The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA: FRIDAY, JAN. 16, 1903. BIRDS' NUISANCE ACT.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXIX, Issue 1676, 16 January 1903, Page 4

The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA: FRIDAY, JAN. 16, 1903. BIRDS' NUISANCE ACT.

The Small Birds' Nuisance Act passed last session is of more than passing interest to country settlers as well as the general community. The depredations of the small birds in the spring time to the newly-sown grain, and in the summer and autumn, to the ripening grain and fruit are too well known to need more than mention. Hitherto comparatively little has been done to keep the pest in check j in many cases nothing whatever has been done, and in the other cases much of what has been done has been quite ineffectivp, in a large degree because no simultaneous action has been taken over an area sufficiently large to ensure much practical result. The purchase of eggs and the laying of poison even where adopted has been too spasmodic and too local to be of much utility, The Legislature, fully alive to the growing dimensions of the evil, passed The Birds' Nuisance Act, 1902. which aims at securing systematic means of destruction over a sufficiently wide area to ensure good results. The Act provides that from a day " fixed by the Governor by Order-in-Oouncil, and at all times thereafter, it shall be the duty of every local authority to take effective means for the destruction of all injurious small birdß within the district." The provisions to secure concerted action provide for the grouping of certain districts, and a conference of delegates representing them to meet at such place as the Governor appoints, and recommend a suitHb'e day on which the work of des - ruction shall commtnce, and the methods to be employed by each local authority. It will have been observed that the authorities have suggested the grouping of the counties of Maniototo, Waihemo, YVaikouaifci, Taieri, Bruce, Tuapeka and Olutha for the purposes of such conference and united action, and that the Bruce, Olutha and Taieri counties have suggested the grouping of Btuce, Olutha, Taieri, andTuapeka, considering the districts suggested by the Department 100 large. There is, we think, much force in the suggestion of the county councils named. The grouping of the counties named by the Agricultural Department appears to ' form a district much too large for simultaneous work and eflective results. There is a wide divergence in the seasons and climatic conditions over the area named by the Department, and what might suit one portion might prove altogether unsuitable in another. Of course, if the period for destruction were spread over, say, two months, it might suit all parts, and the necessity of systematic action over a considerable area is an important factor aud must not be lost sight of, but there is, apparently, no provision for recommending work being commenced upon different days over the grouped counties, and this being so, we think the suggestion made by the local authorities a wise one, and one calculated to secure the most beneficial results. The day being fi::ed by the conference and gazetted, it is the duty of all the local authorities to adopt the day and methods recommended, or such other day and methods as the Governor thinks fit. Where the methods suggested prove inadequate it shall the duty of the local authority to employ all such additional methods as are necessary. Power is given to the local authority to appoint inspectors, make by-laws, and provide ppnaltief. The funds for destruction shall be provided out of the general funds, or, in the case of the Minister, out of the moneys appropriated by Parliament; power is given the local au hority to levy a rate not exceeding l-16th of a penny in the LI. Should the local authority fail to carry out the provisions of the Act to the satisfaction of the Minister for Agriculture he may appoint an inspector who will have power to do so, and the charges incurred may be deducted by the Colonial Treasurer from subsidies or other moneys payable to the local authority. Such are, succinctly put, the provisions of the Act. The winter and early spring is, of course, the beat time for destroying the birds, and most people, even though there is a wide-spread abhorence to the suggestion of the appointment of another " army of inspector," will hail with satisfaction the prospect of some adequaie steps being taken to keep in check a pest that is in many districts much more destructive than the rabbits. While power is given to the local authority to appoint its own inspectors, we think it would have been much more satisfactory if the officers of the Stock Department, who are inspectors under the Babbit and Noxious Weeds Acts, had been appointed by statute to this most important office. Under this we feol assured the Act would be administered with less friction and more satisfactory results than would be the case under any other method.

At the Inveroargill wool sales prices showed an advance of ljd per pound all round. Miss Manoraroabal and Miss Abrams (India, Mukti mission) address meetings at Warepa on Sunday morning and Puerua in the evening. Mr Haggart has been re-elected tbe Bruce County Council's npiesentative on tbe River Board, and Mr Sim will again represent Tua-pt-ka. In connection with the sooial to Mr and Mrs Muir to-night we have b;en asked to intimate that ladies sending cakes should do between 3 and 5 o'clock. At the West Taieri Horticultural Show 24 gooseberries turned the scale at lib oz. Can the Clutba produce anything like this at their forthcoming show next month ? The magnitude of the dairy industry in the North I=land may be guaged fronr the fact that some 285,000 cows have to be milked morning and evening. This represents an army of 40,000 or 50,000 milkers. At Monday evening's meeting of the Mosgiel Borough Council it was decided to instruct the engineer to make a detailed survey, and prepare plans for the carrying out of gravitation scheme of water supply. Nominations for the Clutha Hack Racing Club's meeting on February 6th must be in not later than January 24th at 8 p.m. Handicaps will be declared on January, 30th inst. According to the Westport Times the Premier has declared that he will allow the prohibitionists and the anti-prohibitionists to fight out their own quarrel in their own way, without his interfering. Mr Paulin records that rain fell on 169 days during last year. The lightest rainfall was in July and August, when only 2*sßin fell for the two months. The heaviest fall was in March, when d-51in fell. The New Year number of the Ftincior's ChronicVj, a monthly journal published at Christchurch and devoted to poultry.pigeons, etc., and their breeders, is to their hand. It is replete with a variety of interesting reading matter nnd several illustrations. The Taieri Horticultural Sooiety held their annual show at Mosgiel last Saturday, and was a fairly successful one. The fruit, flower and vegetable classes were not so good as those of former years, probably due to the backward season that is being experienced in most parts of the colony. There is a land bnom at Taranaki. One settler recently sold his farm for L2B an acre, and has purchased land in thd Waikato district, which he considers quite equal to his late holding, at Ll3 an acre. The prosperous oondition of the d liry industry is the principal cause of this inflation in values. The Commandant, General Babington, will inspect tbe Volunteer Corps of this district on Wednesday, 28th inat. The following companies will therefore muster at B*lclutba on that day ;—Clutha Mounted Itifl «, Clutha Rifles, Kaitantata Rifles, Owaka Kifles, Bruce Rifles. There should be close on 250 men on parade. Two boya were walking along the banks of the Pomahaka at Kelso on Saturday, when the bank gave way, precipitating one of them into the river, a quantity of earth falling on top of him forcing him under the water. Without hesitation the other boy sprang in after him nnd held his bead above water till a young girl arrived with a spade and liberated hire. With referpnoe to the story regarding the suicide of three consecutive teachers of the Rowan road school, the Taranaki News says the report is quite incorrect. The two teachers immediately preceding Mr Robertson, according to the N nvs, were ladies, and both resigned to gut married. But the News does not deny that three teachers of the Rowan school have committed suicide. Some days ago it was reported in the cable news that a man who was ekeing out a precarious livi'g in Sydney bad been left a fortune. The name uf the now wealthy man is William Newton, and his ocoupation was that of a woo'l-cirt r. Hi 3 identity has now been established, and ha c >mes in for a fortune of LI ,000,000. Mr Newton expects to return with his sister and relatives ia February to the old home in Engl md. Patrick Kenniff was executed at Brisbane on Monday, death being instantaneous. Standing un the scaffold, he said: " Before Qod I solemnly declare that I am Innocent of the crime for r.hich lam condemned." He was buried at South Brisb we Cjtnetery, 400, including his father and brother, att«:iding the funeral. A large number of wreaths were sent by sympathisers. Cheviot suffers severely from natural causes. On Saturday a heavy hailstorm pussed over a portion of the estate doing a great deal of d image. The hailstones were as large as small hens' rgqc Sc ireely a window in its track has been left unbroken, and in a number of cases corrugated iron roofs were perforated. It is estimated that damage to the extent of L 3.000 has been done to the crops in the district. The No. 2 Battalion OUgo Mounted Rifles went into cimp last week. Tin turn-out was very disappointing, and there is some talk of a second camp at Gore to pick up absentees. Tbe weather banished all hopes of a successful enc.impm^nt; the camp and horse lines became in a deplorable state—a regular quagmire—and the men who bad them wore gum boots. Lieut. Browne, Sergt. Majors Uardttle, Knee, and Brown are instructors. Makarewa was chosen the site for the camp from its similarity to Paardebdrg. Mrs Cumin, wife of the licensee of the Commercial Hotel at West Oxford (North Canterbury), drank herself to death. The Coroner at the inquest, addressing Curran, referred in scathing terms to the inhumanity of a m m playing billiards while his wife was lying drunk and dying on the kitchen floor, and reminded him that it would seem in impossible thing for the Licensing Committee to continue his license. Notice would also have to be taken of his daughter under 13 years being allowed to attend to the bar. The Southland Executive of the Farmers' Union has decided to engage Mr A. M. Paterson, M.R.C.V.S., for three years as organising secretary and veterinary surgeon to thu Union. Tbe amount collected, mostly in Is subscriptions, for a testimonial to Mr Glass amounted to Lls 12s 6d. Following resolutions are remitted to branches for consideration:-" That threshing mill owners provide prnp i.-cJ's t>t weighing grain"; vnd " that it is desirable that grain should be graded on the same lines as dairy produce." We have recsived a copy of the seventeenth annual report of the New Zealand Allianoe. It is a bulky booklet and runs into some 40 pages. The balance sheet shows that the total income for th- year amounted to L 1903 2s 4d,"of which member's subscriptions amounted to LIO3O 8s 6d, and meetings L 797 17s lOd. On the expenditure side the chief items are salaries L 754 10i Od, travelling expens s L 486 19s 31, and printing and advertising L 389 4< 3d. The list of m-mbers and i their subscriptions, ranging from Is to LlO, occupies 20 pages, and represents almost every city, hamlet, and country district in the colony.

A movement on foot to establish a creamery at Warepa. A man, whose name is unknown, shot himself at the Sussex Hotel ;on Wednesday afternoon. It is said he came from Clinton. Through a led of tow catching firs on the Palmerston North—Dannevirke tra'n yesterday, the truck, valued at LIBO, was destroyed. Pending additions to the stop banks at the butts, now in hand, there will be no classfiring at the Bamego range till to-morrow week. The MaUura licensing petition comes before Mr G. Crjick&hank, S.M., on Monday next, again. Jt is understood that a considerable amount of rebutting evidenoe will be called. We direct special attention to I. Greene and Co.'s drapery announcement which will be found on page 3 of this issue. In the drapery line the firm intend to make their gtle an "eye-opener." Inspect stock and compare prices.—[Advt.] j Several w ts have been played on the new tennis lawn during the current week and considering the short time it has been laid down it is in very good order. The formal opening takes place to-morrew afternoon, when the ladie.3 provide afternoon tea. We have received from Messrs W. and J. Yuill, family butchers,' their piotorial calender for 1903. It is entitled "Catching a male : a rough rider," and represents a lady on a bike arriving at a pillar box in a great hurry and frightening the postman, who in his excitement scatt rs the letters ail roads ; I a butcher boy stands near enjoying the fun. The scene is prettily set and forms a very nice picture. In response to the advertisement re the j Rabbiters' Union, between 20 and 25 rabbiters turned up at the Railway Hotel on j Wednesday evening, but there was no one present from the Union beedquarters in Danedin to put anything before them in terms of < announcement. Rabbiters were present from Owaka, Hillend Warepa and other districts. After waiting for some time, the gathering dispersed, giving vent to some strong expressions of opinion at Ining j fooled.