TE AWAMUTU GOSSIP.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2010, 26 May 1885, Page 2

TE AWAMUTU GOSSIP.

()N Saturday last an entertaining peifoun anco took placo m the Kingiaohia school. At first tlie numerical strength of tin* audienco was very limited, but o'er the last item on tlie programme was en.icted, fully twenty persons were present. The performance consisted of the I.ito highway board of the district thiough its erstwhile chairman, casting its dilapidated patchodup old inantlc-of-ottice <>n the wincing shoulders of the newly gazetted m-coming board. The new members with pouting protests of dissatisfaction sulkily received the threadbare garment, slutting with dmdam at the fm/.led edges of its burnt hem, or snatching out with hasty disgust thoir hands, which unconsciously stole m and came into contact with the fluffy dirt in its pocketf. To them was given the option of receiving or rejecting it, but it being a case of " Hobson's Choice," they took it, accepting it as the shoddy they knew it to be, and not an the Impel wl pmplo they foolishly hoped it might have pro\ wl. The majority nf the latepayeis assembled in the schoolloom, becoming linpiitient at tlie hectoring manner assumed by the chaiiman, flatly refused to leceiw any communication from the Government through him, blaming him foi all the tumble and nrygnlanty th.it had sprung from the election, also letting him know, he being " cV oftkm," nis comtnunications would 1 ick official importance. A gentleman while proposing a vote of thanks, stated that the chairman had made some unintentional mistakes over the election, which should not debar him from a vote of thanks. The ratepayers declined to sanction a vote of thanks. The meeting concluded, as all Mich meetings generally conclude, by the chairman saying he cared not as much for a vote of thanks, censure or confidence as ho did for the piece of stiing ho held up between his thumb and foreHngor, emphasising the assertion, as he allowed the stung to drop, by giving his finger* an articulating snap. A local sparrow who tries to rival tho nightingale thusly chirrups— "The Highway Board Is all abroad ; By people boied A board abhoired." After tho big meoting, the three gazetted members of the new board held a little one, and elected Mr Robeit Cunningham chairman, in the placo of his bi other James, who had been elected to the office at a fmmer illegal meeting of boardillegal through mistakes in election. Here ondeth tlie political gossip of this letter. Where the flea bitos theie wo scratch, so, as thought compels I write— hastily but not maliciously. Some may read, others past* by my gossip. Thoio who read, honour me by doing so ; those who puss it by, condemning it as rot, dishonoui themselves for they condemn a thing they know not of— but, why continue, for what behoveth it as long an I please the p.uties molt concerned in tho matter, and those pai ties consist of any one of my 1 eiders who may enjoy even one single laugh at my rambling composition. Mr Sloano is going to migrate from tho mm and Mush of tln.s di.stiict to one of moio congoni.d climate. It is proposed— decided I helievo— to give him a valedictory banquet, but as Te Awamutu has no accommodation for a mighty "gorge," or, to put it moio truthfully, the majority of To Awamutuans are not accommodating euough to father the idea, "Kiki," loyal to the king .she created, tucks up her sfoovei and starts cnuking right legally. An inward conviction tells me I deserve a banquet, but outward reality is hungry-looking, bony and bare. Mr Sloano will bo greatly missed. His undoubted medical skill, more especially in infantile diseases, lias made him respected and liked by almost every mother in tho district. In tlie profession ho has undertaken for a livelihood ho ha.s been eminently successful, and I am sure I only reiterate the desiro of a large section of tho people in heartily wishing him all the success he deserves. Sergeant (Jillics, another worthy citizen and useful moinber of society, lias just received orders to quit. His departure from :i place where ho has mado many friends, and an a natural consequence a few enemies, causes that regret which arises fioui the public, as a tribute to his woith, t<> widen its ring until it encircles tho whole district under his constabulary supervision. I Te Awamutu, although your uccominoda- j turn is limited, remember eight yeais' service ; give the sergeant a kindly good-bye, and don't send him away hungry, or the reproach will never depait from you. [ Seigeant-Major Mctiovem has been paying the niillineis and dressmakers a friendly \ isit to let them know they are breaking tho law by keeping their youthful employes at woik moio titan eight hours a day. On Saturday tho law providos a hnlfhobday for them, and all other public holidays are to be gi anted to them without loss of wages. Although 1 do not think the girls are ovcrwoiked in this pait of tho lealm, it causes saddening thought to find that a Christian people need compelling by law to e\erciso humanity. Tho movement is popular, and tho weary girls adore you, Heigeant Major, with the lip-htnosH of gladheartodness, and whatever tho girls adore, the boyi, if they do not get jealous, adoio also ; Ihorefoio, tho adoration you have awnkoned almost amounls t> idolatry— happy Sergeant-Major ! to be tho idol of a bevy of fascinating seamstresses. The apostolic succession of church dignitaries, in Bjjitenf tho lapsing hiatus bridged over by logical equation, is supplying much toothsome food for ecclesiastical thought. In my idea the tracing of tho descent, if not c.irefnlly manipulated, may branch off in a wrong dueetion, and land amodtin shining light besido an anoiont one of less

effulgent brilliancy. The micceviors aio no doubt proud of the honour of such inipliod demount, but would the ancestors, they claim descent fioni, if they had a \oice in thu mattei , acknowledge their strange an off ant offspimg with the unction their strange arrogant offspring nek now lodges them ? It has been lauimtj lieio a great deal — steady, gentle r.iin, with occasional bursts of heavy "-howei*, but the selfish tint (if the district i« a fnHt colour, and not all the lain fioni the doluge downwaid could wash it out. Bilia.