RIVERLEA.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 8 February 1918, Page 5

RIVERLEA.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) PERSONAL. It is with great pleasure that local people welcome iigam to l„veriea sergeant Jonn Gardner, who left here with L-ae Main Body and saw considerable ■service in Gainpoh aim Egypt, •sergt. liarauer left as a privatoj and we are ail pieased at his rise m rank. . During his service on. Gallipoii Sergt. Gardner was wounded, and later on lost an arm. His brother. Gunner Noel G-^--ner, who also lert with the Main .body, saw service on Gallipoli, and has bee_ in France and Flanders ever since. Of the other local men, exceptim; Private Tom Hey, I have not heard! anything recently. Private Hey, tiulast advices, was again in the firing, line, aud had quite recovered from L... wound.

Mr E. Low has asked me to vnpres* his thanks to .all those who t.i tiered tnen* sympathy in the loss of J brother, Private Erie Low, who fell in r)■■•"■■-**■ ;n iNovemtier.

Mr H. Hooper met with a nasty a-in . paimul accident about three wee:-..' ago owing to his horse falling on h.. and severely injuring his leg. _■.- Hooper was confined to the house ici* some days, but is now fairly, well again, though his leg is still weak* and painful. METEOROLOGICAL. The rainfall for January was 3.59 inches, which fell on 13 days. The maximum precipitation was O.bO on the lltli, and the minimum 0.02 on the* 2Uth. .Last year oniy i.84 inches fell in January on eight days. As showing how heavy rain coming with, a N.B. wind often passes us to a great extent owing to the breaking or the clouds by the mountain, I might mention that •n the 28th, although heavy rain fell all round us, Eltham recording no less than 2.89 inches, Hawera 1.28 inches, and Ohawe 1.09 incites, the precipitation recorded here was only 0.55 inches, and fell between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. 1 have often noticed this, it being effected by the mountain parting the clouds, which pass along the coast and over Kaponga and Te Kiri, leaving Awatuna and Riverlea fairly dry. Later towards the plains, or perhaps not till the sea is reached, the parted clouds join again and the "dry area'disappears. Tbe past month was probably the most equable in temperature that we have ever experienced, the thermometer ranging, at 9 a.m. in, the shade, from 81 deg. Fahr. on the 27th to 62deg. on the 29th and 31st, with an average of 71 deg. Fahr. for the whole month. The highest temperature recorded was 90 deg. between 11 a.m. and .12 noon on the 28th. There were many very warm nights. That between the 27th and 28th was probably the warmest, the thermometer standing at 67 deg. at 10 p.m. in the open air and at 69 deg. at 4 o'clock on the following morning, probably^ having never gone below 67 deg. during the whole night. The past week has been hot, with heavy and very drying N.E> winds, and a good and steady rain would do much s;ood. GENERAL NOTES. Turnip feeding commenced here some time ago, and as a result the milk supply has steadied in its down-grade. Mr Molier, manager of the local fac*tory, informs me that there is considerably more milk being supplied now thai* for the corresponding period of last year. He also tells me that for the month of January he turned out over 100 more cheeses than for the same month of 1917. The frequent showers for the past month were somewhat responsible for this, causing a; flush of grass. They were, however, rather disastrous to a considerable quantity of hay, which it was impossible to get in for nearly two weeks.-, Tests at the local factory range between 3.6 and 4.4, and are about the same as last year. Owing to the pressure of work during the past two months, the local branch of the Farmers' Union has been lying low, but with a slackening of harvesting operations will soon be holding a meeting, as a matter of some importance requires attention. j According to a paragraph in the Star i a week or two ago, the Wellington Post stated that the Government had effected a change of iniportanoe to the dairying industry by having exchanged a number of Holstein cattle with the Victorian Government for a number of "Friesians," and went on to say that the introduction of "Friesian" cattle into New Zealand should do much to improve the Dominion's dairy herds. Apparently the writer of the Post's paragraph thinks this a new breed, and has in some unaccountable way. mixed up the name of Holstein-Friesiani and made two different breeds of cattle out of it. What our Agricultural Department did was to exchange some ' N.Z. Holstein-Friesians for some Victorian Red Polled cattle. WEED INSPECTORS. Your correspondent "Lynx," in hia condemnation of weed inspectors, is another example of crass ignorance. I wonder if he knows a blackberry bush from a ragwort plant. He ought to apply for the job and show us how he can get over the country. He would soon be weary and gone in the legs, and a sadder and, quite possibly, wiser man. s It if* a great pity when people such as "Lynx" take to. writins letters in the press on matters on •which they are ignorant and are not game enough to sign their own names, especially when they go out of their way to attack a man who has a hopeJesely large district to attend to.