MILTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 10 July 1890, Page 18

MILTON.

July B.— Up to the present the weather has for the season of the year been very mild. This week has been the mostunpleasant,the weather being damp and foggy, with a few showers of rain, so that the ground is now pretty well soaked, and the roads are in their usual winter condition— i.e., " mud enough to sail a boat in." Even the streets in our usually clean towmhlp partake of the general muddiness, and the dayman for sometime laboriously tried to scrape the slush off the surface. He, however, seems to have given it up as a bad job. There haß been no severe frost since tbe middle of June, aboun the solstice, so that we cannot say the winter has been severe as yet. Farmers in the district don't seem to oare about laying down poison for rabbits until they Are forced to do so, preferring to trap them for the sake of the skins. The rabbit inspector has to be on his mettle and look after his charge pretty sharply. In answer to his query, " How is it you have so many rabbits on your ground ?" the invariable reply is, " What is the use of killing rabbits in the summer ; I've been waiting till the winter, when I can get something for the skins to repay me for the trouble." So that the harassed inspector wishes from the bottom of his heart " that the skins weren't worth a rap." Ploughing Match.- On Friday last the Tokomairiro Farmers' Club held their 31st annual ploughing match in a paddock belonging to Mr John Tough. There were 14 ploughs on the ground, and some excellent work was done. The champion ploughman was Gibson Porter, a lad of 17 years, who has succeeded in holding this place for the last three years against all comers. There wero three digging ploughs on the ground, which fact, probably accounts for the large atendance of the public who generally take little Interest 1h the ploughing match. A dinner was afterwards indulged in at the Whito Horse Ho teJ, when fully 70 sat down, and had a good time before they rose again.