POMAHAKA DOWNS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2524, 30 July 1902, Page 45

POMAHAKA DOWNS.

COUNTRY.

{Continued from page 32.)

July 26. — We are now nearing the end of what is supposed to be the last month of •winter, but "at time of writing the weather looks very bad. Although the estate itself is free from snow, yet the surrounding hills are •white. We hays had a very good open winter so far, tut we may get a reminder of the good old days yet before the year is out. A. and P. Show.— To once more refer to the great winter show of Dunedin, I should hire to mention a little mistake which took place in the classification of some oats from this estate. Mr Harriott, one of our settlers, sent a bag of Rosebery oats for competition in the oat class. The oats were remarkably plump and of good colour, and it would appear that the classer of the bags in the show mistook them for wheat, as Mr Herriott found his bag of oats classed along with the wheat. Of course no ono is infallible^ and mistakes occur in the best-regulated f ami lie", so Mr Herriott will just have to grin and bear it. Settlement. — A good ueai ot settlement has l>sen going on in the neighbourhood of the Pomahaka estate lately. It may be remembered that when Messrs Brown "and Rattray sold some of the Wairuna. Downs estate about a year ago, Mr George Divers secured a block across the road from the Poiaahaka estate. This block he has now dispos;*! of, partly to bia son, Mr Charles Divers, and partly to Mr Sydney German. A block oi tussock adjoining Mr C Divers's ha 3 been secured by Messrs M'lndoe Bros., and still the poor Poruahaka «st*te remains with over 3000 acres unlet. Will no one come and give U3 a hand? or must we go out to the highways and byways and compel settlers to come

The School. — If no taocher is coming to our school, it would bo advisable for the board to shift it down to where it would be convenient for the settlers on the land I have just above referred to. There are a good many children in that settlement, and it i» too far for them to walk to the Wairuna School.

Rabbits. — Poisoning has note commenced here. A trapper said to me the other day, "Rabbits are getting awfully scarce now. With 60 traps I used to easily make 40 rabbits a day, but now I can scarcely make 20." I notice Mr Rowe is taking very effectual means for ridding his place of this pest. He and •mother man are digging out all the ur.derrunners and rabbit warrens, thus leaving no cover for the rodent. This plan 13 an excellent one, but it requires time and labour. Names. — I hear that jt is proposed to alter the name of Pomahaka Siding, on the Tapanui line, to Waikoikoi, the reason being that it is often confounded with Pomahaku Downs That I know well, for both letters and goods for me have been sent on to the siding. Another wry stupid case of naming places occurs with our Post Office. The Post Office on the Pomahaka. TJowns estate js called Popotunoa P. 0.. and yet tho Popotunoa district adjoins Clinton. A farmer in the Popotunoa district told me once that several letters for him had been sent out to the Popctuno'a P.O. — i.e., the Pomahaka Downs.