WAIKOUAITI

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 39

WAIKOUAITI

August 23. — A draughts match between • a combined team composed of Waikouaiti ; and Dun back players *nd the Palme rston Draughts Club • was arranged to be played at Paimerston on 'Wednesday evening last, ~ I but owing to the rough -weather the Dun.- : ' back representatives did not turn up. < - However, 11 Waikouaiti enthusiasts put in' i ; an appearance at the time appointed, and ■ with the. assistance of three Paimerston men, sngaged 14 of the local players in & friendly game. The result -was that Palmerston secured 19 wins, and Waikouaiti 17, while 14 games were drawn. Mr Macfajlaaa welcomed the visitors, and M?

James Townsend replied, thanking the ! ■ jibembera of the Palmerston Club for the : enjoyable evening and' for the kindly re[eeption given to his team. A return Ftoatch will take place shortly. %. Dairy Factory.— The directors of the c*Waikouaiti Dairy Factory Company met &«m Thursday night and decided to pay jiaut immediately to shareholders a bonus N>f Id per lb of but>ter-fat on all milk Supplied up to the end of April. The Bbonus amoupts to £628, w,hioh, with the iinilk payments of £8591, makes a total of M 89219 paid to suppliers during the past jsaeason. The factory closed xon the 13th Wtt., but owing to the mild winter experienced there is a good supply of milk offer■png, and it has been arranged to reopen Eton the Ist of September next. Messrs KJftdkcEwam aad Co. have already fitted up Bffour milk and curd agitators in the facRiory, and come necessary repairs to the ■ffluudiftgs and plant have also been effected. fTChe directors find it necessary to increase Elbe factory water supply, which is at preKil^nt procured from springs a<nd brought Bgn by gravitation. It is believed that the |§*mount available from one of the springs Emn be augmented at very little expense, Hand an attempt is now being made to Bbbtain a sufficient supply to met all the of the coming season. IP?- New' Buildings.— Mr E. Davis has just «§&& 'Mb shop considerably enlarged, and Kltta" also built, a comfortable room adjoinEpn&. in-jeiiieh meetings of the. dairy fac- ■ Ksoty directors and also ol tfie Domain Epßoftnd will iri future be held. Mr W. O. tRMTie (carpenter and builder) is at present E|erectinf a factory on a section fronting- i E|tbte wriin road, and intends importing Kind fitting up a numb?r of saws, planing i ■^machines, etc., far the preparation of all , rexiods of timber. These will be driven by j K% Tangye oil engine of 8 horse-power, j has already been placed in position. gt is Mr M'Fie's intention to purchase in potnre all his timber in its rough state, pmd to dress and cut it locally as required. ! it . I WAIBOA (Hawke's Bay). [.. 'August 16th.— Our township has of late 'months had rather more than its fair share *©f fires; and a serious one occurred late fan. Wednesday night, when the school gjgith its ,whole equipment was de- i :<ttroyed. The fire, when first noticed by •* gentleman going along Queen' street, was ( Must a flicker. He ran over to the school, i .looked in at one of the windows, and saw Tm, email flame coming through the wall at ithe back of one of the chimneys. A bucket or two of water made but little impression on the flames, and by the time the Alarm had been given it was hopeless: to 'attempt more, in the absence of any firei extinguishing apparatus, than to get out ?aome of bhe- more easily removed appliances — books, tables, etc. But even of little could be done: the building jryras so inflammable, that within an as ton - short time flames were coming '-from every, part, and soon the whole fabric so t na^ nothing was loft standing pbui three of the chimneys. The neighbuildirjes — post office, courthouse, yand Mr CorkiU's factory and residence--ffcad a very narrow escape. In fact, it as if nothing could save these; but Sthe energetic efforts of » willing band of porkers kept the fire within the precincts . the. school grounds. The cause of the . F'fife is unknown. An investigation of the E chimney at which the fire \vbs first noticed Pnevealed the existence of a large diagonal F. crack, the result, no doubt, of the severe F earthquake felt here some years ago; and Lthis was probably the cause. There had ' teen a fire in the fire-place during the preceding forenoon, but this had been : allowed to die out at midday, and had not r|>een renewed, co that when the caretaker r went to clear out the fire-place in the there was nothing but dead ashes ;to be removed. Most of the building was >.Tery old, though recent additions had been 'made; and the whole place had within the Jast few years been repainted and ovev- ; hauled. Teachers and pupik'are of course losers; but most of the school were luckily saved in the head- ' master's desk, which happened to be t among the few articles hauled out before Lthe work became too dangerous. Arrangements are being made to resume work ; temporarily in one of the halls, until a t new school can be erected. ■„.. Seasonal. — The mild weather of the parly ■'f>«rt of winter is still continuing, and we ? might almost say that sprincr is with u^. !J-,The willow has been in leaf in sheltered ''. places for a' couple of weeks ; plum blossom 04i*s been noticeable for several days: starsparrows, aa>d thrushes are building ; |$he eong of the latter bird is beginning fcto. render evening musical; young lambs - are not uncommon ; and the more investigating of the boys are reporting eggs in f fhe bird's nests. The fact that peach and >4juince leaves ate still to be seen on a few NW the trees shows how mild the winter rfias been, and even the tender nasturtium-? ihave shown no sign of fro3ts till a cold 'morning of last week nipped them a little. -Last year's leavps are al=o visible on ?ome :of the weeping willows, so that we have * mctually had willow leaver all the year k_xound, a phenomenon witnessed in Hastsnjrs some voars atro. (New Bridge.— The official opening of tl.e . Stewart's Crossing Bridge is to be cplpfcrated next week, when the Actiner Prime

- Minister, Hon James Carroll, will pay a pvisit to this part of his electorate. It iLthe intention of the towns-people to brintr pljelore him some of our needs.