COUNTRY NEWS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 356, 29 April 1911, Page 5

COUNTRY NEWS.

Own Correspondents. I Oiorohanga. ' ! . i The Banlc of Now Zealand, Te Awa- , mutu, open here for a few hours every j Thursday. Frequently settlers come ' in, perhaps twelve or fourteen miles, ! to interview the Bank's representative, and find, to their chagrin that the hanker is conspicuous by his absence. The reason for this unsatisfactory state of affairs is that he has been refused permission to travel on the goods train from Te Awamutu, the guard refusing to recognise the special permit of the Railway Department to travel on that particular train. It is high time something was done in the matter, as readers must all agree with us that this is a great hindrance to the commercial progress of the district. We consider that every local body, not only in Otorohanga but throughout the district, should act together and do their utmost either to have a passenger car attached to the morning goods train or get this "permit" question put on a more satisfactory footing.

Ohura.

Almost any road one desires to take through this district, one is bound to meet with plenty of game, pigeons being in evidence everywhere—attracted, no doubt, by the large quantity of food available. The kaikatea (white pine) berries are very plentiful, and these trees look very gorgeous loaded with their red fruit. Settlers say the kaikatea appears to" be bearing more profusely this year as compared with past. Tavva berries were very plentiful earlier in the season, but they are at present going off. There is also a profusion of hinau berries, but they are not quite ripe as yet; and the same may be said of the miro berry. The kaikatea only bears fruit every three years; the miro tree does not bear fruit every year but when it does it is quite a sight to see the scarlet fruit showing profusely out of the beautiful dark-green foliage. Tuis, parakeets, kakas and other native birds are experiencing a good time, their winter feed being assured for this year at any rate. The wild pigs also ought to be in good trim because they pick up the berries that fall to the ground. When the hinau trees shed their fruit towards the end of the season, the ground underneath the trees becomes thickly covered with these berries, often attracting the wild pigeons to the ground to feed. The beautiful bell bird is also in evidence from his dulcet note, which adds to the romantic air in the solitude of the forest. The magnificence of the growth of dense foliage, of shrubs, undergrowth, and huge trees in and around Mangaroa and the Ohura district surely is a certain indication that the soil is of a rich quality, or as Maori would appropriately term whenua momona (fat i land). Bird life on the rivers and streams i is not so plentiful in comparison with tbe bush; evidently the cause may be i attributed to want of feed. At pre 3-. ent the rivers are very low, of course, < owing to the unusual long spell of rainless weather experienced recently. The river bed and banks are consti- i tuted of blue papa, the banks shelving down in many parts in acute angles. 1 The beds of the main rivers are, according to surveyors, only a few hun- 1 dred feet above the sea level, and this \ is the apparent cause of the sluggish- < ness of the flow of water, and acceler- 1 ation is only seen in places where 1 quantities of dead timber have accumu- 1 lated to hold the water back. To the bather the water looks anything but i inviting, being of a dark hue, some- I what between a chocolate and coal i colour, and one of the causes of this s may be attributed to the stream traversing over the coal measures ] which abound in the district. From i a cursory dip in the water here and j there, the writer observed only a few bullyheads (native trout) ; eels are ; said to be available, but not in any 1 very large quantity. The grey duck ' and bush teal seem to be plentiful i down the lower reaches of the Ohura < river between Tokirima and the < Wanganui river, »nd a fair number i may be found on the rivers between i Tokirima and Mangaroa. These birds j are very tame, seldom taking to flight j until approached to within close gun- i shot distance. The younger birds, i not having gone through the vicissi- ' tudes of life and the constant attempts to shoot him by those seeking recre- i ation with the gun during the season, I are innocent of the strenuous exist- i ence before them if they wish to save I themselves from destruction. At the present time they will not take the trouble to get out of your way, and ; : can be almost knocked over with a : ] stick. The coming shooting season, j : however, will alter their attitude in j : this respect. j '•