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King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 426, 30 December 1911, Page 5

In consequence of the abnormally wet season the roads of the district are probably worse at present than in mid-winter. Farmers are suffering considerably through being unable to get their work done in connection with preparing a turnip crop for next winter.

The weather duirng the holidays has probably been the worst Christmas weather on record, and most of the picnics and holiday outings in the district were abandoned. An exceptionally heavy rainfall was experienced on Christmas Day.

A Maori woman named Maata Te Ac, who died at Poverty Bay on Tuesday afternoon, was a cousin of Wi Pere, and a chieftainess of the Meaitangaa Mahaki tribe. She was one of the prisoners exiled to the Chathams Islands after the rebellion in 1565 and 1866. Then she married Te Kooti. She was a woman of considerable intellectual ability, and was looked upon in the early days as one who had occult powers. When Te Kooti seized the schooner Rifleman and released his people from bondage in the Chathams the deceased was amongst them, and was, with Te Kooti, through all the fighting until the fight at Ngatapa, when she was taken prisoner by the Government forces, with another woman of note, a chieftainess of the Taupo tribe. They were treated as prisoners of war, and exiled to the West Coast, and afterwards to the Bay of Plenty. Subsequently, upon the occasion of hostilities in the seventies, the deceased returned to her own home in the Gisborne district. It is stated that during the fight at Makaretu, when Te Kooti was suffering from a wounded leg, Maata carried him on her back to the' retreat of Ngatapa. This place was subsequently besieged, and at midnight the native 1 ' escaped to the bush, where Maata was captured.

Whilst sitting on a rock, paddling her feet in the water at Island Bay, Weiilngton, on Wednesday, a little girl was attacked by an octopus. Attracted by her cries her father found three tentacles wound tightly round the girl's leg. She was being gradually drawn into the water, and the father's strength proved unavailing to extricate the child, but, with the assistance of three ladies, the octopus was beaten off, and the girl rescued.

In the inter-State cricket match between New South Wales and Victoria, which concluded on Wednesday, the former won by ten wickets. W. Bardsley the well-known Sydney batsnian, received an injury in the match and has notified the selectors that he will be unable to take part in the second test match.

An appeal has been lodged against the Coal Vend judgment on behalf of W. T. Appleton on the grounds that the judgment is erroneous, that evidence was wrongly admitted,_ that there is no evidence of any joint intent on the part of this defendant to do any of the alleged acts to the detriment of the public, that evidence fails to establish intent to restrain or control the trade to the detriment of the public, and that certain sections of "the Act have been impliedly repealed by the provisions of certain amending Acts.

Mr S. J. Fortescue, who was intimately associated with the progress of Te Kuiti for some years, has just returned from a trip to England and the Continent. Mr Fortescue, accompanied by Mrs Fortescue, left in the -early part of the year, and reached Home in time to witness the Coronation ceremony, After a stay with friends in England the travellers saw the Continent and returned to New Zealand via Suez. Mr Fortescue witnessed a couple of days' cricket in the first test match at Sydney and was Impressed with th* slowness of the play on both sides.

A young man named W. Andrews, employed on railway construction works at Te Koura junction on the Stratford-Tautnarunui railway, was drowned in the Ongarue river on Christmas Day. Andrews was crossine: the river in a Maori canoe with three ether psrsona, when the canoe capsized. Andrews' companions attempted to save him, but were unable to do so. Evidence given in the case at against the meat packers pool - hoW t 'hat in 1902 a plan was arraLed'w merge the Armour, Swift Ird \l°^' iS interests with a view to United States meat JnLtry- A capital of one hundred sterling was involved The - plan was abandoned as unworkable at that time. T>RINCESS PICTURES, Town Hall Jt next Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Pio Pio Dairy Co. has sold the January output of the factory for a very satisfactory figure, and the company will pay the suppliers for the ensuing month at the rate of lOd per pound for butter fat. The prospects of the company are exceedingly bright and it is probable that the rate being paid for January will be continued throughout the remainder of the season.

The attention of pastoralists is directed to an announcement in another column relative to the closing dates of catalogues for the Wellington wool sales.

Mr W. A. Veitch, M.P., interviewed w'th reference to the statements and proposals made by Mr J. Payne, member for Grey Lynn, said he could take no exception to what Mr Payne chose to say. or propose, providing the spoke for himself alone and not for the Labour members as a body. He could not agree with the ambitious scheme outlined by Mr Payne, for the reason that he did not regard it as being at all practicable or even reasonable, and he was satisfied that the opinions voiced by Mr Payne were not the opinions of the majority of Labour members. Personally he did not think the time had arrived for making any public statement as to the intentions of the Labour party. It was, he thought, first of all necessary for the Labour members to meet in conference and discuss the position from every point of view. He felt sure that this would be done, and he had every confidence that whatever course might be finally decided upon the Labour members would prove themselves able to work in a manner creditable to themselves and to the Parliament and people of New Zealand.

According to the Feilding correspondent of the Manawatu Daily Times, Mr Boneham, of the Waikato, is continually making inroads upon the sheep flocks of the Feilding district. On Saturday morning last he purchased 1600 sheep before breakfast. These, with other lots, will be railed to Frankton Junction this week. Speaking baout the King Country, Mr Boneham was very optimistic. He stated that 50,000 acres of bush had been felled, and with good autumnal burns should produce feed for IUOO sheep, or an equivalent in cattle. It is stated that'at the request of the Government Mr Ernest Short, one of the largest Romney Marsh sheepbreeders of the Dominion, is forwarding twenty fleeces for transhipment to America, where they will be placed in the Commercial Museum a Philadelphiat for research purposes. According to the communication received from Government, the result, if satisfactory, is calculated to encourage the importation of New Zealand wool into that great country. Accompanying the exhibit is a full description as to location where the sheep were raised, and genera] information as to range (that is, height above sea level) pasture (plain or mountain), etc. The movement is one of considerable importance to the wool-growing industry of the Dominion.