DISTRICT NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 278, 21 May 1912, Page 7

DISTRICT NEWS.

(From Our Own Correspondents.) SOUTH TARANAKI. Feed is plentiful In the Waimate Plains, and cows are hard to dry off. The season has just about ended and shows an increase in dairy produce from the preceding year. Land is booming and motor-cars with buyers and land agents are on the go all day long. It is quite common to hear of So and So buying to-day and selling to-morrow, and making a few hundreds profit. A topic prevailing at present is the route of the proposed railway from Opunake. Patea harbor advocates were on the warpath at the taking of evidence in Manaia, armed to the teeth with the figures and credentials of the I past and present, and prophecies of the future. None of them went so far as an M.P. at a meeting at Hawera, who said Patea would serve this district for 50 years. Buyers and dealers in dairy produce are soliciting for the coming season, but no deals have as yet been made. All the grain grown on the plains has ' been bought up, and quite a rush has been made on barley, which has now hardened to about Sa 3d per bushel. Turnips are, generally speaking, very poor here this year. The same applies to carrots and mangolds. Comparatively few yearlings are on the plains this year, so back country buyers will not be catered for like other years from this quarter. About thirty Territorials mustered on horseback on their way to Waverley camp, under Captain Tom Sutherland and Sergeant T. Rogers. Looking them carefully over, I was particularly struck with the horses they were mounted on. One could not pick more than five decent mounts in the lot. Truly the cow has eliminated the good hacks that used to be here. The pick of the lot was a Scots grey, and for a week's hard riding give me a grey nag, as they are generally as hard and tough as wire rope. PUNIHO. The local Maoris are having a busy time just now with tangis. There is one at Puniho, one at Parihaka, and one at New Plymouth. It is surprising where they get the money to carry on these tangis. One that took place, here about two months ago cost the Maoris about £l5O, and this one is to be nearly as big. There is to be a red letter week for Puniho, as there is to be a birthday party at the local store on AVednesday night, and on Friday night the concert and dance in aid of the school funds takes place. The committee have got an excellent programme, and all that is needed now is a fine night to make this the biggest and best ever held in Puniho.