Horse auction attracts crowds

The dispersal sale of the Elderslie stud and Burnside stud took place in fine weather, and there was a fairly large attendance, including visitors from Australia.

Principal interest in the sale centered in the imported young stallion Archery, who fell to the bid of Mr J.J. Leahy, of New South Wales, at 4500 guineas. Solferino, who looked bright and healthy, and is at present on the top of the list of winning sires for the season, went cheaply at 675 guineas to Mr G. Kain, the well-known southern horse-owner. Solferino looks to have several years of usefulness before him. The top price for a yearling was the 1100 guineas made by the brother to Roseday. He is a particularly fine colt.

 

The gem of Wanaka is the trip to Pigeon Island, which lies nearly halfway up the lake, and rises some 500 feet above its surface. An island in a lake is no great novelty, but a lake on the crest of that island is rare, and in Lake McDougall, on the summit of Pigeon Island, Wanaka offers this unique sight. How does the water get there? This is the question asked by every visitor, and many theories have been advanced but none are over-convincing, especially when one notes the remarkable fact that the small expanse of scrub-covered rock which surrounds the lake is a totally inadequate gathering ground for its waters, and that the level of the lakelet rises and falls with the level of the great lake below. In fact, at some periods of the year the surplus water of Lake McDougall overflows and makes a pretty cascade down the steep rocky side of the island.

 

The historic claim of the South Island Maoris to proper compensation for handing over to the pakeha in 1848 the greater portion of the South Island is expected to he advanced a further step as a result of the sitting of the Native Land Court at Tuahiwi, near Kaiapoi, on Monday next. Already a large number of Natives interested in the claim have gathered at Tuahiwi, where a hui or meeting is being held as a preliminary to the sitting of the court. The claim involves an area of about 12 million acres, which was handed over to the pakeha for 2000. The claim has been before Parliament for generations, and it reached a condition of finality after it had become an almost hopeless problem, when in 1921 a Royal Commission made a clear recommendation for a settlement on the basis of a monetary compensation, which was fixed at the sum of 354,000. This did not complete the matter however, because the Native Land Court has yet to discover the individuals who should benefit. The sitting of the court at Tuahiwi will be for the purpose of taking evidence from the descendants of the Ngai Tahu as to the rights of ownership existing at the time of the Kemp purchase in 1848, and rights due to conquest or occupation. The court will endeavour to trace the line of descent with a view to giving the successors of those who were parties to the famous deed some tardy recognition of the bargain they handed over.

 

A great many visitors are arriving in Queenstown nowadays by car. The Mount Cook Co regularly brings through from Wanaka and Mount Cook a full complement. This service enables people who go to the Hermitage an opportunity of making a round trip of it from the north. Another organised motor service which is becoming very popular judging by the number availing themselves of it is the "Aard." Ruck's taxis, Christchurch, recently brought through to Queenstown 23 people on one of these conducted tours. Three days were spent here sightseeing, and as the weather was fine the visitors carried away with them a splendid impression of Wakatipu. - ODT, 17.1.1925