WETHERSTONES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2295, 24 February 1898, Page 25

WETHERSTONES.

j Fr.BanißY 2.—T he Golden Rise finished their I I padi.o^i List Monday. Tnev weiv longer over ' thison-Th.iutiMia.l, ai tlieir viater supply was shott | , and the late strong winds were against the proper | usi; of what they had. Thepi<klock was about half an aciv in extent, and thty got ever 60oz of gold out of it. After shifting their plant and boxes, they made another start last Friday. I have been informed that the Blue Spur Company also washed down at the Blue Spur last week, and that when, they commence to elevate again they will not require bo much water. The leason for this, I suppose, is that the lift will not be so high j as the la^t ' Farming. — Some of the settlers in the district ; have made a commencement at cutting their oats. They have to cut the crop while on the green side on account of the birds. 1 was told some I time ago that all the sparrows had left Lawrence. I Nearly all the sparrows and blackbirds leave i Wetherotonea for the country during harvest ! time, and at present there are only a few thrushes about I Babbiting. — In conversation the other day with , an expeit labbiter, he told me that he had taken [ 14,000 rabbits off 400 acres of land within the last , months, and that he had Bold two lots of skins

I since last November. The first lot numbs red 83SI I for which he received £1 10s, and the second lot 750, for which he received the large sum of 15s. lie laid pollard poison in the loose earth wher« the traps had been set, but only the young rabbita took it The inspector harasses the owner of the land because he keeps a man trapping, according to my informant, but he does not trouble the ; suirounding settlers who do a little poisoning i now and ag^iu As far as present appearances go, ' there will not be a fourth of the number of rabj biti caught this >ear for export or for other pur- ' po^es that were caught list year. i Ihe Witness.— l sse that the weekly issue ol J the Witness is 9500. I think that if that numb»r -.] were multiplyed by five it would give about tha i number of the readers of one i&sue. As an in- ' stance, one '^-itnees subscribed for here goes I through four hands. Thea it if sent to Blenheim and ib read bj several people there. Afterwards it is sometimes sent to Western Australia, and if i Ihere are any OUgo people there I give up guessing how many it is read by or where it goes afterwards. Weather. — The weather during the last two weeks ba& been lather mixed. On the 6th there %vas a strung east wind, and by ni«ht it was blowing a g'le. The uext morniDg was worse, with lAuf. In the afternoon the wind changed to N.W., and then to S W., with more rain. On the Sth it was still blowing from the S.W., with , lough heavy showers, but by night it had cleared ' up. Tbe 9th was the wildest day we have had this season. In the morning there were some i showers, but later on it cleared, and at 10 a.m. j the sun commenced to get obscured with a. thick haze, as though there was a large bush fhe in the north. The sun had the appearance it has when observed through a dark red glass, and seemed to , be very close. At noon the wind sprang up from • the N.W. ; by 3 p m. it was a hard gale, and very daik, with heavy thunder and lightning. j Shortly after 3 o'clock a ball of fire was seen ■ by some men to come from the S.W., travel- ; liug at a low angle, and disappearing in the north. It was seen for several seconds. Afrer- \ w avds there was a fierce squall of wind and rain. ; of almost tornado foice. 1 have v >een informed | by several peiple thai; the water they caught in j the ; r tubs that day was as black as ink, and ihey had to throw it out. Jn my opinion it was smoke from bush fires to the north and west, that obscured the sun. Rain has fallen on 11 days during the past fortnight. The morning of the 16th was foggy, but calm all day. There was I thunder on the 19th, with showers. The lowest j leading of the thermometer wag 49deg, at 7 30 ■ am on the Bth ; the highest SBdeg., at ooon on 1 the 17th.