On Saturday Mr. Chong gave some interesting reminiscences of the erection of the lust butter factory in Taranaki at Jiltham. He had decided to have the factory's machinery driven by water power, and to obtain the necessary power a tunnel had to be driven. This was let to contractors, who, however, encountered so many big rocks that they gave up the job. Mr. Chong, however, nothing daunted, undertook the work himself, and his quaint description very much amused those present. He said he ordered about 401b of dynamite and went into the tunnel himself. As lie had been informed that dynamite was better if kept warm, he always carried his supply in his trousers' pocket. Many were horrified, and told him he would be blown up—but he was not. Moreover, he succeeded in putting the tunnel through, although it was a tremendously difficult job

 . Present-day settlers in Taranaki, except perhaps those in the backblocks, can hardly realise the hardship, and disabilties the early settlers lahor There was little monev, and there were no metalled roads or railwavs. or any of those conveniences which follow in the train of civilization. The women bad to work as hard as the men, and many a settler owed a good deal of his present prosperity to the solid work put m by his wife. Mr Chong instanced an vain pie of this on Saturday. When in business at Inglewood, an old German woman came into his store earrying on her back a bag of fungus, which she had earned m this fashion from beyond Tariki. She received  14s for this, and as he said there was no food at home she immediately invested on flour, some sugar and some tea, which she threw on her back and then set out on her return journey.
 

.Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 221, 24 January 1911, Page 4