SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

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

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

(From.Ouu Own Correspondent.) ! • - LwERCARaiix, December 7. We have; had a great variety of samples of weather during the past week, but mostly of an unseasonable and unfavourable description. ' W!e have had also big floods in tbe Waiau, Aparima, i Oreti, and Mataura •Rivers,*' and- I 'have a note from Mr.Dpre, of Manapouri, telling 'ine that both that lake and Te Anau are higher this, week ! than they have ever been for the last seven -years. Wakatipi^ also is abnormally high. Last Sunday it was over the wharf at Queenstown. I have referred so often to the serious results such a f-eason as the present is likely to have upon our district that I may be put down as a croaker if. I dwell upon it agaiD, but similar views are becoming more general every week, and more fully expressed both in town and country. It was a miserably wet day last Friday for the Gore Agricultural and Pastoral show, yet I have learnt since from some of. the representatives of the implement manufacturers who' were exhibiting there that they did better business on the ground that day than they have ever done before. This merely tends to show that the agricultural industry is in a flourishing condition iv that locality at any rate. The Western -District show takes place at-Iliverton to-morrow (Wednesday), and- tho Southern Metropolitan on" Tuesday and Wednesday, thel4th and. ls'-h in»t. Air R. F. (Juthbortson, the secretary, telhs me tlie number of entries already received compares favourably with those of ■ last yeai'. It is now known that the- spieling fraternity were strongly represented at the Clutha and Gore shows. .Sergeant Alacdonell informs me that several of them have arrived in this town during the last day or two, evidently with a view to pushing their nefarious business at the forthcoming shows here, this week and next. Though the police will keep a close, watch upon them, they cannot accomplish everything, ancl v ifc will be well for the public to be on their guard against the hundred aud one little tricks of these -people Ao get them. into side shows, tightly .packed, or under auy- other "conditions, whereby they can come in close contact with them.

Air B. S. M'Gill, of E+st Gore, is about to apply for a patent fbr a road grader, which he claims when put on the market will quite revolutionise road formation.- There is a grand opening for such an implement in Southland just now. - Mr Ji'Gill's inyention promises to be both strong and simple to work— two necetsary qualifications for a tool of this description. ; '■- Th«s report that Air Ward's friends had pur-, chased for him the whole of his private estate, including his large warehouses and stores in In vercargill, • Gore, and Blaff, is, I , believe, correct, th& sum paid for them being spm'ething

"^like XSOOO less than the amount" offered the liquidators of the Colonial Bank foi'" thoSamo aßß'et^ prior to Mr'.AVard'sbankruptcy. "■, „' s. ■ v The Camptjelltown " borough engineer, Mr Miller, is busy ' laying off the works to be dcf'na under the iIoOOO loan schedule, with a view to getting them completed as far' a» possible before winter sets in, and also,' it is said, to decide as far aspossiVile the works, to be undertaken before the Hon. J: G. Ward, the mayor-elect, takes control.' * •'*»-'■ ""- At the last meeting of the Bluff Harbour- Board the tender of Baker and Jones" (£2368) for tho extension of the eastern wharf was accepted.— The Timaru HarbQuiv ( Board. s adviied that, the Eight:, Hours' Bill would, if rriade law, operate against; their board,. .as it provided that a w««k's work should be limited to 45 hours, and virtually prohibited overtime. The letter was referred to the Knance Committee for report. — J. Roderiqua inquired the price at which the board would sell the Dispatch. '■ 'Committee "to report. — It was decided that pilotage exemption certificate foe Bluff Harbour be not issued to any master or mateunless he has been ' at least three times in ■ and out of the harbour in either- capacity-; and that as it is apparent that the existing maritime laws of New Zealand have the effect of rendering it extremely difficult for the' youth oC ' the"colony to get the opportunity of learning seamanship in ship*' trading froru this colony, the Government be aeked to modify the laws in such a manner as to make the profession easily accessible to the youth of the colony. Referring to the Seaward Bush railway, tha Southern Crosi says :— " This undertaking has reached a satisfactory and yet tantalising, stage. ThtS "barrier between dast and west no longer exists. A substantial bridge" "spans "the'Matauhi,, 'but' a' good deal remain's "to be ddne td '.make itpis of service.' There is a gap in the permanent i^ay ■on the other siUe to be ( 'filled^up.-\ T^heiexgen/Jift ture"of-a few tlVousands of pounds-woiild.do,this. If the matter 'were* in' private hands the' work woAl'd be dob'e at once/ seeing that un^U it- is -iiuisho,! the foil -benefit fron^ the. expenditurealr<!a'dy incurWdwill-ndt' accrue. ' Tn,e coramifctec hat held so ninny meftfings' that .we feltSgonio diffidence in recommending a renewal ef activity, but under the circumstances they would be amply jmtifted in asking for 'a "substantial vote this setsi6n It is understood that so. far the. returns from the traffic on the line have been satisfactory — a fact that should tell with the Minister for Railway*." , • At last Thursday's, meeting of the borough council it waa decided that one ofcthe corporation reserv«F, containing about 40 acres, on tno west; side of the railway near the gasworks and estuary, be taken for the. site' of the proposed public abattoir-, that the-necessaVy t>teps be taken atonce to, make an application to Parliament to-pass an act appropriating, this' piece of land for that purpose; and that' the town 'engineer bo instructed to prepare plans and specifications with an estima'i c of the cost for a suitable public abattoir, and' that he M 6 asked to visit the Dunedin'and Wanganui abattoirs The floating of tbe loan for th^ erection, of 'the building?, Ac , is to be undertaken immediately; the engineer's plans and specifications have been submitted to the' council. .'"■••'' -^ .

The last steamer trip from Preservation brings no very -positive information. . Nothing, is said about the progress or prospects of the golden site. From the Mofhins-Sta'ra^ood-'ChristmaJi cake is promised. Ah' undeveloped claim on the : same side of the Ir.let rt»med the Alpha is said to have got on -to good prospects. The fading is gaining ground that too' large an area has been , pinged off and too little- work donjt for the good of the field. The readjusted railway time tablet-took effect as from" the l*t inst. , The" arrival of" the northern express, so far, ■shows a marked . improvement in punctuality compared with- the previQUS-atrnoge- • ment. In Stner* respects* tbValteVaUon, is more -conveuieiit-* ' Surßai«nt -time is allovyeditor the "despatch of the western .tr*iu,',wlfereas,-previonJ3ly' the time was so short that tho .greatest bustle and confusion. occurred.- V"> v ,y'' , - T-' ;V '• ' ' A'tannnt'' a- pent o£'M»Bfagurp* brought up from the? islands ,b£ the .rHinemoa' twrffof , tfas -Icing specie;* w'qre,shipi>Bd; ! frQin t&e}M*r.'Qu»Elt>«.,- They}•,?wua, couplei of " ; very .baud«pine biid*ifv standing a*)but.2}ft high. The king penguin; remains on the island all th'e,ye.ar..r<nind. pea'f* about $Be endVf March", returning, aßaiet-iiv tbe' spring. 'Their- winter .quarters, .as .. you are - "aware, bave'rib't'been .ascertained^.. In addition' to the information already in print re Campbell Island- and it* enterprise, I have learned a few" further' "particulars. During, the six months the fl.cks were .left unattended' they confined themselves to a feeding Jr&dius nob exceeding 700 acres. Within that space 1 these '300 sheep and their progeny appear to have picked up ample sustenance. The explanation. is that both there and at Auckland' Inlands a> prolific celery hdib abound?;- winch spring* up with as much rapidity *b it can be nibbled jiow.n. The sheep are very fond of itf; aucl^it fattens €tiem well. So ■satisfactory is' the* stocking of, the island considered that 2000 additional head 'are to be introduced. The wool samples from here and the Auckland!) have been oh exhibit; and are pronounced first class The island lake, ..a- sheet of wateiW^O acres in extent, hitherto mnderstood to be salt watev,"w > as,foi)ntt to-be -fresh. ' It is lUble at' the 1 ; mouth to jencroachments fronuthe sea, and that is probably how the mistake originated. The\weather during the, six of "seven months Gordon's party,. remained on the island is. favourably reported' upon. There was. no snowfall. Showers of • rain and tiail fell occasionally, but in no instance did r these" last- more than two hours at a time. As a ■■> rule the showers were alternated by hot eunshino.- A' spell of- dry weather extending over 13 -day* occurred iv August., and a 'similar., spell of 7 10 aays in July.. The only r«jdly~severe wind was T onLshe. evening- 1 of tho 27th ultl, which.,took.,off again at daylight next , morning ; Tbe only* availablß timber is the" grass- tree, -jwhich, together imth ■cods, makes a passably, good feiifce.- ••?■&' few specks of gold, was goti>n. the .beaches,, supposed -to have coine-outof a dyke foroed up through ihe-scdi-ment'ary rock, and which, is ,rather ; plentiful throughout "thejajand. '. ,\ ' „ J ' ■ "-; - , --- One "point "relating hereto is again urged, on public attention. Thus importance of es'taolishing a meteorological observatory !nVi'de"the'Great>Jce Gulf, at, say, iPoSMMsion Inland, has- from tfme to time been- mooted. Its would r be .^ that:.,, a good , criterion of • the approaching-.. weather, would be available, aud New ; Zealand enterpf iae - especially Tgrazing and agriculture-5-might profit thereby. How valuable such 'knowledge would, w»ites the News, have been to Southland farmers* they themselves • would' re&dily attest. Many of theni who might hav s e made good use of the autumn and even winter months, but delayed operations in the expectations of. an ordinary spring, will lose perhaps the be^t parb of a season's crop owing to the forced late sowing. Of course the existence of such an observatory implies means of fairly regular communication, aud to that end oui" chain of islaods extending south from West Cape (Stewart Island) to within the Antarctic circle, offers the most eligible — in -fact the tole meant*. From the Snarea to the Aucklands, thence to Campbells and Macquaries, are each stations at which a steamer would find every necessary to the success of the trip, which at ordinary speed would only occupy a week oivlO days from the no oat remote p'ofnt of/leparture. On the Snares and- Aticklaads there is good fuel and every facility for establishing coaling stations. On tht» Aucklands Moffett and Sods have already the nucleus cf a herd of cattle, which, in a few years, would well afford supplies for a , fleet. On the Campbells Gordon's party made an entirely successful beginning at the utilisation of a splendid picturesque and fertile island. Their sheep, ■although, by force of circumstances, left uhtended, for, nearly two. jseasons, have thriven splendidly.'and where "there are how, my, 500, the flock, can l.cr by importation, or natural .increase withim a few ye'ajT.V increased to more .than 'that number in thousands. , ... rr * . ■ -i The ica invasion reported "from " Antipodes has given rise to meteorological comments; The idea seetns'to be' that a volcanic -disturbance -of exceptional severity .has occurred in the dark- ice continent, ' and that tnese euorjmpus bergs, nowstated to nxrmber 21, form part of a great cleavjga consequent' thereupon.- You will recollect An' outbtfr3t of the kind having occurred' «mong*t the ■mountains back- from Milford/ Doubts aroua as .<to th» reliability of the report. ', Itsactual eolu- - tion,' uQt-, improbably, lies amongst thchidden; mysteries of the. Antarctic. The recent ice drift muit have .been abnorjmaj.~ '^« ftY***??--]* '■?

such drift is situated 10 or 12 degrees south of Antipodes, and its raott northern limit is at least 2deg outside Antipodes circle. Reaching-, as the invasion has, , within a league of the island, justifies the assumption of the circumstance being altogether exceptional. There is deep, interesting, and profitable study in the subject of these icebergs. Even if I were otherwise competent to engage therein, New Zealand's culpable neglect of its relations to these dark regions precludes the possibility of its being dealt with advantageously.