SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2425, 5 September 1900, Page 33

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

i iFitOK Oub Owk Coreespcndent.)

INVERCARGILL, September 3. The glorious weather I have leferred to so often ci late still continues, and the like of which has never been experienced at this season of the year m the memory of the oldest Southland lesidents.

The registered rainfall in Invercargill last month was 0.94 m. Mr H. T. 'lurner, who supplies me with this information, says it is tne uricst month he has recorded ior the past eight 3 ears.

Ploughing is well advanced, and a good bit of seed already sown. There is an unusually large area oi turnips yet to be fed oft at this season of the year.

Stock generally are in good condition, and commanding higii prices, .breeding ewes were sold at auction sale by the National .Mortgage .Company, near G-ore, last week, at 22s ana upwards a Jiead, in lots of 150 and 200. Uairy cattle are also commanding good prices, and aie being keenly inquired for. '

The freezing works are disposed to take a rest, and are not likely to be buj'ers until" JfEome prices for mutton and prices here ioi" fat stock become a bit more corresponding than they are at present.

'lliere weie a goodly number of farmers in town on Saturday with samples of oats for sale, but buyers were firm in limiting their offers from Is 64d to Is 6fcl at wayside country stations.

The s.s. Whangape, one of the Union Company's new cargo boats, took from the Bluff on Saturday for Melbourne about 44,000 sacks, the second largest cargc of oats that has ever left the Bluff in one bottom, and the combined merchants here have in hand now an order for 3000 tons of oats, to be put up in 80lb bags. I cannot find out whether these are going tc South Africa or China. The order comes from Melbourne. The small bags which they are to be filled into will be here in a few days, and probably a special steamer will be ■sent to tho Bluff to load about the end of this month. There will be this month four or five specially large cargoes of Dats shipped between, here and Christchurch, totalling fully 200,000 sacks in the aggregate. What effect this will have on the oat market, farmers can jvdge for themselves.- Merchants, who are the present buyers, say the demand will cease directly these orders are executed, and oats will then again decline in value. It may be so ; we shall see.

The export trade in eels is to be further tested this spring by a Wyndham resident, who made some experiments in that direction last year. This seems to indicate that there is a hopeful outlook for this industry, which, by the way, could be easily extended >to many othei parts of Southland than the Wyndham district only.

This week you "will have in your illustrated, X^ages a picture of the new post ofiice at the,Bluff. Many ptber iiew buildings, not of quite so costly a design, but otherwise important edifices in their respective localities, have re-; cently been erected in various centres of' Southland. A public hall at Drumniond> has just been completed ,and will be opened by a concert and ball on Wednesday, 12th inst., at which the Invercargill Pipe Band is to take a leading part; At South Hillend, a fine agricultural district, which has rapidly come into picminence during the past few years, the lesidenls have decided to erect a public hall..

At Ot.vutau, Mr R. Swcetnian, of the Crown Hotel, has just completed one of the mosi conmodious horse bazaars in Otago or Southland. Messrs Robert Scatter and Son were the contractors for this large work, which they handed over last week, to the complete satisfaction of the architect and proprietor. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Company, whe purpose holding horse sales in .the Otautaii district al regular inteivals, hold then first sale in this bazaar on Wednesday next, sth hist.

Mr H. Whittaker last week sold his Otautau Hotel at a price nearly three times greatei tha.i what it was offered at -five years ago, ann now it is considered a great bargain for the present purchaser, Mr Nicholas Kelly, of the Carriers' Arms, Invercargill, who takes possession on or about the 20th of this month.

On Wednesday lastthe Rev. W. W. Brown, late of Dipton, was inducted into'the Limestone Plains Presbyterian charge. The ceremony was followed by a most enjoyable social, atwhich several Presbyterian ministers and the Rev. Mi Burrowes, Wesleyan minister, Otautau, took part. At the social the Rev. W. White, Wallace-" town, who has had charge of the parish since Mr JS waoi's "death, was presented with a purse of sovereigns as j a slight recognition of his kindness and unwavering attention to the sunply of the congregation's needs. Mr Lumsden, of Drummond, in a capital little speech, made the presentation. The Rev. Mr Brown met with a. very warm and cordial reception from his new--, parishioners, who, without the usual custom o;, the Presbyterian Church, unanimously called 1 ) him to be their pastor. ,' Quite a number of Orepuki people have been in Invercargill the las^ wfieli. They ..a,re i .prin i l

cipals and witnesses in a case in which John Oorbstt, "William Scatter, and T. Sloan, charged at the mstar.ee of Mr J. S. Evans with, having committed perjury during the hearing of an action between J. S. Evans and party and the Undaunted Gold Mining Coznppny. There are a great many witnesses on each side, and the hearing, which opened 0:1 Mondsy, the 27th August; is not yet completed. Discussing tlie question of abattoirs at the last meeting of the Gcie Farmers' Club, Mr J. M'Qucen said the proposal to establish abattoirs at Invercaigill had been bitterly opposed by the butcher:-— and naturally so, perhaps. 'lJtiey had the usual kind of slaughteryards, ■with pigs wallowing about in filth. 'J.lial might liave been piofitab^e for the butchers, but the consumers did r.ofc care to have their meat prepared under such conditions; hence -the abattoirs. The butchers went agamst the scheme (it being opposed to their monetary mteiests), but the interests of the majority prevailed, and Jthe butchers had to submit. In starting the Invercargill abattoirs (continued Mr M'Queen) the authorities made a mess of it, and spent a large sum in erecting buildings entirely unsuitable for the purposa of properly cooling zrnxt. In fact, the place (as one butcher aptly put it) was more ntled for growing tomatoes xhsn for cooling meat. Instead of having louvered walls, these were close bearded. Jrle fancied that something like £300J or £1000 was spent on the Invercargill abattoirs; whereas a quarter of that sum, judiciously laid cv:, •would Have made a better job.

,1 see Mr M'Na'o has presented a petition to Parliament from Gohn and -.Thomas (Jraham, cf Gore, claiming adequate reward (as allowed by tho Mining Act) for the discovery and openingTip of the Mataura Paver and adjoining lands as a .payable goldfield. The continuous dry weather we are getting ■will seriously alfest the returns of gold from the Sound Kill diggings, where it is all sluicing operations, and miner are dependent on a good supply of water. On Friday eve.iing the member's of the Southland Mounted Kifles entsrtainned Sergeant Fahey at a social at the Carriers' Arms hotel. '.There was a fairhy full muster of tho corps present, and Sergeant- Major Jopp presided. .Among those present besides the members ot the corps were Major Hawkins, Adjutant-Cap-tain Henderson, Captain Gardner, -• Sergeant .dodson contingent), and TroopeT baunders (first contingent). In speaking to the toast of the evening Captain Haziett eulogised tho im:iy < good qualities of the guest, and commented on the advances that had been made hi volunteering since the departure of the first contingent. Lieufcs. Russell, and Wallace, Sergeant Bond, Troopers "Wnghl and Saunders also spoke to the toast. The latter, having travelled with Fahey, gave further' "testimony of his splendid conduct both off and on active service, and related one 01 two amusing- incidents in which they had both taken part. Sergeant Fahey, on risiiig to reply, was leceived with vociferous applause, which lasted two or three minutes, and finished up with three ringing cheers. He said that he must be excused a lengthy reply, as nis feelings v ould not permit liim to speak; but he thanked them fiom the very bottom of his heart for ttie very heaity v/elcome which Lad been extended to him. When asked how he was wounded, he stated that when General Hutton's foice left Bloenirfoutein for Thabanchu it was voluntary on l&Iajor Robin's part to go out with him, and it "was in an action that lasted all day that he got liis at one time co:i lidered mortal wound. Major Robin sat by his 'side for an hour and a-half amusing him when the engagement was over, and Fahey speaks in glowing terms of the Major's kindness to him. The social was kept urj until midnight with sundry toasts and songs, nearly all of which were of a patriotic strain.