HOP PICKING IN TARANAKI

Taranaki Herald, Volume XX, Issue 1180, 30 March 1872, Page 2

HOP PICKING IN TARANAKI

We have been kindly furuished by Mr. F. U. Gledhill with the following particulars of the commencement, of the hop-pick iug season in Taranaki : —

Mr. W. Martin having given me an invitation — amongst oilier portions of i lie public — to visit, his hop-grounds during the hop-picking season, I proceeded to his far.-n on Wednesday afternoon, and was somewhat surprised to find such a large number of ladies and a few gentlemen, from town, busy stripping the flowers of the fruitful hop plants with whioh thuy appeared to be thickly hung. From thu cheerful appearance of the persons who were at. work, there could be no doubt, but the employment, was tv them a novel one. Their gratuitous labour appeared to light up tho countenance of the ovner of the crops with a pleasing smile, especially whun hired hands could not ba provided. Mr. Martin iu-toi-med me that tho stcpmr ...-• ' ul "-east winds which oiuw a rew weeks since, destroyed nearly one-half of his crop. Ho is in hopes of having about double the quantity of hops he had laVe year, and is looking forward to adding an acre more to nia pla.ntu.iiun for the next season . It was a pleasure to cuter the packing room ; tho air being loaded with an aromatic scent. The first pocket which had been packed, s".ood in one corner of thd building, without a mark or letter on it, which caused tne to contrast, the position of tho grower with that of the growers in England during the reign of George the Third. Then the owners of hop 3 were obliged to keep at their oasts, &c, just weights and scales, permit the officer to use them, and assist, in weighing, if required, on paiu of a penalty of £50. A penalty of £l0(J was inflicted for false scales or weights. No officer inferior to a supervisor could weigh hops between five in the evening and four in the morning on forfeiture of £20. The owner or grower, before he began to put any hops into a bag or pocket,, must mark on the outside, in large legible characters, with durable ink or paint, his name, and place of abode, on paiu of forfeitiug £50 ; nor could hops be bagged into any Dag of greater weight than in the proportion of 10 lbs. for every 112 lbs. of the gross weight of bag and hops, on pain of torfeiiing £20. In the reign of Queen Ann, hop-grounds had to be entered, on pain of forty shillings per acre. —

Town Board. — A meeting of the members of the Town Board will be hold at the Secretary's OJRce, on Thursday evening next, when a Firerate Ordinance will be submitted to thorn for their approval. The following proposition will also bo moved by tho Chairman :: — cc That the owner of every cart or vehicle or saddle horse plying for hire within the Town of New Plymouth shall cause the same to be registered every year at the office of tho Board, and shall obtain a separate license for every such cart-, vehicle, or saddle horse, signed by the Chairman of tho Board, and countersigned by the Treasurer. The snrn of twenty shilling? shall bo paid for every such lrcensa, and die same shall be due on 'the Ist day of July next, and yearly, hereafter, on tho same day. The mnnd of the owner and number of license granted for an)' oart or vehicle shall be legibly painted on the same in letters at least one inoh long and of a proportionate breadth, upon the right cr off side.

Major Noake and the Imperial Pension.— A Patea settler asks the Wanganui Chronicle if it i* true that Major Noake continued to draw a pension of 3s. 61. a day from the British Government, by representing to the Horee Guards* that he only received £50 of salary at Patea when he was receiving nearer to £700 ? Thai journal sayB — " We cannot answer the quest ion, but persons high in authority state that it was."

Tub Ima'stkated New Zealand Herald.—Wuhave received a copy of this journal for tho current inonih. It contains a number of excellent tvoodontß, and is altogether quite up to the mark. There is a very good illustration of the starf in the Intercolonial Boat Race, which was held at Hobart Town on the 3(hh Jannary, arid a somewhat sensational pi'cturn representing the drok of the Fijian schooner • Peri' which was picked up by H.M.S. ' Basilisk,' offß>ckinghutn Buy, in H water-logged condition, with fourteen Solomon Isiand natives on board. There are several Australian views, and Oiago scenery is represented by two illustrations — one being Mount Hamilton and the Takiti ma Ranges, whose snowclad peaks can bo seen from Invercargill on clear days, and tbo other a viow of the Nuggets Lighthouse.