COUNTRY ITEMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1973, 12 September 1889, Page 17

COUNTRY ITEMS.

The Go; c Dairy Factory Company have sold their coming season's whey to Mr B. bbins for £20. A little boy, Bon of Mr F. Vivian, of Lawrence, while playing in a room the other day, slipped on the floor and broke his If ft thigh. A whale came ashore at Pfgasus the other day, but as the residents had no means of securing him, he was allowed to go out to sea again. Consumption carried off a father and son— Turle and Charles Portnfck- at the Native settlement at Colao Bay within a few days of each other last week. All the cheese left in the Mataura Dairy Factory, and Bold by agreement to the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, has baen taken delivery of by tbe latter at the price reckoned on. The Wrey's Bush correspondent of the Western Star says that the farms in .that district which had fallen into the hand* of the mortgagees during the late depression are being rapidly taken up by new BSttlera, A lime shed at jMilburn, belomtfng to Messrs G.

Carton and Son, was burnt to the ground on the night of- the 4th. It contained about 800 empty bags and eight sets of harness. The loss is estimated at about £35.

The Waitahuna Farmers' Club are heartily supporting the proposal made by the Tuapeka Farmers' Union to hold a conference of delegates from the various agricultural associations in Otago during Exhibition time.

A workman on Mr T. Brown's estate at Catlins, named L. Vial, got his foot badly out with an axe one day last week. It was an unfortunate coincidence that Vial's father had his arm cut with a bottle the same day, Mr Baker, the Commissioner of Crown Lands for Canterbury, has just inspected the Canterbury 'rabbit-proof fence, and states that it is a most perfect success— that " there is nob a place in it a cat could get through."

The settlers at Waikiwi subscribed £13 5s 6d to combat the small bird pest. Ten pounds will be available for poisoning, and the pound for pound subsidy offered by the Southland County Council will be claimed on that sum.

According to a writer in the Southland Times, since the rabbits have been kept down in the southern highlands the grass is gradually spreading over the hills, and some good native kinds which were thought to be extinct are again coming up A man named iYoung lost his way between Boxburgh and Blacks last week, and had a narrow escape. He was found aimlessly wandering about in the valley of the Manorbum by a Chinaman. His feet were badly frostbitten, and he will probably lose some of his toes.

The secret of successfully poisoning wheat for slaughtering small birds (says the Timaru Herald) appears to ba the addition of sugar to sweeten the dose. Mr Annand, in preparing wheat for the Levels Hoad Boar i, uses 31b of sugar to the bushel. "Put in plenty of sugar," urged Mr Mee. t

The Nenthorn reefs will, according to the Taieri County engineer's rf-port, on the opening of the railway to Middlemarch, be distant from Dunedin (in time) about four and a-half hours— two and ahalf hours by rail and two hours by road. The distance from Nenthorn to Middlematch is about 14 miles.

A sheep-worrying dog has been causing great mischief in the Waiau district. The Western Star states that one settler, after being absent from home for a few days, returned to find 70 of his sheep ulaiu, wh'le another farmer numbered hia flock 20 less since the animal paid a visit of inspection. The animal still Hvob. «

The Waitahuna Farmers' Club has a roll of 45 members all told. The receipts for the year amounted to £170 0s lid, and the expenditure to £135 4b sd, leaving a credit balance of £43 16s Bd. Twenty-one thousand eight hundred and sixteen small birds eggß had been destroyed during the year as a result of the reward offered.

In advocating the improvement of the road to Waipapa the Mataura Ensign says :— " It is quite a treat to witness the Welman, vastly improved upon the original, in perpetual motion, three shifts of men being now employed at Waipapa under Mr Fred J3runton, who is carrying out several improvements suggeited by a predecessor, Mr Q-. J. A. Richardson. The eight at night, when tbe dredge is lit up, is worth going a long way to see." At the Waita'uuna Farmers' Club meeting Mr Stevenson said he had been using phosphorised rape seed for the small birds and found it very effective. Some of his neighbours had also used the same mixture with highly sttisfaetory results. He mixed in the ordinary way 161b of oats and 41b of rape seed with three sticks of phosphorus, adding lib of sugar. By mixing the oats and rape seed together, his object was to kill two birds with one stone, or rather a bird and a rabbit at the same time.

The Taierl Advocate states that a serious accident happened on Thursday at Messrs J. and A. Anderson's ironworks, Wingatui, to one of the employes, a young man named Alabaster. Whilf the machinery was stationery during the dinner hour he was cleaning an upright shaft connected with a vertical drill. He continued doing this after the machinery was started, the result being that the rag and portion of his right hand were drawn under a cog wheel. The fingers and thumb were badly crushed; but Dr Allan, who attended to the injuries, has hopes that amputation will not have to be resorted to.

The Hawera Star writes : — " We hear that a considerable trade in keg and tinned butter has been done by the Western Packing Company during the past six months. Machinery is on the way from France for the purpose of tinning butter in paperlined cans similar to those now very largely used by French companies for the, export of butter to tropical and sub-tropical countries. We are assured that many tons of Italian and Danish tinned butter are now yearly imported into Melbourne for consumtion there, which finds a ready market, and suits the taste and requirements of consumers. It is proposed to make up a package identical In shape, weight, and finish, when, owing to the excellent quality of the New Zealand separator butter, a satisfactory result is held to be assured."