BALCLUTHA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1933, 25 February 1892, Page 21

BALCLUTHA.

February 22.— Harvest is now in full swing, although the crops are ripening in an erratic manner, owing to the want of sunshine. Dull days and cool nights are the order of things, no doubt due to the sunlight cut off by the enormous sun spots recorded as being visible on the face of our daily luminary. The recent heavy rains laid the heavier crops pretty sorely in places, but on the whole the damage done is immaterial. The worst effect is that the crops will be more difficult to cut, and in many cases the self-binder cannot be used. With this exception I think I can say that our splendid crops have not suffered from the recent heavy rains. The Inch Clutha crops have suffered most, but even these are not seriously damaged. The crops on the island have a worse thing than rain to damage them, and that is the Californian thistle. Since the great flood of 1878 this thistle has sprung up more or less all over the island and in the neighbourhood of Stirling. There are acres of land so seriously overgrown with this post that the ground will either have to be abandoned or cleared at enormous cost. Anyone seeing the Molyneux Island at the present time could understand Mr T. Mackenzie's efforts to get a bill passed to deal with the pest, and the sooner its spread is checked by legislation the better, for while it is allowed to flourish on the roads and in the hedges, and acres of it allowed to seed, the pest will be spread far and wide. If every farmer were compelled to deal promptly with the weed, it could even j r et be eradicated. In a favourable season summer fallowing destroys the plant. The Messrs Mosley, who own a considerable area of land on the island, find that by cutting the thistles down before they go to seed, and ploughing the ground to a depth of 4in, and afterwards harrowing, the weed can be killed. Of course the process Jias to be repeated, but if the ground is ploughed deeper than 4in the roots below that depth continue to live. It is a great pity that every landowner is not compelled to adopt this plan of dealing with the Californian thistle. What with the thistles, the rabbits, and the small birds the lot of the farmer on the^e fertile alluvial flats is not altogether an enviable one.

County Contracts.— We have heard a good deal about county contracts of late, and our worthy councillors have even gone so far as to blame the Government because no tenders were received for certain contracts. Well, the reason is not far to seek. The county council has been calling for tenders for numerous small contracts, and of course these are not worth bothering with to anyone outside of the immediate district in which the work lies, and as those who follow up contract work are few among the residents of the county the result is that these contracts go unteudered for. I was told by a resident of Catlins, who put in for a LlO contract near Itoniahapa, that it cost him about LI to go and examine the work and see the plans and specifications before tendering. Then, had he been successful, it would have cost him another LI to take his tools and tent to the work ; and yet the county council complains because its contracts remain unlet. If our councillors in their wisdom would follow the example of the Government and offer these contracts at schedule rates, they might stand a chance of havins; them taken up by the settlers ; but while the loss of time and money and the uncertainty of tendering stands in the way, they cannot hope to get these insignificant contracts taken up. Ecclesiastical.— l regret to say that the Rev. Mr Currie, Presbyterian minister, who has been invalided for some months, is not making much progress, and the pulpit has still to be supplied for him. Mr Currie is suffering from some temporary^ affection of the vocal organs, and in the meantime can only speak with difficulty. His congregation will be pleased to welcome him back into the pulpit, whenever he is able to resume his duties. Still They Come. — We are sometimes prone to growl when the collector comes lound with county or borough rates, and rail against the Government for not lightening our burden of taxation generally ; but we never take into account the heaviest tax of all that we have to pay. I allude to the travelling theatrical fraternity, et hoc genus omne. On Monday night we had Mr Robert Kennedy, who, however, got such a small reception that he is not likely to attempt again to collect any of our dollars. On Tuesday and Wednesday night Barr's Hall was well filled to hear the phonograph, and on Saturday night over 2000 people attended Wirth's circus. In connection with the performance there is a great deal of dissatisfaction. The arrangement was not as good as the public expected neither was the performance equal to what they might have reasonably anticipated. It was the reputation of Wirth's Circus that drew the big house, but the people will not be very likely again to pay high prices and turn out in such force to another circus— or at any rate not for many years to come. Two thousand .people at 2s 6d and 4s per head respectively, or say an average of 3s, represent a sum that would satisfy the tax gatherer for somo time to come. But, as they say in Rome, sic transit gloriamundi.