COUNTRY NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9011, 17 October 1892, Page 6

COUNTRY NEWS.

[from our own CORRESPONDENTS. J Hamilton, Saturday. About eight o'clock on Thursday evening the town was alarmed by the glare of a large fire burning and the crackling of gorse in the direction of the Station road. Several people hurried to the spot, and it was well they did so, for the acre on the Station road adjoining the acre on which Mr. Hawkins lives was burning fiercely, and his house and premises were in imminent danger from the masses of burning debris deposited on them by the wind. Fortunately there was a good supply of water, and by the application of wet blankets, and the use of a garden engine and hose there were kept wet, and the tire, when it broke out on the buildings, was extinguished. It was, however, a very narrow escape, and shows the necessity of the Borough Council enforcing the law which enables them to cause not only the furze growing on the sides of the roads but furze growing also on private property to be cut down and removed whenever its growth is dangerous to property. A meeting of the Waikato Agricultural and Pastoral Association Show Committee was held in Hamilton on Thursday, when everything was put in order for the forthcoming event. It was resolved that an invitation should be sent to the Governor, Lord Glasgow, and the chairmen of the several boroughs and town districts in the Waikato should be written to, asking them to proclaim Thursday, 27th inst., the second day of the show, a. public holiday in their respective townships. All that is now wanted is fine weather to make the occasion $ one of the most popular monster ; gatherings held outside of Auckland for very many years. The negro minstrel entertainment, tableaux, and farce, to be held , on Tuesday

ght in aid of the funds of the Hamilton jotball Club will be taken advantage of to resent-'the two medals, now on exhibition Mir. Howden's shop, to the members who Lye won them. ! The entertainment will I under the patronage of Captain Reid and a members of the Light Infantry Volunfr corps. 1 ---<'v Rangiriri, Saturday. .-wc". J. McNicol held a very successful cle ; sale at the yards here yesterday. Tag was a large number of stock yarded anwie attendance was good. The folio ihglices were realised : — Yearling steers andfeifers, mixed, 40s to 455; 18-months to twolar-old steers, 52s 6d to 60s; empty storft) W s and heifers, £2 17s 6d to £3 19s 6d;3V>rsin fresh condition, £5 10s to £6 10s; Shows, £4 10s to £5 dairy cows, £4 5s toil Some of the stock advertised for sale coll not arrive on account of the still flo&d state of the country from late rains. 1 l OHAtrpo, Saturday. One ofee most interesting competitions at the j>ming Agricultural Show will be the testa of milk by Babcock's late invention, beil now introduced by Messrs. H. Reynoldsind Co. into their dairies. This machine paid to give the amount of butter fat contain in the milk with absolute certainty, anlhat this is so would indeed seem to be thlcase from recent experiments carried oh with it by Mr. R. Reynolds at Pukerimu.iOf two samples tested on that occasion, da from a Jersey and the other from an onnary cow, the latter gave 9 per cent, and til former 16 per cent, of butter fat. The next car two samples unknown to the owner of tf cow were tested from the same cow, a Jersy; and to the astonishment of all those who yd not know that the samples were so tain, turned out each exactly the same as ta other of butter fat. One thing this test proves most incontestably is thL superiority of the Jersey for dairyingjpurposes. It is to be hoped there will q numerous entries under this heading at tfjahow. [by telkghph.—own correspondent.] 1 Hamilton, Saturday. There was hinted bidding to-day for the privileges of tb Waikato Agricultural Show, to be held omhe 26th and 27th instant. The horse paddochvas withdrawn from sale, the committee conidering it better to make it free, and evenlo provide a responsible assis- ■ tant to take cttrge of horses and vehicles, so as to lessen tip expense of those riding or driving to thishow. The prices realised were as followV-Grand stand bar, T. Buxton, £66 lunctepnTroom, same, £10 (sine* re-sold to Mrsjßyan for £10); temperance booth, T. M. EM; £11; gates, bought by an East Hamilton Wndicate, £71; supply oi feed to horses antcattle, G. H. Carter, £1. MksDEN Point, Saturday. The p.s. Enterpfeje left for Ngunguru today with a partyW gentlemen, including Mr. Ransom (manager of the U.S.S. Co.), Mr. Johnson (of the Fibre Co.), and Captains Anderson and Steaenson, to inspect new coal mines. \ \ WAIUKU. On Wednesday last, tjie monthly meeting of the Waiuku Band of nope took place in the Temperance and Pubic Hall. In the absence of the president the vice-president, Mr. C. Hosking, occupied the chair. There was a large number present, »nd a long and varied programme was very crjdttably gone through. Hymn 139, Temperance Hymns and Songs, prayer, Mr. J. Hodge; Some very interesting remarks were mad* by the chairman and others. Instrumental duet by the Misses Bowden; recitation, "The Madman," Mr. A. Lambert; song, Mr. E. Barriball; recitation, Mr. W. Smith vocal duet, Misses Barriball and Hosking; recitation, Mr. C. Hosking, jun.; hymn,l33; recitation, Master Selwyn Vaughan; soig, Miss Deed; reading, the Temperance Gazette, by the editor, Mr. S. Hodge recitation, Mr. W. Barriball; address by the chairman: song, Mr. A. Lambert; reading, Mr. J. J. Deed ; hymns 710 and 173 brought the programme to a close, and the assemblage dispersed. During the past we«k we have been favoured with a number of nice genial showers, and the result is that the grass and other crops are growing rapidly everywhere. Messrs. Lang Brothers started the Waipipi Butter Factory on Monday, the 26th September. Prom what I hear ,there will be a good supply of milk, as besides the Waipipi dairies, several of the Kohekohe farmers have resolved to support the factory. I regret to say that the Messrs. Lang are not getting the support they deserve at the Waiuku Creamery. _ Doubtless the reason is now that the factories have raised the price of dairy produce, some of the farmers think they can make a few more shillings by making their own butter. Notwithstanding they gave Messrs. Lang every inducement to start a creamery. Messrs. Lang have resolved to make the Waipipi factory headquarters, as the water cannot be beaten, being a continual flow out of sandrock, and for butter-making cannot be surpassed. The cream from the Waiuku branch ib carted over daily. The Waipipi creamery is worked by water power, being driven by a large . wheel lately used by Mr. Gillies for grinding flax. There are three separators. There is only one churn in use at present, but the stand for the second one is fixed, and will be * required in the course of a few weeks. Great credit is due to Messrs. Lang Brothers for their enterprise, and it is hoped that they will be rewarded for their labour.[Own Coerrspondent, October 7.]