MAEREWHENUA

Otago Witness, Issue 1787, 20 February 1886, Page 12

MAEREWHENUA

February 12. — The long spell of dry weather has told very doleteriously on the cereals and grass. The crops as a rule are very light and thin, although what is of ifc seems above par. Generally the yield is very much under the average. Harvest operations have commenced on several farms in the district, and so far very favourable weather has been experienced. In one or two cases the wheat crop will range about thirty bushels to the acre, but that is exceptional.

Pastoral. — Everything seems scorched in the shape of animal feed. The prolonged drought and the scarcity of water have been the two factors that played so much havoc with the rearers of stock. Still, as " long is the lane that has no turning," we hope better things in that respect are in the near distance both for man and beast. The one green oasis that seems t* cheer the desert vision of squatters is the so far successful wool clip for the current year.

Mining. — Matters in this respect are in a very gloomy condition. Never in the history of Maerewhenua mining has the condition of things been so actually dolorous as these are now. A great many of the miners have been in a state of chronic inaction for months back, and still there appear no signs of improvement. One or two hours' water a fortnight can scarcely be pronounced compatible with the normal requirements of successful mining.

Educational. — The Livingston school, which was in a state of interregnum for the last few months owing to the change of teachers, is now in the full swing of energetic activity, under the mastership of Mr Colville, who is proving himself a competent teacher. The same encomium applies to the mastership of the new school (the Maerewhenua) across the river, which was started a year ago under the auspices of Mr White. So far, then, we are well off in an educational regard in these upland hills. I forgot .to mention in the same connection the Dunstan school, which has also shared for the last eighteen months, since Mr Piper's accession to the mastership, in the general prosperity above-mentioned of Maerewhenua educational concerns.