OUR NORTHERN LETTER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10619, 14 March 1896, Page 6

OUR NORTHERN LETTER.

(From Odr Own Oomiekpondent.)

I.ONQDURN, March 6.

Eight miles across conntry going south, doublerailway, stationed Lougburn and agricultural Kairanga batch together. Longburn is the northern terminus of the Wellingtou-Manawafcu Railway Company's line, and is aJso connected with the Government Foxton railway. It has only one church (the Wesleyan, run by a most XeniAl and kind-hearted minister). ODe pub (the Junc'inn, excellently ruauaKKd by Alick Campion), a bakery (owned sad managed by William Croucher, whose swi:et and wholesome bread delights all and sundry), two storep, a boot shop, and v. local smithy. Kaira-.ißa' has its creamery, capitilly managed by Mr William Tooniath for the Daisy Union, and hi? milk teits andskimmings ate unsurpassed. Siuce its inauguration on November 10, ISS3, Mr Toomith has had continuous charge; he is the olile.'jt manager in ths service, an/1 has trained several managerx now in charge of other creameries. A glance at the weekly test sheets shows merely a trace of butter fat in the skimmed milk, the average for tha past six months having been less than "1 per cent, and in respect of which an indignant supplier hied to the general manager uno day with the complaint that " that fellow at Kairanga in starving all onr calves"! Everything about the creamery ia neat, clean, and reflects the greatest credit on Mr Toomath, who uses a Ue Laval machine, which has put through 550,»100^al of milk ftt an expenditure for repairs of less tfcisn £'$. The creamery puts through about lfi.OCOgal per month. NICE HOMKS. Skirting a cross road running parallel with the heel of the Wellington portion of the North Island is the Kairanga home of Mr J. Harl»y, and a very nice home it is. Mr Harley did not happen to be at home at the time of my visit, but in th-i absence of her lord Mrs Hurley made me welcome, arid pointed out the beauties of the form and its iuijuocts. A mile further along is the bomest-iad of Mr 'W. J. Ferguson, wno breads KnmneyLincolu sheep, and .has made a farm out of the forest. H«/tells me that crossbreds do best here, clips going up as high as 141b. He has three artesian wrfis on hi-s property, which yieM an everlasting flow of pure and good water. THE MANAWATU FLOUR MM.L. Messrs Ricflter and NnnjStid OU'U r'almcrston North's only flour mill, which has been success- ] fully run by the firm during the last quarter of a I century. Last Tuesday their capable foreman, Mr I W. Krunstrom, who has been with the tirni since tile start, showed me all over the works, which are driven by a 75-h.p. Tangle steam engina. There is also another engine which lends motive power to a dyniuno for the (riilcher eli*ctric feat, which supplies the interior of the niiil at night with 20 iC-candle-power lamps a"d a s')-canriie power arc lamp outside. Toe mill, which has all the latest improvements for milling and nressms | flour, will mil from fiix to sevun tons in 12 houis, ! I and turns out from 3U to 40 tons auj>erfine fluur I per week. Here is also a crushing mill for need", beau?, i&c. The firm appear to be very popular j I thpiugh.iut the whole district, and their flour i* iv 1 | general use j ! WHY IS IT THAT CANTERBURY A*D OTAGO MUTTON ! j FETCHES 25 PER. CENT. MORE THAN THAT OF j | .NOIiTH ISLAND? ] | Here's a nice conundrum for me to answer, but | i all the sheep-farmers hereabouts are getting on I jto rue about it continually. They say their j mutton is equal in quv.lity to that of the more I favoured provinces, and that they yard equal to j j your very bent; yet faruiers tell me that whilst you enjoy from 12s to i.'te for the carcase, they j only tret Sf for their best, freezers. TogeSont of the difficulty, I thiuk the whole thing is in a nutj shell—monupoly iv the freezing works, monopoly • ill purchase. Nelson Brothers, being maulers of ; the situation, can rule the roost, aud, like ttie banks, threaten to lower the rate when farnu-rs I bt?2jiii to kick. One furiner told me he gave 7s 6d for stores for which as prime sheep he only get an advance of 6d per head, and that his case is ouly ons of many. Other freezing works have started and goes bung simply because of insufficient support from the farmers themadves, who otherwise must have benefite-1 in the long run. Then when the cry of room-poly rose to a I pitch, and Messm Nathan a.nd Orbell brought forI ward schemes for the favourable disposal of sheet), their proposals were not met in tire spirit I their importance merit-d, wherefore they froze iin embryo. What sheep-f urmerßpliould do k tocoI operHte and send their nheep to Canterbury, and { CKago rather than be»sat upon ; tbe trip across the i channel would be the only difficulty ; but anyhow I 25 psr osiit. reduction is a burden too great to | groan under. Better still, why not start a ro- ' operative freezing company; manage it well, aad ; support it liberally ? I observe that in the farther ! north Waitara farmers have taken the initiative by establishing freezing woiks, aoA JVloturoa and New Plymouth intend to follow suit next Reason. THE WHISKY DELUGE OP THE WEST COAST. Reet'ton, with a population of 2000 souU, is blessed with 20 pubs. ; 'Greyinouth, with 3700. rejoices in 24 ditto ; Kumsra distributes the LSarchanslian drops by the aid of 24 bars amongst 1500 folk; Hokitika's 201)0 populaci supports 33 houses; in Waimea, out of a dozen bus'.Dess pluces, six are ornamented with the beer tap ; Koss has one pub. to every 100, and yet a drunken man in the street is a remarkable incident—hut b>at may be because they gat so used to the daily inflow of ihe exciting malt atrearn that they become inured to it. RAMBUXGS. A North Island paper, referring to the death of the late Mr Police Inspector Thorusoa, says: " He has gone to his well-earned rast." " Civis," after doing me the honour of answering my questions—and capitally, too —in turn asks m« to explain what is a "minority of one"? Well, in my case, I suppose the unit should have been "majority," but I will even try to answer the sage. When all the chosen lances of Mary, Queen of Scots, lay low, wan not the queen without a crown a minority of one ? When a younger son propo^ea to kin girl, »nd then for her to her mother, and both say " No," is he not a decided minority of one ? When Oliver Cromwell dissolved the two new Parliaments, after smashing up the long one, was be not a minority of one ? When North, bookmaker and sweep-promoter, and Jabes Balfonr levanted, were they not minorities of one 1 I don't say they were, but I worrld like to know for certain. AWAPUNUI. The afternoon sun is throwing his golden rays athwart the broad lands nf Awaminui, the beautiful home of Mr H. K. Wnldesrave, by the river Manawatu, as bike and I glids up by invitation. The main entrance leads off from a cross losd cf the Pijinerston and Ltmgburn main line. The home is commodious aud luxurious, whilst the situation offers a silent tribute to the discretion and good taste of the hospitable owner. Around the well-appointed dwelling arc lawns and walks and velvety grass studded with trees, araoag which flowered and neatly-bordered serpentines metnder gracefully. Avenues of poplars, firs, and other familiars lend importance to A\yapunui, and today the shrubberies, the trees with the golden fruits and the glossy f .liago, stirred by the gentle wind, tremble aad glisten in the sunshine. Behind stretches a common, dotted with clumps of native pinrs, through which gliiaptci of Lake Awspuuui may be caught. Both building ami grounds wear a. quiet, peaceful, and inviting look, and the lines of the owner seem to have fallen in pleasant places.