MIDDLEMARCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2284, 9 December 1897, Page 30

MIDDLEMARCH.

■December t4.-rThe" winds we Have experienced .during, the* pa>t,inonth gave';" place on Saturday night to .a thunderstorm and\a-ver.y welcome fall of rain, which lasted the whble'night .through. It Js impossible to estiraate.theaxnount.of good thi3 "welconie rain will' do. ' Crops will now be'resuscitatcd and'tlic grasp, which was beginning to fij&ve a withered appearance on account of the'continual dry winds, will get another chance. lam afraid it w,ill go very hard with the crops if the winds we have been having all last month and up to the present are not toon exhausted. Pastoral —Shearing operation's commenced last week in some of the smaller sheds, and it will be general in a week. I hear the clip this year will be .equal to list year's, if not better. In reference to the lambing season, I may note that it has turned out much better than -was at one time expected by the shtep-fariuei a here. On some of 'the runs the percentage is certainly below the usual rales, but; on others the percentage runs from 75 per cent, to 80 per cent , which is really not so bad for hill country. Indeed it is surprising to think that so many wore saved, as the weather that prevailed here throughout the whole- of October was very severe indeed. ~ Taking all things into consideration the lambing has proved not so bad. Church Matters.- I see by this week's Witness that Mr Gibson has answered " Strath's ''■ letter. I am pleased te see Mr Gibson had the ruanlipess to do so. He certainly rosa to the occasion, and by doing so hjjs saved me' a very disagreeable task. The less we nay about church matters the better for thof c- in disgrace in our midst. All I can say, end I maintain it; is that things in connection with the church are In a very .bad state, and I look on it as quite a calamity. "&tiath "may write as many disclaimers as he likes, but it will not do. I think it is high time the Presbytery inquired into the state of the church in Middlemarch.