IDA VALLEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2251, 22 April 1897, Page 25

IDA VALLEY.

April 19 — The past spring and summer have been the driest ever Experienced in Central Otago. Grass and winter feed of all kinds are very scarce, even although larger areas of land were town in crop in the spring than is usual in the valley. Tn many paddockx the reaper was not put on at all. On the whole enough has not been gathered for consumption on the farms, aid very few farmeis will have any for sale. Unfortunately very few have any on hand from last ye..r. The turnip crop, -with one or two exceptions, is a failure, although the late rama have brought on a few patches of late-sown roots With all this, the rabbit peat ha 3 assumed larger proportions th«n ever, and it has now been proved beyond a doubt that the present system is unsuccessful as an agent in coping with the rabbit difficulty, and it. is essential that unless some mure practical measures be applied in the early future bunny •will take complete possession of Central Otago. as it is evident that we are drifting in that direction very fast.

Trespass of Rams. — At the April sitting of the Magistrates Court at Blacks Mr Dalgleisb, S.M., gave judgment for the plaintiff (Mr J. Noone, of Ida Valley) in the case of Noone v. Pitches. In this case Mr Noone claimed damages for the trespass of two rams, the property of defendant, amongst hisbreeding ewes in April last. It appears that Mr Noone had proem ed some firstclass- 11 -rder Leicester rams for the purpose of improving the breed of his flock, and at the autumn muster for putting the ranis out he found two inferior rams, the property of defendant, amongst his ewe?, with the result that 185 lambs came before the time for his ewes to lamb. The lambs were shown to be veiy much inferior to Mr Noone's, and to recover his loss and also with a view to checking the evil the latter bio tight au action against Mr John Pitches, the owner of the inferior rams, with the result that jud.'inent was given for £7 damages, with costs £9 Is 9(1. The damag-s awarded ennuofc recompense Mr Noone for his lose, but had the early spru g been as cold as the previous one all of the early lambs would have died, when thg damage done would have been very considerable. The case was a difficult one to fight, since the early lambs had not been distinguished by some mark. However, I think Mr Noone deserves credit for bringing on this case, and almost all the sheepfarmers of Central Otago commend his action as being a step in the right direction. It is the first case of its kind that has been tried in this district, and considerable interest was manifested in it by sheep-farmers. There can be no doubt that the time has arrived when something should, be done in cases of this kind, as hitherto too much carelessness has existed amongst settlers in keeping their lambs in check — a stata of affairs which has had a mo3t disastrous effect amongst the flock* of Central Otago. I have known instances of sheep-farmers who aiv mostly dependent on their sheen for a livelihood almost ruined through this cause, arid it is high time that someone was made an example of. The court was crowded when this case was being fought out, " your own " being also present. What is certainly a new theory among-t sheppfarmers came to light. A witness for the defonce, posing as a practical feheep farmer, deposed that as the defendant's rams had been in the district for some time they were better for stud purposes than plaintiff's, simply because they Ayould be '"climati'-ed." It appear?, in his opinion, th.it breed would count for nothing, and that plaintiff's rams, haying come from the Taieri, would lequire acclimatising before putting out with ewes. Anyone may pose as a practical sheep-farmer nowadays.