The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA : FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1891.

Clutha Leader, Volume XVII, Issue 875, 24 April 1891, Page 5

The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA : FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1891.

We 'have on several occasions of late years called attention to the. large possibilities in connection with the export of fruit from this country to the London market. Only a few individuals in various parts of the Colony seem yet to have given the subject much consideration, but sufficient trial shipments have been made to prove beyond question that, fruit can easily be shipped from here and placed in thoroughly good condition on the London market, and that too, just at the time when fresh fruit cannot be obtained from the ordinary sources of supply. It is landed at a season when fruit is most

prized, and consequently realises the highest prices. Apples from Canterbury this season wei'e sold at from 15s to 24s per case according to quality. We publish elsewhere an article from the New Zealand Mail dealing with this question, which will show the opinions entertained elsewhere regarding it. We are aware many are sceptical as to the possibility, or at all events the probability of anything much ever coming out of the fruit export tradr. But only a few years ago fewer still could be got to believe in an export trade in dairy produce. Yet this has already become a staple industry and export trade of the Colony, and it is only in its infancy. And we believe the trade in fruit will, in the course of a few years, far exceed in magnitude and profit the present trade in dairy produce. To many this may seem a very visionary idea, but a little consideration will show its possibilities. With the exception of the inhabitants of densely populated towns, almost; the whole people of the Colony could grow fruit for export. The climate, both north and south, is exceptionally favourable, and suitable soil can be had everywhere. vVere farmers to give a little attention to this matter, and plant out orchards they could in a few years send home many shiploads of fruit every season. We think this subject is specially deserving the attention of homestead and village settlers, such as those at Catlins, Glenomaru, Port Molynenx,. etc., who are yet struggling to make ends meet. They still have plenty of gi*ound uncultivated, which they could devote to fruit trees. The young trees would not cost a great deal, and they would not require moi*e attention than could easily be given them without unduly interfering with other work. In a few years they would give very profitable returns. There really is no difficulty in either growing or exporting fruit ; only common sense and ordinary care are required. In the first place they should procure the best varieties of firm dessert apples ; then they should be j carefully picked, graded and packed, and they will arrive all right in London, and realise a very good price. We think that many having small pieces of spare ground should turn their attention to fruit growing, and we feel assured they would thus be able in a very short time to increase their annual revenue. __________ I

The s.s. Napier will leave Dunedin for Owaki on Monday, May 4. The next European and English mail via Rio Janeiro (direct service) will close at the post office here on Thursday, the 30d1i iust., at .'3.45 p.m. We understand that as Mr Duncan Wright will officiate in the Presbyterian Church j ]\--r& on Sunday forenoon, the usual service at I Te Houka will be postponed till Sunday week. We are requested to direct attention to the alteration in the date of Messrs Tulloch j Bros.' sale at Romahapa. The date has been I altered to the 13th May in place of the 6th, as previously advertised.. The oi.ly nominations received for the "Warepa School Committee were those of Peter Ayson, junr., Jas. Davidson. Chas. Dabinett. R. Kerr, D. Muuroe, G. W. Wood, and Jonathan Snigeson, and being the required number only thej r p.re of course elected. We hear that some good sport has recently been had amongst the deer in t.he Tapanui district. Mr Thomas Telford, Otano- j momo, shot six flue animals, Mr J. A. Burn- I side and Mr J. Wright, who were along with him, got one each. The hour for commencing Mr Georg« Thomson's sale on Wednesday first has been altered from 1 o'clock, as previously advertised, to 12 o'clock. As the sale is a very lfirga one, it will commence at noon sharp, so as to get ' through as much as possible beforp darkA football match, best forwards against best backs, will be played on the lower reserve to-morrow afternoon at hnlf past. 4 o'clock. The match the following Saturday will bo Band against Club, and in view of a match ag.iin.sfc a Dunedin team at an early data a good muster of players is requested. j The special services at Barr's Hall are '' for the present nearly at a close. Mr Wright i speaks again this evening at S o'clock. He will : also conduct the forenoon service in the Presby- j terian church on Sunday, and give the final address in Barr's Hall same eveuin'g at 8 o'clock. j Those who have been present night after night ! have expressed their warm appreciation of the j services, but the evangelist said one night that he did not often nave such small gatherings. Both Rev. S. W. Currie and Rev. W. G. Thomas have assisted in the work. | The election of a licensing committee for Roslyn took place on Tuesday, and resulted in a victory for the prohibitionists. The following was the voting:— A. C. Begg, 258; James Stewart, 251 ; James Lillico, 250 ; Robert Dalziel, 245; John Wilson, 244; Andrew Lees, 227 ; James Lambert, 225 ; Louis Kemnitz, 222 ; Walter Carlton, 221 ; William Parley, 219. The first five— being the prohibition candidateswere declared elected, and they are pledged to refuse all applications for licenses to sell drink within the lioensiug district. At present there are three licensed hotels in Roslyn. The following nominations for the Balclutha School Committee were lodged on Monday last :— Ellen Ayson, proposed by John ftow ; John Dunne, proposed by John Macmilkn ; D. T. Fleming, proposed by A. B. Henderson ; George Lousley, proposed by D. Stewart ; Peter Mason, prouosed by D. Wood ; John Paterson, proposed by George Lousley; John Ramage, proposed by VV. G. Thomas ; D. B. Sievwright, proposed by Ja.rnea Hogg; J. G. Smith, proposed by G. Bain j D. Stewart, proposed by G. W. Hutcbins ; J. W. Wilson, proposed by D. T. Fleming; David Wood, proposed by P. Mason. The election will take place ou Monday evening at half-past 7 o'clock, in manner as w e explained a fortnight ago.

The Auckland prohibition ists have decided to contest the Licensing Committee election for that city. Captain Manaell, aide-de-camp to the Governor of South Australia, was run over by a train at Richmond, Victoria, and killed <>n Wednesday last. We call attention to the concert and service of song to be given in Barr'a Hall on Wednesday evening in- aid of the funds of the Wesleyan Sunday School. The programme, which will be found elsewhere, is a very attractive one, and as those taking part in ifc have been assiduously practising for some time, a good performance and a very enjoyable evening may be expected. The election for the Mataiira Riding of Southland county resulted ia the return of four prohibitionists and one moderate. The prohibitionists are pledged to close all hotels— namely, those at Chatton, Waikaka, Otaria, and Pukerau. The Mayor of Gore (Mr J. M'Gibbon) heads the poll with 100 votes, Mr Sloan Millar comes next with 96, Mr John M'Queen obtained 94. Mr W. D. Stewart 93, and Mr J. Scott 93. The defeated candidatos polled 93, 89, 89, 84, and 83 respectively. The local option poll was against any increase of licenses by a large majority. To-morrow evening at 8 o'clock in Ban's Hall Mr Wright is advertised to give a special lecture, in which will be given some very striking and interesting particulars regarding several of our favourite hymns and the wonderful power they have exercised ou both sea and lar.d. The address will be interspersed with the singing of nearly a dozen hymns, new and old, by MY Wright and bis daughter, the latter of whom will preside at the organ. Miss Wright, who is reported to have a full contralto voice, will sing as solos, Longfellow's " The bridge " and " The better land." The Rev. S. W. Currie will preside. Admission is free, but a collection will be taken at the close. Mr Findlay M'Kay has for a few weeks past been engaged, aloug with the dayman, formiug and preparing footpaths for asphalt in the following streets :— George, Elizabeth, Renfrew, Drumclog, and ia front of the school, in Lanark street. This work he completed last week. He is now laying the asphalt, and is making a very good job of it. tflt is provoking, however, to find that before the asphalt is given time to set it is all diriied and trampled with cattle. The droppings of the cattle have the effect of blistering and destroying the asphalt, while the footprints cause permanent indentations that will always retaiu the water after rain. We previously called attention to this evil, but only with temporary effects. Surely the council should take some extra precautions to prevent the injury to the footpaths in the way stated. The inquiry in connection with the disappearance of the Kakanui has now closed. The court of enquiry reported on Tuesday : — We find that the Kikanui was caught in a terrible gale on January 4th, which seems to have partaken of the nature of a cyclone, and as she has been neither seen nor heard of since, in all probability she foundered during that gale— a fate that might have happened bo a vessel of any size. The evidence shows clearly that the men and women at the Macquaries on the arrival of the Kakanui were not in a destitute condition, or suffering from want of food, and nev^r had been. The n.en undoubtedly suffered hardships from want of proper food, but were never in absolute want, the danger of which doubtless prompted the benovoleni; acb of sending; the Kakanui. to give them relief. The court endorses with full confidence Mr Belcher's opinion as to the w.iy the vessel was lost. Mr Carew adjudged th.it the costs of the inquiry be paid by the Government. On Saturday last Mr Hales, acting engineer-in-chief, and Messrs TJssher and Macandrew, C.E.s, accompanied by "Mr Mackenzie, M.H.R., visited the Catlins River "railway, when Mr Ussher gave instructions to have suitable accommodation provided for the reception of the unemployed, who, to the number of 60, will leave Duntnlin by this morning's train and will arrive at Kotnahapa at 1'^.20 pm. From there they will walk to the locality of the work, near M'Donald's saddle, where they will camp. A pei sou will be on the ground on the arrival of the men to give them tents, etc. Passes will be supplied to the men, which will carry them from Diuiedin to Romahapa, and the price of these passages will ultimately be deducted from the men's earnings. Tools and plant will be provided by the Government, a moderate charge being made for the wear and tear of the same. It is expected Mr Uisher will again visit the locality on Monday to fix the price to be paid for the work, and make other arrangements with the men. The work consists of bush-felling, clearing, and grubbing, prior to the cuttings being excavated and the embankments made, fencing, etc. It is expected the whole work will be finished within four months, as that portion of the line proposed to be constructed ia only a mile and a-half in length. The election of a licensing committee for Dunedin on Friday last proved an exceedingly keen and close contest- It was generally anticipated that the " moderates " would be returned, but with very little to spare, and this proved to be the case. The polling was as follows : • Robert S. Sparrow, 7H9 ; H. Gourley, 732 ; Septimus Myers, 730 ; Peter McGregor, 703 ; R. L. Stanford, 702 ; Archibald Barr, 685 ; William Ready, 675 , A. C. Begg, 672 ; A. O. Broad, 670 ; James Wright, 663. The first five— the moderate candidates -were declared elected. The Daily Times explains it thus : *' The moderates were elected by an average of 45 1-5 votes over the prohibitionists, or a total of 241 votes more than were recorded in favour of the other five candidates. Each, voter at an election of a licensing committee can give one vote to each of any of the five candidates, and as no doubt the general rule is not to waste votes, by dividing the total number of votes by five the number of people voting can be obtained with tolerable accuracy. An estimate made up in this way shows that the temperance party hawe been steadily gaining ground, for in 1889 they lost their ticket by 31 3 voters, in 1890 by 240 voters, and this year by only 49 voters, representing 241 votes. Had the prohibitionist party numbered 50 more supporters they could have put in a ' non-licensing ' licensing committee, the ' moderates' for their ticket having a majority, as stated, of 241 votes." It thus appears that had 25 of those who voted for the moderate candidates given their votes for the prohibition candidates the latter would have beeti elected and no licenses would have been granted within the Dunediu licensing district I after Juna'. 1892, * ' a * u

The following gentlemen have been neminated for the Stirling School Committee : — J. Nelson, Thos. Parker, James Pefcrie, John Hastings, James Ranwiy, Chas. Taylor, .Robert M 'Kinky, E,. M 'Leod, and Edward Boyd. Fine harvest weather has prevailed during the we-k. and ths great bulk of the crops have now been secured. The threshing, mills are everywhere at work, and to make up for lost time are working 16 or 17 hours a day. A call, signed 80 members and 51 adherents of the Presbyterian Church in the Wakatipu paiish, to the Rev. William Gow, of .Reefton, has been unanimously sustained by the Presbytery of Southland. The call is to be sent to the Westland Presbytery. The Government intimated through the Press Agency that in consequence of the Minister of Mines and the Minister of Lands having several visits to make that will prevent Parliament meeting on the 4th of June, it has been decided to postpone the meeting till Tlmrsdayi June 11. It will be remembered that when last session was prorogued, Ministers gave a pledge that Parliament would be called together in May. But little faith was placed in this pledge, and it will surprise but few although it does not meet till after the middle of June. When Mr Hales, acting engineer-in-chief, Mr TJssher and others were here on Satnrday last, they, accompanied by Mr Mackenzie, M.H.E.. , and Mr Hutchins. paid a vist of inspection to the river embankment behind the township. Mr Hales seemed greatly pleased with the embankment, and pointed out the necessity of keeping the tramway clear of gorse, etc., so that it might be serviceable at any time if required. Some conversation ensued as to the steps necessary to secure the permanency of the line, etc., and Mr Hales piomised to make full enquiry into the whole matter. At an adjourned meeting of the Land Board yesterday, the chief surveyor forwarded plans of new surveys' on land in blocks 6 and S. Catlins, aud suggested prices at which the lands should be offered for sale as follows :— Block 6 : Section 57, 25 acres, 10s ; 58, 277 acres, 12s 6d ; 59, 285 acres, 12s 6d ; 60, 281 acres, 10s ; 61, 287 acres, 15s; 62, 291 acres, 15s; 63,138 acres, 15s ; 64, 16 acres, 15s ; 65, 192 acres, los ; 66, 148 acres, 12s 6d ; 67, 115 acres, 10s. Block 8 : Section 23, 253 acres, 10s ; 24, 213 acres, 10s ; 25, 252 acres, 12s Gd ; 26, 182 acres, 12s 6.-1 ; 27, lOOmcivs, 12s 6d; 28, 198 acres, 15s.I Recommended to the Government for notification at the prices fixed by the surveyor.