DISTRICT PARS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 128, 4 February 1909, Page 2

DISTRICT PARS.

*• Ukider the au = j.■ ic of the Waikato Presbytery, services are to begin in the Taupiri Hal!, Te Kuiti, next Sunday. Services are also being conducted a; Oloroharga and Hcnikiwi. See The- "Chronicle" representative will ';:'■ in Margaroa r.:: Tuesday, February I'i.h. ,T( cl-:<y Club's Pace Meeting, and Aria Snorts, Thursday," February 11th. I:, the Pui■:;■•■ Hall. Te Kuiti. on Tuesday evening. February nth. Buckingham's Biograph and Concert Company will appear in the popular programme of songs, recitations, moving pictures and musical and dramatic sketches. This programme has been attracting large houses on the Rotorua line. Mr Black, as an elocutionist and society entertainer, is well and favourably known, and a fuli houseshould greet him on Tuesday next. Keepers of •'tied" hotels in Christchurch arc complaining bitterly against the prices that are being demanded by brewers for the renewal of leases, "in vie v.- of the advance of the prohibition movement." Speaking on this subject, a hotel keeper said to a pressman: '"There seems to be only one remedy- the licensed victuallers should band; together, and decline to pay the extravagent sums that are demanded from them as contributions to the lighting fund. They should let the brewers and merchants provide the funds for protecting their own trade."' The experience of the Taumarunui Town Council in endeavouring to work under the Native Townships Act has not been one of unalloyed bliss, and it is stated that the Chairman of the Town Council intends to get the whole of the township's municipal (?) history written, printed in pamphlet form, and circulated throughout the Dominion, to show the unsatisfactory state of affairs that has existed and still exists in Taumarunui. Official correspondence. ; and replies, delays, excuses and contradictions connected therewith, will be given in order, and the publication should afford interesting reading, especially to residents of Native. Townships. Whether it was "on informa/ion received" or m consequence of a pronounced development of the olfactory nerve, the Oamaru police attended in force at the railway station one morning last week to await the arrival of the first express from the North, says Friday's North Otago Times. Comfortably stowed under the seat of a second:lass carriage were found two Gladstone bags and a carefully packed and sewn ;ack, which apparently had no owners (certaionly they were disclaimed by ail in the cari. These and their contents Interested the police considerably, and :he whole were removed to the police station, where a display was arranged >{ the goods. Over 50 bottles of liquor, learly all whisky, thus fell into the lands of Sergeant Griffith and the con- i • tables, and it is intended to institute proceedings against two or three persons in connection with the circumstances. The liquor came from < rimaru.

Mr Hone Heke, M.P., lies seriously ill at a private hospital at Wellington. I He is stated to be suffering from lung ; trouble. An experiment is being tried by the Government of importing stone-crush-ers, with a view to hiring them out to ioeai bodies. It is anticipated that-^" ordinary metal or shingle is scarce. to be found. Other road machinerv of an up-to-date type, such as motor lorries, capable of conveying metal and at the same time consolidating the roads, will be experimented with, and ifj says the Hon. .Mr Hogg, Minister in charge of the Roads Department, thev are found serviceable, it is probable that a number of them will be imported. of the Public Works Department into the control of the Railway Department on the 31th inst. The final inspection of that portion of the line not yet handed over will be made this week by Mr Lowe, railway district engineer, ■who is in charge of the works between Marton and Frankton. and Mr C. J. McKenzie. engineer for the Public Works Department, who has been in charge of the final construction works. The finances of the Waitomo County Council are in a thriving state at present, and difficulty will probably be experienced in getting the money expended before winter sets in. The bank balance runs to over a thousand pounds, and tnere is an amount of unscheduled thirds, totalling over two thousandc pounds. At the spot where the last spike was driven on the Main Trunk line, there has just been erected an obelisk bearing the following inscription: ''This obelisk is erected on the spot where the Rt. Hen. Sir J. G. Ward, P. 0., K.C.M.G . Premier of the Dominion, drove the last spike of the North Island Main Trunk Railway on the 6th November. 190. Q. Hon. Hail - Jones. Minister for Public Works and Railways." The pillar is 6ft high and measures 4ft at base; the lettering is black on a white marble slab. The situation of the monument is about 20ft off the line on the "western side, between Makatote and Manganui-o-te-au, 213* miles from Auckland and a similar distance from Wellington. The Taihape people, with a view to making their town the popular stopping place between Wellington and loan of £20.000 for the purposes of station. The population of iaihape As indicating the progress of the cut-districts, the establishing of new turc. The latest addition to our countrv business is that of Mr W. T. Asolin who is starting as a ciacksmith and wheelwright at Piopio at an early date. Particulars of the same will be found At the last meeting of the Waitomo County Council. Cr Hunt referred to the necessity of having finger postserected at suitable places in the district, ana suggested the Council should give the matter attention. Cr Hyde said that finger rests been provided in the Ohura district by " the Roads Department, and the same might, be done throughout the district. Tenders for clearing noxious weeds on the Te Kuiti Esplanade were received by the Chairman of the Waitomo County Council as follows: —H. Mackinder. £SS 10s: Findlay and party, £52 10s; Harrington, £54; D. McDiarmid, £25: C. J. Sanvig (accepted!. £lO Ss: T. Brennan, £9 15s.