POMAHAKA DOWNS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 30

POMAHAKA DOWNS.

April 11.— The weather diii-mg the !a<=t Tortnight hs>s been very changeable— -hovvery weather and then blinks of sun = hine. Farmershave iust had' to lead in tlieir crons bit by bit. 'Lately it has turned rather cold and wintry like, and I should not be surprised to see the first snowfall of the season at any time. Harvest.— On the Pomahaka Downs one car< see all the different phases of harvest life at Ihe present moment — from catting to threshing. This shows what a lute season we have here, although most of tho settlers have now got it all led in. Mr Trusslc'p mill started threshing on Mr Heriot's Bection last Tuesday, and by this time it is well through the rest, there not being many now left on the Downs. I see Mr Murray's mill is busy in the Wairuna district, as well as that of Mr Brooks, and soon it v.-ill all be -ii the bag. I hear some accounts of stacks heating, which is not at all \o be won. dereJ at this season, and I doubt if there will ba much r?flii v bxiglit oata..

School. — We are still without a teacher here. I notice in the report of the Education Board tha.t the chairman makes special reference to the fact that teachers have been advertised for for several schools, amongst them being Pomahaka Downs. I wonld also like to take notice of the fact that the chairman himself has given a very good advertisement by saying, as reported in the papers, " The salaries were too small to induce teachers to so to the Siberia of th province." To call this place the Siberia of the province is really adding insult to injury. The place has been damaged enough politically and otherwise without anything more baing added Had the Government acknowledged at first that they had made a mistake with this property, and at once put the rents at such a figure as would induce settlement, the place instead of being called a " Siberia," would now be a thriving settlement, ■with a well-attended school. It was all very dramatic, and suited to catch the unthinking oar, for the Premier, when making a speech In Clinton, to exclaim, with a wave of his hand • " Pomahaka ! Humph ! Why, we could throw in Pomahaka for nothing, and then the land for settlement scheme would be a success! " That, however, is not the way to look at it, as each settlement must be considered fin its cwn merits. Farmers' Union Conference. — I notice in the report of a conference of delegates of the New Zealand Farmers' Union at Auckland that Mr M. Kirkbride, the newly-elected president, said that one of the first questions for the union to'conaider was land tenure. If there was any tenure worth having it was freehold, and they should insist en having it. Now, that is straight to the point, and I think every Far- j mers' Union should support the freehold tenure. It seems to me that whenever a newMinistry is formed the Minister for Lands rmist make his n-ania famous by bringing in some new system of land tenure. When we have a good system such as the deferred-pay-ment system, why not stick to if This lease-in-perpetuity becomes more noxious to me the more I think of it. ' . 1