ALBURY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2309, 2 June 1898, Page 26

ALBURY.

May 28. — This week brought us our first sniff of winter. The 24th was very squally, with occasional heavy showers, and the following day was much the same till towards evening, when the storm culminated in enow falling throughout the district, and in a very short time the greater part of the settlement was covered with several iach.es of snow, followed by a very sharp frost, making Thursday morning just about as wintry as it could well b« ; but as the day turned out fine and favourable the district soon wore its natural aspect. Though the change was sharp and severe, it undoubtedly will do an immense amount of good, for as regards the rain, and, better still, the snow, it was just what was wanted. Bnf - , of course, nobodj wanted it " till to-morrow." It is wonderful how one longs for rain, and yet wishes; the wet had k«pt off for another day. How wonderfully applicable are the lines— " As a rule man's a fool :

When its hot, he wants it cool ; "When its coo], he wants it hot— Always wanting what is not."

Agricultural — Grain aud produce generally have remained sboxit stationary of late. Not bo, fortunately, with sheep, quite ac unlooked for apurt having takec ijlaca in this class of stock. All the best classes of stock have jumped up a couple of shillings m about as many weeks, and minor qualities quite v. shilling. Draught horses also hold their own, despite the high price of feed ; but theb, t,t course, prospects of a good return from field* v/oik are on *ht a&eeuding scale in sympathy with the enhanced -vaines. of food pioduce.

THE ALBURY COLLIE TRIALS.

The first gatLeriug oj thie club cania off last week, and was got through very satisfactorily to the end. Thursday, the opening day cf the Covitesl, was far from iavourable, the early worning resembling midwinter, but as the sun shore out brightly, the people of the district aeemed to get thawed, and rolled up in goodly numbers, and by noun there was d very gatisfactoiy muster, i (.eluding a tiumbei ot ladies, who evinced no small inteiest in the wiies. of their friends' "poodles." All the ieacl'ng officials of the club waie present — viz., the Patron (Mr F. R. Flatman, M.It.E for the district), the Ptesident (Mr Gideon Rutherford), and Ihe Vice-president (Mr J. S. Rutherford), who took a keen interest in the whole proceedings, an example worthy of emulation by other large flockmasteis who undoubtedly reap thegreatest benefit indirectly of the good resulting from such contests. The hon. secretaiy and treasurer was ably assisted fry the fcwo brothers in the manifold duties appertaining to the office and of endeavouring to serve all— aa object worthy of all the good result aad but » fraction of the abuse so generally bestowed as a reward for labours of love. Tho young ciub was fortunate in haviug the services of a capable judga iv tho person of Mr W. 0. Rutherford, and there is oo doubt the club was wise in its infancy in adopting the " single " Judge principle, for undoubtedly onecompetentjudgeisall thatis wanted. The only lack of judgment, shown by this young club was in the claso of sheep it decided on for the "Huutaway" event and the limit age in the youths' event. Tn the Hist instance crossbrod sheep were used— a very strange thing, when tbe use of halfbredrf had proved at other trials how erroneous this selection is compared with meiinos. The tmdoubted populaiity o f the " Boys ' " event was only marred by youths " as much men as ever they'll be," from a doggie point of view, competing against lads still in their teen«i. But all praise to them ; they were able to hold their own i» their class, nnd two of Lbe boys proper gave a most praiseworthy account of themeel res iv the lest compctitido of the meeting— v\/... ihe £J0 e rent. -in which they proved tho manors up, only beio/i btureo out of a, I'lacst by that well-known c'ucrissfai competitor Mr J. Davidson. Mr R Kidd's performance wit? specially meritorious— that of gaining pixth place in n class of 26 entries though never having pvoviousily witnessed a, doj? trial, and the lad's tviji in th« youths' c■Hss^ras a mojt popularone. He i-corcd 39 out of h po^'ble 30 puinls, which also eeoured for biiu Ms O'PriscoU's special prize—a suluea fca ihe eujuirotiior scyrjiig most jjoiatg at

I the meeting who had not previously taken part in a trial. As was further instance! in the performance of Mr I. Curtis with Glen, a dog that had never done n day's work oft" the little farm, and consequently, one would naturally think, would be placed at a great disadvantage, he was able to satisfy the critics that it is not only Scotchmen who can break and work a dog, and that, given aa intelligent dog, even the smallest cockatoo has no need to be afraid to pit his dog against the beat of professional shepherds. So well did Glen perform that Mr Curtis had eeveial offers of £10 tnao'e for him, and ultimately sold him for £12. From this iv would seem that any man with a good dog for sale might do much worse than patronise bona fide dog trials, even from a commercial point of view. Indeed, there is strong evidence that these trials will become ere long a recognised medium of sale for good dogs. There is no use the uninitiated ever harping on that abused word "luck " ; merit will out. If a wellknown good dog doesn't win it invariably is because a better comes out to try. The programme for the tmls had been well filled in response to the club's offer of substantial prizes and a great many specials. There were seven entries in the youths and 26 in the long pull, with an average entry in the n'rot two classes. Class I was the first, taken. In this event crossbred sheep off high hill country were used, with a result that proved most adveise. The sheep were so stubborn and imbued with " cusseduess " that nut a single dog was able to qualify for a prize. The committee subsequently met and decided to re-offer the club's prizs* for competition to the dogs remaining in class I, and use merino sheep, a resolution that proved eminently satisfactory by one and all. Class ll.~The usual yarding event was got off in the afternoon, whea satisfactory work was done. Only three dogs succeeded in yarding their tuo, the work of the winner baing of a very even order throughout, and Mr Ballantyne came in for sincere congratulations on again adding to his IMDy previous score 3of merit. The prizes were £8, £4, £2, and £1, and the judge's awards were : Mr N. Ballantyne's Moss, 25 points 1 Mr .1. R Thoiopson'B Roae. 22 points „„ ... 2 Mr J BalKntyne's Gyle, 20 points ... „. 3 Mr J Davidson's Scott, 19 points , ... 4 Class 111. — "The long pull" was got under way first ihing on Fridr.y morning, when thiuga again went off very well, thnugh, perhaps, not so •expeditiously as was desirable, the class not being finished in time to enable tbe youths' eveat being got through. The work in the loug pull was more even than is usual, a good peicent&ge of the contestauts scoring upwards ot two-thirds the maximum points. Again, scorers at previous contests were not to be denied, and the hi/rher scores contained such as Fame, winner at Kurow and Burkes Pass ; Mess, winner of tho youths' class twice at B Hike's Pass ; Fly, several times winner at Biirke's Pass ; Nod, ditto. The winner, however, turned up in Rose, second in the yarding yesterday. By the double score she gained Mr Thompson's (the clerk) aggregate prize of £2 2s. '1 he pu'z^s were £!0 and special £1 Is, £5, and £2. The result was as follows :—: — 1 Mr J. R. Thompson's Rose, 27 points 1 j Mr R. Fraser's Nod, 24 points 2i Mr J. Davidson's Fly and Scott(equal), 21 points 3 ! Class IV.-^-This was for youtli3 under 21 years, who were required lo drive three merino wethers through three sets of hurdles, and hold them in the ring. It proved most popular in consequence of its being so mirth-provoking, especially in the case of the wee laddie, who, be it to his credit, showed more agility than ability to perform the work required to fulfil the programme, and his scoring of third place was by far the most popular win of the gathering The more praise to him his puppy is of his own training, and though this was the first dog trial he had seen I'm sure it is not the last time " Bente and Bob " will bs he-a-d of. Piizes : £3, £2, and 10s. The results were :— Mr E. Kidd (aged 19) 1 Mr Wright (agea 20) 2 Mr C. B. Anderson (aged 16) 3 Two others competed. The course as laid out this year did not meet with general approval, and will probably be somewhat altered. As previously arranged, the Huntaway event was again j;one through, with the alteration of j merino wethers instead of cro^sbteds, pnd with ! very satisfacto?^ results, showing that it was the sbeep that were so much at fault on the previous occasion. There is moieover no denying the fact that not a single dog showed the form necessary to do justice to the class, and such will be the case until the masters lecoguise the fact that there is no reason why a dog should not be trained to drive its charges out very similarly to the mannes that a man brings sheep jn. Once that facb is recognined a very short time will work the trick. Prizes: £7, £3, £2, and £1. The following was the posted result : —

Mr C. J. Johnston's Fly, 25 points ... 1 Mr R. Fraser's Nod, 23 points 2 Mr J. Fru&er's Clyde. 22 points 3~ Mr A. Smith's Royal, 20 points ... 4 Tho special prizes went as follows :— The club's 2gn, for dog scoring most points at meeting— Mr J. '£„ Thornton's Rose ; the vice-president's £2 2s, fot- high coii n try shepherd or musterer scoiiug most paints with one dog in each elasß— none qualifying, the club holds the prize for another year ; a similar fate met the N.M. and A. Company's £2, for dog scoring most points in each class (laud III) Mr T. O. Driscolgave £lls for the competitor scoring znost points who had not previously taken part iv a dog trial, and was won by Mr R. Kidd ; Mr M'Kewou's (saddler) bridl© to competitor scoring mofet points outside a club's prize was won by Mr 11. Anderson ; Mr Hugh's pair of spurs to the noisest dog in the lluntaway class went to J. Fraser ; Mr Scott's pair of spurs went to Mr J. Davidson, for best generalship in workiDg dog ; and Mr R. Fraser won Mr Smith's special for best bred slut scoring at meeting with Fame.