SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Volume 26, Issue 2419, 26 July 1900, Page 36

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

~•- 'YFboji Ovb, Own Corbespondent.) f "" • INVERCARGILL, July 24. - £"ur long spell of fine frosty weather was proken last week by a two or three days' sou'■rest storm. -Still, July promises to be a comJparatively dry month. jj About the best news I can report this week is r> sharp and decided rise in the value of oats. •!fhe independent and firm stand farmers who are large holders of stocks in store, as well as 'of Tinthreshed grain, were able to make when ssrices in some unexplained manner had been toeared down to Is 2d is, I believe, wholly responsible for the improved values, which in fcone of the outside markets so far as we know, have so improved as in Otago- and Southland, ffhe-" -Rotokino, which- sails- to-day for Melfcoiirne, takes on board at Bluff 20,000 -sacks, Which it is supposed are for transhipment there lor the, seat of war in China, not in South Hifrica. -, 'We have also buyers from the north just now jfor fat sheep, but our local freezing works, with their recent up-to-date additions for working pp all by-products of the sheep, are now" able to pay prices so Tiear to those ruling north that Jbhe -one or two "buyers I have been speaking to say they canriot Tray here any longer, and that they- think -this market is about done for, for them. As mentioned a short time ago, owing ko. the improved careful grading of the SouthSand muttonj it is now selling - within a six[•ieenth of a penny of prime Canterbury in the 'Eubnaon market. \i i do not know what our export of cheese has ftieen for the season, but looking over some leafSets sent out by the Depaitment of Agriciilture, ki. see o"ui" exports tfor the three months, March, (April, May, far" exceeded' those from any other JNew Zealand port. For those month's R,he- exports of cheese amounted to p. 6-,409,, valued at £35,733. Speaking of SouthSand cheese, Commissioner Kinsella claims to v liave seen a good deal during the past season. He visited the Bluff three times) and saw four ibr five shipments at Dunedin. He holds, and .{believes Instructor Sawers will ditto his assertion, that the principal faults in last sason's Southland makes were weak', open, off-flavoured, pasty cheeses. This was noticeable not in the {output of a solitary factory, but in fully ten of them. Such defects could not be wholly laid / 'against- the door of the suppliers. He again 'Emphasised the necessity of more attention being paid by managers to "starter" and "temv perature of curd." He had hardly visited a factory and found a thermometer in the vat; lind if the thermometer were not kept in use, port, pasty cheeses were bound to be the reBulfc. '' Messrs Tothill, Watson, and Co., who were the largest exporters from here this season, say the present system of Government graders and Government instructors is proving invaluable. (Dhe latter are always available, when the manufacturer is in need of one. and therefore wonders have been effected in the way of improving the -niak'e of cheese .and butter all over the colony, with the result that in a market report 'of -butter and cheese dated X/ondon, June 7,

'colonial cheese is quoted on an average 5s per hundredweight higher than Canadian cheese. I During the week Messrs Tothill, Watson, and Co. sold privately the Little Bush- , estate ,'at Waianiwa (542 acres) to Mr W.*J. Marshall, 'fc>f Woodlands, at a satisfactory price; also Mr fflm. Loftus's -farm at Woodstock, Mabel J330 - aexesj, fa ",Mr Coleman Har-ning, at a gc^od T>rice. ,'7' J The demand that -exists here for agricultural Ikae; far' exceeds" the supp~ly""available. , There are several new kilns in operation at Forest CEill, •liimehills, Browns, and Fairfax,' and all ih.ave orders on hand 'sufficient to keep 'them (busy to the new year. Those farmers who have tonce tried lime have no doubt regarding its Economic value as a fertiliser. & The Otago School Commissioners' runs, known as "Dunrobin station, advertised for 14 years [lease by. public auction in the Witness, were put up here to-day and knocked down at the iipiet price of 3d per acre to Messrs Dalgety and Co. This is a considerable reduction on the rent the last tenant was for them. -; In these notes last week I referred to the advisability of the Hound Hill Company making a sludge channel from the beach at Waka£>atu by dredging up to the hill through good gold-bearing - ground. I learn, however, that^ fchis ground doe 3 not now belong to that 'company, they having surrendered their rights, but lhat the best of it is held by ihe Ourawera Creek t^old Dredging Company as a dredging claim. MINING- NOTES. - Snand about Orepuki, mining is very brisk, fed for;the -most part is paying well. Miners -along the sea.boa.rd have an advantage over Jihose in the interior, -in the -shape of a plentiful water supply. The workings at Orepuki are specially adapted for sluicing — close to the sea^" plenty of fall, and free-going material ; aitd although' the area is limited and the field (has been going for over 30 years, the output of gold at the present is as good as ever it was, and much 'better tlian at some periods in the (past. One reason for this is that a good deal — anost, in fact — of the working is now in the . terraces. The3e had been shunned by the earlier diggers, for various reasons, one of which [was -that the gullies were swampy and easier /worked; another, that the water supply was Bimited, of rather the races were few and small. (Consequently' 1 it had grown up as a -tradition . fihat* there was' no gold in' the terraces.* Of "Uate years, however, when the field 'began to (be ■ spoken* of as done, several parties cut in more water races, and the greater water supply 'caused attention to be turned to the terraces, ,with good results. At present most of the water has converged on a spur locally called ' KlAidyke (whether from its richness or from ,<.he numbers who had previously been "frozen .but" is not stated), and those who hold claims Vai this spur are deemed the lucky ones.- The Vlirectors ■of the Undaunted Gold Mining Co. have abundant faith in the future of the field even at this day, as they are about to enlarge their present races and extend Jijiem. ;to- the remote-branches of the Waimeainea - .pQreek, to.Jasing in a laige water supply for Petting purposes, At present water is a valuable commodity, and if the demand keeps up [the spec ou.ght to' pay, and certainly the directors deserve to be successful, as the outlay will ibe considerable, and will cause employment for many more men.

The shale and oil works have given employment to a large number who were not fortunate enough to own water, or had not the opportunity of renting it. " The present dredging boom has not affected

Orepuki (as a boom), but it has caiised attention to be turned to the larg6 expanse of low- , lying country between the Round Hill and the eea.. This flat has lain untouched for years, ■because, in the first place, there was no natural _ Sail, and in the second there was not much

water available to create artificial fall by hy-

Rraulic elevating ;but the bulk of what 13iere was , -!"s used fox -that purpose by two companies — the

Ourawera Company (Invercaxgill) and the -'ißourid Hill Company (Dunedin). Of these the 'jtormer -has- paid -a considerable amount in di- ' vidends, while the latter has laid out a very -large. sum in plant, -"and -is now about to do as * ib neighbour, the Ourawera., has done. , : - "The "flat' is -now" receiving attention Itom '- flredgers'/'dr" a* least company promoters. There "«b no dbubfc that the flat contains good gold, - - \ s mt ."bein" heavily timbered both on the surface - %n.A for some distance below, it is not just ideal "'Hredgmg-jgrdund/ although it may a-nswer tnc 'iotwjiose of the company promoter for a tima,liih-""'>^,- . - ■> " - i

A" large . area is held under special claim licenses or "prospecting licenses" — Chiefly the latter, which reminds me that our worthy (and new) warden, Mr M/Carthy, does not favour the latter method of holding (shepherding?) ground. He made his JS.rst appearance on the bench at Riverton last week, and caused some considerable consternation amongst some of the speculative fraternity by refusing point blank to grant "prospecting licenses" in or near known fields, as they were a delusion and a snare, and were not necessary to bona, f<de prospecting or legitimate ruining. I have a hazy recollection that this fact has been discovered before by some unfortunate but confiding shareholders. The point seems familiar.

Some prospecting is also being done by an Invercargill syndicate in the estuary at Riverton, and as it is fed by a fairly large stream from the Longwood, there, should be gold there, and I hear that there is.