SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Volume 01, Issue 2123, 1 November 1894, Page 24

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

Inveecargill, October 30.

The country everywhere is lookirg beautiful, lout rain is b»dly wauted, and people arc discussing apprehensively what will happen if we do nob get it soon. In the Canterbury province and further north they had an exceptionally wet winter, and can do with a dry spring ; but we have had an unusually light rainfall since Juue-, it baicg almost nil during the last two months.

A little improvement is observ. bio in the live *tock market during the past wetk— uot&bly in the ca?e of sheep ; but cons'-dering tbafc the freezing companies and other buyers in Canterbury are now m»kirg purchases of fat lambs of 321b to 401b weight for delivery in April at 11s, U6 3d, and 11* 61, ewes aud lambs wi'h us ■©tight to be brii ging a good deal more than they are, and most ce.tainly they should be good nroperty for farmers to hod on to aud pfcv-ar. In m«ny of the districts in (V-^erbury the l»mbing feas-ro hes » bad cue. I heard of one instance m the Aahburton district *here from ]><*> crossbred ewes the owuer only tniVi *nd marked between 400 and 800 lamb»- * cr J different results an report d -froTwal 1 parts of this district. In the small nocks 120 *nd 130 per ct-nt. of lanb* has been quite common, and in a large flock like that of Mr G. M. Bell, at Wantwood, the early paddock lambs, when marked, gave them 4165 lambs from 3901 ewes. These ewes were not; turnip-fed, but kept in the same pac>doc'Hß nil the winter, in proportion of two sheep to an acre. There are now 18 dairy factories m active operation in the Southlard district, the milk supply to which is daily increasing with the xapidly-improving summer pastures. Referr ng to a recrnt cable indicating that __r Heigluoii contemplates removing hia milkpre;erving j-lau;, to Victoria, I am informed that the cause ol< th*-. pri posed change is that the fanner* £o nob proierly co-operate vrith him. The miik, it ie t Kted, has to be cooled directly it come-, from the cow, for which purpo. c c Mr Heighten ruppliss apparatus a- d pa^s la 2d per g&llon more than the factories do, but the suppliers do Lot take the trouble to put the produce through the cooling proc ss ; hence considerable loss. It is to be rc-gretted that, a young industry r uch a* this, with such a wide •field for \ roli able development, should be killed by such laxity. Messrs Stronach at*d White have c mmenced business here a«> stock auctioneers and general farmer*' agents. Thcr offices, in tbeold Prince of "Wales building areino t tavoura'^y s\tua r ed for the cobven-.eii' c of country pc pie and other constituent generally. Th^ long and favourable acquaint*! cc Southland farmers hn\e had with Mr Whit as a un-mber of ihc firm of Carswell, WLite, mid Co, and in conueoion with the Ut.ited Fanners' Agency Com})any, and thp ci nneotion b-tween wo lgrowrrs and Br-ation managers and Mr Stionach, is bound to ensure for the firm a fair share ol wlut business is goiug. A petition for a station on the Bluff line, at or tear the i outh end of t'.e town, is receiving a very large number of sigiatures of residents in that quarter and the suburbs. Fiequently South luveicargill workmen get a fe* days' work at the Bluff or Ocean Beach, in which case ttey have lo leave home half an hour earlier to walk to the Invercargill btation to save a lew pence, or walk duvrn to Kew and be charged a lurger f ire for a shorter journey. Messrs W. B. Scndrett, J. Stead, and W. Batch*-lor are announced as candidate for the majoralty of Invert argill. and a requisition is to b? presented to Mr Anron Back a-king him to alien* himself to be aleo nominated

The Hon. J G. Ward, Co onial Treasurer, was in ttttec d.nre at tbe Miinst-rs'roomin the Post Office Buildings ye-te r day afternoon, for the purpi.se of receiving deputat ons. To one asking that a gap in tbe most direct road between Wiuton and Dipton bhould be formed, c promise was given that it should be attended to. Another deputation, composed of numerots influential cit zens, headed by the mayor, requested a grant in aid of Hamer's West Coast piospecting party. After several had spoken in support of the application, submitted sketch pluns of the work done and propored, and the l>ona fides of the party being certified to in a variety of wajs, the Minister said he fully recognised the validity of the arguments put forward, and promised to communicate at once with the Minister for Mines recommending that £100 be granted. It is expected the application will be successful, and that the party will be enabled to leave by Thursday's steamer. Mr -Telly, M.H R. for Invercargill, will ebortly address his constituents. Mr M'Nab, although only just back, h?s submitted himself to the reporter of the Southern Standard, and in the course of a sbort interview expressed himaa pleased with parliamentary life, out deplored the laxity of the Standing Orders in allowing obstruction a>>d late I'oura. The hon. gentleman expressed his belief that the present _ linihtry would see the expirat on of Parliament, and pointed to Mr Etrn&haw'a as the only real defection. Upan Mr G. J Smith he loi.k« as a Government supporter. Upon the question of the Premier's "rounding up" his followers, Mr M 4 Nab attributes the block voting on many measures — notably the Colonel Fraser Sncid-nt— to ignorance on the part of young members, who, unacquainted w |h what was to he a party question, voted so'idJy upon matters ■which they looked npon as Opposition t*ctic». He consider* that a Con«olidated Licensing Bill such as that proposed by the Premier has no show of passing unless the Opposition tactics are altered, and that a consolidating measure might be successfully attempted when no change in the law was proposed, but not till then. The hon. gentleman drafted the amendments propostd by the t' mperance party ; and in his opinion Sir R. Stout is not desirous of office. There ie a strong feeling against constructing new lines of railway, and he does not hopefully look forward to having a trip from •Core to Kelso or Rivetsdale to Switzers by rail in the near future.

Mr A. F. Lithgow, the cornet champion, left for Lauuceston by the Tarawera to-day to take iiis position ac bandmaster of St. Joseph's Band there. A goodly number of associates and friends assembled to see him off, and there is a -strong probsbility of bis returning shortly to iDvere&r^ili to resume his position as leader in the Garrison Band.

The following is the final select ; on of the Southland Cricket A«sor->ntion ior a team to vIslJ stQHtnsb Oamaru on the 3rd, Canterbury on the sth aud 6th, and O ago ou the Bth and ■oih of November : — G. G. Burnes (captain), A. Brown, P. Dalrymple, T. H. Jonee, T. D. Klngsland, G. H. ftl 'Master, F. C. St-venson, and Wm. Quin (Invercargill Cricket Club), F. Twemlow and J. Smith (Star Cricket Club), end I. W. RaymoDd (Wyndham). The team, which 1b considered a very representative one, contains some really good trundlern, and the fielding of the team should bo flask ol_?f, though the batting will be weak*

At a meeting of the members of the luvcrcargill Cycling Club held on Friday evening, it was decided to open their new track on the i Union Football ground on November 14, when a few short races will be run and a fancy dress footba 1 rr-f.tcb will he plujed. The Invt rcargill Itonng Cub have dec : ded to call f<>r tenders for the erection of a club shed as s. on a* permission cau be o« tamed f . om the borough council. The qucbfc'.on of pur- i chasing boats was further adjourned pendmg the arrival of information fiom some other clubs, and a committee was appointed to report at the next meeting as to tne b^st meaas of ; raising the balance ot the funds required and to i prepare a set of rules. A nference of ncbool teachers is to be held at hivtrcargill during January. The holiday | sect on of the p'ogr>mme includes a trip to the West Coast pounds. Limestone and Oreti Plains settlers are devoting a good deal cf s>«* uLion to linseed this season, cxptiieu^ proving tha 1 , it yields better I results tW anything else at ruling prices. A j-vung man (James Dowell, ugod 19) has been committed for trial at Gore < n a charge of attempting to criminally as^au t the d*ng_t e r of a.Waitnumu settler (aged 23). The girl was on her wny home from Mataura v\y n aborted by accused. He was allowed bail, himself in £50 and two sureties of £25 er.ch. A Lumsdtn correcpoiideJit sajß : — " Tourists seem to be moving a'oug earl;? tin* year, and thtre Btem3 evtry tign of a good harvest for all I eDgaged in supplying the wants of globe- ] trotters. Mr Orosbie, Mr Jthn Do.-c, Mr Fletcher, »cd Mr A. Smith are ready wi'h horses for riders or buggif s, and at the Te Anau Lake, also at Manap' uri, I understand, there is every oanvenience for trarsit. Certainly no finer trip could be made in good weather than the tour of tfce Western lakes and to the Sutherland Falls." A farmer at Greenvale est ; ma l es his damage to feuces by straying cattle horning the wire this year at fully £10. Tbe elder pnpiiß of the Pahia School, accompanied by their teacher (Mr Heathcote), paid a visit to tbe Ori'pu'ti Dairy Factory lass Friday, when they were shown the whole procisa of chefse-ma'feing by Mr Dawson, the proprietor, who took infinite pains to enl'ghten tbe children by simple explanations of the various charges and the cause* thereof, allowing them to taste the chtese in its different states of mamiir.cturo. During the ipW'Vi Is the children to >k writ! en note» for future reference, and sketched the phn of the bui'd-nga at a j j.ivctical lesson in scale drawing. In the course I of the »iterno'ui they also sang a few song«, little ' Miss fri'Piurson contrilmting an appropriate i "I am the mi kmuid." After the cheese I h>.d g ne tluwgu t! c final proc^ss of boring ■ and f.rc-siug, the teacher, on behalf <»f his pupils, thanked Mr Dawst.n very heartily for his cxi treme kindness nLd successful endeavours to ! mii'ie \he object lesson us instructive and pracI tioa! as poss ble Mr Da-ton, in his reply, ■ r-].iecuillr add csed the children, andur f ea on I them the necessity of getting as much education as po'S b'.e, and never missing a chai.ee of tryiog to learn anything that came in tutir way. The Southland Presbytery at a sprciol meeting on Tiusr'ay sus'ainod a call from "Woodlands congregation Bicned by 58 members aud 62 adbrrents, and instructed the clerk to forward the saint to tue Rev. Evan Bi-sett for his decision. INVERCARGILL STOCK SALES. The J. G. Ward Farmers' Association report :— We held our usual fortnightly sale at Invercargill yards on Tuesday. The entry was a fair one in all classes, and large in fat cattle. The attendance was fair, but tbe demand in all eases limited, more especially in fat cattle, a good number being paased unsold and several pens sold to graziers. The total entries for the sale were : 626 fat sheep, 597 store sheep, 61 fat cattle, 180 store cattle, and 19 pigs. We yarded and sold 78 fat sheep, 353 store sheep, 52 fat cattle, 85 stores, and 8 pigs. The following prices were realised by us for some of the leading lots: — Fat cattle: 3 pens bullockß £9 10s, pen at £9 ss, pen at £8 ss, pen at £8, pen at £7 10s, pea (small) at £6 10s, pen at £6 7s 6d, and pen at £8. Store cattle : 41 head steers, £4 10s ; small do, £3 to £4 ; yearlinga. £1 10s to £2 ; two-j- earolds, £3 to £3 108. Dairy cows : Our best pair, for Mr Robert Wallace, in splendid condition, £8 and £6 ; and for other vendors cows at £4 to £6 each Dry cows, for fattening purposes, £3 10s to £4 each. Sheep.— Fat sheep, 12s to 14s each ; ewes with lambs at foot, in low condition, 7n to 8s 9d each. Pigs, £3 to £2 for breeding, and slips 20s to 30s each. The want of rain bad a bad effect on the sale many farmers being very scarce of grass. iNVERCABGir-t, October 2*. A peculiar cue came before Mr Rawson, 8.H., to-day, in the form of an application by W. E. Beokham to have the order made by Mr Hawkino, S.M. &t Milton, ordering him to contribute 7s 6d a week towards the maintenance of his child eat>pended or cancelled. The order was made while Beckham was absent at Wilson river, and he has now instituted divorce proceedings. Counsel for applicant contended that the adultery of the wife and the p&tarnity of her child were questions at issue in the divorce suit. Mr Rawson suspended the order for maintenance until the divorce case i« heard. October 25. With reference to the erection of a toll bar at the Waihopai bridge — sanctioned by the Southland County Couucil, to which so much objection has b«en made by settlers and townsfolk — Mr M'Nab informs me that by the new Public Works Act just passed the law regarding tolls is slightly altered. Up to the present a toll could be erected near a borough on a bridge or ferry only; now the words "bridge »r " have bean eliminated and only a ferry can have a toll near a town. This will have the effeot of preventing the imposition of a toll at Waihopai, as the erecbion of it has not been commenced. The quickstep competition at the band contest produced a credit balance of £83, while the balance sheet shows that in the general contest funds there is a surplus of £16. October 27. The Band Contest Committee at their meeting to-day resolved te inform those concerned in the recent disputes that they will not pay over the money to either party until the matters in question between them have been decided either by a judge of the Supreme Court or such other tribunal as the committee may agree upon. Aay costs the committee may be put to are to be paid out of the prize money in dispute. The annual meeting of the J. G. Ward Farmers' Association w&s held this afternoon, but the proceedings were not open to the press. There was a large attendance of shareholders. The Hon. J, Q. Ward presided. October 29. A sad accident happened at tbe Bluff this afternoon. Tue steamer Taieri was in port working grain, and Joseph Tall, a hatchman at the forward butch, was walking up the deck skid behind a sling of grain when it 13 supposed his foot caught in the lashings which keep the skid fast to the combing of the hatchway. He was precipitated into the vessel's bold. Toe unfortunate man struck a beam in his descent and fell on the floor of the steamer, receiving terrible iaj-riea. Dr Torranoe was speedily in attendance and had the ruff' rer removed to the airway itatioA, irticmce &e.j?aa_co.aYj_fe(l

to Invercargill Hospital, where ib was found that he had received a compound fracture of the skull. Tall is * married man with one child, and late inquiries to-night Bhow that he is still unconscious, aud th&t small hopes are entertained of his recovery. October oO Joteph Tall, who was injured ou board the 5.8. Taieri at the Bluff yesterday, died in the hospital this morning.