MAIHIIHI.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 532, 11 January 1913, Page 5

MAIHIIHI.

Own Correspondent

On December 30th the settlers of. Rangiatea' and MaihiihiV held their annual picnic. The weather was all that could"have been desired, arid the attendance was very large, about one hundred 1 being present, settlers coming from,all directions. 'The picnic | was held by the kind permission of Mr J. , McLuckie, on his beautiful farm, Jhe Ma'ngarongo Downs, which is Bitua'ted oil the banks o.f garongo river. The picnic proved a great success, goirie with a. good swing.from start to finish, thanks to the hard working committee, which consisted of the following gentlemen: —H. Inghtim, B. Surman, G. Nicholls, R. Sircombe, S. D. and G. E. Chiles, H. Low ß (haridicapper), and D. Sircombe i (secretary). Luncheon, was served from the tables beautifully laid out beneath, the willows by the ladies' Mesdames Corboy, Nicholls, Ingham, and Chiles after which the sports were held most of the trophies being presented by the business people of Otorohanga, Hamilton and Auckland.- The races, in most cases, were very evenly contested. Results:—

Boys under 9 years. —T; Lowe 1, C, Ingham 2, F. Chiles 3. Girls under 10.—M. Sircombe 1, C. Surman 2. ,

Boys under. 14. G. Disher 1, R. Chiles 2, N. Sircombe 3. Men's open race.—J. Gadsby 1, Lithgbw 2. Married ladies' race.—Mrs Nicholls 1, Mrs S. Chiles 2. -V .....''.- Settlers' race,—Briscoe 1, Lithgow 2.

Settlers' partner race.—Gadsby and Miss D. Sircombe 1,. Briscoe and Mrs S Chiles 2, Craihe and Miss ;M. Disher 3.

~Three-legged race,—G. Nicholls and Mies D. Sircombe 1.

Sack race.—J. Disher 1, C. Scott 2. Single ladies' race, under 18 years. —D. Sircombe 1, ; Mary Disher 2, D. Nicholls 3',

One of the most interesting contests ot the day was the tug-of-war between teams from Maihiihi and Rangiatea, "although Maihiihi was much the heavier of. the two, and won the first pull, Rangiatea showed themselves in better condition and won the rubber.

Early tea Was provided, and the singing of Auld Lang Syne brought the most sociable an enjoyable picnic / ever held in the district to a close.

I am pleased to say the recent rains have proved beneficial to the district. Haymaking is going on in. all directions, grass is, plentiful, more especially the clpver, which seems most adapted to the soil. Some idea.of, the growth may tie obtained from the fact that one settler last year took as much as five tons of clover hay off one acre iri' two cuttings .

The Auckland--A-ct:limatisation Society sent up four cans of; vearling. rainbow trjjjjt fofrj liberation in the Maihiihi and M'angarongo . rivers. They arrived in splendid condition. It is gratifying to hea"r the society is appointing & ranger* for it has been scandalous iri past years to see the Maoris netting every fish in the river, and I have seen them with as much as half a bucket at young trout and other fish. "'"'

During Christmas Week Father Brennan was iff the settlement, arid Mass was held at /Mr . Prendefgast's residence. ■. t .?.-<•'••'--"••;-'<•'•