MAKAHU NOTES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 25, 4 May 1916, Page 7

MAKAHU NOTES.

A REAL PICNt-3. (By “Go as You Please.”) I was after miakitr that some one ?with a Letter gift of the gab than niyjseif would bo lollin’ you about the j Jimmy Gan wo bad bore so hold yer wisht and I’ll let her go. Well, old Sol was in a good mood onco again, and that was the brightest aspect ot the programme. To start with, some lady rattled a bucket, and it was a treat to see the way they lined up for “the Easter pudding lor the dining room.” The faranald people never forget the jingle ol a bucket; if the. gift is not inherited, the everlasting morning and evening physical drill is never forgotten. Then there was a go with the chaps pokin’ a stick at some rings hung in the air on a take something like a gallows. A chap in I khaki scooped the pool. After waiting ia wee while some horses were lined up to try how many rails they < onhl knock down and clean their hoots on some manuka scrub tied iu a bundle, like a broom the misses uses to swe-.p up the ward. Pat ou the roan hail a good try, but having been treated ton liberally with oats, rushed too much, I.)ini’s horse missed every time, so Jim’s !horse got the prize lor missing, and I he deserves to win, being a consistent iryer every year. It was a “popular win.” I believe dim handed the stakes to the Red Cross Funds. It was lucky for the other riders that the points were given only on the horse-work, as the lady competitor was in a class on her own. Next we had a milk-cart horse “go as you please.” In this item all “the Natives” lined up to a man; after a bit of jostling at the 'post they wore all got away and had one ding-dong round: then the talen t opened-up. “ r l he Kaiser” had worked his way to the front, when “Jumbo’s” rider lost his hat and sent the hooks home. Phew! “John Gilpin” was not in it! Away they went, The Kaiser, Jumbo and Cyclone hunched. To save any dispute, the judge gave the verdict to Pat on Amy Bock. Pat was after the beans and be got them. “I he Juveniles” took charge of the course; so we weno away fishing, but found that tlie guardian, in charge oh the “aquarium” had fallen the tank and had gone home to got a change. “The. Open .Trot” and “The Apple ami. Tub” events “were chestnuts. ’ “Jbe mothers” do not appear to grasp the fallacy of trying to squeeze into one small afternoon “a Sunday school picnic,” “a beer garden,” “a Maori hack meeting.” and “ a garden party.” Most of those items do not mix, and should be run o;i quite distinct lines. “The mothers and juveniles” only three, weeks previous had a children’s day, v.o which the “general public” had subscribed handsomely. Does “mother” wish to monopolise both days? “Tiie surprise packet” of. the afternoon was “the donkey turn out. “Tiie Kairi young ladies’ seminary having made great preparations and had been cuddling “a sure thing,” “a certainty,” a “dead bird” ; but you never know till the numbers go up; Miss. “Clementine” being awfully disappointed, having trained ■“'] he M iner’s (Rest” to a turn, while .Miss “Cristona”; on “Greyhound” was “too sweet! for anything."’ Miss “Lora did not seem quite at home, only deciding to take a mount at the last moment. Miss “Ellen” on “Romney Marsh” did not feel quite sure of herself in the “Dreary Willie” disguise. “Little Winnie” and “Partieka” seemed entirely lost without mamma. Miss “Georgina McKie,” from “the wne.y tank,” on old Fireworks (a descendant of old Musket) was, oh my! oh dear! such a picture! captivated the judges eye and heart. Old Fireworks won this event by a lap, hard hold, in oven time, 'without turning a hair. The judge asked “Georgina” to go to the pictures. Miss McKie lias had four oilers of marriage since the race. Miss Clementine has cancelled her order for a new blouse. Speaking generally, the eom-

]J i j ; ■ |; ■{ a gc' •■I *!\ . ill ItiC Lll ■; CS - i v .,. time.” They captured between Lli<*iu about i■> per cent oi the (in;.' fluids. Relief, eh! i hear that all the ticket money collected has been required to meet the prizes and relreshments accounts, together with a credit of about £5 from last year. it is stretching the rubber rather far when work that the committee did perform j n pre-war times for “the honor and love of the game” is paid for out of monies collected on behalf ol “Relief Funds,” and such items as “stack covers,” “liquor tents, and non hats might quite well be dispensed with till more prosperous .inns. The committee made sure of missing nothing. The horse that heat all-comers in the open trot was saddled up again for ilie Ladies’ Horse, Walk and Trot. No halves at Makalm. I must not forget to tell yon about “The Carnival Queens.” We struck three here at one hit the opposition Queens being ‘‘the Piano Stool Queen,” “The liridge Doll Queen,” and “The Red Cross Queen.” I understand that the sum of about £l2 was collected by the Queens together, with the pounds of sheep -kimdlv auctioned by Air Iclctchcr, donated and used for sheep competitions, which in due course will reach the Relief Funds. A lady resident of Strathmore was the fortunate winner of “The Piano Stool.” No one was lucky enough to pick the bride’s noni de plume No”one looking at such a sweet young thing would have dreamt that she had descended from an ‘‘Australian ahonginal ”or an. African Hottentot. It was a shame to call her “Snowbrolla.” The bride was auctioned, ami has gone to her new home. It was a bit of “ginger cake,” real “hot stuff to run into “three Queens” alter finding, a “whole Crown” for a cookies’ picnic. Put one “might he lucky” and pass the gatekeeper on the nod. Ihe rcfieshment tent arrangements under the ladies’ committee were kai-te-pai as usual, all the ladies doing their bit. There was great excitement and lamenting about sunset when it was discovered that some “preserved pickles” planted for some particular people had been punctured. There is an’ old saying that “well laid plans of men, mice and women gang oft agloy,” and ‘ its an ill wind that blows nobody good.” Three cheers for Alakahu, and the buns and the .boor.