HALCOMBE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9343, 12 January 1909, Page 7

HALCOMBE.

From Our Own Correspondent.

At last: we are favoured with something like harvest weather, but the wet and WindSjOf the past fortnight have left their mark, though I am told things are not so bad as you might expect. That the feed has 'benefited if the crops have suffered I conclude from the ( fact that where the cut grass was sheltered it has grown fully six inches during the past two weeks. , , . _ Mr O. O. , Pleasants had five reapers and binders at work upon his crop, which I am told is a good one • and which I hope with alt others will be secured in good marketable condition. That some of our wool growers ■struck the late London slump sales ; with their clips and had to refund to advances account is a matter for general regret, for it not only means individual set-backs but loss to the district and Dominion. Let nil desperandum continue to be their •stimulating motto and the time will surely come when those on the lapd .at fair working cost, will find themselves on top of trouble. Recognising the advantages of closer settlement, we Halcombeites are signing the petition requesting ♦he Government to acquire and sub- ' divide the 2000 acres offered by Mr Saunders and which is within 2% ; miles of our post office ,and railway station. . ' The many friends of Mrs Fitz .gerald, who for over twenty years lived here and who during the past five years has lived with her only child—Mrs D. J. Parker, ■ of Gisborne, —will be pleased to know that she is now visiting old Halcombe friends and is enjoying excellent health. , Mr Milo Keri tells me that his appeal for money to erect nbcfcssary buildings upon our Recreation Ground has met with a liberal response, that with the assistance of funds from future concerts the much needed improvements will be effected. "When reading of the Wellintgon garrotting scare I was reminded of an incident which oocnrrred in that city a few nights before the mnrder in Courtenay Place. 'After the ■theatre and fish supper we were returning to quarters when an apparently excited’individual ran out of a paissage or right-of-way and asked us to “wait a bit as there was a_ irow on down there which might need, etc.., etc.” He then disappeared down and into the darkness. We, however, did not follow him, hut this intimation did “We were prepared for any trouble and they Had natter trot out whac they had got to the light for our inspection and treatment.” It did not come out and not being “soft” enough to seek it we resumed onr talk and walk. I have since wondered if this was one of those plans that failed. When discussing this subject the other day a fond mother thus addressed her 25 year old boy, who hao just returned from Wellington: “I hope you were careful, especially at night?” “Oh ! yes Mum, I was very careful not to go out alone at night!” This satisfied Mum, hat Dad smiled audibly. , Here’s a story that is worth repeating • Herkomer, the sculptor, = brought his old father from Germany to London, where the old man employed his time|modelling in clay but his feeble hands shook so much that he retired early every evening disappointed with bis efforts. It was then the son sought the studio and there touched up his father’s work and removed the defects. In the morning the old man was gratified he could still model so well and he never discovered this truly pious fraud. ... , Astronomers are waiting tor tne reappearance of Halley’s comet which 1 was visible to us ?5 years ago, since when it has been sliding ronnd its track at the rate of any speed between 500 and 2000 miles a minute. IE a fellow could only obtain a return ticket and an assured ride round on its tail,|how differently he would view things upon his return. . , , . Having recently received a chip from the rock in which Cecil Rhodes is buried- —in Rhodesia—l read the following with interest, which appears in Life and in one of the Harms worth's: “It is good to rest awhile on the desolate hill. A soft air blows refreshingly, and harmless lizards flit on the sunny surface of the boulders which at a closer view are" found to be brilliant with orange, sulphur and scarlet lichens. Below the shoulder of the hill is the monument to Major Wilson and the other early Rhodesian heroes who fell at Shanfgani in the first Matabele war. This is a mausoleum in white stone, with handsome bronze reliefs—a thing of extraordinary beauty, hut wholly out of place m

this rugged scene. The view of the world is a wilderness of granite as far as the eye carries—a landscape redeemed from horror by the dazzling South African sunshine alone.” .