SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 26

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

Lnvercargili,, December 21. , Anoti er week's fine weather has made a great improvement in the appearance of the country. Crops and pastures have made gieat growth. Turnip and turnip and giass sowing is still going on, th'ugh there are already to be seen several nice paddocks _of the young plant in the rough leaf, clear of tint stage at which they are most subject to destruction by fly or small birds. By the number of aheep and Limbs (not iv the best of condition, 'especially the lambs) one sees in all parts of the distiict it givea the impression that we are overstocked ju«t now with sheep. At to-day's fortnightly sale at- Wallacetown they were very dull of sale both in The stores and fat sheep pens. I see very few lambs compared with pa«t sea ons that are in good enough condition to make freezers cf. Prime beef at Wallacetown to-c?ay told very much better than mutton. ■ The cropi about Wakatipu— Frankton and Arrow — are looking batter this season than last, and are in a much more advanced str.ge than the average of the Southland crops. I taw wheat there last Sunday just coming out in ear, and thousands of acres ot barley looking most promising.

Mr -T. Turnbull, for so many years manager of the New Zealand Loan and Me cantile Agency Company here, it is reported, severs his connection with "that institution at the end of the present year, or as near after as hissucce sor is appointed. Who this is to be is not jet publicly known. Report sajs negotiations-, are pending with the proprietor of . a w. 11 known stock and station agency business in the Wyndham district to succeed Mr Turnbull, who retire* into private life. Me M'Nili, who has lately rehwi*! from an eleven-months' tour lvund the world, is now enjoying a round of festivities in his old electorate. On Monday, 20th inst., he was the guest of the Forward Templars' Lodge at WyTidham, when' a very large audience listened to Eome reminiscences of his travels. On Tuesday the Rimu Liberal League tendered him a public welcome in lhe form of a social, followed by a dance. On Wednesday evening the Goie Libeial League follows in the footsteps of the Rimu branch, aud Mataura and Wyndham will follow after the New Year. These gatherings are not supposed to ha^e any political significance, but coming as they do along with the uncertainty f urroundiDg the MaUura seat are creating a shadow of excitement in the political world in that locality.

Messrs Joseph Hatch and Co.'s ketch Gratitude sailed from Bluff to-chy for Macquarie Islands where she loads up with penguin oil, which has been got ready by a parly of Messrs Hatch and Co.'s men who have been camped on the islands for several months.

December 28.

The weather during the holidays has been variable and in some measure inclement. It has ranged from hot sunshine to hailstorm with an occasional dust storm of blinding ferocilv. The number of visitors— arrivals chiefly from the landward districts— was largp, and in "excess of that of any previous occasion. Hotels, boarding houses, etc., were therefore taxeJ to their utmost. Loose cash is admitted on all hands to have been exceptionally plentiful, and in the retail trade on Christmas live very large business was done. The disp'ay of seasonable wares ,was good, but the holly tree decDratfons usually associated therewith were exceedingly meagre— a few cabbage tree leaves hung out on doorposts being about the extent of the display. On Friday evening the main thoroughfares were literally crowded, A fitting termination to the evening promenade ™s, however, completely spoilt by the weather. I he City Band had announced an open-air concert between 10 and 12 p.m. On the stroke of the nrat-named hour a succession of whirlwinds set in, raising a cloud of duat that completely obscured the surroundings. In railway traffic a large arcount of extra business was done on 1)oth Saturday and Monday. The Pipe Band, rigeed out in brand new suits of Stuait tartaD, attracted a largo share of attention in its progress to Wiuton, wkcre it took a prominent part in the Cal«.

donian sports. The Riverton annual regatta took a large number of visitors, but the lion's sh<»re of the excurtiouists patronised the City Band picnic at Mokotua on tho Seaward Bu^h line. The railway arrangements were on the whole satisfactory, no accident or hitch of any importance occurring. One or two outlooks from Stewart Islaud raise the assumption (hat the southern whaling grounds are well stocked this season. What is reported as one of the largest whales ever seen in the neighbomhood amis sighted iv the straits a few days ago. Ou Stm i,iy week one of the smaller fry got inside Patterson's Inlet. A hunt for its capture outued, but it succeeded in breaking away. The limit of these whaling grounds is situxted (50 miles west of Iho Sulanderd. The fact of their getting outside that limit is accepted as an augury that they are cxc ptionally plentiful. So far as is known, no whaling craft has as yet vitited the neighbourhood. But for the f*ct that New Zealand has no tabtp for whale fisheries, or indeed sny other maritime pursuit connected with tho sou' h— the Union Company's anuual trip exceptud —I should say the subject was woill y of fuither invesligxiion. Last year a Hvbart craft did a g'~V> 1 s.easo-j's.work, and it is uot improbable that she might do even better this year. 'lhe Southland members of the Assembly have rc'urued, reaching lovereargill on Eiiday. 'Ihey receivtd nothing iv tbe way of an ovation. silo one appear* to think the omisiion unintentional. In no previous session of Parliament has less interest been evinced iv the south than in the one juat closed. All-night sittings, stonewalls, and other outrages and iiregularities simply palled on the public mind, and latterly Parliament aiia-ii-m has become a subject completely void of public and personal impoitance. The member for Wallace complains of the " Liberal" press that it did not do him substantial justice. Iv what way is not stated. The luvercargill member, on the other hand, is complained agaii.st, m re parliculaily for the vote he gave on the Old Age Pensions Bill. Mr Robert M'Nab is still confident of a speedy vacancy' in his old electorate at Mataura, and in pursuance of candidature preliminaries is busily engaged making himself as affable in that direction as possible. In common with other parts of the colony the Seklon cause in the south X not advancing, and no one appears to think the Government ha 3 eri\d on the side of liberali'y iv the estimate of district expenditure.

The recent boisterous weather has entailed seriou-5 loss on the straits fisheries. Some tous of fresh fKh havt> had to be recommitted to the deep for want of an oppoitunity of having them conveyed to tho fre^z-r at the B'.uff The steamer plies only once a week, but interim trips are provid'.d for by "hookers." Of late the weather luis been so bad that no hooker fould face the passage. Meantime the fKh t.ikes were getfing stale, and had to hi disposed of as above. Being of the value of 2d per lbt) tho fishermen, wholesale destruction like this .is a serious matter, and it is not unreasonable to suggest that the question df increased communication with the island should be considered. 'I he ttade is capable of great expansion, aud until better provided for ifc cannot be worked to advantage. The woiks in comso of ejection at Port Pegasus will to some extent obviate the difficulty. The gpaeral opinion U they would have been mote serviceable at the eastern end of lhe Hand. The principal fishing grounds ar* the Noi th Traps. With prevailing winds )t is impossible to reach Pegasus from the Traps, aud in th.it way thesj works cannot possibly Le taken full advantage of.

It is f-atisfactoty to cote by a paragraph in the D^ily Times that the auriferous researches of the south- weat teiritoty aie attracting attention. There is very little likelihood of these fields being exploited by InvercargiU, and as for Dunedin, it apu'-ars to have quite enough to attend to in Central Otago. If then Canterbury can be got to engage in the rcfeaich and developments of the far i-outb, Canterbury will be richly entitlsd to reap the award that » waits such development. The idea appirently is to protp ct the country betwten the Hounds and L^ke Ma- apouri. If properly gone about the pr.-spectors will not have to go far inland before they get ground incontestably aurifrrom. The only thing wanting is the time and meaus, requisite for following up these prospect*. It may not be generally known that Cjnlerhi/ry was largely instrumental in the de% - elopment of Preservation Inlet, and again tbe recent spurt given that field is almost exclusively due to Canterbuiy enterprise.