WAITAHUNA.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 275, 8 May 1873, Page 5

WAITAHUNA.

(From om\oion Correspondent.)

A meeting, to consider the very unsatisfactory manner in which the depasturing affairs of the district have for several months past been managed, was held in the Athenceum on Wednesday, the 20th ult. The meeting was largely attended, many of the principal stock owners in the district being present. On the motion of Mr. M. Higgins, Mr. G. F. C. Browne, M.P.C., was called to the chair. The Chairman commenced the business by reading a copy of the requisition he had re.ceived desiring him to convene the meeting. He then proceeded to say that great dissatisfaction had existed for some time as to the way in which the depasturing interests of the Waitahuna district were managed, and that several months ago a petition was forwarded to the Government asking that a Board of Wardens might be appointed ; but, as they all knew, the Government of the day declined to comply with the request of the petitioners. During the late tour of his Honor the Superintendent and the Secretary for Works through the goldfields, on the occasion of their visiting Waitahuna, he introduced the subject, and endeavored to show the desirability of a Board of Wardens being appointed for the district, and reminded his Honor that a petition had some time ago been forwarded to him, and that the idea of a Board of Wardens being necessary to manage satisfactorily the depasturing affairs of the district was, he believed, general amongst those chiefly interested. He concluded by saying that, from the tenor of the remarks of the Superintendent, he was inclined to infer that if it was still the wish of the residents to have a Board of Wardens for the Waitahuna district, and a motion affirming its desirability was passed by the meeting and forwarded to the proper quarter, it would receive favorable consideration. After several gentlemen had given their reasons for signing the requisition read by the Chairman, it was resolved : " That, in the opinion of this meeting, it is desirable that a Board of Wardens be appointed for the Waitahuna district." Mr. M. Higgins supported the motion, and deprecated the present system of granting licenses He believed in the local management of purely local affairs. Messrs. Cowan, Cook, and others also spoke in favor of the motion. Considerable discossion enstted on the subject of defining the boundary line between the Tuapeka and Waitahuna districts ; but nothing definite was arrived at by the meeting, although it was generally understood that any committee that might be appointed by the meeting would give the matter their consideration. On the motion of Mr. Higgina, a Committee, consisting of Messrs. Ross, Dewes, Fleet, Clarke, Cook, and Higgins. was appointed to carry out the object of the meeting. Mr. .1. Dawea was appointed Chairman, and Mr. Clarke Secretary. The Secretary was directed to forward to his Honor the Superintendent and the Goldfields Secretary a copy of the motion passed at the public meeting. It was resolved to draw up a petition and canvass the district for signatures, and forward it to head quarters without delay.

The Rev. J. H. Cameron, of Lawreucp, delivered his promised lecture — " Poetry and Great Poets" — in the Athenaeum here on Monday, sth inst. There were abon f sixty persons present. • Mr. J. Form, Chairmanof the School Committee, presided. At the conclusion of the lecture, a vote of thanks was, on the motion of Mr. Dunn, accorded to the lecturer, who briefly acknowledged it. A vote of thanks to the Chairman brought the proceedings to a close.