ASHBURTON ITEMS

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17740, 17 April 1923, Page 3

ASHBURTON ITEMS

Threshing Operations, Tho threshing mills in the Coldstream district are still working full time, and a lot of grain is being taken to the Hinds railway station by the traction engine haulers. The yields are turning out. particularly satisfactorily, and more than one wheat-grower has had threshed averages up to 45 bushels per acre. Welcome Rain. Owing to the spell of dry weather, and the shortage of water in the natural springs, some of the settlers above the Terrace have had their windmill pumps go dry. Happily, however, the late rains were sufficient to fill the house tanks. In the meantime wellsinkers have been busy deepening the pipe well, and thus increasing the supply for stock and for general purposes. Plunket Nurse for Coldstream. Coldstream mothers are delighted at the action of the Ashburton Branch of the Plunket Society in arranging for' a Plunket nurse (Nurse Withell) to visit the district once a month, and the mothers are taking full advantage of the valuable information and practical help Nurse Withell is giving at each of lier visits. She is being conveyed from Hinds to Coldstream by the Rev. R. McCully. It is expected that a suitable room for the Plunket nurse, and the mothers with their little ones, will be provided at the Coldstream Homestead, through the kindness of the manager, Mr R. _ <T. Martin. . The homestead is 25 miles from Ashburton, and previously mothers, when seeking Plunket advice, have had to travel Jong distances.

Prizes for Winter Show. Special prizes for the' Ashburton Poultry Society's Winter Show, to be held in June, are coming in freely. Twenty entries have already been received for the Amos .Cup, for the best local young bird bred and owned by the exhibitor. Another valuable cup has been presented to the Society by Mr P. L* Donald, of Greenstreet, this prize to be known as the "Peter Donald Memorial Cup," to be held by the winner for ono year, for the best Black Orpington bred in the show. A gold medal for the best Persian cats in the Show, locally bred and owned, has also been presented to the Society. A championship class has been added for the needlework and fancy work sections. Numerous prizes are also being offered for the field roots and general farm products sections at • the Show, the Asliburton Poultry Society, as is now well-known, having combined its exhibition of poultry with the Winter Show, which was for several seasons run under the auspices of the A. and P. Association, thus saving this important exhibition for such a famous agricultural and pastoral district as Ashburton from lapsing.

Annual Meeting of Plunket Society. At the annual meeting of the Ashburton Branch of the Plunket Society, the president (Mrs J. Laing) in the chair, it-was reported that, during the month, the committee went to Hinds and opened a sub-branch for that district, and also arranged for Nurse Withell' to visit Coldstream and Lowcliffe once a month.

Withell's report for the month was: —Visits paid to homes, 91; visits paid to nurse at office, 549; new cases, 29 adults and 27 children. Of tho children 19 were entered as naturally fed, two supplimented, five artificially fed, and two weaned. At the Methven branch 44 visits had been paid to the nurse's room, and there were four new mothers and naturally fed children admitted.' The nurse reported that the visits to Methven were very satisfactory, and that there were new visits on each occasion, as well as regular visits of the old ones.

Casualty. Douglas Hooper, while riding a horse at the Staveley School, was thrown, and received a cut in the head, which necessitated his removal to Methven for medical treatment. Personal. Mr J. J. Collins, who has been clerk at the Tinwald railway station for two and a half years, has received notice .. of transfer, on promotion, to the Auckland district. He is being succeeded by Mr J. Calcutt. Deer Stalking. The deer shooting season, which opened in the Ashburton district 011 Monday, April 2nd, . promises .to provide excellent sport for experienced stalkers. It has already provided an ideal eight days' shooting to one of Ashburton's prominent business men, Mr G. D. Hefford, the chairman of the Ashburton Acclimatisation Society. As a Volunteer officer, Captain Hetforrt knew the use of the rifle thoroughly, and for many years he was one of the best shots on the rifle range. When the Ashburton Rifle Corps went out of existence, he became an enthusiastic angler, but towards the end of the present fishing season, he dropped the rod for the gun, and determined to try his skill at deer stalking. Curiously enough, he was the last to draw a permit to shoot deer at the ballot, which took place some few weeks ago, and he was the first to shoot a deer in the Ashburton district this season. He left Ashburton with a small party 011 the 2nd inst., and proceeded with his outfit to the Spaxton Block, which is situated just about midway between the Mount Hutt homestead and Pudding Hill, the first headworks *of the Ashburton district water race system.

They pitched camp, find early the next morning Mr Hefford commenced his initial deer stalking, and, as a matter of fact, his first experience of scaling the steep spur of a high hill. He saw no sign of game during his iirst day's tramp, but on April 4th lie heard animals "roaring," or, stags calling to the hinds. Later on in the day, he sighted a stag and several hinds. One of the hinds had a calf at foot. Later on still in the day a ten-pointer fell victim to Mr liefford 's accurate shooting. The next day he got an eleven-pointer, but his "day of days" was the following. He was up at sunrise," and a couple of hours afterwards he was away out on a high spur. In the far distance he sighted a stag on the peak of another spur. By adroit stalking up and down, in and around the spurs, the novice deerstalker was finally brought face to

face with his qnarry, Tight out in the open, the distance between the rifleman and the stag being about sixty yards. Mr Hefford's first shot penetrated the.stag's shoulder, and tho animal was hurled over for an instant, but rose almost immediately, and was making off when it received a shot in the ribs. A few seconds afterwards it received a third shot near where the first had struck home.This stag proved to be a twelve-pointer. Thus the Ashburton deer stalking novice got his legal three heads, and a thoroughly enjoyable relaxation from business worries in eight days from his leaving to his returning to Ashburton. "Did you enjoy the outing?" was a question asked. "Enjoy it! It is the "oorfc of kings," was the reply Mr liefford scouts the idea of deer having been seen in one spot at Staveley last winter. He also states that the land-owners in the Spaxton and other deer shooting blocks of the country, from the Eakaia Gorge to the Rangitata, aro greatly adverse to an open season for deer Bhooting, as the deer so far have done no damage whatever. The land-owners strongly object to anyone who does not hold a license shooting on., their respective properties.