Ongarue.
Ongarue has been dull of late but evidently the dullness is only looked upon by many as being of very transient duration, as may be gleaned from the building preparations now in vogue. A Taumarunui firm has started to erect a livery and bait stables for Mr Hattaway, of Te Kuiti, and Mr Otto has been supplied with timber, presumably with a view to enlarging "Seddon House." Even the police station here is to be enlarged, and generally improved, Mr Fletcher, of Taumarunui, being entrusted with the work. To the ordinary mind, Ongarue police station (with the exception of cramped office accommodation) was well suited to the requirements of her peaceful citizens, who, only at very rare, intervals, had occasion to partake of police hospitality; it also puzzles not a few as to why this ei.largement or renovation of Ongarue's gaol should be proceeded with, when her present gaol is a palace, compared with the dog-like kennels serving as police cells for such an important centre as Te Kuiti. Apronos the dullness referred to above, the slushy cut-up condition of Ohura roads has much, if not everything to do with prevailing quietness in Ongarue, but wait, every dog has his day ! Send along a strong, sturdy, battling Opposition candidate, and I predict a rich harvest for him from amongst the present deluded constituents of Mr Jennings, not that those beguiled mud-wallopers have anything against Mr Jennings personally, but they are resolved within themselves (apart from Mr Jennings' sterling worth) that it is absolutely useless to support a man who belongs to a party whose one aim is to please themselves, irrespective of cost. What does it matter if every back-block settler has to swim to his holding in mud or pay a hundred per cent, more for his food than he should do, or would have to do, if glibe promises could be relied upon? What does it matter if the children of those patient pioneers are withheld ''from attending school during winter months? What does it matter what these honest toilers' growlings or grumblings are? I say (the man with the adamantine base), this, or that shall be, and my name's McKenzie. So be it, but by next election may your name be McSiush. Gardening is quite a craze in Ongarue just now; the school children under the guidance of Mr Langdon, each try their 'prentice han' in the direction of beautifying the earth, and quite a number of household gardens already bear blossoms which turn -gratefully to the sun, as if thanking that luminary for their deliverance from pumice sway. Yes, the pumice is being utilised or vanquished by degrees, just as every other adamantine stumbling block will be vanquished, which stands in the way and mars the progress of New Zealand's greatest asset—the settler. A man f rom Tangitu block named Cleaver met with a painful accident whilst bush-felling; a doctor from Taumarunui was summoned, who, notwithstanding the difficulties which had to be encountered, managed to negotiate six miles of the road from Waimiha, when he met the party carrying the injured man to Waimiha. Dr Howard (?) examined Cleaver in a -■ camp which stood by the wayside, and J after having stitched a nasty gaping wound, ordered his removal to the hospital. Adamantine based men, look at this and weep: Picture thirty-two sons of the soil forming relief and carrying this "precious burden (almost dead Jf from loss of blood and exhaustion) W w ,- tb all the care it was possible to eive under the circumstances, where mud encircled them knee-deep almost all the way, till they (many and all Js tliey were), weary and fatigued
and wet to the skin, deposited their sick charge at Waimiha siding. Aye, and as they wiped the sweat from wistful faces, bronzed, I heard more than one of that gallant party declare that thirty-two and all as they numbered, there were none too many, considering the dreadful state state of the roads. Mr McNamara's boarding - house presents quite an imposing appearance since the painters' brush has done so much, and, in addition the genial host himself (having had an Arbour Day all on his own), has contributed a great deal to that appearance, by planting several young totara and cabbage trees, as well as shrubs of the coprosma order, around his up-to-date establishment.
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King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 293, 10 September 1910, Page 5
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724Ongarue. King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 293, 10 September 1910, Page 5
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