Matawhero School Picnic.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 261, 16 February 1889, Page 3

Matawhero School Picnic.

It is a misnomer to term this annual gathering a school children’s picnic, for it always affords a delightful day’s outing for the whole district, and the arrangement is one which gives great satisfaction to everyone. There is a joint effort to give the children a treat, and in all that is done their enjoyment is first regarded, but the elders fully participate-*!! the pleasure which is derived from making those around them happy. The picnic took place in a pretty spot in Mr A. C. Arthur’s paddocks; counting old and young, “sisters, cousins and aunts,” there were nearly four hundred people present, a small proportion being from town. Messrs Tansley and Stevenson kindly provided conveyances for the occasion, free of charge, one of the conveyances being Mr Tans'ey’s brake. To a townsman the ride or drive through Mr Arthur’s place would alone have been a source of great enjoyment. The picnic itself was of much the same order as all these things are : all went to enjoy themselves and none were disappointed, the beaming faces of the children being the visible, proof of their inner feelings. The Committee had anything but an easy day of it, but when one’s heart is in the work it makes a pleasure of what otherwise might be considered drudgery. Among those who did most to make the picnic a success were :—Mesdames Caldwell, Gray, Harris, King, Johnstone, and Walsh; Misses Baty, Caldwell (2), Cameron, A. Greene, Johnstone (2), King, Mackie, and Wright; Messrs Harris, Parker, Steggall, Thelwall, Wright and Master Arthur. A programme of thirty-one events was arranged for the day, but time did not allow of its being fully gone through. The results were as follows :—

Infants’ Race (boys).—W. Pardoe 1, Alf. Jones 2, Thos. Dalton w 3. Infants’ Race (girls).—Bridget Muldoon 1, Tilly Montesin 2, Gertie Coppin 3.

Standard I. Boys’ Race.—A. Cross 1, E. Sargent 2, W. Ashdown 3. Standard I. Girls’ Race.—O. Cross 1, Mary Boyd 2, Louisa Pardoe 3.

Standard 11. Boys’ Race, —G. Bougen 1, J, Mclntosh 2, J. Nichols 8. Standard 11. Girls’ Race.—Kata Mclntosh 1, A, Bougen 2, B. Moore 8. Standard 111. Boys’ Race.—3. Pardoe 1, T. Sargent 2, E. Steggall 8. Standard 111. Girls’ Race.—Susan Moore 1, Mary O’Donnell 2, Maude Wright 3. Standard IV. Boys’ Race.—F. Wright l r W. Judd 2, F. E vinson 8. Standard IV. Girls’ Race.—Trixie Scudamore 1, M. Muldoon 2, E. Judd 3. Standard V. and VI. Boys’ Race.—B. Witters 1, — Baty 2, J. Malone 3. Standard V. and VI. Girls’ Race.—H. Caldwell 1,1. Richardson 2, J. Malone 8. Mile Walk (boys over 11). —R. Witters 1,0, Coppin 2, Ashdown 8. Half Mile Walk (girls over 11) —Minnie Stevenson 1,1. Richardson 2, Rowena Arthur 3.

Little Boys’ Walk.—Montesin 1, Mclntosh 2, Bougen 3. # Little Girls’ Walk.—K. Mclntosh 1, G. Moore 2, A. Cross 3. High Jump.—G. Ball 1, G. Wall 2. Catching the Bellman.—B. Arthur 1. Catching the Ball woman.—K, Mclntosh. Little Boys’ Race.—A. Aialabie 1, A. Jones 2, P. Stevenson 3. Little Girls’ Race.—D. Thelwall 1, Nellie Gray 2, J. Mclntosh 8. Hop, Step, and Jump.—King 1, Ball 2. Obstacle Race.—Gordon Johnstone 1, G. Ball 2, S. Pardoe 3.—This was a capital contest, for which there was a small school of entries. The boys had to jump a rope, scramble over a large spring cart, male their way through sacks, and reach the tape after a run of over 200 yards. Gordon Johnstone and G. Ball got away well, the former having the advantage ; they cleared the rope neatly, the third boy leaving a swinging jump for the oncomers. Johnstone nimbly scrambled over the cart, and, the other Ud close on his heels, the two wriggled through the bags, like eels making pace in their favorite elementj and a good race resulted as above.