SOUTHLAND NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 16777, 4 July 1918, Page 7

SOUTHLAND NOTES

Tho danger of serious Hoods a week ago was quickly dispelled by a spell of severe frosts throughout Southland. On Saturday morning 9 degrees wero registered in lnvercargill. and the cold was more intense further inland. The spell remained unbroken on Wednesday, and, excepting where snow lias fallen, it is anticipated that the frosts will do good, sweetening the land iu the country, and help to stamp out the diphtheria epidemic iu the towns. Reports from up country show that a good deal of snow has fallen on the high ground, and-with the severe frosts since Sunday all this snow will bo frozen and feed covered. Tho winter feed on the hill stations has not been as good this year as usual, and tins severe fall of snow will thus bo all the more keenly felt by tho stock.

At a meeting of dairymen, held in Invercargill on Saturday morning, Messrs F. W. Foster (chairman of the South Island Dairy Association) and Middleton (a director of that body), who had just returned from Wellington, where they had had interviews with Messrs Guthrie (Minister-in-Charge) and Cuddio (chief of the' Dairy Division), had some interesting inlormation to impart regarding the shipping and storage ot cheese. The Bluff Cool Stores now contain about 40,000 crates, and it is estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 crates of this season's make are still to come to hand. Tho Minister told them that the most they could hope to get away from Bluff prior to the commencement of next season would be- 8.000 or 9,000 crates, which would leave the stores with, more than twice as much in them as at this time last year. The outlook was far from promising, and it was certain that the factories in Sounthland would have to make arrangements for additional storage. Mr Foster said that there was a chance of the Bluff Harbor Board being able to make arrangements for the lease of a large e.rain store at Bluff, which, if tho Dairy Association would approve of as a cool store v.'lien certain alterations had been made, would obviate tho expense of building, and eventually those present at the meeting appointed a deputation to wait on the Bintf Harbor Board at their nest meeting to make the best arrangements and report nt a meeting to be held in a month's time. In replv to a question as to what efforts the Dairy Association had made to purchase the Cool Stores at Bluff, Mr Foster said that tho Harbor Board had replied that it would ho necessary to get a Bill through Parliament authorising the Bale, as the board had built tho stores on borrowed money. So far the association had not approached the board with regard to leasing"them, but the deputation might do this when they met tho board next week. From Mr Foster's remarks the situation for tho approaching season is not particularly cheerful, and though there is every prospect of cheese being worth quite as much f.o.b. as it is this season tho outlook of getting steamers to take it away is so bad that tho value of it in cool store must be discounted considerably.—lnvcrcargill correspondent, July 3.