Better weather than that which prevailed on Saturday afternoon could not have been desired, at any rate from the point of view of the Otago Hunt, which met at Vauxhall, and the result was that there was a large attendance of spectators and followers.
Shortly after 3 o'clock a start was made, Mr Gault setting off from the brow of the Vauxhall Hill to lay the trail. He was well mounted on Patch and succeeded without mishap in selecting a good course, which, although, on the upward grade, extended over a distance of between three and four miles. Arriving at the summit he made a detour to the right for about half-a-mile and then struck out in a westerly direction over quite a number of jumps.
The trailsman completed a very fine course by doubling back towards the top of the hill without retracing the ground he had traversed, and providing jumps enough for even the most fastidious. The trailsman having received a good start, the hounds were liberated and they soon picked up the scent. The followers - among whom were a large number of ladies - found that they would have to set a merry pace if they wanted to keep close to the master and his pack, consequently the field was soon well strung out.
When the brow of the hill was reached Mr J. Brown, on Crown Prince, was in the van, and was closely followed by Miss D. Mowat, on Sea View, and Mr Jordan on Ngatiri. A slight check took place on the hilltop, and then the hounds picked up the scent again, skirted the hillside and travelling hard on the trail, almost completed a circle, when they were again checked and coupled, the run being finished. Of the large following not one met with an accident, and the run proved one of the most enjoyable held in that part of the district by the Otago Hunt.
• Motoring in mid-winter through Central Otago is not always the most alluring of pastimes, but a party which left the lakes for Dunedin a fortnight ago and returned lately had little reason to complain. The party, which consisted of Messrs Faulks, Robertson, and Cotter, experienced good weather while travelling, and the B.S.A. car owned by the first named gentleman made light of the difficulties encountered on the journey - the chief of these being a stretch of heavy going near Blackstone Hill, and a newly-formed road below Kyeburn.
As the Maniototo country was said to be partly snow-covered the car was trucked to Omakau, and the journey from thence to Pembroke undertaken the following day. Heavy rains and much carting had converted the ordinarily dusty thoroughfare between Cromwell and Pembroke to a quagmire in many places, making the strain on the driver unusually severe, but with none of the usual stoppages a fairly pleasant run through to Pembroke was enjoyed.
• The St. Clair Congregational Church held the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of its church fellowship yesterday. There was a very large attendance at each of the services. In the morning the pastor, the Rev. W. J. Ashford, was the preacher, and took for the subject of his address the ''Positive Faith of the Congregational Church''.
In the course of a closely-reasoned address he said that the great need of the present time in all the churches and in the world at large was a positive faith and a positive religion and morality. The time of mere negation and barren denial had long since passed away, and they were faced by an age of construction in matters of faith. It was a matter of the utmost importance that Christian faith should have the distinctly positive note in it or it ceased to be faith at all. - ODT, 6.7.1914.
