THE KAKINO BLOCK.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 321, 30 July 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE KAKINO BLOCK.

(WRITTEN TOR TIIE WAIKATO AItGUS) ll'Mr John Woods had not spent so much time in pondering upon the relative merits of two buggies, one only of which he intended to buy, his chance of riding in tho selected one to-day would have been problematical. Mr Woods was, and is (more so now thi\n ever) a prosperous fanner. He took up land in the Kamana district in the early days ; got his first section in virtue of acting as substitute for a militiaman in the last hours of the war, and, by dint of hard work, selfdenial, and even privation, slowly pushed out his landmarks. Twenty years of steady industry fined down his physique and put little tips of silver at the ends of his hair and beard, but they left him as they had found him, buoyant, ambitious—and dissatisfied. It was his fixed desire to die, or rather to live and die, a rich man. He was sensible enough to realise that farming does not create millionaires, and wise enough, nevertheless, to stick to the one occupation for which nature and training had fitted, and to which a somewhat irregular education had chained him. A steady and growing income, a comfortable home, and fair provision for each of the youngsters, rounded a prospect most men would humbly thank heaven for, but Mr Woods was not satisfied. He had decided against goldfields, and he mistrusted public companies, and now he was smitten with earth-hunger. It was the day of Land Courts aud vast private speculation in native land, and Kamana township was exultant. The Kakino blook, one hundred thousand ncres, was slowly pushing its way through tho judicial mill, the wheels whereof were oiled from time to time by the syndicated capitalists, with an eye to the unearned increment. Mr Woods, in older days, had been of material use to one member of the purchasing corporation, and he now thought himself justified in asking the favour of a nibble at Kakino. It was a bold request, equalling almost a proposal for matrimonial alliance with the nobility, but Mr Ryder promised to do his best. How much did Mr Woods purpose investing ? A thousand pounds. Yes, the prospective land magnate could manage to raise quite that on his title deeds, besides a hundred or two at credit. Very well, then, what could be done would be done, and a day would be named upon which to clinch the bargain. Mr Woods ruminated. A thousand pounds would secure, at half-a-crown an acre, eight thousand acres ; which, when the country had been roaded and railwayed and rushed by the everready and waiting settler, would be worth at least a pound an acre. A pound, one pound! Why, Mr Woods would not part with his own farm for six pounds an acre, aud surely Kakino would be worth half that I Three pounds, then. Three eights are twenty-four,—twenty-four thousand pounds! Yes, he would be satisfied with that—for the present, or until more Kakinos were brought into the market by the underground line, of which route he might soon hope to be a director. Neither Mr Ryder's colleagues, nor Mr Ryder himself, were solicitous to share their spoil, but the latter had with somewhat unaccustomed impulsiveness given his word, and could only break it, if it had to be broken., to the hope. Excuses for any Hue of procedure can always be found when the general circumstances of a case are shrowded in mystery, and Mr Ryder made little doubt that he could frustrate his friends' wishes by naming a time within which it would be virtually impossible to raise the necessaiy ready cash. The promise was given on Monday, aud on Wednesday Mr Woods was informed that the transaction must be completed by Friday at noon. Mr Ryder chuckled, but h<i had mistaken his man, for Mr Woods had made his arrangements before broaching the matter at all to Ryder, and a telegram alone was necessary to put the money in his hands on Thursday. Naturally unprecipitate, he was, however, determined to proceed slowly. He would not rush in, as though the matter were life and death to him, but would appear on the field with just five minutes in hand. It would look better so ; it would stamp him as a man oi business, ready, but not impetuous. When he rose on Friday morning ho made up his mind to put the day to the best use. He did not go into the township often, never stayed more than half a day, and crammed all the business he could think of into that space. He had determined to buy a buggy (a luxury in those days) and he know of two for sale, oue new, but of inferior construction and one secondhand, and somewhat worn. With a good hour in front of him, he made his appearance at the first wheelwrights' shop, and proceeded to inr spect the .second-hand article. The tradesman, agent in this case for a livery stable keeper, was a keen Scot, who had taken a note of all tho good points of the vehicle and was fully prepared to divert attention from the bad.

" And the price you say," grumbled Mr Woods, after glancing his eye over the machine, " is two aud twenty pounds ; j "

" Ay, an' it's a fair bargain at that. It was never made for less than fortyfive, and it haes iia' seen more than a year's work. It's a' its life before it yet." " Why the tyres are worn half through." '• Na na, they buggies never has thick tyres, and thej T 're no' made of paltry iron, I can tell yo." " But the wheels rattle." "Ah, that's the secret of the trap's vally. They're no' stiff, like they cheap buggies, and the draft's lighter; forby, they go mair easily over the bad roads." " "Well, I'm going to step across to Trix's and see that buggy he has just umde. He only Bsks a few shillings mores than the price you put on this." '' Trix's ? Oh, weel, ye - may go, but you'll surely no be wantin' a Maori buggy ? A new ane, too ! Why, bo's only just botched up an old body he bought at yon sale a while back, and pit on a set of new odd wheels that 'll tak' ye onywsy and everyway v, hen auceye're started. Go an' look at it, and come back and tell me what ye think o' it." Mr Woods stepped over to Trix's workshop, and beheld the new buggy now resplendent in muddy j'ellow and chocolate paint. " Is it all new ? " he asked, as a preliminary. " Every particle of it, except the iron-work of the body, and that's better than new, for it's been tested without setting worn." " It's very plain." " Yes, sir, it is. There is nothing ' put on ' about it. But you will find it very serviceable. Every part can be thoroughly guaranteed." Mr Woods pondered ; then he proceeded to prod the woodwork with his finger, shook the wheels, and glanced with one eye shut alongtheir plane to see if the " dishing " was all that it should be. Finally he expressed his satisfaction with the article, but said he had promised to have a final word with Mr McPliersou about the second-hand affair. " Were you considering that buggy, Mr Woods ? Why, it's been kicked all over the district for years and hasn't got a sound spoke in it. • You know I used to do all the work for the stables, and I know something about the condition of Tranter's buggies." " Well, I promised, but I shall most likely be back in a few minutes." " An' wha' did ye think o' your gimcrack ?" was Mr McPherson's second salutation. " It seems to have more work in it than yours. He declares it's' all new." "New!. Juist you tak' yer knife and scrape off a piece o' the paint, and ye'll see how new it is! Its fair rubbish, forby the wheels, and they are no' matched, and are fixed with nuts that 'll mak the concern rattle and screech like a Maori waggon wi' a week's wear. Look here; the buggy was new a year come last Christmas, and has been kep' under cover ever since. Its no' a couple o' pounds the worse. Just ask Trix to let ye pit your finger through the splashboard. I ask no more, except see the Maori axle fixings for yersel'. But dinna say I cautioned ye." Mr Woods made two journeys more, oblivious of the flight of time, and finally closed the deal (and a good one it proved) with Mr McPherson. Then he looked at his watch. It was a quarter past twelve, but, save that it made him walk a little faster than usual in the direction of Mr Byder's headquarters, this fact did not put him out. Kaniana was not the London Stock Exchange. At the door of the office Mr Ryder met him, with an expression compounded of regret and surprise. Mr Woods was too late. The hour named was twelve, and others were waiting their turn. He was very sorry, and go forth and so on. Mr Woods stared stupidly for a few moments, and then he let out, but ab his remarks could at the best be indicated merely by a series of dashes it" is as well to omit them altogether. When calmness supervened, he declared that he was born under an unlucky star (which was a reflection on a good providence) and vented suudry mild anathemas upon buggies and swindling wheelwrights (which he has sinoe seen occasion to withdraw). He missed a great chance, but Time brings its consolations. The last turn of the sandglass, revealed Mr Ryder in the capacity of a sharebroker in a humble way *of business, but better off than others of his syndicate. And Kakiuo ? Well, Kakino is Kakino ! Nothing can be plainer than that.

Some neighbours have recourse to peculiar methods occasionally to. Vent their spleen. In a certain Hawke's Bay special settlement not long ago there was a neighbours' quarrel, the result being that one of the parties was bound over to keep the peace. The sequel is told in the following pathetic story in a letter read at the meeting of the Laud Board recently :—" As the outcome of a Court case they removed the pig-sty from a site nearly in the centre of their sectiou, where it could do no harm to anyone, to another opposite our kitchen window, and barely two chairs away from it. Close to this pig-sty is the artesian well, from which we got our water supply, and we fear that it will seriously affect it. Alreidy, even in winter, the smell of the sty is almost unbearable, and they use our boundary fence for one side of the pig yard." Unfortunately iu this petty squabble the Land Board could afford no relief. Chatting with an eld soldier the other day (says a correspondent of the Outlook), I tried to find out the reason of 'the Commander iu chief's popularity. " Why," was the reply, " that's easy enough to see. He'll never stand any nonsense ; but he looks after his men as no one elseeau or will. We used to say at Aldershot that " good dinners and good boots' was " Bobs's motto ; but, mind you. you can't humbug him. 1 remember his coming in one day when we were at mess. " Well, adjutant," said he. "any complaints to-day r" "No, sir," says the adjutant, pat. A cheeky youngster jumps up with, " Please, sir, my dinner isn't all rijrht." (' Oh," said Lord Roberts (he was colonel then), "why didn't you complain to the adjutant ?" No answer, so puttimr the youngster on one side the colonel sat himself down on the lench, with soldiers close at eieh elbow, and just polished oil' every morsel from the plate. "Don't see anything the matter with it," said he, without a smile, and walked away" Wo had a good laugh, I can tell you ; hut the man looked queer enough when he saw his dinner whisked off in that pretty fashion'"