WHATAWHATA.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1155, 20 November 1879, Page 2

WHATAWHATA.

Oit Friday evening last an entertainment m aid of our Cricket Club took place? the performance passing off very successfully. The programme included a song ! by Mr Hill, with banjo accompaniment, which was warmly applauded, and that rather well-known nigger song and dance, " The Rival Darkies," m which Messrs Dickey and others performed as successfully as usual. At the conclusion of the performance the hall was oleared, and the lovers of the light fantastic footed ita\vay until daylight. I have not heard what amount will go towards the funds of the Club, but I am afraid that that institution will have to fall back upon some more substantial scheme to refill its treasury. In my last letter I mentioned that our township flat was covered with stock of all kinds. Anyone passing through Whatawhata just- now could not fail to notice how select the flat has suddenly become. The Becret is that the right to collect grazing fees has been let by the Highway Board ; so now those who own stock will have to pay 2s 6d per head. Small though the sum seems to be, it has had a magical effect m clearing the run. It must have surpriße.d and chagrined the ranger, who a few days previously could scarcely count the stock so numerous were they, to come up on the 14th and again be unable to count them, but for a very different reason. However, it will be the ranger's duty to see that stock which have been taken home to avoid grazing fees are kept there, so that those that pay will have the benefit of their money, and that a little more attention is paid during the coming year to the numerous pigs, geese, &c, which' have hitherto roamed at large m, the township — the former rooting up ! the grass, and the latter keeping the residents awake all night. If we are to have a ranger, let ur have the law carried out properly. The ranger has paid a largo sum for the right to collect grazing dfees, and nothing will induce people to pay grazing fees quicker than the knowledge that they are getting value for their money, and are not helping to keep the run clear for the benefit of those who run stock and will not pay anything,—Correspondent.