OUR CHATHAM ISLANDS LETTER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8214, 18 August 1906, Page 6

OUR CHATHAM ISLANDS LETTER.

(From Oar Own Correspondent)

August 7. The irregularity of the mail makes [ one somewhat irregular with his cor--9 respondence, and as for news, we i really did not hear of Mr Seddon's - death t'll yesterday, neatly two i months after the occurrence. The great man was in the Chatham f Islands only . recently, and bo i favourably impressed the islanders I that the news of the sudden end . caused consternation and sorrow. We are having a pretty rough . winter this year, worse than usual, ; says the oldest inhabitant. It is j certainly cold—much colder than tbe North Island of New Zealand. , The southern winds are very biting, ! and nip young shoots and flowers in . muoh the same way as frost does, t And the rain makes seme parts of i the island "just mud." Round 3 Waitangi, when the steamer calls i and the traffic is a little bit above - the ordinary, pedestrians have to avoid the trpckg altogether or wade , through red uud over their booti tops, The formation of tbe soil is ) said to be red volcanic or some ) such thing, and it "sticketh closer than a brother," when it is in a 3 semi-liquid state. By the papers just i arrived we see that up in New Zea--1 lana (they say up ia New Zealand here) tbe weather has been had, so we cannot complain. All the same t we are locking forward to fine . weather and longer days. The shooting season closed a few days ago, and the ducks must be t very pleased. Many large bags were ) recorded, two men In one case . getting over a hundred and Bfty in I a day. Tbe ducks are fatter and t better flavoured than those in New Zealand; perhaps on account of the ; plentiful supply of feed in the < lakes. Tbe swans are laying now, and ; parties go out collecting eggs, which is of course an easy matter . if you have boat. A party of Maoris will set out for the locality of the nests, and return with four or five hundred eggs. These they eat, i or,sell if they can. One would think that the very large Dumber of eggs that are taken would diminish the number of swans till eventually they would die out, but tbey seem to increase in spite of everything. Their numbers are enormous; so great that at times a mob of at least five thou sand can be seen at onoe. Were all tbe eggs allowed to hatch, they would soon increase till the whole place would be . swans and nothing but swans. For feed is ro be found in abundance all the round. Besides man, shags and seagulls get their share of eggs and young birds. Tne male birds are very la~ge, and will fight bravely. We have now heen two months without a Resident Magistrate or a doctor. Dr Pigeon, who left iu June, combined both offices, and we are looking out for someone ia his place. We can do without the majesty of the law, but it ia a bit insecure without the services of a medical man in case of acoident. , The main school is just having a week's winter holiday. It is generally a fortnight, but in the beginning of the year there was an interval of three months between tbe departure of the old teacher and the arrival of tbe new teacher, so vacations have to be curtailed a bit. The regular holidays are, however, not the same as In New Zealand. Tbe Government inspector comes about tbe middle of Jt>nuary every year, so the school goes on all through Christmas and New Year (except, of oourse, an odd day or two) till his arrival. After that the children have tbe nsual*summer holidays, till about the beginning of March. The annual scholarship examination takes place in January next, so presumably another; pupil from the island will be coming over to one of the colleges in New Zealand. It is a goal that all tbe children, white and brown alike, strive to reach, f The steamer will take a very large quantity of potatoes on this trip. The islanders are taking advantage of the ravages of tbe blight in New Zealand, and the consequent high prices. Tbe bligbt has not come hero, and every effort is being made to keep it out if possible. Shearing will be soon coming; in fact, preparations are already being made. I do not know tbe number of sheep on the island, but 1 believe 1,100 bales of wooJgoaway every year, and also large numbers of sheep and cattle. The Ripple is well constructed for tbe carriage of live stook, and can take quite a small farm. There is little news to tell you now. It is winter, and the roads are bad. You cannot go far without getting over your boots; so people stay at home, and nothing happens worth recording. As summer comes tbe place dries up a bit, the islanders get about, there are races, sports, shooting matches, and other amusements to gather tbe scattered families together. Then there will be something for ma to write about.