FUEL SUPPLIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17527, 2 May 1925, Page 17

FUEL SUPPLIES.

WHEN WINTER COMES. (By HENARE.i We had a fire in the living-room grate the other evening, b-'-cause weather conditions were a little wmtty And. sitting in front c»f it. T had a pleasant hour thmkui ■ I had made, or enjoyed, or cursed. There is nothing more friendly than a good fire. Not these poor little things that one sees in grates, but real 1 res. logs on an open fire. T may say that I didn't want to buy this house because it has not a good open fireplace, but my wife did, and 1 am a man 01 Nothing beats a wo>xl i flames are good to look .»r and thev tnake a most soothing noise unlike any noise that 1 know ami tor wood fires, nothing can equal tn.mc 1 have a friend m the north who lavs m a Stock Of tnaue heat It grnenau, ~ wonderful More than once*, t hay. a-.xo.lcd tv' put. out the fire - . w asked him 10 rum the ' >.'* I hex V.;t ied by e \ pet tenv . Next to uuiro l < did tires lot Ncai:. and has p.nd nothing for furl 1 he house .-land- n« ur a river. Milts up then is a Urge kauri logging vamp, ami that mn g.-ncrouslv piles up on the tori t ank near the house ample supplies of firewood. Kauri makes u good firry but it is verv dir.tv. Another luekv man lives m the King Countrv. lie owns the ugliest, noisiest cur that l e*c-i saw it is chained at the back of the section, which adjoins

the railway, and barks at every traiir that passes. The engines, when shunting, just reach the section, and never an engine gets within range but the driver or the fireman grabs a lump of coal and has a shot at that dog. They mostly miss, but the coal remains, and the owner gathers it up. I should like to know the amount of coal that hast been received over that man's back fence. In the far north I have seen splendid fires made of dirty, cheap kauri, gum. It was impossible to clean the stud, and probably would not have paid in any case; but, put on, dirt and. all. it made a cheerful if somewhat j smoky tire. j Through the King Country there are , many farmers and others who never j buv fuel. There are great deposits of ; coal in that part of the Dominion, andL I many settlers own their own coal mine. I Some if it is not bad coal at all. Whenever I see a wood fire X think jof a nan near Te Kuiti. lie spoke* . to a Maori friend and asked permission- ; to split a log or two on his farm near the township. Permission was willinglv given, for the Maori realised that? the pakchas operations would all help • to clear the land. So, Saturday after I Saturday, the white man sawed, or wedged, or chopped, and at length had a tine stack of wood by the road* fence. Then, one Saturday afternoon, j he drove up with his cart to bring some of it in. Wonder bf wonders It J There wasn’t a piece of wood left. Hut? j there was a tine big heap at the rear of Wiremti's dwelling. Going into tha town, he found the Maori and wanted: to know the meaning of it a!!. “Pyl gorrjr,*’ &aid Wiremu, "it te bad lrn-lu Te log voa split, thev on te land o£ te missus. My land further back. missus claim te wood. It te bad all right.” And it was That energetkr citizen never got a stick of the wood, he had chopped.