PIO PIO DAIRY MATTERS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 250, 13 April 1910, Page 2

PIO PIO DAIRY MATTERS.

To the Editor. Sir, —In your issue; of the 2nd insfc. appears a report from your own correspondent describing what he terms "a slight sensation occurring at Pio Pio between the Natives and Messrs Andrews and Johnston, contractors for the excavation of the dairy factory site." Now, sir, we all recognise that for the advancement of this district it is wise to keep in touch with your valuable paper and "your own" can be of immense benefit to this locality if he is discreet and be gifted with a little commonsense so as to enable him to be sure of his facts before he rushes to his writing pad. If ho had asked the contractors or myself what did occur before he described it so minutely in the columns of your paper we could have told him that there were neither scythe nor sickle on the ground, and that also there were no men belonging to the contractors there but the contractors themselves But I suppose, like all would-be scribes, bo wanted to give it the finishing touches. Unlike most of them, he used, in doing so, a very dangerous weapon. Even if he confined himself to facts he ought to have known that bis letter at this stage of the proceedings was altogether indiscreet, and. entirely so when be ventures to censure the directors for not informing the Natives re the purchase of the land, because the tone o l ' his remarks might lead the outside public to think we acquired it by some underhand dealing. It was not necessary to do so, as we did not deal individually with them but I can assure him we did inform them. Anyhow he knows perfectly well that the Natives for the last nine months were well aware of what was taking place. lam anxious to know, sir, if this is "your own" correspondent who reported to your paper a few weeks ago of a Farmers' Union meeting, and of how they were going to discuss at their next the advisability of running a cream cart for the Pio Pio factory between Mahoenui and Pio Pio. Weli, it is a bit refreshing, considering that in neither of those places have we got a supplier. Mahoenui is rather far to supply and as Pio Pio has only one European settler there, and at present he cannot supply our factory, it is amusing, or I might say amazing the stride your correspondent took from Pio Pio to Mahoenui and skipped over Paemako settlers, who are the only mppliers on the main road, and who contribute the great bulk of the suppliers at present. I might state that Pio Pio is only a concentre for the closely settled districts of Paemako, Mungaotaki, Mairoa and Mangakowhia. But I was nearly forgetting to thank the Farmers' Union and your correspondent for the interest they are taking in our business, and I am sure that each of the directors appreciate their kind intention. At some future date, perhaps, we might consider it advisable, to get them to run the concerns for us, but at present the directors are quite capable of managing their own affairs. —1 am, etc., P. O'DWYEIi, Paemako, April Bth, 1910.