AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2565, 13 May 1903, Page 16

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

At the annual meeting of the> Southland A. and P. Association, held on Saturday afternoon, the balance sheet showed that the year started with a credit of £92, and that the- total receipts had amounted to £1474, the balance in the bank and in hand at the end of the year being £125. It was also stated that only 192 farmers in the country districts of Southland out of some 1500 were .subscribers. A wild greyhound has been creating havoc among the sheep in the Kaiwera. district, and although it has had to run the gauntlet of a number of irate farmers wielding firearms it is still at large. Tho Rotomahana on Saturday brought a shipment of 35 horses to Lyttelton from the North Island. Six potatoes grown in Southland weighed T^lb, the heaviest weighing l£lb. Over ]200 pigs were cured by the North Island Bacon Company at its Woodville works during last month, and the splendid sum of over £4-000 was paid out to producers. The annual Foal and Produce Show of the Malvern district was held at Russell's Flat on Thursday last. The weather was beautifully fine, but theatteudance wa3 very little larger than on some of the inclement days, of which the association ha.s had more . than its share, while there was a considerable decrease in the number of entries. The quality of the stook was quite up to the usual standard, some classes showing a decided improvement. Bathurst burr, broom, giant burdock, gorse, hakea, and ragwort or ragweed have be<?n gazetted noxious weeds within the County of Horowhenua, North Island. The Manawiitu .Standard loams on meet reliable authority that further changes are probable in the Dairying Department, Wellington, that threaten to disorganise that department completely. Tbe Standard's informant states that two of the most reliable and practical men in the department have received alluring offers to join private firms engaged in the dairying industry, and are giving the matter serious consideration ; so much s-o that only increases in their salary commensurate witb their worth, can induce the officials to remain in the Government service. The public abattoirs, established by the Lyttelton Borough Council, have been in operation for upwards of nine months, and so successful have they proved that ther* is, probably, no person in Lytteiiton who wishes to return to the order of things which prevailed before they were established. Tho whole population of Lyttelton declare themselves perfectly satisfied with the new departure. The public approve of it because thero haa been no increase in the rates, or in the price of meat, while there has been an improvement in the general quality of the latter. In a conversation with representatives, both of tho master butchers and of their employees, a representative of the Lyttelton Times learned that neither class \vi.diC3 to go back to the old system of private slaughterhouse*. The butchers say that they pay more for HM ing their meat than under that system, but they look upon the additional expenditure as money well laid out. A recent visit to the abattoirs proved them to be in excellent order. There ia admirable drainage to the sea. Thnro is a liberal supply of hot -and cold water laid on, with ample facilities for utilising it, and cleanliness characterises the c^tablwlimnnt. Now. after nine months' up?, the building and its .surroundings ara as clean and as unobjectionable in every sense as they were when first established. Speaking at the annual ineD'tiner of the Grecnpark br.nnch of J'.e Farmers' Union, Mr ('. Lewis, M.H.R.. mentioned a circumstance which ho considered came within the ?cope of tho union. Tho lartr^st show of dairy produce in England, probably in the world, took place every year in London. At tho show held in November la>it year a rlass was provided for colonial butter. Canada was repreer-nted by a very large number of entries, New South Wales and Victoria sent 52, but New Zealand was not rp'iro.=ented by a simple entry. So that wliil'* a country regarded by English people On a drouglit-strick«-n desert sent 52 entries of butter in a cla.=« which excited great interest. New Zealand, the garden of the world, so to ?noak. could not muster a single pat. He looked to the Farmers' Union and thft Dairy Association to see tliafc New Zealand was adeauately represented at ihe dairy show in Novpimilve-r next. Mr John Holmes, who has beer persistently interesting himself with the frozen meat trade, recently drew the attention of a visitor to the colony, who ha 3 a large manufacturing connection, to the value of introducing the moat among hU employees. The visitor has written asking for some partieu^ar* as to the meat, the cost and the method* of transmission, and other details. These Mr Holmes haa supplied, and he has alr'-o arranged for a counlo of ca revises of New Zealand mutton to be forwarded to tho inquirer, that he may judge personally of the quality of '.he meat. Iho visitor, if he finds the meat to be what it is represented to be. intends to introduce if, to the notice of tho working classes in his district. — Lyttelton Times. On every hand in Victoria (say the Australasian) one hears nothine but congratiuV

tions on the pnlendid rains that have fallen, over fh© greater part of Australia. The effect has been that tho sheep from Riverina pastures that were sent to every district where pasture could bo obtained have all been ordered hom-e-w *d. Wit!' -a very serious reduction in the stock in New South Wales and Queensland, there will ho ' an immen^o rush of grass in those States, which, a-5 it cannot be consum-ed, will likely prove a source of dnngt-r further on. Next spring will bo a very opportune time to preserve a large storo c£ stock Todder in the Fha.ps of silage and hay made from native . grass. There is every probability that fat : stock will be plentiful, but they wi'il be plentiful only in proportion to the number in the country. The stock pent to market will be in much hotter condition, but there i-3 no great prospect of i large reduction in price.