COUNTRY ITEMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 956, 16 May 1889, Page 17

COUNTRY ITEMS.

• i (The Walareka. library has had upwards of .1000 j ibooks In circulation during the past" year. j Twenty acres of, land afc Oodl- Greek, Moonfc (Bender, in the estate of the late David Andewoo, was told last week for £270.

Mr ,W, BoShury, bailiff at Lawrence, broke: both tones of his right leg above the ankle the other day! through slipping In the street. Some miscreant docked the tail and slit one of the ears of a draught horae owned by Mr John Fitzgerald, Tuspeka Flab, one night .last week.' A five-roomed .cottage -at Fernlea, Greenfield. «Btate, was destroyed by fire. on. the 4th inst. It! vu valued at £200, and was insured.

Ripe strawberries in the month of May is a somewhat unusual thing. Some, however, are to be seen In one or two of the gardens at Coal Creek. i The Waikaia congregation last weak presented a gold bracelet* to Miss Cameron, who has acted as organist for three years without remuneration. ' ! Mr J.. M. Soott, sheep inspector at Queens town, was thrown from his. horse at j Skippers a few days «go and received a severe shaking and some bruises. Systematic poisoning is to commence in the Wakatipu district on the Ist prox. A number of runholders have now their gangs of rabblters pretty woll stationed.

A lad named George M'Oluskey sustained con■cuosion of the brain, and ultimately died, through, falling .from a horse which he was riding at Naseby , t>ne dny last week. - Not only is ,the turnip crop in the Western District a good one, but the ■ flocks for which they are . Intended are said to have .seldom started the winter in better condition. . < A four-roomed house at Taringatura, owned by Mr W. Laugford, was burnt down on the .7th iust. during the owner's absence. It was Insured for £125 in the New Zealand office. Tbe new Presbyterian Church at Milton, now in wurae of ereotipn, will contain seating accommodation for 700. ;It is, being built of briok and stone, ■ with a tower lOCft high. i j The Owftke correspondent, jot the Olutha Leader i meutione seeing a tui last week, the head, neck, and ! breast of which were pure whita r and the remainder { of the bird black and white. ■ j Mr James Hayes, Tuapeka West, was rushed by a cow which had newly calved one day last week, and was rather severely injured, his collar-bone being j dislocated and several of his ribs broken. ' ! The Sefton (Canterbury) Dairy factory has about eight tons of butter, on hand, which is being held till the market improves. Operations have been closed for the season, but will be resumed in spring. It has been agreed that the ditch for draining the Kaitangata Lake shall be 20ft or 25ft wide, and that the stuff taken from the ditch be -put to the outside «f the land purchased, and at least 6ft from edge of ditch.' Tho North Otago Times says there Is assuredly an opening for a dairy factory at Mahene, where there are plenty of cows whose 'milk could b9 utilised at'the factory with advantage to the settlers and the ihareholderi. An Owake Bottler's wife last week trapped a ferret which was after her fowls, while she, on hearing her child .screaming, found it being chased by another ferret, which w»s also 'despatched before it did any injury j <> • l • ' On Mr Rhodes' estate, South: Canterbury; "Recently, 'a couple of hawkes' nests were found, in the vicinity of i-which were the skulls of no leas than 56 hues, th 9 banes bearing the appearance of having wennswlydlsseotedl' The Tapanui Dairy Factory- Oompany have re*olvedto hold the balance of their stock of cheese Unless it brings 6d per Ib. A halfpenny per gallon « to be deduoted from all suppliers whose milk had been taken at the door. Large consignments of wrought Iron pipes continue to arrive at the Tuapeka railway station for the "land Block Gold Mining Company. A special train on Thursday afternoon brought no less than •even truok loads to Lawrence. • ' The Tuapeka Times in an article on the Btnall birds 5*J 8 it Is obvious that before long the question of dealing with the Bmall bird pest will become the property of local bodies! as, indeed y it has already become In some'of the most infested districts. : " Mr John Creaghan, whilst riding down the main street of Gore;, and endeavouring to keep his, horse siear of a woman who was crossing, ran fotflofa w&y and wasthrown to the ground. He' recalved'a very eevere shaking, 1 but no bones were broken;' •' The?Oamaru Mail is informed that pbtato' diggers •we having rather a hard timfe this season. Slitffence: Per bto is the pride paid 'by lone eirfpldyeVde idMl anaatthlmte the amounti I €«raecl'is : m'9iajr»6d

per day, though one man succeeded In- earning 4s on, 'Ihuraday - : >rt While cleaning a dynamite cap "Eiohard Gill/ at' the i«ghtcap8 f 'had his left hand fearfully lacerated' through' the cap exploding. Though no bones were! broken th 6 greater p&rfcof thdflesn^on the thumb and two flrat fingers was'toru away. ' ' Td get rough timber from Oromwell to the Ifevis for mining work costs about 35s per 100 ft, whereas, given a good' road, timber could be supplied, via Qarston at 18s 6d'per 100 ft. Merchandise would also be sent from the latter place at ft corresponding reduction. ' ' . ' " ,' ' • A fire broke out in a lumber room In the house of Mr A. Morrison, Lakeside, one night last week, but waa fortunately noticed lv time to allow of its suppression. The room had not beeu used for a fortnight, and the only suggestion as to the cause of the fire is rats. Holler mills will soon be the rule in Otago inßtead of the exception, and now Southland has begun to follow suit, Messrs Fleming and Gllkiadn having decided to discard the o\i fashioned, 1 millstones in favour of roller mills id refitting tueir mill at Invercargill, ' , The work of the unemployed at Catllni at present is to out the buih a chain wide, roll the logs and branches to each side of the road, leaving, a clear space of 40ft in the middle. 'They do not clear the stumpß, whidh are to be taken out,' it ii said, by a stump extractor. ■ ' ; The technical classes at the Milton High School are this year being carried on as successfully, as, formerly. The wood-work classes are in full opera- j tion under the janitor's instruction, arid some fine articles of furniture' are being made. Some of their 1 work will be shown at the Exhibition. j Mr and Mrs John Reid, of BldersUe, entertained: their employes and tenants ,prior ,to theiftdeparture; for the Home Country. ",About' 200"per,8oris, were present, and during the evening a handsome drawing room clock with ornaments was handed to Mrs Eeid as a present to Mr add Mrs M'Maste'r. A Diinedln 'syndicate spme^time ago took up SCQ acres for gold mmmg 'purposes at the'tfevii, but have had to suspend' operatiouß owing to the,great expense Involved in bringing material, provisions, $c., to the ground. If is 'stated that if ordinary facilities were given at least 1000 meu could, flbd profitable employment in the district. The Gore Gospel Temperance' Union hain't had such a satisfactory year as could hava been wished. At the commencement of the year theii? were 149 mem : bers on the roll. During, the jear 39 'persoris'h'ave joined, 29 have lefb th«; district or the society! one is deceased, and no fewer 21 have violated' their pledge, leaving' the number of member's at 137, or a deQrease of 12 for the year.' £5 granted to the Milton High School by the Education Board for .the purchase of chemical 'apparatus has' been well tpenfc, atid the boys are now busy analysing manure. The classes are 'divided into divisions of three, each division having a,captain,'who is r'esponsiWn' for "the results of, the analysis 7 . This' plan works well, one division aotlng as a check upon the other. - At, a , meeting of the Western District A. and P. Association' the chairman, in advocating the estabUshmeht of a weighbridge at the Bluff,' mentioned a case In which A Thornbury farmer weighed every ; bag of his grain before^ 'sending it off, and was sur-< prise when the Bluff weights came to hand to find i that It made his wheat one ton short. He, however, | gob the matter rectified afterwards. . ] The' operations of the Southland A. and P. Associ- , ation for the past year resulted in the overdraft : being increased by about £17.' This wjvs attributable : to the bad weather on the flrnt' day of the show and to special expenditure, including a payment of £10 ' 5s as rent for tho first quarter of next year. .Had it ( not been fdr'fchis special expenditure the association wonld probably have been $10' or £12. t0 the good. ( Mr 0. M'-Queen and his son had a' narrqw; escape at Arthur's Point on the 7th Inst. They w.ere re- , turning'in a buggy and on reaching ,the brow of a[ liill the horse'stbpped and began backing, when the ' inmates jumped out and 66caped injury. The retrfating trap soon, however, went over a stiff bank The aniraul managed to free itself in time, bu't / the' buggy rfflled down,, and -*& t^ a end became a total j wrvk.' ' ' " ' ' ,' } ' , That pretty little songster the goldfinch is (writes the Wendon correspondent' of the Mataura Ensign) getting very plentiful here,' and may be both seen,! and "heard almost everywhere that the thistle is'j found'in anything like abundance. Another very useful bird, is also to.be jeeti'vhera in large flocks, and ! that isjtne starling ; but,' sad to say, the linnet and ' the, übiquitous sparrow are Inoreasing at a muoh faster rate than the others mentioned. The school children and young men oftheGroper's ; Busti district, Southland, presented Mr J. Inglls,. late teacher; with' a.gold albert chain and locket. Jn; token of the esteem and goodwill ,they, entertaintowards him. Mr Inglie came to the district a little more than three years ago "without either a certiflaate or experience aa a. teacher, and now he leaves in ; order to- enter upon' the N.Z. University course!'; classed as D 4, and with ah excellent name for aohool J managerafini. ' ' • Two Southlapjd shearers made good tallies at Dun- 1 lop station, Darling Elver, New South Wales, last* season— A. Hutchison , and. , T. .Pettigrew, The,' former j was third in a .shed employing over 30 shearers, using the Wolseley machine shears, with a tally of 167 . The highest tallies were those of J. and G. Davidson, with 173 and 168 respectively. Hutoh.mson's.mate, T. Pettigrew, was a little further down on the list with a tally of 126.' The lowest tally was 74, and- the total 3723 sheep shorn by 31, men, or an . average of 120 per man ' ' j The Owake correspondent, of the Olutha Leader complains that the Government sell .land to which there is no access,, and refuse to clear the forest from the road lines, so that settlers are unable to have^ proper communication with the, main, road. There; is, he says, a main road through part of the Owake ; district which in winter .time, owlnpr'tp want of metalling, is more like a, ditch., Communication is, difQcult', and tbe district requires^ special vote. from; Parliament of :£2t)OQ or £3000 to clear the road Hues of • bush -'6O! put -them at least on an equality with; settlementsjin 'the open cpuntry.,", , ' „ ij Messrs Fleming and Gltkison's new mill at Invercargill will contain all the modern appliances for! handling and storing grain ' in bulk as used ,ia; America. The, wheat will be emptied direct off the'= truck Into the receiving hopper in the wall, from whence^ it will be lifted by elevators and distributed j into any, of the large bins into which the building | wiH be divided. By an arrangement of screwsunderneath.these bins the grain can be drawn off and conveyed \to the clearing machinery ready blended, which is a great advantage. The fact of the wheat being stored iv bulk Also greatly improves it for railling purposes. - , „~, "Sheep Farmer," writing in the. North Otago Times with reference to the offers made by the re-; frigerating companies and shipping companies, says: — "Should' we have ever heard of th,ese.circulars' and offers of 2d a pound with.and without discount if it had not been for the opposition that is just starting, at Home? I emphatically say, No, and< I equally emphatically say that if we did our duty to ourselves and the Imp.erlal Company we would all club together and put these off-ra on one side, and offer our meat to the new' oompany, who have come 10 our rescue; otherwise we may stifiv the new enterprise in its' infancy, and then we'will soon be back to the old regime."