DISTRICT PARS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 117, 21 December 1908, Page 2

DISTRICT PARS.

It is announced that the well known Te Kuiti firm of Mordaunt and Bailey have sold their business and plant to Messrs Jensen Bros., at a price satisfactory to both parries. The killing of pheasants in the Rotorua district by poison which has been laid for rabbits recently, engaged the attention of the council of the Auckland Acelimatisaion Society, and the secretary (Mr T. F. Cheesnian) wrote a letter of complaint, which was forwarded to the Agricultural Department.. In reply, the Acting Minister for Agriculture (Sir Joseph Ward) has written to Mr Cheesernan. stating that, while not wishing to discredit the information received by the society regarding the matter, yet the Department had beer, unable to obtain any confirmation for it from the men engaged in rabbiting operations and from others who have been questioned. With regard to the suggestion of the engineer in charge at Rotorua as to an alternative method of destroying rabbits, the Prime; Minister states that the Department knows no other means than poisoning for satisfactorily dealing with the pest in the circumstances existing in the district in question. A letter has been received from M. Skewthorp, of Matiere, contradicting Mr Ernest O'Neil's claim to lie champion buckjump rider of Australia. Probably nobody accepts any such claim seriously, and .the public is inclined to regard a travelling show advertisement with, a tolerant eye. According to a Christchurch resident who has just completed a trip through j the Auckland province, Te Kuiti is the j key to the position as far as agricul- j tural and pastoral prospects of the j district are concerned. Ihe visitor j spoke with enthusiasm of the prosper- j ity and prospects of the whole of the ■ North Island from Wellington to | Auckland. !

Fridays, the 25th December, and Ist January (Christmas Day and New Year's Day), will be observed as close holidays at the Tc Ivuiti post office. On Saturday, the 26h instant (Boxing Day, the office will be open in all branches (except money order and sayings bank from 9 lum. to a.m. Mails usually despached on Friday will close on Thursday night's the - Ith and ulst instant, at 7.:J0 p.m.

The scow Kia Ora, owned by Messrs Macklow Bros., of Auckland, was wrecked on Kawau Island on Tuesday night Inst. Captain Picrc.v, his son, and Thomas Young the cook, wore drowned. A fcninMii named Gossett succeeded in swimming ashore. The captain w:is wi'll known m Auckland. and had been employed by Macklow Rrof., for < lie past IS years. Tin' accommodation tor travellers at Ohakune. the :dop over station on the Southern end of the Mam 'I runk line for the through service between Auckland and Well ington. is loially inadequate. and complaints are both loud and deep from the iravellinfg pub]ic. Taumarunui. the northern stop over station is much better supplied with boarding houses, and hitherto all demands on iis resources have been met satisfactorily.

A 111 ivement is on loot, at Te Kuiti to establish a Chamber of Commerce at that, cent re. and directly after the holidays a public meet,inn' is to be convened to discuss the proposal.

Building operations at, Te Kuiti arc proceeding; apace, and after the holidays several new contract are to be undertaken. The hoarding house for Mrs Mackenzie in Rora Street is well on, and should be a welcome addition in the matter of accommodation.

The Hamilton Novelty Depot have a large assortment of fancy goods, toys, etc., and with the object of supplying the varied tastes of customers, an entirely new stock of goods was recently opened up and displayed. The Depot ranks second to none in the district.

In connection with the breaking into the house of Mr Summerfield at Mairoa recently, nothing further has been discovered as to the perpetrator of the deed. It was stated in a previous issue that furniture had been broken by the trespasser. This was not so, the only damage being the destruction of the whole of Mrs Summerfields' clothing. A feeling of general uneasiness prevails among the settlers.

The inter-State cricket match between South Australia and New South Wales was commenced on Friday last in fine weather and on a good wicket. New South Wales, who batted first, gave the South Australians a day's leather-hunting, losing one wicket for 410 runß- Hopkins, not out, 218; Bardsley, 56; Noble, not out, 1*24.