WAITOMO.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 495, 28 August 1912, Page 5

WAITOMO.

Bush felling operations are now in full swing, and with the fine weather of the past few weeks good progress has been made. In the neighbourhood of the Caves about 3500 acres are coming down, and had it not been for the scarcity of bushmen no doubt a larger area would have been felled. Should a favourable burning off season be experienced the area to be sown will be a very large one as, owing to the wet weather we had last burning time, quite a number of settlers were unable to get their bush burnt, and it is still awaiting the torch. The continued showery weather all through has caused a lot of second growth to spring up in last year's falling, and it is to be hoped that we shall be favoured with a dry spell before, and plenty of wind during, burning time, so as to carry the fire through the green patches.

The roads are beginning to gel passable again at least as far as riders are concerned, but for vehicular traffic they are at their worst stage. Our local coach proprietor, Mr Kirk, has again begun to run a daily coach between the Caves and Hangatiki. Coaching on this road in the winter time isn't exactly a pleasure trip, either for driver or horses, and it reflects great credit on both his feeding and management that he keeps his teams in such splendid condition in spite of thn frightful road. Waitomo has, socially speaking, been somewhat quiet lately, but a very pleasant break occurred in the monotony on the evening of the 22nd inst., when an "At Home" was given by Mr and Mrs W. Lee at Piha. About 20 guests assembled from all over the district and a most enjoyable time was spent. Games, dancing, music and singing were all indulged in in turn, and carried on with spirit until 2 a.m., when the horses were saddled up and a start made for home. These social evenings, which are quite a feature of Waitomo, do much to foster the friendly spirit which prevails among the settlers here, and helps to keep us out of that narrow groove into which isolated settlers are so apt to fall.