St. Mary's Orphan Borne TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2309, 2 June 1898, Page 30

St. Mary's Orphan Borne TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — Will you kindly .allcw me. to appeal through your paper on behalf of tin ifnnds of the frame at TJishopsgro-ve.- I Tfisß to draw attention to the report published In this day's issue, and especially to aek friends 'to assist us to defray the liabilities, in order that we may be in a position to receive children whom we have been solicited -to take into »he booie. Donations for this purpose would be gladlj received by any oT the clergy of the diocese. Thanking you for your kino" assistance,— I am, &c, .Blaby .Nevili.

St. Mahy's Orphan Home,

'The report is a s follows :—: —

It will be seen that owing to the j&bssnce from home of the bishop ana Mrs JSfevill, two years have elapsed since the publication of oui last report. Mrs Moss kindly acted aa treasurer io the interval, and the managers desire to r«luro to her their grateful thanks. They wisb also to express their "gratitude fior the "long-continued help of many friends. At the same time tbey a.r» troubled by a failure to meet their liabilities, the receipts beinglessened by the removal of friends, and it seems necessary to' meet the liabilities before more children can bo .received into the home. Tlie managers feel sure that, when this is known many •will comeTlorvvard and assist iv the good work. T.here ara at present only six children in th«. liome, several .having beeo pUced in situations nereDtly.

Our special thanks are due to TMr Ke'fk, for cake and lollies ; Mrs Simpson, cake; Mr Mo«r«, side of lamb ; Miss Smith, dolls, ifrockH. anil two baskets ; TMrj Beaumont, scran-book anfl cai'li , Messrs Irvine and Stevenson, 'Christmas pud ding; Mr Braithwaite. clock ; Mr Logic, boetc? , Bt John's (Waikouaiti), fruit and vegetables ; M r Macouaid, apples: per Mr Kelk, from Chuu-.h i«f the Good Shepherd, fruit and vegetables ; rtt Albans, fruit 1 ; Ande-son's Bay Church, fruit Jod vegetables ; Mrs Ul rich; 'worn iiisters And shoes : Mfs'Moss, istekat; St. 'Martin's and Warrinjtoo Churches, frnit and vegetables ; All Saints' Suo day School, Tbooks ; Mrs Ballard, -worn clothes ; Mr 'Brickell, h^ney ; 'Miss Arlidge, jam i Mm Taylor, jacket"; Miss Rouse, worn garments : Mis Joatthim, worn garments.

She accompAnying" of accounts shows that on the 31sb March there was a bal".«ice due *o the bank of of £12 Us lid, no that the subscriptions, fee , fell short ot the expenditure (which amounted to £208) by about £12.

Tlie Question of Condemned Stock.— A Suggestion. TO THE EDITOK.

Sib, — I notice in your Priday's issue tfa« report of a meeting of Dutcher»« *nd others interested in bhe above subject, when a resolution was unanimously carried to Che effect that the Burnside Saleyards Company be requested to pat in force a by-law requiring sellers of condf.rnrjed stock, to bear half the losb on such, and the 'buyers ths other 'half ; the claim fco be mad* within seven days. Now, ' Sir, in the opinion of any thinking person, this would not work *t *!l fairly from a grazier's point of view. One or two.speafers seamed to be of opfaUu that all atcck are supposed tobe branded. Thi» is fo as regards sheep, bub I am unaware of anj law- compelling the branding of cattle, and &» far as my experience goes the latter praetic* has" since the country has been opened njp *&d farmers for "the most part have their holdings securely fenced fallen into disuse except an stations and by .caltie-breeders on a large scale. 'T<ben, -again, on a gireat number of -cattle the brand is quite illegible. In the cftse of ,sheep one speaker suggested that the''Saleyßrds Company compel aill «hecp nassing through their bands to be mewlr brat-ded. This would entail » hardship on grajziers, as .well as deteriorate the value of the skins ; aEd even bhen in the ■case of fullwoolled sieep tbe brand would m mo3t cases be amudged and quite indistinguishable from the sheep rubbing against each other io driving.

Now in bhe -face of these facts, if the resolution bx,& fcuggesticttiß made by the meeting become law as carried, (I) ,a grower -misfit be saddled with half the cost of an animal he never owned ; (2) the buyer might be asked to pay 'his share on au animal 'he never bought ; '(3; the "buyer would in not a few cases have ba m*ke a journey to the ababtoir to satisfy himself — * course tih.ab would in bhe majoriby of case* be denied the seller ; (4) the farmer -would have to lie out of his money for seven flay*, when j>erhaps he has come to town along with his stock inbending to spend bhe proceedß ; (6) rII cash transactions between bny^r «nd leller or his ageate wonld De precluded on accoanb «I nob being Aisle to settle till the seven days had .claps«d 1 as well as a great number of disabilities thai will at once suggest themselves to unycne coi^ieraaßt 'with tti« nabfecb.

Now, Sir, all this «oulsl be obviated by a system of insurance, if the Buruside Saleyards Company, through the 4 selling agents, were to collecb from bobh seller 'and buyer — the iame as they collect the yard dues — an infiniteaimallysmall sum per head on cattle and per score or 50 on sheep ; such money to form s. fund out of TthJeh all ptuchrisers of condemned stock (so long aa such stock had passed inspection in its Hys atate) -would be -recoajHsa, the price of such, to bs assessed br*th« inspector condemning.

Something on the lines I hare sketched out ■would preclude Tinging In and dishonesty of every kind, as -well as Bave a lob of harassment to Doth butchers, farmers, and agents, and I tope an abler voice will take ths matter up afc the forthcoming meeting on the subject.— I am, &c,

Porbobsllo, May 25.

Stpne's Ofcßgo and Southland A.B C. Moatl\lw Ctiud.6 and DLu-f iov Svm is to OA&d,