Lines to the Editor.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 369, 10 July 1908, Page 2

Lines to the Editor.

BE OPAEAU. Fair Oparau, beyond the mad— Beyond the fern and ti-tree scrub— A dozen years I looked, and saw a smiling land. And lowing herds upen the strand Dispelled my fears. Thy dozen feet of virgin soil Will pay the pioneer’s toil 'Neath ti-tree oove?; Thy rain, and san, and summer breeze, Will surely nourish lemon trees And India rubber. Near Wright’s new mill across the bridge Through fern aud ti-tree covered ridge, On Moke’s land, A bounteous Providence has Lid The falls in Okupata’s glade, To seeker’s hand. Fer power and heat and light galore— And what can coal mines give us more ? This waterfall Will serve the valley well indeed And give our motors ample speed, Enough for all. Your correspondent, Oparau, Has watched some scrubby valley grow To opulence ; Where once the pioneer wrought, And all his fattest wethers brought Was eighteen pence. He saw the iron railroad spread, And wethera fetch a pound a head, Besides the fleece, Where Nature, with a niggard hand Begrudged t«those who cleared the land Her poor increase. Why should not Oparau’s fair land With bounteous gifts from Nature’s hand. Advance amain. And «hip Waikato’s frozen meat, And her own valley’s butter swoet, Across the main. Have faith and work, ye pioneers. Heed not “ Boiled Mutton Billy’s ” sueers, Plant lemon trees. Once more in Sydney Kawhia’s wheat Shall have a name that’s hard to beat Across the seas. “ 0,K.” Your poem may have been found in the Oparau. as you assert, but as the name of the author does not appear thereon it has been purposely lost in the w.p.b. «• “ Otago’s Bobby Burns.”—We fancy yon have convinced everybody th*t Oparau is a splendid district. LINES FBOM THE EDITOR. Last week we were particularly busy in making out our accounts, and when the amount was totalled up we could hardly credit it. A remittance from many of our extra “long-winded ” customers would be very acceptable, and no doubt it wK'uld take a weight off their minds—it would eatia ours very considerably, As poetry, in the air just now we would recommend some of our subscribers to •' read, mark and learn ” the following little rhyme, which is not quite up to the standard set by •' Boiled Matton Bill ” and “ Otago’s Bobby Burns,” hut very nearly : Breathes there a man with soul so dead. Who never to himself hath said—“l’ll pay before I go to bod The debt I owe the Printer.” If such there be go mark him well, No bell shall toll his.funeral knell, And if ho dies he’ll go to—well, A place where there’s no winter.