WELLINGTON NOTES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1971, 5 January 1907, Page 3

WELLINGTON NOTES.

WELLINGTON, Wednesday l ls The weather for both the Christ- p mas and New Year holidays has been a rdorious. While many ,ci€y people g have gone into the country, the city j £ has been thronged with country visit- [. ors and ~ all the public entertain- ,i ( meats Have been well patronised i. h The traffic on the IJutt railway line t shows a remarkable falling off as coin- 0 nared with previous years, this is v not to he wondered at, however, f seeing the very , poor service offered 1 bv the Government on that line. t People are now becoming tired ot , tr v l inv in trucks, and it is nor 1 surprising that they prefer to go in , over-increasing numbers by tramway , and steamer to the various seaside , twenty-one farm laborers who came out in the Gothic were assisted i,, the matter of passage money- Nd- I Marsh of the Immigration Bepaitment ’states that there is always a steady demand for good station hands —single men and married couples who know something of fanning conditions and are prepared to country and stay there. Mr.. Marsh idds that there is a great disinclina pon on the part ot many peo • P. , forsake town life for a berth in 4m country, and the man with a soi.u 1 body, a pair of willing hands, and some knowledge of agriculture has little to fear and perhaps much to be thankful for. Of the twenty-one farm laborers who arrirod by the Gothic, three are for Auckland, three for Wellington, fire for New Plymouth, six for Lyttelton, two for Greymouth, one for Timaru, and one for 1 ort Chalmers. , . Jsy tho Maheno from Sydney tips morning arrived Mr. John N. 1 ait, who is on liis way to Christchurch ill connection with the visit of the Besses o’ the Barn Band, who are tc tour New Zealand and mi der the direction of Messrs. Tait.— H.B. Herald.

i AN ERSTWHILE CHAMPION. , AFTER MANY YEARS, f > Among the athletes that figured j conspicuously at the Caledonian - sports, Mastorton (states the ’I iinos) i was T. Tuohy ,of buslifolling renown. > Nearly twenty years ago Tuoln-, who i I was ill chill-go of a party vigorously •> 1 clearing the Forty Milo Busli, made a sudden descent on the Caledonian i games at Mastorton, and profoundly - astonished the competitors in several i events wliere strength and agility are i required, lie was a stranger, utterly i unknown, savo to a trce-lelling squad with whom be worked; but tlio wayill which ho paid liis entry money and then disposed of champion after champion, putting ill astounding records at throwing tlie hammer, toss- . iug tlio cnlx.tr, and similar feats, made a startling, if not somewhat irritating, impression on tlie favorites and their backers. For several years after this Tuohy regularly visited the Mastorton Oval every New Year’s Day, and replenished liis purse with plenty of prize money. His phenomenal achievements were ill the wrestling matches. He possessed all the build and sinewy proportions of a Sandow, and the manner in which be collared and laid on the broad of their backs, one after another, the renowned wrestlers of this part of New Zealand was simply a revelation. I-or a long time Tuohy was missed, and the Mastorton Caledonians wore led to believe they would see him no more. A paragraph appeared in tlie local papers, a good many years ago, announcing that Tuohy had succumbed to typhoid fever, and the obituary notice was enriched in terms of a most complimentary character to tlie deceased. Somewhere ill the South Island Tuohy had the gratification of reading the lines in question, and he now j declares that the merriment they-oc- , casioned nearly proved the death of : him. Resolving to be a resurrection-I I ist, he figured yesterday- at the Mas- | torton Caledonian Society’s sports, j and took part in some of the athletic contests, reviving the memories of | by-gone years. But in the wrestling j ; competition lie bad to succumb before I a stalwart young Maori, who could j only have been born about tlio timo j ( when Tuohy was in his zenith. The | science he displayed, however, was j well worth witnessing, for ho is a , proficient ill the Cumberland style, and tlio contest was a prolonged one. In the crowd present were many who remembered Tuohy’s feats of former , years, and the revivals of old ac- ' qnaintncesliip was most pleasing and , enthusiastic. Tuohy looks fresh and . well, but Time’s bleaching powder has ‘ bad its full elfect oil bis erstwhile ' jet black hair and beard. But his , band-grip is as vice-like, and bis greeting as hearty and full of good nature as over. May lie live to make still further conquests in the athletic ring is the spontaneous wish and sincere hope of bis many- friends and admirers.