MASTERTON NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1335, 12 January 1912, Page 2

MASTERTON NOTES.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) Masterton, January 11. A fire occurred at the south end of Masterton this morning, by which'a fiveroomed house, owned anil occupied by Joseph Treader, was destroyed. The fire was discovered in the front portion of the building, and an alarm was given, but nothing could be done to extinguish it, and only a few articles of furniture were- got out. The building was insured for jt'22s in the Union oliico, and the furniture for £75 in the Royal. . ' The railway service in the Wairarapa is very busy just now. Special, stock trains are being run almost daily. Sir. T. F. Wilton, of To Rangitmuau, Masterton, who is 57 years of age, anil has been shearing for the lost forty-one years, put up something of a record on Saturday last by shearing 203 sheep with blade-shears. Mr. W. l'latt, of Masterton, who has been very successful with the "divining red," claims to bo able to divine the presence of oil as well as water. lie intends proceeding to Taranaki at an early date, and offering his services to some of the syndicates. During the year 1911, eleven innuests were held by the district coroner in the Wairarapa. Two criminal cases and several civil cases have been sot down for hearing at the next sitting of the Supreme, Court in Masterton, which will be the first held in the new Court-house. There is a keen demand this season for locally-bred Lincoln rams. One breeder has disposed of the whole of his surplus flock. The pries offered for oatensheaf chaff in this district is ,£3 ss. per ton. A good many farmers are refusing to sell at this price, as they believe the market will harden.