FROM OTHER PAPERS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 87, 6 January 1908, Page 5

FROM OTHER PAPERS.

■ A gentleman tvJio'is watching .the' interests of ,farmers'at the'-sittings''of tho Conciliation Board- said,, in .reply to a question' put to. him '.by. a representative, of the Ashburt'oii •"..Guardian,"..ilhat'Jie was .willing'tothat the majority, of,farmers .took,too : mjich: out- of-: their land' without • making any at- ' tompt to keep it tup ■to • its '. virgin, state . of'. productiveness., He had. experimented,.,says, the "Lyttclton ..Times," a.: gbod ..'deal., in;, treating 'his land /iwith.; artificial * manure, and.;the results had been so financially; successful' that; in": the. •future, ho; would not . attempt. to'. sow v an'y' grain without . accompanying tho sowing with ./ artificial manure: •By;.doing:,this, he\ kept his,.-land- in good, heart, his. crops gave -a better return, and the sample of grain tlie'land-- produced" was' superior -to! that which* came .from soil , that had'not-been dressed. 1 Too hesry eroppipg" was .ilso responsible-for ' making., the■ land , produce'noxious weeds. • , : . -.•.';

Have New Zealanders a ''twang?'.' ; Outsiders' say so., :ThfS '"New,; Zealand Herald" prints',an'extract,.from a _letter written;, by' a' New Zealander jipW-iri Edinburgh.' Ho writes : ! "I Va sstandihg'Jh the'.Quadrangle 'the other, day and a man came up to me and asked some directions. ' I; thought he was a ;New» Zealander,' and he. turned out, to he a doctor from Christchurch. Did you-ever know that' New.Zealanders have 'certain -peculiarities?; In- th'e first place ' theygenerally-have '.a greenstone pendant, aridin' tho second place their accent ,is usually unmistakable ;' it is a sort of -modified American which people say is.rather pleasant than otherwise. I have almost lost mine;. at'least- it has .been modified 'by .of'-a .cortain amount ;of Edinburgh drawl and . general Scqtch .accent.' However, I am told it .is still recognisable." ' ; '

Some 'months .ago', when the'Otago XSfcNmatisation ' Society , liberated,\a number, olf oiylsin Earnscleugh and other with •a view-to minimising the small bird .nuisance, doubts ; were expressed concoming tho wisdom 'of the step. The following letter,, which' has been received by the secretary of the societv from a resident of Earnscleugh district, 1 ; explains itself:—"l have an orchard of /ruit .trees, and in some fir trees which I'planted; as a brcakwind the birds; were very numerous until last 'year, and ate all the buds off my "fruit , trees, not'leaving mo a-'case/qt-fruit. Since the owls wero. liberated by your ranger I have had a fairly .{jood crop,- of fruit,/and I consider that .this is .duo. to the; work'.of, the'owls in'exterminating tho'birds.' In. the' fir trees. which. I hare. .mentioned ,1 have found, several empty shells of eggs, and tho* trees are now almost deserted by small birds'.'l have found several partly-eaten birds in an, owlV homo in an old sod waH .'on' my property,, so; that . they, would -seemto eat both birds and'eggs.' The owls all seem to be thriving'well 'in the district."; The "Otago Daily Times" understands that only 44, owls were liberatod in the district—-14 in Seotember, 1905, 'and'3o in September- of this year.-

A feature ■ of. the shooting at tho yiflo meeting which cpncluded on the I'utiki range was tho' splendid' performance: of Bugler, Soler, ;says ;tho :: '''Wanganui. This youthful marksman, whb_is. but loyears'of age, . worked himself into, seventh plac6 ~'in the grand aggregate final. Included in the' competitors' 'were J-scveral-membersv of . "the. team. .which. recently represented jNew ■ Zca-, land iii Australia, and also somo;past chamof 1 New- Zealand,, together. ..with ' the holders- of- the North ' Island; Chamniouship for the past few years, : which lhalics .the, lad's ■performance nil -t-ho more • meritorious.' Hovfinished,but :ll points.behind.the winner of , the Championship, Rifleman . M'Leay, whose, total wao-312.' This . score was the aggregate; of'five matches.

0;i Christmas Eve some young men;went; down -to tho"beach to' bathe', abovo ( Grey Street. One div'cd; in in shallow-water, and .asXhe did so a;big shark that, must havo been in 'only about' thrco' feet' of' water 'was ''secn.jfrom the.bank, quite closo to the .swim--' mer, who .could almost'havV .toiiched. it. Tho -.«winime'r!s brother,, says the "Poverty Bay Herald,'! 'was just''.running in .. when' '..lie, noticed .the''shark's, fins, and -immediately, warned his brother, and ran in. to .(help; frighten.,off the shark. The. swimmer.'gdfc' out very, smartly, though. .with\. a, good fright,' and the' shark could be .seen cruising round for'five minutes afterwards jiist about ■ the spot where- the swimmer hnd dived. There was. little or no break o nat-the time. Tho shark was estimated to bo from 10ft. to 12ft. long. On Christmas morning a big shark, about 12ft. long, was seen from the deck of tho Wr.ikave as the steamer > was about to leave for Auckland.