COUNTRY ITEMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1951, 11 April 1889, Page 17

COUNTRY ITEMS.

At Clinton, one day last week, £20 was abstracted from a cashbox in Hunt and Berry's hawker's van. It is said that a start will soon be made with the new flour and oatmeal mills at Tapanui railway station. By an entertainment given in Ly Ohong's Hall, Round Hill, the Riverton Hospital benefited to the tune of £7. Some 1500 ferrets have been turned out in the high country of Wallace County during the year ending March. In the Heriot and adjacent districts, at the end of last week, there were seven threshing mills at work, and two additional ones expected. The Edendale School Committee have recommended Miss Cameron, of Waikaia, for the position of head mistress of the local school. A little boy named Rowe had his thigh broken at Waitahuna River through a stack of oats under which he was playing falling on him. The surfacing and maintenance of roads, according to a speaker at a recent public meeting, cost the Southland County Council £1500 per annum. The attendance at the Tapanui school during the past quarter averaged 162 out of a roll number of 198. The previous average was 153 out of 188. Between 60 and 70 persons left Riverton and Colac Bay in the Kakanui on Saturday, 30th ult., on the annual mutton-birding expedition to the islands. A movement is on foot at Otautau for the erection of a Presbyterian church. At a preliminary meeting £55 was promised, the list being headed by a donation of £20. A bootmaker at Round Hill named Edward Franke fractured his leg in jumping from a trolly by which he had finished his journey from Wakapatu one day last week. Work in connection with the recent mineral paint discovery at Waikaia is at a standstill in consequence of a wages dispute. It will be resumed shortly under new management. The Pukerau correspondent of the Southern Standard Bays the price per 100 for threshing will be lower this year, and asserts that one mill owner recently made a bid of 6s per 100, guaranteeing satisfactory work. According to the Courier, a number of persons were engaged in killing kakas and pigeons in the Tapanui bush at the beginning of the month. The Courier recommends the ranger to inquire into the matter. The Edendale Dairy Factory had a narrow escape from fire one day last week. A spark from the engine is supposed to have ignited the roof, but fortunately the fire was noticed in time to allow of its being got under. A young man named Allen M'lntosh, while attempting to jump over a cow in Monro's Gully, Tuapeka, was thrown from his horse, and sustained a compound fracture of the collar-bone, besides some injuries to his head. A trap driven by Mr George Printz, of Riverton, got into a quicksand wliile crossing the Waimatuku, and it was with the greatest difficulty the horses were released from their perilous position and escaped from drowning. The Bruce Herald knows of gardens in tbe Tokomairiro district from which every currant and raspberry was stripped by the birds, and of a magnificent crop of plums there was scarcely one in four but was pecked and spoiled by the birds. There are 3690 dairy cows in thecounty of Waitaki, but this number is largely exceeded in several other counties. For instance in Selwyn the number is 11,499 ; in Ashley 5771 ; in Geraldine 4715 ; iv Waikouaiti 4276 ; aud in Taieri 5919. Twelve borses, selected by Mr R Cupples, and consigned to Mr Edward Saunders, left Otautau for Canterbury last week. The well-known jumping horae Lewis goes with the shipment, and will be used by Mr Saunders in hunting the Ashburton hounds. Mr John Sinclair, of Pine Bush, thinks the Southland County Council should get its surfacing done by contract. He asserted that the recent work at the bridge could have been done f>>r a third of the coßt had the work been tendered for instead of being done by day labour. The Southland Poultry Association have decided to have single entries for the following breeds afc their next show t— Games, Malay. Plymouth Rocks, White Leghorns, Brown Leghorns, Langshans, Light Brahmas, Darkßrahmas, Buff. White, and Partridge Cochins, and Wyandottes. The revenue of the Oamaru Acclimatisation Sooiety for the past year was £209 10s. This includes a balance of £4S 0s 3d over from the previous year. The amount received for fishing licenses during the year was £91. About £100 was spent on improvements during the year. In noticing the promotion of Miss Dale to the Outram school the Tuapeka Times says .—"This young lady, who has held a similar appointment for some time at Waitahuna, has given every satisfaction as a kind, zealous, and faithful teacher, and the Uufcram people are to congratulated ou their choice." A farewell soiree was given at Kakanui one night last week to the Rev. G. W. J. Spence. Wesleyan minister at Oamaru. During Mr Spence's addreßS he mentioned that upwards of 92,000 local preachers were connected with the Wesleyan Church throughout the world, and their labour was given without tea or reward. , Mr Meadows finds that he cau get the best butter m bulk of average quality for export iv Canterbury, •me best sample he has met with in New Zealaud waßat Auckland, but that district does not excel on me average, though he considers it capable of pro- )

ducing the finest butter and cheese of every variety that can be made. The West Taieri bridge, which has just been put in a thorough state of repair by the Taieri County ' Council at a cost of £1300, was built in 1881 by the Provincial Government, at a cost of about £20,000. It has from time to time sustained considerable damage from floods, on one occasion the water being sufficiently high to leave a tree stranded on the parapet of the bridge. Last week the flax mill belonging to Mr Keoghan, of Takaka, together with the machinery and four tonß of dressed flax, was totally destroyed by fire. Whilst the men were at work the whole place was suddenly enveloped in fire, and it is supposed that the friction of the scutching machine, which revolved at a rapid rate, engendered such heat that the gum and particles from the flax were ignited. Mr Frank Slee, in the Waimate Times, suggests the catting up of 1782 acres of lands at Otaio, Tested in the Canterbury College Trustees, for the purpose of placing settlers on the allotments. The land is described as being in every way suitable. Mr Slee also says there are some 10,000 acres of such reserves in the country, and these could be advantageously out up into small allotments and by this means fix a larger population on the soil. With reference to the grain yield in the Heriot district the local correspondent of the Mataura Ensign says that, estimating the returns for the district, including Greenvale, Orookston, and Glenkenich, at 300,000 bushels, which has been exceeded in former {seasons, and adding to this amount the rise of price in grain as compared with former seasons, the handsome sum of over £20,000 additional coming into the district will be the result. A correspondent in the Palmeraton Times complains of the obstruction placed in the way of leasing Maori land. "As I understand it," he says, " the law requires the payment of an absurdly high sum for stamp fees, as much as £10 in one case I j have heard of, where the rent, too, was compara- i tively small. Moreover, the lease it seems must be executed with half a score of useless formalities, &nd finally submitted to some commissioner, who may then reject it." The Maoris at the Moeraki Kaik are building a hall 45ft by 20ft. The laying of the foundation stone was performed by two Maori ladies of rank, the wife of the present Chief Mauhara, and a sister of the late Chief Matiaka, assisted by Mr Tipa. The building will be named Nenuku, after a great chief who once ruled over the whole of this island. The word Nenuku signifies to remove, to shift, or displace anything ; and in anticipation of the possible verification of its name provision is being made for its removal with facility if desired. With reference to the result of the visit of the commission from the Presbytery of Oamaru to the Strath-Taieri, the local correspondent of the Advocate says :— " It was ultimately decided to continue the present arrangement till December coming, in the meantime canvassing the district for further support, such as would enable this district, in conjunction with Hyde, to support the minister altogether, thus lessening the present unworkable district into one that the energy and skill of one man may hope profitably to work. When a minister has to travel 9000 miles a year for £150, salvation is cheap enough." A party of Invercargill men on a visit to the Sandy Point domain recently came across a human skeleton, from which the sand had been blown. The bones were all in a heap ; the body had never been extended at full length nor buried in the usual way. The remains were lying where the man had fallen, probably generations ago, and that he had been killed was also evident, for there was a large hole in his skull. On turning over the bones and clearing away the sand, the weapon which had killed him was also found, namely, a stone About the size of agoose'B egg, quite oval and polished, with a groove cut round the middle. This is said to have been a fearful weapon used by the Maoris ; it was a kind of sling, or rather it resembled the stone in a stocking. üßod after the battle sometimes by white people when they are looting the wounded and the slain. Two Maori axes in a good state of preservation were also found below the remains. A contemporary, commenting on the death of Mr John Hayhurst, says :— " That remarkable colonist, Mr John Hayhurst, who died at Temuka on the 6th inst., has left for all other owners of large estates a brilliant example of what they might do to their' own interest and the interest of the country. Mr Hayhurst had near Temuka an estate called Green Hayes, and instead of laying it out as a sheep run, as many others would hake done, he subdivided it into decent-sized farms, and let it at reasonable rentals to tenants. The Green Hayes estate is over 5000 acres in extent, and settled on it are 44 tenants, all thriving settlers, and it was often remarked that during the dppressionjjthese tenants were far better off than farmers who had to pay interest on borrowed capital. Averaging the families of the 44 tenants at five persons each, which is low, there are living on the estate about 220 people. If it had not been let to tenants as it has been there would not be 20 persons living within the same aria."