Cambridge 100 Years Ago - May 1905
The Chrysanthemum Society's fourteenth annual show had 411 entries. The results indicated that the gardens of Joseph Chambers, Miss Ewen, Tom Richards, the Wells, Sharkey, Richardson, Willis, Roberts and Brooks families - must have been putting on a beautiful show.
It was coming into winter and 27 businesses advertised that they were going to close at 5.30pm from May to August. Once one left Victoria and Duke Street the town was in darkness.
Mr C Boyce of the Victoria Bakery had a new bakehouse built - double the size of the old one which had served the town for 25 years. The two new ovens were capable of holding 350 and 250 loaves of bread respectively and two or three batches could be turned out daily. They provided special lines of milk bread, bermaline bread and pork and mutton pies.
Charles Arnold sold his butchery business (established 1867 by his father John Arnold) to William Law of Gisborne.
The St Andrews Anglican church had 200 members with an average of 117 attending Sunday services. During 1904 they had 41 baptisms, 31 confirmations, 3 marriages and 14 burials.
The Trinity Presbyterian Church had 116 named on the Communion Roll and 57 at Sunday School.
The Pros and Cons of Bible in Schools received a lively debate in the Letters to the Editor column. The Bible in Schools Referendum League came to Cambridge hoping to restore the Bible to its place in the curriculum of the public schools.
The Waikato Hunt opened its season at Hautapu running through Banks 'Gwynnelands', Hookers, Karls and Forrests farms. "Altogether, both horses and riders made an excellent display." The next week was fine at Bruntwood but the following week wet at Fencourt.
A Land Commission was gathering evidence in the district on the Leasehold versus Freehold options. The local feeling was that the settlers who worked the land should have the right to purchase. And that purchasing the freehold was essential to the welfare of the farming community.
The Maungatautari School was to get a schoolhouse built by Carter and Ross for £315.
The Cambridge West School committee was concerned at the number of different books which were continually introduced into the schools by the Education Department. This was a serious tax on the purses of the parents.
Miss Hammerton, a representative of the Imperial system of dressmaking, gave sewing lessons at the St Andrews Schoolroom. An exhibition showed, a riding habit, a dark green costume, a cream voile dress, an assortment of black skirts, a tea gown and blouses.
An envelope containing three ten pound notes blew out of a window of the Sydney Government Savings Bank into the street. The clerks gave immediate chase, but failed to find them.
A local, giving his dogs some exercise in the river, was - "precipitated in to the surging Waikato. Being a good swimmer, however, he soon regained land, nothing the worse for his emersion".
Miss Janet Russell and Miss Mary Watt were the Sunday School teachers at Hautapu and their entertainment in the school-house was a great success. There were pianoforte items, songs (solos, duets and chorus) and recitations. Then competitions of hat trimming and patching for men, nail driving for ladies, weight guessing and cookery. £6 10s was raised for the Sunday School.
For the past month Jarrett Bros had been doing an immense amount of threshing, hay-pressing and chaff-cutting in the Roto-o-Rangi, Maungatautari, Pukerimu and Pukekura districts. Splendid yields had been realised at Ed Allen's, John Fisher's, A Anderson's and W Wallace's.
At Maungatautari, Hay Bros called for tenders for clearing and ploughing 150 acres of fern land. They were about to set up a milking machine to be powered from a waterfall on their property.
A young local man shot himself (in the region of his heart) as the parents of his young lady did not favour their courtship. He was carried on a stretcher to Nurse Russel's hospital by McFarlane, Truss, Livingstone and one or two other gentlemen who were passing at the time.
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