MISCELLANEOUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1417, 18 January 1879, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

Mr Strange, of Wairoa, has sold his farm of 2000 acres for LIO.OOO to a Southern capitalist. A Nelson telelegram under date the 11th says that harvesting has commenced, and labour is very scarce. The crops are all looking splendid, and the yield is estimated at from 40 bushels upwards. The Tapanui Courier states that Mr Hugh M'lntyre, who has brought his merino flocks to great perfection, has selected two bales of wool for exhibition at the forthcoming Sydney Exposition. The crops in the Wairarapa district, near Greytown, are unusually heavy this year, those of Waihoke being estimated to yield 50 bushels per acre. Two stacks of hay, belonging to Mr W. M'Kay, at Waimotu, were destroyed by fire on Thursday. The fire was causad by sparks from the railway engine. These fires are of very frequent occurrence. Mr M'Kay intends taking action against the Government to recover the value of the bay destroyed. Two local wool sales will come off on the 24th at Invercargill. Several Dunedin and foreign buyers are expected to bs present. A Christchurch telegram on the lOfeh says :—: — A very successful trial of the Marsh harvester has just taken place. Great preparations are beingmadefor the forthcoming reaper and binder contest B Harvest prospects are very encouraging, and the wheat yield will be greater than was anticipated. The increased acreage it is estimated will give a greater surplus for export than last season. The oat crop is reported to be of larger acreage than last year. Reports as to the barley crop are conflicting, and no reliable information can bo given at present. The general impression is that the yield will be light. At the trial of reapers and binders, Mr J. Grigg, of this city, will exhibit one of Aveling and Porter's Royal Agricultural Society firstprise agricultural locomotive engines. It is stated that with a reaper it will cut 30 acres a day with ease. In addition to the seven different sorts of reapers and binders to be tried on the 16th, the " Edward" harvester has just arrived from Minnesota, U.S., but it is too late for competition. A meeting of the trustees for the Tapanui Rabbit District ww held in their office on the 4th instant. Present :— Messrs Herbert (chairman), Anderson, M'Kellar, andKitching. A rate was then struck at the rate of one-eighth of a penny per acre, which, it was calculated, would give a revenue of L4IG 13s 4d per annum. The inspector was instructed to call once upon each landholder to collect the rate. The application of Mr M 'Arthur for exempting from dog tax 98 dogs employed in the destruction of rabbits was acceded to. Mr M'Kellar moved that all propeity-owners where rabbits were numerous be written to asking them to abate the nuisance at once. — Carried. The Secretary vas instructed to write to the trustees of ail commonages and reserves within the labbit district, requesting them to destroy rabbits on tho reserves. Mr Anderson then moved, and Mr Kitching seconded — " That the AttorneyGeneral be written to, asking his opinion as to whether trustees of reserves could be compelled to keep down rabbits at their own cost," — Carried. At the trial of harvesters at Mr Boag's farm, RKicarton (Canterbury), on Thursday last, Mr John Anderson, of the Canterbury Foundry, was announced to exhibit in action one of Aveling and Porter's R.A. Society's first p'ize agricultural locomotive engines. The Lyttelton Times says : —It may be of interest to state that these engines are now being largely used in England for all classes of farmwsrk; perhaps the greatest novelty in connection with them being the admirably ingenious manner in which they have been employed in the harvest field, where, by a suitable crane-attachment, they have driven a specially designed reaper, making a cut of 11 feet wide, at the rate of nearly three miles an hour. Reliable authorities state that the engine and reaper in full work easily cut 30 acres per day of 10 hours. At the Paris Exhibition Messrs Aveling and Porter's machinery has gained the following awards :—: — Objet dArt, the special award by the Minister of Agriculture, for steam ploughing, on the recommendation of a Commission appointed by him ; gold medal, for application of steam to agricultural works ; silver medal, for steam ploughing machinery ; the only medal for road locomotives, and the only medal for steam road rollers. The road roller used by the Christchurch City Council is one of Messrs Aveliug and Porter's manufacture. The Timaru Herald of the 9th says:— "A very interesting trial of the rtlative strength of various timbers took place at Mr James Bruce'a mills yesterday, the result bein<j that kauri was found to be the strongest of all tho pines to be had in the Colony. Mr Thomas Roberts, C.E., and engineer to the Levels Road Board, was present, and carefully took notes regarding the teats ; and the consequence is that he has decided to use kauri in preference to Oregon I beams for bridge work, the former being stronger and possessing more Itwtinij qualities

thau the latter, besides being superior in other ways. Mr Bruce is collecting different specimens of pines and other descriptions of timbers, and intends, at an early date, having a com- [ plete test made in. the presence of several engineers and architects practising in South Canterbury, when the full results will be made public' The following regulations under the Diseased Cattle Act came into operation on the Ist of . January :—": — " 1. No master of any ship or vessel, or other person whomsoever, shall, in any river, port, or harbour in New Zealand or elsewhere in New Zealand waters, transfer or attempt to transfer, cause or permit to be transferred, or to be attempted to be transferred, assist in transferring or in attempling to transfer, any imported cattle from any one ship or vessel to any other ship or vessel, without the written authority of the cattle inspector of the district, defined under the said Act, at or near to which such ships or vessels, or either of 'them, may be. The term 'imported cattle: , shall have the meaning given thereto in the said Act as amended by the Amendment Act hereinbefore recited. 2. If any such master of a ship, or other person whomsoever, shall so transfer any such cattle from one ship or vessel to another without the written authority of a cattle insppctor as aforesaid, he shall be liable for each offence to pay a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds, to be recovered in the manner provided by the said Act : Provided that any Resident Magistrate, or any two or more Justices of the Peace, before whom any such penalty is sought to be recovered, may order a part only of such penalty to be paid, if he or they shall think fit." There are few subjects on which people are slower to learn from the teachings of experience than in the matter of the destruction of forests. France, Spain, and Italy (says the Pall Mall Gazette) have suffered seriously from this interference with the natural storage of rainfall ; whole districts have been rendered barren which were formerly fertile, owing to the wholesale destruction of tiees. In India, as we afa daily discovering to our cost, the wasteful cutting down of timber without proper replantation has largely contributed to those daugerous alternations of flood and drought, drought and flood, which have so much to do with the occurrence of famines. In some districts the rainfall has decreased not less than 30 per cent, during the last twenty-five years, owing, it is believed, to this cause. In Australia the same effects are being observed, and the result of the denudation of the hillsides without any attempt whatever at replacement will be felt more and more as time goes on. Now, too, we hear that in California and Nevada the same process is bringing about similar climatic changes. The streams which formerly flowed with tolerable equality in winter and summer now have ups and downs which are most injurious, and droughts and floods have commenced in the plaius. The snow, instead of melting gradually under the trees, is exposed to the full heat of the sun, and rushes down in torrents. In short, all over the world the condition of forests and the necessity of tree protection has become a serious question, and it is clearly one of those matters which can only be effectually dealt with on a large scale, and at the expense of further interference with the rights of private proprietors to injure the community.