UPPER SELWYN.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7922, 23 July 1891, Page 3

UPPER SELWYN.

Our correspondent writes :—The frosta this year have been very severe. In shady places the ice has been 3in thick, and in one case it was sufficiently thick to bear the weight of a horse and cart. A good deal of rain has fallen during the past few days, probably as much as is required for the present. The high prices ruling for sheep this year has caused farmers to turn their attention largely to sheep-breeding. At the present time it is thougat there are more sheep being killed annually than the natural increase amounts to. It is, therefore, evident that unless more sheep are bred in the future, our export trade will gradually become less. The establishment of saleyards at Darfield has been a great boon to farmers, and probably now no country sales are more successful than those at Darfield. So far aa the shareholders are concerned these yards have proved highly remunerative. It is a great convenience to farmers and squatters to be able to dispose of their stock in a good market so near home.

There are some signs of returning vitality to the mineral trade. The coal at the Homebush coal mines is now of such superior quality that there is an increasing demand. A good deal is being sent away by rail, and the dray trade is largely on the increase. It is not, perhaps, generally known that this coal mixed with Westport coal makes a fuel that is a great improvement on either of these coals used alone, the ash of the Homebush coal checks the fierce effect of the more highly mineralised coaL Where the experiment has been tried for steaming purposes it has been highly satisfactory. At the Whitecliffs Colliery the coal has been worked down to the water level, and an engine is now being used for pumping. This coal has much improved in quality. The coal field now exposed surpasses any former conjecture of its extent. Under the skilful management of Mr Learning, the owner, a grand grip of the coal has been got. Probably when the seam is worked at a much lower level, and gets near the plutonic rocks, now seen rising in the background, the coal will become highly minerali_ed—a black coaL

The demand for bricks and pipes has been increasing. The fireclay in this district has been pronounced, so I am told by a well* known expert, as the best south of the Line for some kinds of clay goods. The bricks used for the new school at Waltham were obtained from the Homebuah brickyard.