NOTES FROM MANGAONE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3739, 18 February 1891, Page 2

NOTES FROM MANGAONE.

(From our Own Correspondent.)

Several hundred acres of h;4Bh have been felled in the Mangaone district, and on Wednesday last the settlers began to burn with every prospect of a good blaze. The rain, however, began to fall at night, and in a few hours the fires were completely extinguished. Since then it has been an incessant downponr, and on Thursday night it was estimated that not less u£2 -four inches of rain hau fallen mi typnij foqr boutf. The weather,which had been sultry beypnd precedent for several days, ii? now a little pooler, and patches of blue are occasionally seen in the sky ; but it is feared that satisfactory burning during the present season will be impossible ; and owing to an over- ' *>«Uties the operation must growth oi •.*... be deferred till next year. Streams and rivulets are now foaming torrents, and in some places the roads are almost impassable. The general absence of metal on Iho

road between Fleckville and Alfredton is a serious {drawback, and retards the progress of art otherwise desirable and picturesque settlement. The unprotected state of some of the bridges, too, is an inconvenience at all times, and to pedestrians and yehicles on dark nights, it is positively dangerous. An involuntary plunge on the part of some influential member of the Roid Board might induce the local authorities to think of a handrail or some lattice work, as an imaginary protection against accidents. A tew shillings —a few pounds at most—would do it all, and the mere thought of protection —the very thought that the place is not entirely beyond the sphere of consideration, would gratify a people who are far from unreasonable. The whole matter, however, has been so well and ably discussed in a clever article which appeared in last week's issue of the Wairarapa Weekly, that it would be almost superfluous to notice it further here. The article referred to has been read with much interest, and has provoked so much discussion that the settlers are beginning to think it unfair to neglect a district which only wants fair play to become one of the richest, as well as one of the most popular and best frequented of all the Trossachsof New Zealand.

The Peep o' Day only wants a lake to remind one of Perthshire, and for park like scenery the Tawatai is unrivalled by anything in England, Most of the grass is now cut, and the result has been satisfactory. Old and young have been engaged in the industry, and one enterprising youth is said to have cleared nearly twenty pounds. The potato crop looks well, and the yield is expected to be prolific. ■, ? An exceptionally high temperature minimised any injurious effects the rain might have had on sheep, and so far none of the settlers have suffered loss.

Altogether, the prospect in Mangaone at present is not discouraging, and a good road is now almost all that is necessary to bring prosperity to the district.