EAST COAST NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1405, 16 March 1905, Page 3

EA ST COAST NEWS.

HICKS BAY,.

.From Our Own Correspondent.) March 10.

A thunderstorm accompanied by heavy ram passed over Hieka Bay one night last woek. The lightning at times was very vivia, lighting up the surrounding hills as u it were The rain was very welcome as the ground was very dry after a hot summer.

Death has been again busy in this place, I and last Friday removed a very old Native who had been ailiDg for some months past. On this occasion there was no great show of grief on the part of the Natives I no tangi being held, and the burial waa carried out quietly. Some days ago os a local resident was rambling in-the, bush he came across on apple tree loaded with fruit. The place where it was found is aside from the usual track, and there are great surmises as to how it came there. The tree appears to be several years old, and the fruit oo it is perpectly fiee from blight and moth. .- -7 Although rather late in the season, cricket has caught on here. The school children have become the possessors of a I set of material, and from early morning till dork the pa rings with their shouts of glee over their new treasure. Their on-I thusiasm found vent last week in a match I between the girls and boys of the school, which.the former won. The boys knocked up 14 runs and the girls 25, some of the maidens showing good form with the bat. An unusual sight was witnessed here this week, when a flock of sheep passed on their way to some station on the Coast. As settlement is in its early stages here I there are not many sheep about, and the | arrival of a flock caused some stir amongst I the Natives. B I