AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Volume 01, Issue 2123, 1 November 1894, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The Queensland Btallion Tax Bill was read the first time, ani the second reading wa3 to have taken place on the 18th ulfc. The propo?ed measure requires the owners of all stallioDS over the age of 20 months to notify the fact to the Stock department. The tax to be imposed is £5 a year for each stallion, with a. penalty of nob less than £10 nor more than £50 for default of notification and payment. The tax is in the first instance made payable to the clerk of petty sessions tor the district, the amount so received to be remitted to the Colonial Treasurer and placed to the credit of a general account in the Treasury, which, shall be known as "the stallion fund," bearing bank interest. The fund will be appropriated to the payment of premiums for the improvement of the breeds of horse*. The colony is to ba divided into districts, tame as the sheep districts, in each of which there is to be a stallion board of three persons, not being the owners of competing stallions, to be appointed by the Governor-in-Council. The whole of the stallion fund is to be annually apportioned by the board in proportion to the amount subscribed by each district, and the apportionment will be gazetted. In every y<*ar, between April 1 and Augujst 31, the board of each district is required to notify, by advertisement that they will meet for the purpose of judging stallions. Owcers, on giving a week's notice, may submit a stall : on or stallions for adjudication, but no stallion may cempete in ,

one year in more than one district under penalty of disqualification of its owe or. Afc the appointed time and place the board will meet, and by personal inspection juc'ge the stallions that may be submitted to them, and may award premiums of not less than £30 each to the owners of horses of the highest merit. Ifc i 3 doB-rvicg remark that the act provide! that a certain nuaabcr of such premiums shall be awarded to draught stallkna. A fee of 3gs is to be paid yearly to each member of tbe board.

A great butter-making competition, open to a1!a 1 ! the world, was conducted in Brussels dcriDg the Last wevlc of July under the presidency of the Belgian MinL-ter for Agriculture nnd before an international jury of expert?, and was brought to a conclusion ou the c'osiog day of the month in the presence of a large concourse of spectators. On the morning of that day the large number, of original competitors was reduced to 21 for the final trial. These were subjected to most severe test«, lasting until late in the afternoon. Finally the Grand Premier Prize wa? awarded to the London and Provincial Dairy Company, of West Halkin street, Belgrare square, London, S.W. Each competitor had to provide his or her own churn or worker, tbe Exhibition Council finding cream and ice only . This dairy used Messrs Thos. Bradford and Co.'fl well-known diaphragm churn, the only one of the kind used in this remarkable trial of buttermaking skill. Miss Ada Skinner, who now holds the championship of the vrorld, was keenly watched by Mrs J. T. Watts wife of one of the partners who has done so much in advancing the interests of dairy work not only at this and other important foreign exhibitions, but largely at home, and she may well feel proud of having succeeded in placing one of her dairymaids in this distinguished position. Miss Ada Skinner is an ex-pupil of the Eastern Counties Dairy Institute, Akenham, and has conducted classes for the Suffolk, Cambs, J>lo of Wight, and Warwickshire County Councils with marked success. . |

Victoria is giving the export of eggta trial on a large scale. The Oruba, sailing on the 13th ult., took 10,000 on account of various farmers in the Wimmera district, while the Valletta broke the reoord with 14,000 dozen. The Valetta, in addition to this large consignment of eggs, also carries the heaviest cargo ofbutte? whioh has been forwarded this season— between 500 and 600 tons.

The early paddock lambs were recently marked on Wantwood, and from 3901 ewe» 4165 lambs were marked. The lambs were principally of the Downs cross. From the paddocks of the Nine-mile the percentage was largest, though there was some loss at the commencement of lambing owing to the fall of snow, which was muoh heavier there than at Wantwood, The ewes were not turniped, and were kept in the same paddocks all the winter in thft ftonfatioa gftra ebeen to tb* am.