Here and There.

King Country Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 78, 17 April 1908, Page 3

Here and There.

TO THE EDITOR. SIR,—I have wandered away from my Native hearth ! Since leaving the Rohi Potae I have been to Paeroa, Komata, Hikutia, Te Aroha, etc., and what struck me as remarkable, in comparison to the King Country, was the miles and miles of metalled roads. Then I came to Coromandel and found more metalled roads, miles of metal, and men heaping up more metal in stacks on the sides of the roads for repairing. Stacks of it, where you would hardly see shovel fulls in the King Country, and all this out of Government grants, I understand. Coromandel is a curious place. We landed from the steamer at 2.30 a.m. pn to the wharf, and it was raining as if there was never going to be another drought •no lights and pitch dark, I don't like wharves in the dark, so I politelv allowed another fellow to go first. We got into a coach and drove to "the township. As this was my first visit, I had a look round during the morning. The first interesting fact is the number of empty houses, two out of every three seem to be unoccupied. The next question is the number of hotels—seven. There is a scene that a King Countryite can hardlv realize. Seven pubs! But what "a strain it must be on the residents to make all these pubs pay ? Another matter of surprise is the " number of old men. Every sort of old man, in every style and fashion from shaved upper lips to goatees. They were sitting on the railings of the bridge, a few waiting round each hotel, and some at every street corner, last man who came here from the King Country, just a few days before, had passed as a millionaire, and collected a mob of these old chaps and filled them up with beer. I fancy I appeared at a disadvantage in the plfl men's eyes after tliat: as I did not send anvone round wiih a bell. lam at present stationed in a vei\ pietty bay; fish, pipis and mussels galore, but no oysters ; the rocks are skimmed for miles along the coast in spite of all the Government supervision. I have a neighbour, _he is excitable, but anxious to be interesting. He rushed in yesterda\ and said just witnessed a wonderful sight: Saw a iOt of sharks driving a shoal of mullet along the coast —thousands and thousands of mullet —they were shoving each other up out of the water there were so manv of them. One very big shark was in the lead, and a lot of other sharks were driving the mullet along after him." I asked if he noticed whether the sharks had anj r , dog-fish doing the heeling and rounddid not appear to see noint. —Tam, etc., P MANIAPOTO. Coromandel," 13 4 °B.