CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1795, 17 April 1886, Page 14

CURRENT TOPICS.

At a meeting of the Roslin (Southland) Dairy Factory Company held last week, Mr M'Donald 33 f aye a detailed account of the t>teps taken in connection with tho fmmation of tho Fairfax Company, and quoted from the balance-sheet in support of the statements advanced, ft was now a prosperous concern, and although the: supply of milk was rather limittH, the pro-sent season promised to be a profitable one. The farmers interested had acknowledged the advantages of the system. They received 4d per lllb of milk — were paid monthly, and they regarded this as a great improvement on the old jrder of things, with their uncertainty and worry. The company had been at work "some time, and they had managed s,o well as to h^ve had no expenditure in registration or for law. He further gave an illustration of the way in which the success of such undertakings was sometimes jeopardised by a difference of opinion in matters of detail, and counselled his hearers to united efforts.

Our Mosgiel correspondent writes :—: — "Mr Miller, designer for the Mosgiel Woollen Factory, has just shown me what he considers to be a codlin moth, which he found in the centre of an apple grown in his own garden. He has the part of the apple affected under glass. The insect has now formed into a chrysalis fully three-quarters of aia inch in length. Mr Miller is now awaiting the result of its metamorphosis, when it will be handed to some expert to certify as to its identity. The result is waited for with ,i good deal of curiosity by those in tho district who are cognisant of the circumstance."

A meeting of the shareholders of the Southland Frozen Meat Compauy was held at Tuvernargill on Saturday last to consider a report from the directors as to the prospect of getting sheep frozen this season, obtaining tonnage, and other matters. The report stated that negotiations with the Orient Company, Melbourne, had fallen through, and that treaties with steamship owners outside the Colony, whicli had for some time been in progress, were not so far advanced to justify the directors making any definite statements regarding them. The two local direct steam shipping companies had both declined to send their steamers to the Bluff, but they offered to give space, for vessels leaving Port Chalmers or Lyttelton. The New Zealand Shipping Company has, however, offered to give us space for 5000 carcasses, in the Kaikoura, leaving Port Chalmers or Lyttelton about the middle of June to be delivered alongside by us. The Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company has also offered to give us space for 4000 carcasses by their June steamer, delivered alongside by us at either of the above ports, at the usual freight of lid per lb. The coastal freight per Union Steam Ship Company's steamer Obau would come to Jd per lb. to j'ort Chalmers, and jjd per lb. to Lyttelton, in addition to the lAd per lb. above named. No sailing vessel would be available from Bluff for six months. The directors were advised that sheep could be kept frozen during the wr>' t at lfd to 2d per sheep per week, if 8000 sheep were operated upon, in addition to the usual charge of £d per lb. for freezing in the first instance. The cost per sheep for a smaller sum would be largely increased, as the working expenses would be nearly the game in either case. The directors intimated that, as soon as they were relieved from their guarantee to the Bank of New Zealand, they intend to resign. It was decided that as soon as the directors obtained a guarantee for the supply of a sufficient number of sheep, the works would be opened and operations begun without delay. — Southland paper.

Tho rabbit-proof boundary fence between Victoria and South Australia will cost £85,000. There is little hope of the latter Colony contributing.

Mr Harold, of Cam Side, Kaiapoi, has commenced the cultivation of the teasel on a email scale. This season (says the Timaru Herald) he obtained 3000 from about nine square yards of ground. The teasel is largely employed in woollen factories for raising a nap on the fabrics, and the New Zealand demand has hitherto been supplied from Home at a considerable outlay. The stock required could easily and profitably be grown jn the Colony.

The Timaru Herald learns that the Hon. W. Rolleston has received the handsome return of 65 bushels to the acre from his barley crop.

By the Rotorua, which sailed on Monday, Mr Cowan, of Waikouaiti, shipped a pure Ayrshire bull to Mr Hursthouse, of Nelson. The bull is out of Mr Cowan's well-known cow Nora, and is by Messrs Oargill and Anderson's Duke. Though only 18 months old, he is a very promising animal.

The report submitted to n special meeting of shareholders in the Goro Dairy Factory stated thnt there is every prospect of the venture proving successful, the milk of 500 cows having been promised by farmers. The operations of the Wyudham factory, it was reported, will result in a substantial surplus on the past year's operations, notwithstanding that 4d per gallon had been paid for the milk received.

The position in regard io harvest matters in the Southland district is described as being most deplorable. Any short periods of sunshine are followed by steady rain, which keeps operations at a standstill.

The destruction ol' valuable farms and paddockh in Bungaree (says the Melbourne Age) by the spread of a large variety of thistle known as cardens aruenmts is causing much alarm among agriculturists in the district named. Already many hundred acres of land, which four or five years ago was valued at £45 per acre, have been rendered worthless by the weed. In some paddock's the thistle, grows to a height of between (>ft and 7ft, and wh:m a strong wind blows the seed is scattered broadcast. It i^ feared that unless the Government assist in somo way or other a large anil hilhorto prosperous agricultural tract of laud will be overgrown by the pest. Bungaree lend* have already suffered to the extent of many thousands of pounds, but now tho thistle is heginning to make its appearance over the boundary-line in Buninyong Shire. The pest grows as thick as corn, and any amount of cutting down or burning is unable to check its ravages.