SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2202, 14 May 1896, Page 30

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

... (Fj&OH.OUH OWH.OORaBSPOHDBNI.) I-WVEBCARGILL, May 12. A few frosty nights and bright nunr-.y 'day* this weelt have dri/sd up roads And -fieldt ni .-)y bwt the frosts, which have been very har'l, 'bave givxo the pastures a yellow tinge, «nd <3ie turnip urops .and 'hay will now have to l)ej-esorted to for winter feed for sheep and other stock. The kvro local freezing works iiave been kept steadily going all the autumn season, an* the pastures of Booth* land must have heen Telieved of a wry larj;a number of fat sheep and lambs through tkia source da dug fehe past three -or four ononthi, Kia Binffshire, tvhich Siiled direct from the Bluff for London on Saturday, took on hoard here (all from tbe Southlaad Frozen M«»t Company's work*) 42,736 carcaaes of niut'on anS lamb, besides other general .c\r£o in the ahape ,of wool, tallow, ski us, Ac. Co-«int'icial men and tradespeople Bay busra<- 8 g Is yerj' quiet and dull iirthe town, and though money is exceptionally cheap when uuquet.tioria.hlo Rocurity of the -right desciip%i>>n is offcrlHg, there is a scarcity of the precious metalin active circulation. Thi* is somewhat difficult to account" for, as tbe sea*on upon the whole imvtt bave been a good one for our farmers. It opened well wiih pricea for wool, and most of the clips wcra 'Bold'locxlly. The grasn seed crop wag a disappoLflt'ing fftilnrp, but wheat' and oats are bringing .prices wlii-h farmer* admit are profitable to them, and hope may continue. Lutseetl, of which a good deal is grown in iMis district, is s«Hit»x freety at very payable pricea. Jllr Ros*. of thw'Soulhland Rope and Twine Company, ' who tates coudirlerabie interest in tjhfl fut ther development of this industry, propheciea a great future for our small -faimeiM in tbe culil. vation of lint .fibre for the manufacture of linrti. The kind of lint^ we Kave b"e-i growii.g bare, he aaya ia uot the beat for tins t'ovpu-i , aiid be ex--pectssboitly to receive from H'»ue half a ton or so of the best ceo3, which be himstlt intonds experimentinjf with this coming season, and d;s!ributing amongst farmers for triU. A frieud o< Mr Koss'a in the Auckland district, who has b»n experimeuting for Bonie time in this direction, and commumc*ti' g with Mr -Rost as to tbe resu'ts, says from two acres he sent to BrlfUofc scutched fibre-winch netted him, afier dnductifn of all cba'-ees from Auckland wharf, orer £37. Our rliimte and sail is »dintt j rlly better adapted for the growth of lint th«n Ih*t of Auckland. Tbete is of c urse a littK mure labour ent*iled an the pulling of the lint, which iB preferable to .cutting it when grown for the fibre, and this will no doubt prevent its being grown in large areaa like "wheat aud oats ; but for the small farmer Mr J Ross 'thinks it will be one of the b-st paying inj dustries th-*t, ntleutiou can be turnrfl t\>. There is * lot of tbe stiff clay laii'l of .-oirhUn-l (lernxd our poor Uncl) which doos v t i;i i s lirut j-eara vf culti-v-tion prow wheat or Kt\i-s wtll, but has nevt-rtheless beeu proved to gr. w eood linseed, Messrs J. A. Mitchell and Co. offeied by public auction a fuither block of G'OOO seres of the Morton Mains estate on Satuulay. There was a >cry large attendance at the sale, but only two farms ! were sold under tbe hammer one of 209 acre* at 40d per acre aiv>l another of ?3.1. ncies ai 33i fid— but during the day tever;il otlier sections were sold privately, 'bringing Ih<» total amount sold up to a concHerible area. Tliis estate hag comparatively recently become tbe tole property of tbe Bank of Austrafasiu, w"ho Bhow no desire to keep it fur ensculative purposes, but wish to see people settled on it, and these public sales have shown wbat very reasonable prices they are prepared to take for the land, 'i he terms, too, ara to bona fid' settlers nearly as liberal 4a those the Government Land department are offeiing, with the additional advuntnge that a purchaser in this ca-ie can make it freehold. The National Mortgage and Agcvcy Company report having sold during tbe pust week quite a number ©f improved farms ou< the Dipton aad otlier estates. At Dipfcoa, 750 acres to Mr V. Giller, 145 acres to Mr I*. J. Hampton, 70 acres io Mr William Osmpb^ll ; 314 acres in the Hokonui d'strict to Mr W. J. K'np. 173^cresof MrOowan's j Beumo c estate to Mr R: Anderson, and it portion i of Mr CHi'mi^liMl's property to Messrs Cappie 1 Bt other*— *U »t very satisfactory pricea. All of this promised increase of cultivation in due course must brine Additional pro-perity to our towns and diitrict. Any man now Who has a reputation for understanding his business as a farmer, and has a chaiacter for temperance and trustworthiness has no trouble in obtaining a good piece of htna for settltag m from our various b'g land compaaies and owners on the easiest of terms. Notwithstanding th-it the day and hour -was very nopp irtuae (Saturday, at 2 o'clock), the new hall of the Voting Men's Christian A>soeiation was well filled (ite first audience) with leadlDgrcpresentitive' citizens and friends from tbo country, who had atsembled to bid farewell to Mr William Todd, J.P. (who is about to leave this iown, after a residence of over 30 y«*rs, with Ma family for Western Australia), and present him with a purse of upwards of 240 sovereigns as a tangible proof of the high esteem in which he i» held lyy his many friends in Southland. The expressions of regret at tiis leaving and other tangible proof* of the sincerity of the friend'hip felt throughout the district towards the map they had met to do honour to were more than ordinarily impiessive, and when Mr Tor'd I'OBe to reply to tha many Inn I things that had been said by previous slicks -Messrs J. W. Bmu, J. W. Mitchell, J. K. Wafc-on, J A. Mitchell, John Turnbull, Hod. H. Feldwick./ftud olhurs— the scene w»a more lika the good bye to gome dear one hi a private family thin the ordinary a ewell to a public man. On Sunday, after the morning tervice nt "St. Panl'B Presbyterian Churtsh, with which Mr Todd has been identified for over 20 years, be was presented by the Rev. George Lindsay, in tke presence of the office-bearers and Sunday school teachers, with a beautifully bound copy of tba Bible as n. miuk of appreciAtion of tbe good worii done by him in the church, the Sunday school, and the market pUce. Aflait Friday's monthly meeting of the Sou<h« land County Council the' resignation of Neil K. Hl ackay as ranger for Dipton was accepted, and Ttobert bands was appointed to the pontion. Abraham M'K«tizie forwarded his rei>un»tioa as ranker for the county roads in Awarua. riding and ihftt. portion of Hokonui that was in the Uto Liurihuvit -ltisul Board district. Eesisn%tion i ac "epted : M'Kenzie remaining ranger on county roads in One Tree Point subdivision of tha Oteramika district. On Cr Dunlop'i motion it was decided to revoke the resolution of January 10 la-»t, which imposed a 10 per cent, fine on overdue rates, councillors considering that the imposition r.f the fine was inadvisable. On Wednesday evening a Bocial, got up hy the lad'ei of tbe choir and Church of England, waa given in Mr M 'William's rooms to Mr Dickinson, who after a stay in Winton of ten months as agent of the Bank of New Zealand is, with his family, leaying for Invercareill, having retired nn pension after 34 years'. Bervice. A large number - were present. His Worship the Mayor, Mr E. R. Kidd, presided, and on behalf of tke ladies of th« church presented Mr Dickinson with a prayer" and hymn book handsomely bound in tooroecn Sit M 1 William and Dr Kiley also s, oke, all a«;r«emg .in expressing vegtet at Mr D;ckiu>on's Jtp.<rture, aod praising him for his courtesy and the immeusa service he had baen to the Church of England, particularly in re-organising the choir, which had proved a great success. In his church capacity, in fact, it would be very difficult to 'replace him, and he would be followed by tbe good wishes of the people of Winton. Mr Dickinson suitably responded, expressing the pleasure 'it gave him to leave all connected with the church An such goei order, and to know that his services had twoa appreciated. A most enjoyable eveuing was spent. Mr JDolimore, of the Mataura Ensign, has purchased the Waimaa Plains Review from the j assigneis of the estate of Mr H. S. Valentine, and the paper has now ceased publication. Mr JSdgiagton., for a good many years with, Mr E. Cleave, has been appointed corporation gardener. ' In vercargill is evidently not unknown In forefs» /parts. ' A letter was read before the town council on Thmsday evening from the manager of afM company in Hongkong, offering his services to tke corporutwn. Tfea Southland Metropolitan A. and T. Society

winter show, which promises to far sarp&ss anythiog of the kind of previous years, will be held In Invercargill on June 2 and 3. R-iilway excur« Bion fares to InvercarEill for that week have been arranged for at the Id and 2d per mile' rate— that is, for firafc and second-class passengers at all Southland stations, and from Dunedia and all intermediate stations, mileage counted only one

The representatives of the Southland dairy factories meet in the OJdfc-llows' Hall, Gore, on the 29th inst. to elect delegates to attend the annual meeting of the National Dairy Association to be held iv Dunedin,

Notice ha 3 been gazetted that the bed of the Mataura River, from Gore traffic bridge to the mouth (and a mile iuland), has been proclaimed a miniug district. Hitherto the war .ens have been unable to etiterfcain any applications made for mining over this area ; but it is probable that Borne of the auriferous beaches within the new boundaries' will now be tried by dredging machinery.

Dr Hendry contemplates leaving Mataura at an early date, having received an offer of a more lucrative position and work in a wider field of operations The people of Mataura regret very ' much losing Dr and' Mr- Hendry, who have taken a keen Interest in over > i-ix appertaining to public life in Mataura. Au inquiry wai held in the courthouse, Lumscten, into the origin of the fire by which Mr Purdue's tailoring premises were destroyed on the night of Sunday, sth ult. The heaing took place before Mr J. W. Poynton, S.M., and a jury of six. JSvideuce was given by Mr W. Purdue, Dr Bauchop, Messrs A. Cockroft-, W. Nichol, Charles Davis, George. F. Johnson. J.P., Constable Mackenzie, and Miss Allan. Ike inquiry lasted about three hours and a-h4f. The finding, which was in accordauce with, his Worship's sururuiog-up, was to the effect that the building was burned on the date stated, " but that tb>.ria is no evidence to Bhow how the fire originated." Detective Herbert was present, and subjected all of the witnesses to a rigid cross-examination The Gore Standard gives the following account of a pieating to form a branch of the National Association, held at Kdendale oa Saturday :— " The notes -ing had to be adjourned on a previous oecaBion because Mr I. W. Raymond could not atteud. On Saturday evening Mr Raymond referred to the action of the Southern Political League in in.viting the Hon. G- F. Richardson to contest tho Mataura electorate, and a iveisely criticised the league's action. He said that it was a very Conservative body, aud that its iuflumce did not extuud beyond tne township of Mataura. He had attended one of the league's meetings by request— they called it the regular monthly meeting, although only three persons were present— and he suggested that the league should merge into the National Association. But the league was now riding the high horse, and had even g«ne so far as . o select and declare a candidate for the electorate of its ovtn choice. He denounced the league's action as premature, and quite unnece&Baiy, and all thoughtful men would agree with him that it was so. It would be the duty of the delegatos to the central council of the National Asso iation to *ay whether they w*uld approve of the action of the league.— Mr A. Mitchell said tint it would -scarcely do for Wyudham to go in opposition to Mataura.— Mr Raymond : Unfortunately, that is .so. But we will have to ducuss the league's action, and bottle what we shall do. It would never do for us to fall put with them and have half a dozen candidates in the field."