SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2426, 12 September 1900, Page 37

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

IFrom Oue Own Cokbespondent.) INVEECAEGILL, September 10. With all the -usual variations of barometer' we are getting only fine weather. Occasional threatehin'g's of rain neve) come to much, and the roads stud "country generally now are unusually' dry for' this season of the yenr. Occasionally we have had sharp frosts in the morning, which are checking spring growth in orchard and paddock somewhat. The ploughed land is. in excellent condition for harrowing and seed-spwing, and , farmers, generally are, well forward with the season's work. Young lambs are nunierpus,, and thus. far. are doing excellently, but are full early for this part of the district, there always being a scarcity of grass this month and next.

The trout can be seen moving in the streams at eventime, and anglers are preparing for the seacon's sport, opening on October 1.

Some of the daily factones have already opened* for' tlie season, notably the Mataiira Island, which ' received 300 gal for its first supply on Monday morning last.

Another large fire occurred last Thursday morning at Gore, destroying a whole range of buildings, and doing damage of a total value of at least £9000, only abotit one-third of which was covered by insurance. The water supply.

was deficient, and what there was gave i\ ' si. a critical stage of the conflagration. Inder'* hoise bazaai was one of the places desid-oyp.6',\ and "out of nine hoises in. the stable at, the. time seven were burned to death, while 'tw<A sheepdogs also suffered the same - fate. Tht? entire block of buildings from Moloney's, hA Mersey street, to lnder's, in Main street, wa«i burned. The losses over insurances are — John; Mac Gibbon and Sons £3000, S. G. Inder-^OOO , C. J. Moloney £100, J. S. Neave £150, W. F, Inder £450, James Holland £500— total £6200. ' The buildings destroyed were about the oldes* Irasiaess places in the town. Chief-^etectivOi Campbell, from Dunedin, was in Gore on Fri> day investigating the ca-use of the fire. It if, understood that there are no suspicious circuiut stances attending the occurrence. It is seldom a small community is so nrucl> concerned about custom tariff alterations ar.' Orepuki was the other day on receipt of the news that the duty of 6d per gallon on kerosene had been abolished. Whatever may be the ulti- - mate <?l?eci of this legislation on the shale oil works there, now drawing near completion s<far as the placing of the machinery and such*, like operations are concerned— and I hope "i' 1 will only be for good— considering the ver\ handsome bonus the Government is "offerii" for a large supply of cheap oil, that is, good lighting oil that can be- sold at Is per galloi • or under, it is to be hoped that the induMn - will thrive and prosper. If _the basis c? ih';l whole, concern— that is, an abundant supnly r.A rich shale — is forthcoming, I believe it will,' foi,' every other advantage is there, such as \*.»V . railway connection with 1 every port 'and inland market, an abundant supply of cheap coal and. wcod, handy labour, etc. At the first intim?'lion of the removal of the duty oii kerosene, tlif • men engaged' by the company immediate]]stopped building, jmd every other possible 1 expenditure wa3 curtailed, and Orepukf.itcs fo"(a few days really began to think th? bottom was going to drop clean out of their otherwise' flourishing little township; but now the fac fc that the directors of the company, after picsurnably duly considering all the pros 'and con', of the altered circiimstances, have decided to piish on the completion of the works as speedily as possible has renewed public confidence to a greater degree than ever, and the opinion is general that the Orepuki shale oil industry is. likely to be of a permanent and substantial nature. , The Catholics of theOtautau and surrounding district, at a meeting held yesterday, decided to proceed at once with the building of the chinch, and have it completed before Christ-, mas. The site has been owned by the authorities for a considerable time, and they hsvt been beautifying it with pkmtaliou?, etc., ice~ years past. The building is ,U be ot n substantial chlfracler and handsome design. '" The Public Works department ale pushing cy. the extension of the Orepuki-Waiau lailway hi a far more energetic manner than was general ly contemplated would be tne case when the Hoiu J. G. Ward turned the first sod of this woi-k a faw months ago. On the first four miles oi the extension there are now "12 gangs of men employed, and after this piece "is completed there are comparatively no engineering difficulties for the remainder of the extension, which it is reasonable to suppose another 18 niontfia will see completed. - i On Wednesday evening last a branch of the Manchester Union, 1.0.0. F., was opened aji Nightcaps, when a new inenifjersliip.of 18v.M3 jniolTecl. The election of office-bearers resultefl as follows : —N.G., Bro'. Eysasht; V.G., Bro. Styles; P. Sec, Bro. J. Ousted; Sec. Electf, Bro. J. Lewis ; tres., Bro. J. Johnston ; warden, Bro. W. Andrews ;" guard, Bro. T. Oustfd. A special carriage on the evening train from Irivefcargill carried a nximber of visitors frpm otlier lodges to the Nightcaps, among- vvho'im • were Bros. P.P.G.M. Briggs and' P.P.G.M. J'inlaj, the latter, acting as installing masterAt 'the close 'of the official part of the ceremony, a most enjoyable social evening wac spent, when the usual toasts, songs, and merriment filled up the programme. A protracted iiTquiry into a charge of perjury' preferred against three witnesses in "a mining ca&e from Orepuki, heard before the v/arden in Invercargill on 31st May last, was heard befor? Mr M'Carthy, S.M. The inquiry extended ovei .a fortnight, from the 28th August to 7th September, and was dismissed on the ground thafc although there had been a suppression on the part of the accused, the depositions did not disclose a criminal intention. - The facts were briefly these: — Evans and party sued the Undaunted Company for damages done to tha lDlaintiff's race through the /Cverfiowing of a. flume on .the company's race on or about the 16th March. The evidence for the plaintiff was taken ,at Orepuki on the 15th May, and was to the effect that the flume was of a certain size and badly constructed. Amongst the evidence was that given fpr the plaintiff by Mr J. S. Evans (the prosecutor in the perjury case), who had seen the flume on the 3rd April ; some days after the damage complained of. The case was then adjourned to Invercargill, on the 29th May, when Mi J. S. Evans gave further evidence^as to the size. of the flume. A section of fluming much larger 'that sworn to by the plaintiff's witnesses was then produced by the defendants for the purpose of contradicting the witnesses for the plaintiff. Several witnesses, includin gthe three ,accused, swore unequivocally to that as the size of the flume. The hearing extended on to the next day, and th"& plaintiffs in the meantime had caused an . inspection to be made with, /tho result that , the - boxes on the ground were found to be the smaller size, *as ,sworn to by them, with the exception of one box, -from which the section had been taken. The plaintiffs then asked for an adjournment, which waa refused, so they took a nonsuit before fcho decision was given, but after the case was clus^d, and the result of the plaintiff's inspection known, the solicitor for the company intimated that there had been some alteration in tho flume. An information was afterwards laid.' against the accused. The defence was that on the 19th March, and for some time previous, the flume was of the larger size, but had been l educed on or about the 27th March to the smaller size. It was admitted that the flume was the smaller size on the 3rd April, when seen by the prosecutor, and on the 20th May when the section was cut out, and also on the 29th May, when the evidence was given in Invercargill, and the accused succeeded- in satisfying the magistrate, that they were swearing to the size of the flume on the 19th March only. He found, 'however, that th,e accused had themselves to thank for the costs and anxiety to which they had been put, and concluded with an admonition to all witnesses tc speak the truth, the wli'a» truth, and nothing but the truth, and not to look on an oath us a mere matter of form.

A striking instance of the remarkable organisation and information available to the great British agencies and companies was brought prominently before a settler's family last week. He left Scotland in 1862 a. youth of 20 for New Zealand; his brother a- year younger going the following year to Natal, where he has siiice resided. Every Christmas Day since then, these two brothers have written to each other giving* in brief .a history of their separate doings. They 'have both married, and have grown up families, and, the Southland man is ill cpmfortable circumstances, aa most of our larget farmers arc. A year or two ago the Natali. settler told his brother that he had taken up a,* large bit of country further oii the coast. Re-J cently he wrote to say that if his brother' si elde* sons would come to Africa he would puu them in the way of getting a slice of b.nd, aiAj they would be certain to do well. He" actvies<#

them to writs a month before they started, and he would meet them. They have partly decided, to go, but what part of Africa is Mombasi? That is what puzzled them, and there were long discussions on the subject, for their atla3 did not show the town or port, or whatevei it is. In this dilemma a neighbouring sottler advised asking Cook's Tourist Agency in Invercargill what the cost of a passage from ■Bluff to Mombasi in Africa would be. As onay be imagined in the interval between the de&patch of the question and leply discussions ■were rife as to the kind of answer they would ge 1 ;. However m a day or two a matter-of-fact letter was received from Messrs Thomas Cook and Sons' agent stating that the firm would be glad to issue a passage order from Bluff via -Melbourne to Durban and thence to Mombasi fox £25, or by Melbourne, Aden, thence via Zanzibar to Mombasi for £27. Further information was afforded as to cost by both routes for saloon passages. The younger members of this family now declare to their friends that if they ever want to ge to the South Pole they know where to apply for information.