WHATAWHATA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2445, 13 March 1888, Page 2

WHATAWHATA.

The Rain. —The welcome rain has come at last and not before it was urgently needed, as the district had a very white and parched appearance, and had the rain kept off much longer, there would have been very little for stock to commence the winter with, but if we have a few weeks of showery and mild weather, there will be good grass again. Another settler has, I regret to say, taken his departure from among us, Mr Palmer, who left for Auckland on Thursday last. Mr Palmer's farm, better known as Braithwaite, is now unoccupied but we hope not for long, as the farm is a good one, with comfortable House, and well situated for supplying milk to the creamery. Hamilton Saleyards.— The proposal to erect public saleyards at Hamilton is meeting with marked approval among the settlers, and it would be strange were it otherwise. For years the Whatawhata and lower Waipa settlers have driven their stock through Hamilton, and many miles further on to Ohaupo, for no better reason than that the saleyards were first established at the latter place, and had become, as it were, a vested right. The same remarks apply equally to the large mobs of cattle which come annually from Raglan ; all those cattle come through Whatawhata, which is within an hour or two's early drive from Hamilton, but they have at present to drivo another weary stretch to Ohaupo. The advantage to the settlers of the Hamilton sales will be two-fold. 1st. the distance to be driven being in tho majority of cases, much shorter, the stock would not appear so jaded and hollow; and 2nd. if the prices offered were not satisfactory, settlers could easily take their stock home again, to be tried another day, and not (as many of us know by bitter experience), sacrifice the stock rather than face the weary drive home again. It rests with the settlers to make the Hamilton sales a great success, for they are both the buyers and sellers, and if, as seems probable, the Hamilton authorities show their appreciation of their position as the chief centre and town of Waikato, by erecting and providing public saleyards free from the obnoxious tax know as yard fees, they will, while ensuring the success of their own sales, have earned the gratitude of settlers living far away and remote from Hamilton.