WAIWERA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2055, 13 July 1893, Page 22

WAIWERA.

July 10.— The weather ia still very wintry. Having .had a good deal of frost, followed by rain, the land is very wet. District roads, too, are getting in, rather a bad state. The Waiwera ford, which was some little time since put into fairly good order for traffic, is now in a far worse state than at first, being washed out from the centre, leaving it more like a large ditch than a ford. In its present state it is quite out of the question to think of crossing with any heavy load, such as a threshing mill, and for this it js really most needed. This ford is a very great annoyance, being both troublesome and dangerous. We shall, I suppose, have to wait patiently until funds are available before something is done to it.

Sheep.— l understand that the representative of an Invercargill firm has, been here again making large purchases of sheep from our great flockowners. What has become of the Dunedin firms to allow this sort of thing? Cannot Dunedin afford as much for sheep as the southern markets? lam afraid if Dunedin men do not stir up in this .and some other line! they will be left in the background. It would be a strange thing to se3 Dunedin playing second fiddle to Invercargill. I hope our refrigerating works will at least hold its ground in this respect. I have heard of very few deaths among the flocks this year compared with those of last season, when the sheep were dying in large numbers. I think as a rule more changes are being given, a course of procedure which materially helps stock to keep in health. Left the District.— Mrs Burt and her family have at last gone to Dunedin, havingleft the fish ponds for which the late Banger Burt did so much, and where they have lived so long, gaining the respect of all who knew them. They carry with them the sympathy and good wishes of all the inhabitants of the district, in which they have many friends who regret their departure very much. Mr Deans is now in charge of the ponds. Ploughing.— l notice the Messrs Anderson Brothers are climbing still higher up the hillsides with their ploughing. It is really surprising the height and steepness they have gone, still finding the soil well adapted for turnips and grass. Ploughing is the general order of the day when the weather permits.