KIHIKIHI NEWS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1959, 27 January 1885, Page 2

KIHIKIHI NEWS.

SCHOOL I'K'NIC. Thk annual school picuic was held here on Thursday in tho paddock attached to the. teacher's house. The committee, appointed to curv out the arrangement* were Me--dame- Kny, McDonnell, Maunder, Buckworth and (Jrace. Refreshments weie sorved in the old schoolroom, in which tables were laid. The usual juvenile games were indulged in and pri/.es were given for mnmng, jumping, A-c, foi which a cousidor.iblo twin of niotii'y «'•*■•> collected by tho committee, who were, very energetic in their endeavours to in. ike the d.iy a pleasant one. I need hardly say they were entirely micce-.-ful. Not only children, but grown up people from the nurioundini? districts wore united, a great many accepting the invitation-. With tho hospitality characteristic of them, the ladies and gentlemen of our town-hip met tho guests on their arrival and conducted thorn to the refre-h-inent loom, wheie the kindest attention was paid them. The tables were loaded with every good thing that the minds of the ladies could Migge-t, the said good thingbeing fully appieciatcd by the gue-ts. Duiing the day Mis IJuckworth and one of her young pupil-, Mi>s Annie Maunder, a little girl of -i\, a*, w ell a- -orno of tho l.idy v i-itors, played several "elections on a piano procured for the occasion. The playing of little Mi>s Maunder attracted con-ideiable attention, the little lady playing -eveial piece- from memory with wonderful correctness. When I went into the room I heard the music, and from the correct rendering of the air, a- well as the very firm touch, I thought it was some grown up per-on, but on looking round I w.i-> greatly mir prised to Me the little mite pel ched on the music stool, playing away a- unconcernedly as if theie was not a crowd of persons watching her. The Te Awamutu baud, under Mr Sibley, were in attendance and played during the day, as well as .it the ball in the evening, which terminated one of the pleasantest days that have been upent here for .sonic time. The ladien composing the committee are deserving of the highe-t praise for the successful carrying out of tho programme.

HAHXFVnWt OPFKVTIOVS. Harvesting Ins conmieiiced in earnest, reapers and binders being at work early -tud late. The mulity (if the wheat this ye.ir is excellent, the grain ripening slowly, the crop geneially being up to the average. Mr li'igg has oceij the first in with whe.it, his emp bouig h trusted e.irly 1 Ist week. Tho o.vt crop throughout the district is \ery heavy; sumo paddocks 1 hive seen will thresh out ovei <X) bushels to the acre, and some are expected to go an high as 70. Mr Hutchnison has just hnclied n.i\i»k lt> acres «>f oaten hay, one of the heaviest ciops ever grown in the. W.ukato ; three vviggons were engaged three days and a half from S o'clock in the morning till It in the e\eninij carting it to tho stack. This will give sonic idea of the weight nf crop. Tho average length of tho straw is nine feet, three inches. It is e-timati'd that the yield i« five tons t<> tho acre. In the matter <»f bre-tdstuffs, we are independent of outside districcs ; bv the term outnide disti itts, I mean Auckland and Canterhm y, for the W.nk.ito jnoduces wheat second only in quality to Adelaide. Mills aie es t.ibhihed in the vanous ct'iitn-s of population, turning out excellent flour. Mr Short's mill at Te Awauiutu is kept going from 7 a.m. till 10 p.m., the Hour being equal to any of the imported arti<le. It is steadily forcing its way into geneial u>e, a fact of which outside nnlkrs arc becoming painfully awaie.

KlHlkllll-1 U PO lU)\l>. Tlio work dono on tins road is a credit to tbo A.C. win) liii\o been empl >ved on it. That portion between Me-srs Moncrieff's and Allin Hcndei son's properties has been le\ oiled and undo to .1 width of iiftynine feet, and the ditch 011 each vide cleaned out <md graded to curry the water to an outlet dr.un which has been cut for some chains down the centre of a swamp. A good cuheit has been made wlioie the hwanip inns across the road from Mr Moucrieff s. This piece of woik was done under the superintendence of Sergeant Foster, who hushed it to the enti"e satisfaction of tho engineer. The road which lias, while a colonial one, been a \eii table slough of despond, is now second to none in the distnct, and the work has been done fur less than l>*lf the cost to tho council tlian if it had been done by contractor. Mr Aitnstroiig is gieatly pleased with the woik, and e\I>io<sc(l a wish that tho V.C. would be left to continue tho foimation on th.it load. Tlieie aiß quite enough demands on tin* funds of the council, and the least the (ro veinment can do aftei retaining contiol of the road for so Ion" ,v tniift is to lot the men dnisli it — esppcuilly as the woik is done mi well -befoie handing it <T\er. Mr Htll.inee will soon be heie, and it would be a good idea to intemew him on the subject.

A public meeting, which 1 am sorry to say was only moderately attended, was held m tin- Public Hall, <>u Satuiday evening. Mr Kllis in the eliai 1 . The meeting was convened to take steph to hi ild the annual l.icu meeting on the 17tlt Maicli. It was unanimously resolved to hold tho meeting on that date, and a committee was formed t<> give effect to the resolution. The secu'tary read i statement of .iccKiintj, ulnch showed a Muall balance on hand from Lint meeting. Some discussion uwuicd as to the, id visibility of amalgamating with tho Waip.i Radii? Club. Mr Koche, lion. necrctaiy, being piosent, was askod to give his \iew.s on the matter. Ho said he could not nay anything to pledge hir> committee until they (tho committee) heard the proposals >f the KihiKihi people. Some gentlemen had asked him if a numbei of Kijnkihi people become rneinbeis of his club, if one of the races in tin 11 piogianime, would be called by the name of the " Kihikiln Pl.ito or Cup," and liis reply was that he had no doubt his committee would be quite willing to do so, but that it was not in his power to say positively that would be the c ise, but that foi his own p.ut lie could see no objection, and hoped .1 sufficient number of new members could be found to enable his committee to give a prize woi thy of the name. As to whether it would bo an open or closo race, that would be a m.ittei of fmther consideration. He deprecated the idea of attempting to Keep up too clubs in the distuct, and said that by un.inimty one good club be maintained, holding a two day's meeting, and give huge prizes. He explained that at the foi malioii of the club, a few wished to call it the TV Awamutu Club, but tho majority, taking n bioadoi view of the niattei , c.v i ied a resolution calling it by its piesent name, so as to give a wider liiteiest in it. It had been suggested to him tliHt if the Kihikiln people cast in their lot with Inn club, that ouo meeting a year could bo held on tho Kihikihi couisoi, but he explained tl'it that could haidly be expected, as by doing no, two couises would h.ivo to be kept up, and no club in New Zealand could affoul, or would caie about doing *o. The fact of having the racecounie near Te Vuamiitu was due to accident, not design. Nature had made the couise, than which a hotter site c«mld not be found. The iailv\ax within two.hundiL'd and fifty yards of it ; In fact, e\eiy tiling pointed to that spot as being the best that could be got in tho district. Had the same advaut-iges been found elscwheie, the club would have been just as leady to embiace them. It was not a question of locality, but of suitability. Soveial present havingevpressed concurrence with thct-e lomarko, the question of amalgamation was defujied till aftei tlic <acu inucting, as ife w.i*. now too lato to alter his olub's progiammo this buasoii,

rilK M'l'lK CHOI 1 . The crop of apples tin- year is unusually larpo, as if to compensate foi the scaicity of plum* and peaches, Mr Kaiicll s ot chard (•> well worth a \isit. Almost all of tho tiees iutvu liad to bo propped up, and e\on tlion the hr.inohi's .\ra bie.iking with the weight of fruit, Thousands of .ipplorf li.i\o boon blow n off and «.ithorod foi the pig 1 -, but to look at tho treos no ono would sun. pose any hud fallen otf. Tlii'H 1 is no blight to be seen, all tho trees app.uently bem^' blight proof. I saw two " ribstone pippin" tieen, one of which had only a few on, but tho other hai a \ery fail ciop. A " niajetan'' tree has .1 splendid crop, but thu bukt 01 ops IU'C on munu tioes the name-, of which Ido not know. Mr Fairull will ije able t*> n|.»ke a giand display at tho fiiitl|Co)||Hl{; »ll«Wi Tlio best time to see the tioes will bo about the latter end of February, as the fruit will by that time bo fully frown and ripe— (Own Correspondent.)

Wk know of a very ugly and pcnurioua old ninn who works in his own fields in the summer months to nave the expense qf a qpaieprow. A MKypLMjAv who was blessed with a musioal sontin-law, on seeing a joke to the effect that " tlio musician, like the cook, makes his bi cad out of doll," remarked — " That may be so in some instances, but in my case the musician wakes his tyrend out of me."