THISTLEDOWN.

Te Aroha News, Volume XII, Issue 1752, 20 July 1895, Page 2

THISTLEDOWN.

“ A man may, jest and tell the truth.’ —Horace. Our riding members appear to hack one another up well in the County Council. At last meeting Cr Herries called attention, not before it was wanted, to the disgraceful state of the Te Aroha-Lichfield road between the Wairakau gate and the Waiorongomai turning. It is a pitiable sight to see two strong horses, sometimes four, wrestling with a dray through the slough of despond near Mr Hanks’ gate. Cr Harrepresents that densely populated district, Patetere, objected that too much money was spent here|for our population, and was [promptly and deservedly sat upon by Cr Gavin. If nine-tenths of our inhabitants were sheep I suppose the Lichfield magnate would think the expenditure highly justifiable. His last notable appearance in .public was as an advocate of the Kaimai Track when he unfortunately proved too much. Such a splendid buggy road as it was then proved on paper could have required but a ridiculously small sum to complete ,• a poor, beggarly, dole, to ask, which from Government would be a sad reflection on local enterprise and resources, o o e o

Eeturning to the road, the Te Aroha Biding pays a special rate to cover the interest on the cost of its construction, and the least the County can be expected to do is to keep it passable. The place mentioned is perilous navigation even for the horseman or footpassenger, and downright cruelty on animals in the case of wheeled traffic. The scope of operations of the Society for the prevention of such cruelty ought to be extended to local bodies. Further on, between the Wairakau bridge and Shaftesbury this road is also bad, and appears to me to sbow an example of how not to do it. The crown of the road is a hollow, forgive the Irish bull which is more pardonable in print than in road formation. The side drains, even if big,enough and clear, would be useless, for the muck from them has been thrown up on the aide qf the t road, or else tea-tree'left standing between it and the drain to give the water a further excuse for lodging in“the centre. Up towards the Gordon I am told it is worse. The patchwork which, so far -as my observation goes, has been the fashion, is simply waste of money. Take the metalled portion of the road. A few shovels of metal in a hole may stop it for a time but only make matters worse in the long run. Holes should be filled with large stones and metal spread continuously, not like patches on an eighteenth, century beauty’s face. Below Te Aroha, in the adjoining County, fern and muck .are apparently used to fill the holes; I suppose tea-tree fascines are either too expensive or getting them.entadls more trouble than the fern racket. * « * * x “ Gin a body meet a body Coming through the Bye Can’t a body kiss a body ' . I'or fear of bacilli ? ” (Please'remember Burns wrote of a river Bye and leave tbe capital; from the way most write or print it it would appear as if they thought'there was some occult connection between the grain of that name and kissing, andtheyareso far right that there probably is as soon a 3 the rye has passed through the distiller’s hands).; Well, doctors differ as ; to the possibility of the oscillatory transmission of bacilli. To take a plain matter-of-fact view of the question 'it would seem .to depend on the relation of the kisser and the kisses. Two ladies might certainly peck at at one another, as is their amiable habit, without the slightest damage ,• so might a schoolboy kiss good bye to his wealthy aunt who had forgotten to tip him on his return to school. I should say, however, that possibly the ! iss of two cousins of : the male and- the female persuasion respectively would be venomous, while that of an engaged couple might be poisonous. If the ‘ spirits rush,together at the meeting of the lips ’ why not bacilli ? There is a consolation, however.- We are told that bacilli play a far more important part in our health than in our diseases, so that the younger portion of us need not be so much alarmed. ; In fact I see a highly interesting and prolific field for science in the cultivation of the specific bacilli of courtship and matrimony, and in the study of those important and yet insignificant microbes. Parents who look for a wealthy match for their daughter will cultivate in her the plutocratic bacillus, while needy young men in search of an heiress will inoculate her with a bacillus cultivated on the plates of the Bake’s Progress, and doctors up to date will drive a thriving trade in supplying one with the dote and the other with the antidote- .. * ’ > -T * #

No country of our status in the world can boast cf so many conveniences for its inhabitants so widely spread, if we exclude such, neglected,regions as the North Auckland and East Coast districts. Yet the cry is still for more, and scores of people who might be comfortable in the country prefer a hand to .'mouth existeuce in the towns on account of the supposed hardships of the former. Te Aroha people are equally luxurious in their tastes. I think I have shown that I never write anything for the sate of effect without considering its possible influence on the prosperity of the place. I can therefore fairly object to the recent demand of Te Arohaites for a local post delivery. I only wonder they don’t ask for a Government delivery for their beef and bread. Hamilton and Cambribge have enjoyed a similiar fraud on the revenue for years past, the public has to pay for a service benefit iil only to half-a-dozen in each township, or rather noxious to them, as. it deprives them of a healthy incentive to exercise, which judging by their demands must be poison in their ideas. Waiorongomai, I suppose,' will follow suit next with a postal delivery. Another luxury unknown in England is a full fledged peeler in each petty district capital. At home the butcher, blacksmith! baker, or bootmaker, is glad to act when required as constable for a, fiver or so a year; here each country township has the dignity of an able-bodied man iH uniform pa>ading the streets every day in the three hundred and sixty-dive, at seven or eight Shillings a day. When he is a man—as here—things go all right, but when he is Dimply an object for promotion everybody is harassed. • laptx.