TAKAKA.

Colonist, Volume LV, Issue 13724, 15 May 1913, Page 7

TAKAKA.

(From Our Own Correspondents.)

„ Winter has decoiidocl on us very suddenly and severely.- For several daj's now snow has fallen on all the surrounding hills. Sunday/last was a particularly cold, bleak day, no signs of the sun, a cold wind blowing, and' snow down almost to the flats throughout tho entire valley. The dairy farmers aro complaining very much of the sudden drop in their milk returns so early. Most of them say this season will bo a lot below the average per cow.

Takaka township looks very gloomy after dark now. The Council cannot secure the services of a lamplighter, so our famous street-lamps can only be seen in the day time. A resolution was passed at the last Council meet- ] ing that failing to secure the services j of a larnpjighter at a satisfactory wage tho lamps are to be dismantled and stored -away .sine thuvj it. oackward stop surely. A meeting of the' shareholders of the Golden Bay Dairy Company was held last week to discuss cheese making, but after . woigliing the matter thoroughly a resolution was passed to let it alone, and stick to butter making- . ■ , . ■ . .

The contractors are now making fair progress with the Long PJain .cart bridge, but it be months yet before it will be anything like completed.

Our energetic member on the Nelson Hospital Board, Mr. G. H. Allan, is still pegging away at tlio cottage hospital for Takaka. Tl'.o scheme is :nnv to bo reported on, so something is accomplished at any rate. Every week sees the aeed of some such institution. Only last' weok an unfortunate man, Mr. A. Doolan, blew part of his hand off with a dynamite cap ; this about midday. Only one doctor in the place, and no conveniences of any kind, and no where for the sufferer to go for proper attention. He had his hand bound tip, and had to be driven to Motueka, and thence by motor to Nelson, reaching there some time in the night. The long, tiring journey in a jolting trap and the exposure to the intensely cold night air would be enough for a good many men, without the shock and pain attendant on a badly mangled limb, which needed instant attention. We have heard since that the patient is doing as well as may bo expected; wo think he is doing better than might have been expected. This week Takaka is losing one of its oldest and most respected residents in the person of Mr. Isaac Walker, of Punimahoi, who has sold his farm, and is going to reside in Nelson. The last few years Mr. Walker lias lived very quietly on his own place, and has to a certain extent dropped from sight to the casual eye, but a great many in Nelson must remember the old . familiar figure on the Richmond show ground, the game old gentleman, well in the seventies, who used to put all tho young ones down in the hunter's jump competition- on his clever chestnut mare, "Chess." Tho old horse and the old gentleman are. both hale and hearty yet, though both full of years. I believe the mare is now for sale., and it will be tho owner's chief concern that she falls into good hands, rntbur than the price she brings. Mr. Walker and his two daughters will lie greatly missed here by a largo circle, of friends. A social gathering of ladies, was held at Mrs. John HaldaneV residence last week to bid the Misses Walker good-bye, when

a "very pleasant afternoon was spent in conversation and harmony, and-the ladies wore made tho recipients of handsome peggy bags as a token of osteem from their Takaka friends.

Football, both Rugby and League, has begun in earnest here now, but so far the play has not been 'of a high ordor—much the . reverse. The dividing up into two sorts of football has done a lot of harm to tho'gamo. We now have two weak/dniona instead of one. wry strong one. If all the players here were still in the Rugby Union, Golden Bay could put in a very bold bid for tho Seddon Shield. Our Lcaguo team journeyed to Motueka and played the Nelson team thero 3 and scored an easy victory, old Con. Byrne, erstwhile All Black professional, and later a prominent player for riuddersfield, playing a great game i'o;- Takaka, and ably skippering the team, which won by 28 to 3. Two Rugby cup matches have been played for the /senior cup so far —Golden Bay v. Takaka, a draw, 3 to 3, and Collmgwood v. Ramblers, won by the former by 22 to 3. This latter game was played in tho rain, and a very cold rain at that, and the Ramblers had only nine men out, so readers can picture the game. The nine Ramblers who turned out (should easily qualify for medals.