FEILDING

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1265, 28 May 1896, Page 17

FEILDING

If the number of auction sales and entertainments aro a criterion that a town is advancing, then Feilding must be making progress. On Friday last there was a stock sale during tho day, and four entertainments announced for the even-

Largo numbers of people from the country take advantage of the stock sales to have an outing and make a market day in visiting Feilding.

Tho autumn lias been like a second spring. There is abundance of grass in the country. Some sharp frosts have been experienced, but tho warm .sunshine by day more than compensates for tho frosty nights. The stock look well, and very little dry feed has been required so far this season.

Auction sales of fruit and ornamental trees are announced in the local papers, thus signifying the near approach of spring. It seems as if we have had no winter this year. Probably we may liavo rough weather when the days begin to lengthen.

The Rev H. iff. Murray, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Feilding, has retired from his charge. Mr Watson gave his I popular lecture on America on Friday evenj ing last, the proceeds of which are to he devoted to a fund for the rev gentleman. ! Special attractions were provided by a i trained choir, who sang several pieces | appropriate for tho occasion, i Tiie stock sale of Messrs C. Carr and Go. I was well attended on Friday last, and the prices of sheep maintained the late adi vanned quotations. There were some good ! lines offered. 'The bidding was spirited i throughout. j Mr G. Suisted has shown me what he | made out of-1-0 acres of land in Rongotea !in twelvemonths. Mr Suisted thoroughly i understands butter-making, and, of course, j has made it a success. From the sales : of tho butter, calves and pigs he received • the sum of £2Ol. This could scarcely he I credited by the sceptical who say that m> ; person can make a living out of less than [ ! 200 acres of land. I saw tin record myself j ! of the proceeds, so that it is no hearsay. | ; Mr .Suisted is now in a larger way, near j Bumiytluupe, having between <>ne and j two hundred acres, but lie still believes in j till* Cows. Ho says that sheep-tanning I will do for lazy people who are satisfied I with an income from tho sheep once a I year, hut he likes to see some money turned over every month. Mr Suisted is quite an I enthusiast on dairy fanning. j Mr,las. Bennett, of Awahuri, is another believer in the cow as a producer. lie j milks about do cows every day throughout, the year and semis about ffOulbs of butter] to your Wellington market every week. Mr Fairfield TliompoOU, of Feilding, is j also an enthusiast in butter-making. Tho above-mentioned settlers have cream separators. The old-fashioned way of the pan dairying has now become obsolete with settlers who go in for butter-making on a large scale. Messrs Bennett and Thompson work their separators and churns by steam power. In iny travels throughout portions of tho country districts J cannot help noticing the bleakness of tho land caused by the felling of tho whole of the bush. It is very noticeable how settlors in certain districts follow the example of their neighbour. In the Kiwitea district the settlers have followed the excellent example of leaving clumps or patches of the natural bush standing on their sections, which not only make their farms picturesque, but

must prove of immense value in winter as a shelter from stormy weather, and in summer as a protection from tho heat of the sun. I notice that very few of tho settlers who have felled all tho bush on their ’sections have made any pretence of planting trees either for ornamontation or protection. Mr Northcott, of Waituna, says “ I would not have the portion of natural bush I have reserved on my section felled if a person would offer me £IOO and chop tho bush for nothing.”

Mr Chas. Benseman, of Waituna, has taken up a piece of land on Mcßeth’s line iu the Apiti survey district, and is making considerable improvements on same. Messrs Stansbury Brothers, of the Sandon Block, liavo also taken up a section in the same vicinity. Two sisters—late arrivals from London —have settled with their brothers. 'The Misses Stansbury express themselves as being highly delighted with New Zealand. Messrs Abraham and Williams held a very successful stock sale at Colyton on Tuesday last.

Messrs Hocking Bros. (2), the well-known horse-dealers near Feilding, have left for a trip to the Old Country. They intend to be away for about 12 months, when they will return to this district again, '•’heir farm (which is left in chargo of two brothers), situated on tho Ashurst road, is a picture of neatness. They get two crops a year out of their land. The words of tho wise man liavo proved to be true in the case of the Messrs Hocking Bros., viz.—“ Tho hand of tho diligent maketh rich.”

Mr Menzios, jun., who has been successful on the goldfields in Coolgardio, has been on a visit to li is home here, but has returned again, taking wiih him his mother and sister.

A settler in this district has had to pay about £1 for shooting a hen pheasant on his own land. JI is neighbours are not pleased at tho action taken by tho Acclimatisation Society. They say that tho settlers can destroy more pheasants in one season than all the sportsmen in the country could kill in two seasons if they wished. They are indignant about the matter, and swear vengeance to all trespassers on their various properties in the pursuit of game. On Monday, tho 25th insfc., Mr Joseph Darragh, a well-known storekeeper of this town, was united in the bonds of matrimony to Miss Annie Carthew, the eldest daughter of Mr W. Carthew, late Mayor of Feilding. Tho wedding ceremony was conducted at the houso of tho bride by the Rev W. Reali, Wesleyan minister. The bridal party left by the 12.20 a.m. train for the North to spond the honeymoon.