THE COUNTRY.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15279, 15 May 1915, Page 13

THE COUNTRY.

NEWS AND NOTES. R'AXGIOPvA. The It oil Lion Hotel stables μ-cio gutted by lire at 6.45 p.m. yesterday. The lire" brigade eutceeded in saving tho hotel .and adjacent buildings, responding to tho alarm with praiseworthy promptness. A motor bicycle, the property of a Territorial in camp at. Rangior'a, was destroyed in tho blaze. The insurances on the building wero not available last night. HINDS. There was a Rood attendance of ladies at the annual meeting of th* Hinds Ladies' Hockey Club. The report showed that tho club had •passed through ft very successful year, and that interest .had been well maintained. Iho balance-sheet showed a credit balance. Thp'folloiviiifr officers were elected:— Cnotnm Miss Chisnall: vice-captain, Miss K. IVly; secretary and treasurer, Miss Hayes; coach, Mr J. Cook. It was decided to practise on Thursday afternoons, at the school reserve. IN SOUTII CANTERBURY. A correspondent writes : — A wet aft?ruoon lias freshened irp the grass lands, and put tho ground into order for ploughing and sowing operations, but as yet the rain has not penetrated for. and a few inches below tho .surface the soil b still dry and hard, ac in summer. Two, or even three days of steady rainfall are required very much in South Canterbury, for the fields have not had a thorough soaking in tho last year, the lagoons are nearly all empty, and the Xt-reams running at their lowest ebb, with snoflT on the mountain-top?, frosts are a natural consequence, but th» hopeful man insists that tho grass has made some- sort of growth since tho rain, and if he is correct, thero is no doubt that tho stock upon the plains will need it all very badly during the winter months. Seldom, if ever, have tho paddocks looked so bare at this season of the year, and pood foed*of anj kind commands tho highest price. Jn tho couutrv between the Jlangitata and Opihi rivers, the onrlie-st-sown corn crops «: - o making excellent progress almost everywhere, find apparently th..' acreage under grain will be considerably greater than usual. Lnlo fields of rape and rye have done vory well, and will come in most usefully for early fe?d. In most places, potatoes are a good or better crop, and can be bought reasonably; but as a rule country prices, are extremely high—butter one and g.ov.mpenco a pound, mutton at fivepence. and so on. tor which last extortion there seem≤ little ' n tue present value of shc-ep.