The Noxious Weeds Bill. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2056, 20 July 1893, Page 12

The Noxious Weeds Bill. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,— l notice that by the Noxious Weeds Bill farmers are to be ordered by inspectors to destroy, within so many days, various weeds — among them fat hen, Cape weed, Yorkshire fog, and meadow thistles. Failing their doing so they are to be fined or sent to prison. This bill has evidently been framed by one who is either utterly ignorant of, or antagonistic to, farming interests. To talk of eradicating the weeds I have mentioned in so many days is to talk nonsense. Years would noc do it by ordinary means. It might be done by treating it as the Jews treated the land of their enemies in the days of Joshua — sow it with salt. Many of these weeds only put in an appearance among grain crops when the crop is well grown, and when attempts to destroy them would mean destruction to the crop. Fat hen has, so far, defied all efforts to eradicate it, but, like the meadow thistle, there is evidence that, year by year, its growth will become less vigorous. Cape weed will reappear on some soils in spite of all efforts to clean the land combined with the most careful selection of grass seeds, but as sheep pretty will eradicate it it is a question if it does any harm. The meadow thistle does more good than harm, and its eradication, unless you can forbid the wind to blow and birds to fly, would in New Zealand need a miracle. This bill, if passed as proposed, would, as a correspondent in the Canterbury Times of July 13 says, "eradicate the farmer as well as the weeds." Farmers know very well how important it is to them to keep certain weeds in check, and are doing, and will do, their best in that direction without being harassed by legislation which is aggressive and not beneficial in its tendency, and which savours more of dictation from the conqueror to the conquered than of the efforts of an impartial Government to promote the general welfare of the community. — I am, &c, Ngapara, July 17. Robert Faulin.'

The winter at the Chatham Islands is said to be the wettest and coldest known for 20 years.

on Monday afternoon in Messrs Hamilton and M'Kerrow s offices, Bond street, about 20 shareholders being present. Mr W. Scoular occupied the chair.

The following reports were submitted :— "The gold obtained during the year amounts in value to £5781 14s, from which dividends have been paid amounting to £1305, equal to fully 171 per cent, on the paid-up capital of the company. The sum of £400 has been placed on deposit at call. It will also be noticed that the sum of £962 17s 2d, which stood at the debit of profit and loss account last year, has disappeared. Dredging operations during the past month have been considerably retarded, owing to the flooded state of the river ; but it is gradually receding, and if it continues so good returns may be expected. The directors appointed Mr W. H. Cutten, consultingengineer, to inspect and report on the dredges. The No. 2 dredge hasbeenemployed in prospecting the claim, and has obtained sufficient gold to pay her expenses ; but it may be mentioned that had the condition of the river been Buch as to allow her to dredge continuously, a considerable surplus over expenses would have resulted."

The Engineer (Mr Cutten) reported .— " I visited Roxburgh and inspected your company s dredges. The boiler on the No. 1 dredge is getting old and leaky in the tube plates, and in time it will become unsafe to carry the necessary pressure of steam. The inspector of machinery has given notice that unless the boiler is repaired a certificate will not be issued for next year. I have taken all the dimensions, and, after going carefully into the matter, I estimate that it will cost from £150 to £170 to fit the new furnace, new tube, and new tube plates, which are necessary. The boiler would then only be fit to cany a moderate pressure of steam, and it is a class of boiler which is not economical. I would recommend your company to put in a new boiler of a higher class and one which would carry a higher pressure of steam. The boiler I would recommend is what is called a dry-backad return flue boiler, a plan of which I herewith enclose. This boiler, although much shorter than the old one, is large in diameter and has much more heating surface. It would be a much more economical steaming boiler than the old one, and by carrying a pressure of steam as high as 1001b it would also allow of the engine being worked with more economy. The coßt of a new boiler of the above class would be about £240, fitted in its place. The difference between the cost of a new boiler and that of repairing the old one would soon be made up by the saving in fuel, and the present boiler, which iB good for a pressure of 401b for some years yet, might be sold. To repair the old boiler would necessitate the stoppage of the dredge for about a month, whereas a new one might be got ready to put in before the dredge \va3 stopped. The machinery generally is in good working order. No. 2 Dredge.— l have also inspected your company's No. 2 dredge and find that the buckets and links are in a very bad condition, and cannot be expected to run any longer without a considerable amount of repairs. Most of the buckets would require new backs, and some would require new side links and lips. The ladder will also require some repairing. The cross stays will re-

quire straightening and some new ones put on. There are two sets of good buckets and links, Avhich were taken off your No. 1 dredge at the time the alterations . were made, and I would recommend that these be used on the No. 2 dredge. There is sufficient power on the dredge to drive them. The engines would, however, require to run faster, and to do this it would be necessary to alter the gearing. As the larger buckets are heavier than the old ones, the dredge would float rather deeper at the stern, and to remedy this it would be necessary to put a small iron pontoon at the stem, between' the two present pontoons, and this would haye 1 the effect of giving the dredge about 6in more freeboard at the stern than there is at present. I would also recommend that a centrifugal pump be substituted for the present old-fashioned water lifting wheel, and this would make the engine run more regularly and more economically." The balance sheet showed that the credit balance brought forward last year was £962 17s 2d. The actual expenditure for the past 12 months was £3028 Is 10d, and the receipts £5789 19s 6d, leaving a profit of £2751 17s Bd. £1305 had been paid away in dividends and there remained a credit balance of £384 0s 6d in hand.

The Chairman said he had great pleasure in putting before the shareholder bo satisfactory a ' balance sheet, considering the difficulties they had had to contend with in the past year. Shareholders might congratulate themselves on their position, and with a reserved deposit of £400 to begin the year with he hoped they would be in even a better position when the next annual balance sheet was laid before , them. Since receiving Mr Cutten's reportthey had had a visit from Mr M'Leay, the dredgemaster, who concurred with the ideas expressed 'in Mr Cutten's report. They had therefore instructed Mr M'Leay to proceed with the repairs and alterations to the small dredge as quickly as possible, so as not to lose time while the river' was low. The dredgemaster intended doing this work with his own men, so as to obviate the necessity of sending an engineer from Dunedin. When finished it was expected that the dredge would do double the work it had hitherto done. They had no intention of carrying out the recommendation of Mr Cutten regarding the big dredge at present, as they could not afford to lose the, time at this season of the year, when the river was low. When talking to the- dredgemaster over the future prospects of the company, he appeared to b» very confident, and seemed to be in high spirits. Coming again to the balance sheet, the chairman said, taking the liabilities, the capital account stood at the same amount as shown in last balance sheet, £7540, and mndry creditors £47 14s 3d, as against £931 16s 3d for last year. The assets were represented by- dredge and property account, valued at £7608 19s Id ; £400 deposited at interest at call ; current account at the bank, £19 8s 2d ; and pattern account, £43 7s 6d ; —total, £7971 14s 9d. The gross amount Bhown at credit in the profit and loss account was £5789 19s 6d, being proceeds of gold sales and £8 5s 6d derived from the loan of pattern's. This amount, £5789 19b 6d, added to the sum of £550 lying at fixed deposit on date of last balance, had been expended in the following way— namely :— Kineaid, M'Queen, and Co.'s liability, £359; loan against fixed deposit, £509: Bank of New Zealand (current account), £622 16s 3d (equalling £1481 16s 3d); general working expenses, including interest, &c, £3138 Is lOd ; and dividends, 3s per share, £1310;— total expenditure, £5929 18s Id, which deducted from £6339 19s 6d left a balance of £415 Issd. From thisdeduct the profit and loss balance £381 0s 6d, and the amount of £31 0s lid represented the difference between the dredge and property account and the capital account. He had much pleasure in moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet. This was carried. Mr John Mitchell was elected a director vice Mr C. M'Queen, retired; and MI? A. Bartleman was re-elected auditor.