SOUTHLAND.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9132, 17 June 1895, Page 2

SOUTHLAND.

At last time of writing I spoke of the tremendous downpour of rain we had. As it turned out afterwards, the up-country folks had been getting it too, but in the shape of snow, and very heavy at that. Even now accounts continue to come in of heavy falls of snow among the mountains, and on some of the far out-of the-way diggings the diagers are completely .snowed in, and it is likely by the look of thing 3 that the digger will in many ca9es have to abandon some of his outposts. Since the rain however, we folk on the plains have been getting glorious weather —never better; long may it last. The most noticeable feature of the week has been the inquest on tbe Wiuton babies, and it is not over yet. Of course it is hardly necessary to say that the Court House is crowded all day long, while coming and going are a perpetual stream of people, wh >cc main object is to get a look "at Mrs Dean. It's strange how people arrive at. fame by different routes. The wheat boom has divided the honours with the Deans. Up to the present time flour has pone up thirty shillings, and the four pound loaf one penny and one penny half penny; but there is this consideration, that mutton is very cheap, as cheap as bread, and the result will be a largely increased consumption, which will tend to equalise things. This is a certainty, becau«e it is not very long ago that beef was very dear, but the low p< ice of mutton has pulled ir. down, and if I ana not mistaken it will do the same for flour and bread. It is intended to open a dairy school at Edendale, where the Nβ v Zealand Land Company's dairy factory is situated, at which the making of butter and cheese will be taught. I don't think there ia much wanted as far as the cheese is concerned, unless it may be for -pecial makes, but as regards butter I think the farmers can do win a good deal of instruction, for as a rule the butter they turn out is bad—some of it very bad. Indeed, unless yon tret butter which comes from some of the N rthern factories you can put it down as inferior, and the price paid is high enough for a goad article, and, independent o£ quality, a more regular supply is wanted in the winter, for at times butter is very scarce. Iα spring and summer, when butter is only half the present pace, the town is full of it. Scarcity of milk Is, I suppose, at the bottom of flic irholo bminesi, and if fihli is to tie r-emodietl* milking cove-» will Ing the -winter. Xney can't stand cue Dw ing winds and drenching rains of this climate. Bare paddocks and no shelter wont increase milk production. If farmers expect to do anything in the butter business they must provide more shelter and more food for the cows in the mincer, It will pay to do It, and the sooner they get about doing it the Setter for themselves and for the public. "We cannot complain about the weatber, but we have a grave complaint to make about the scarcity of money, mortgage advances are easily enough obtained if the security is anything like at all, but trades are placed at a great disadvantage, for it is very little assistance thej can get from banks; in fact, ao long as the present state of things lasts the trade of the country is par lyeed. This extreme caution on the part of the banks may perhaps be warranted by circumstances, known only to themselves, but its effect on the trade of the country is most disastrous. Now and then we get a bit of news from our diggings, as we call the Wilson's River. The Golden Sire people are working on their new reef, which, it is said, shows payable gold throughout. Work ia also going on at the other zeefs on the field, and for one of them a battery and engine is being prepared in lavercargill, and great hopes are entertained of success ful results. As regards the alluvial, not very much is doing. A great deal of fossicking i 3 going on, and one pair of foseickers dropped upon a 2ioz nugget. But it is a curious country thereabout. You might find gold in one spot, and nothing more but the colour tor miles around it. There is very little doing at the stock sale yards just now. It may be that the system of cash on the nait has something to dp with thie, and that buyers are dealing with farmers privately. Whatever the cause, it's a fact all the same. Besides, with the mutton competition butchers cannot afford to buy the half starved miserable looking cattle that are brought into the sale yards at the present time. The oat market continue* pretty busy, 13,000 sacks having been shipped during the week, and no fewer than 5,421 bag* of chaff. Shipments of linseed are also

increasing, and the earae may be said as ' reaards shipments of frozen flih, in fact, th« fish trade bids fair co assume very large proportions.