary to publish any additional'. correspondence on this subject.—Ed. t-s q.d.t.i RELIGION AND CIVIL LIFE. ’ ’.IK TO THE EDITOB. ‘ ‘ r Sir, —Everyone is led to understand this is a free-thinking country, yet a man under the cloak of religion is setting himself out- ■ to save lazy-minded people the trouble -of. * . reasoning things out for themselves.. -Ho. ■ seems to me under, the impression that iir so doing he is preaching Christian doctrine f- : upon which “ the. Empire, is built;” ilf ha realises that dander is one of the chief faults to be avoided in all such doctrine, why devote all his time to slandering Roman Catholics. If Roman Catholicism has always been such a drawback to all proceedings in civil life, why were no measures ’■ taken to keep the Catholics out in the recent war? I myself have not always been . * a Roman Catholic (much to my regret), and before I entered the Church I was led to believe that Catholics were terrible orea-’ tures—only fit to be regarded with awe.Now, I challenge anyone to go into tho ■ Catholic Church and see for himself that ■ - the priests’s mind is centred on bis faith' in God. • Should a man’s religious life interfere with his daily work? Yes, to a certain extent, because he should bh inspired by a ■ higher power. On the other hand, a man's religion in no way makes him unfit to hold any office in public life. So why talk of keeping them out. Where would the Empire have been in the recent war without wireless and X-rays? Would it annoy Mr Elliot to realise that Roman Catholics ■ ere responsible for these inventions? ' ■ : - There are some educated non-Catholics ■ who like to see people paid back in their own coin, and rather uphold the idea that . a returned soldier is just as able to figh? for his sister’s honour as for his King mud country.—l am, etc., Convert. 1