Matiere.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 351, 8 April 1911, Page 3

Matiere.

j The drought of over five weeks i seems to have broken, and we are ! hoping that the steady light showers j at present falling will continue till j the ground has had a thorough soakj ing. There can be no doubt that the j rain has been badly needed, as the I milk supply has been down nearly to ' vanishing point, and sheep pastures I luiil become very bare. { notice Mr G. Phillips is erecting a iargr and up-to-date sheep-dip and pens, constructed sMialy in brick, and ' 1 believe Messrs Fullerton-Smith are putting in a large totara dip at an J early date. I In the recent ao-ident at the nine mile hill if cauiki appear that Mr "Jimmy" Dum, had a miraculous escapefromdeat.il, It appears that the "team had just breasted the topi of ! the rise on the nine-mile hill when ! the. chains attaching the leaders to ; the under-carriage broke, with the '• result thai the horses swerved to the ' outside of the road, and the whole '. concern went head on down the hill- ■ side on even wheels lie fore capsi'/.ing. Curiously enough, the horses and wag- ! gon were not injured, and even the I pole was intact. I believe Mr Dunn ; is making a satisfactory recovery ! from his rather serious injuries, and

■we shall be glad to see "Jimmy" ] "Richard's self again." Mr E. Mossman, of Niho Niho, has now taken up his residence on his property, which was formerly known as "Dob. Barret's." and has built a ■ house just recently. I learn that Miss Mossman has taken up the position of teacher at Niho Niho school, vice Mr Thompson, ■ who has resigned. ; A vendor of fruit from Taumaranui has recently visited us on two occasions iately with a brake load, and : has apparently done good business, though the heavy state of the road ' has drawn sultry remarks from him, [ tending to show that this road has a tendency to make some drivers "lose j their hair." I A good number of changes in the j ownership of farms have been the order lately. Among others, Mr E. J. Smith, '>f Whsnuakura has sold his farm to Mr Geibel, who hails from the West Coast of the South Island. Mr Joseph Symonds, on the same road, has sold to Mr Tait, who also comes from the South. Mr Tom. C. Brien, junior, has sold his property on the main road to Messrs Williams and I Bennett, and I believe a section of i ninety acres close to the bridge at | Waipu has changed hands at nine pounds per acre. It woula seem there is a mild boom in Ohura land at present, as I have heard of some genuine and tempting offers being made for other farms in the district, and further down country I learn that and sub-leases are of daily occurence. The mill at Mahirakau is running full time, and has a stack of orders ahead for some time to come. Mr Parson's mill at Mangakakikata is cutting out the orders on hand preparatory to shifting to a site near Matiere township, where I believe a first-class piece of bush has been secured. Messrs Moore and Willis are at present busy erecting the baker's shop adjoining Kelly Bros.' butchery, and, as the oven has been completed some time, no doubt we shall be able to obtain "hot cross buns" shortly. Mr Gray, one of our local smiths, has enlisted the services of a wheelwright to cope with increasing wprk, and has turned out some very creditable vehicles. Mr Luckman, our other smith and wheelwright, has also been chock-full of orders, and [ notice that many of our settlers are investing in vehicles capable of running goods from the railway. Some few acres of turnips have been put in, but the recent dry weather, while conducive to the pest of "fly," has not been equally favourable to the succulent turnip. Broccoli and others of that tribe have been rendered skeletons by the depredations of the "hessian." I learn that the blocks of native land which have been cut up in the neighbourhood of the four mile peg will be put up to competition shortly on the system of a twenty-five years' lease, renewable for another twentyfive years at the end of th=»t term. The land will be subject to the_ new restrictions, which will place it on all fours with Crown land as to improvements and residence. No doubt this block will carry with others in the vicinity a large population in the near future, and I learn that Mr Kensington and his party are camped at the eight mile at work on the Government block, recently acquired there, completing the surveys. A growing feeling is that, with all our interests in the direction of the rail the time is not far distant when a separate road board or attachment of this end of the district to a northern county will be desirable, as it appears there is little of community o? interest as the county is at present constituted. Our rates are, roughly, treble those paid in the Waitomo County, and the commensurate benefit, nil. A statement reported as being marie in a recent case at the Taumarunui S.M. Court calls for contradiction. The solicitor for'defendant in the case McLeod v. the Ohura County Council, in asking for an adjournment, stated communication with Ohura existed only once a week, whereas it is well known there is a daily mail. The Matiere Court disposed of some half dozen cases before Messrs Hunt and Knight, J.P.'s. In the cases Kelly v. Geisler, Kailil v. Horan, Cashel v. Samuels, judgment went for plaintiffs. In the case of Herbert v. Box, an application for a rehearing was refused by the bench. Mr Metcalfe appeared for Mrs C. Box. Two settlers who had adopted John-son-Jeffries style of squarring a dispute, were gently told by the bench that such proceedings were irregular, and were allowed to contribute 10s and costs to His Majesty's treasury, with the admonition "not to do it again." _______________