OUR OWN CORESPONDENTS

Mataura Ensign, Volume 17, Issue 17, 12 October 1894, Page 3

OUR OWN CORESPONDENTS

. CHATTON. • I notice tbe Connty are going to grad ' the Sheep Wash HiU, and really no • before it is wanted. This particular, piec 1 of road much needs something bein) 1 done to it. When will we get our hi i hill cut down ? Are tbe County goin. to do anything to it this season? As I write, most of our farmers are ai busy as bees. There is a lot of wos t. be dono on the farm tbis season on account of the wet winter wo had. . We have had a real toty spring so far, and a good deal of work has been accomplished. Oats are beginning to show green on many farm", and as to wheal, well, {?w of our farmers cultivate mon than they require — some not that. Wheat is tar too low, and indeed oats, for » chance cheque to be made at growing ii on indifferent soil. The low price of oats last year has mado a queer difference io the spending capacity of moat of us, and hy current appearances little prospect in held out of things being any better. Eabbits these days are' the 6nly Godsend we have. Mr J. McQueen, one of the worst enemies the poor rabbits have, will hardly think so, but now-a-days people are just having their eyes opened to the true and just importance of the despised rodent. If it had not been for the gay, white-tailed little rabbit this country would have been the happy hunting ground for squalterdom, whioh it is not now. Mr J. McKenzie, the great ttinister of Lands, will take all sorts of care of that. It is just a pity he has' noj, cast his eyes over Knapdale. The estate is far too big for one family to hole 1 , fend would ho much better cut up in small farms, compulsory if necessary, so as to give room for closer settlement. Large estates are not compatible with our ideas of modern democracy. The owners get the buzzing bee of vanity into their noddy heads that they are a great deal bett ir than tbeir workpeople. Tbe glorious and manly outburst amongst the shearers of Queensland is the sort of thing to bring tbe self-styled aristocracy to a true understanding of the position. It seems since the splitting up of the Knapdale parish our minister is coming out of his shell. Hitherto, we have only known him as a sort of echo of eminent preachers, dead and living ; lately, how- ' eyer, he has broken the reoord — has got his head out of the shell, as it were. TW good folk of Otama seem to have raised the man's bile in some way or other-^at' least one would judge so by the remarks be is reported to have let ily at their j heads ac a recent " Band of Hope " meet- 1 ing. Ministerial work must be run .pretty, near the bone wben the people bring such remarks as the following oh themselves : — "If the Biversdale people wanted dancing . . . . Otama oould send them plenty of performers. Head work was not a strong point with the Otama young men, but they could hold their own with their feet." This is hitting tbe* Otama young men pretty low down. Pastor Eamsay is no doubt a good judge, but one feels a little surprised that he should attack them in that quarter. Query — Does it not reflect a few rays b-ck towards the worthy pastor himself? Has he not been their instructor ? The old time customs make the numskulls the minister's strongest supporters. Mr Eamsay should be careful which way he brushes tbe young men's hair. By the way, I hear they— the Otama young men — are trying toarraßge a dbnee. Evidently they don't intend to let their •• feet rest for long, even although the .caricaturing of their capacities is the strong position taken up by their worthy minister. Plainly, the Otama young men have got off rheir *>aby swaddling clothes and are kind of getting used to their pants—are trotting before their best girl with her steel-bound waist preparatory to taking the headlong plunge to biby farming and genteel poverty. Is it not about time that the Land Board did something with the narrow strip of land near the Manse P It is just about covered with gorse, and in a short time will be a curse to the district as a shelter for the small bird and other pests. There is a growing-demand for small areas here, and the Land Board should deal with this and also with the mining reserve held under lease by Mr Taylor. When we consider the cumber of small families that oould be settled here one feels compelled to admit that violating the intentions of the Village Settlement Aot is not a good thing either for the district or tbe colony. Is the Chatton village settled on square lines? Who will answer f