COUNTRY NEWS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 336, 11 February 1911, Page 5

COUNTRY NEWS.

Own Correspondents. Tnngitu. A nicotine of settlers was held at Guilford's on Thursday night week to arrange tlii' d:'.tr on which to hold the first JTl' Lt iei-'.s picnic. Mr J. Smart was voied t..> the. chair turd Mr E. Guilford appointed lion. sec. It was decided to hold :\ pic lie at the junction ~f .\t:u|Ui and Otamafi roads on Eridav. 17th February, also a social in (he eveninu. Mr E. A. Meredith Crown Land,; Kinder kindly allowed ill,. .-;,.■, tL rs the use of a shed that the Lands Department are having erected fur storm:.; grass seed, etc. 'i'ln' Land Foard finished their tour of inspection in this block last week, and were perfectly satisfied with the progress made hy settlers in the block. About 2t)o(> acres of bush was celled last year, and all but one or two have burned. The next item to be considered is stock. Road works are progressing slowly and I am afraid we will not be able to use the dray road to the township before the c-jining winter. It is to be hoped that the Public Works Department will push on with the main bridle tracks to the settlers at the far end of the block, so as to enable them to get a supply of stores in before the winter sets in. The time is drawing very close now when settlers will have to take up their residence on their respective holdings, so in a few months' time we will be a fairly thickly populated district.

Marakopa. Bush fires are the order of the day, and a thick pall of smoke is hanging over the whole district. About a thousand acres has been burnt in the Marakopa Valley this year, the burns being very satisfactory on the whole. A good extent of country is being cleaned up with second fires, causing a considerable loss in grass, which will be compensated by the good work done in clearing the paddocks. Mr Thos. Johnston, who has the job of erecting the butter factory, expects to start work in the course of a week, the timber being now on the ground. The remainder of the building material is coming from Auckland, the s.s. Pitoitoi, which is now in Onehunga being overhauled, having been engaged to bring the material direct to Marakopa. Griffin Jones, a son of Mr W. Jones, of Marakopa, had the misfortune to break his leg la3t week by being thrown from his horse. As the accident occurred on the back portion of the farm and in the evening, it was a somewhat difficult job to carry the lad across bush country to the road. Dr Jenkins, of Kawhia, who is unfortunately laid up at present with a broken collar bone, was unable to make the journey and the sufferer had to be carried about eight miles along the road to where Mr J. Shaw's brakecould be requisitioned to convey him to Kinohaku en route for Auckland, where he is now doing as well as can be expected. It is a disgrace to the authorities that the road from Kinuhaku to Marakopa is not yet opened for vehicular traffic, a state of affairs that we hope soon to see remedied. Kacaea.

I think Kaeaea has been wrongly named. It should have been called the Batchelors' Rest, for surely there are not many settlements blessed with so many of them. We ought to put a tax on them, which should go to make a wedding present to those who have enough pluck to plunge into matrimony. They would then be doing some good. Kaeaea is not looking its best. It has a sort of prohibited look about it. Not that there is any scarcity of feed or water (it looks remarkably well for this time of the year) but a good day's rain would do lots of good. It has been a great year for burning, but most settlers would have done better to wait a little longer, though in most places you will see white ashes, which, I think is as good as anyone could wish for. I understand that everything is now in order for people of the district to sign the guarantee for the Aria Cooperative Factory, and if the settlers will pull together they will see the thing a great success. If it is not it will not be the fault of the provisional directors, who are straining every nerve to make it go ahead. I wish them luck. In looking over the Estimates the settlers were hugging themselves to see tha amount of money to be spent on roads and bridges. We have not seen any of it yet. _ The apologies we now have for bridges are not as safe as the primitive bridges of five or six years ago.

Ohura. On Wednesday the Bth inst. a most enjoyable evening was spent at Mr T. Bell's home at Nino Niho, the occasion being the farewell to Mr -I. C. Volkea, an old and respected settler of the district. There were about -H> couples present, the evening being spent in daneinv and musical items. Songs were contributed by- -Misses Samuels, K. Hell and Mrs Cameron, and Messrs (.'. Cameron, Samuels, Vokies. Lutu'ell, Hammond, Metcalfe, A. .Cell and Leahy; pianofortes duets by Mr and Mrs Cameron and Miss I'. Bell ! and Mrs Cameron; a violin solo by Mr ! r Horn! and a. sailor's hornpipe by Mr I Cameron. During the course of the i ,-.>.,.nii,.- Mr Cameron, in a short ! presented Mr Volkes, on | behalf' of the settlers of the district, ' with a traveller';; companion and a I .-lilver-nioiinted pipe as a mark of the ; -aspect and esteem in which the reci- : !,Ve!it, v/as held. Dancing was kept i !,L (.ill the earlv hours of the morning : a-'id concluded with a hearty vote of ! thanks, being accorded by those i assembled tolho host and hostess, Mr i and Mrs Hell, for their hospitality, | and by the singing of Auk! Lang