SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2603, 3 February 1904, Page 43

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

(Feom Our Own Cobresfondect.)

INVERCARGILL, Febiuary 1

After a few piehminary showers on Thursday and Friday, the ram came down in earnest on Saturday afternooif, and continued during the best part of the evening and night. It, will do a great deal of ccocl to the crops which had begun to suffei, and will put aii end to a great mortality among the trout m out ctreams. In Uie "Waihopai and up at the Five Rivers, trout have beer dying in hundred* for want of lam, andi by thousands through poaching. Poaclin.g is all through the season pretty common m all the small streams but in times of droug-ht such as we have recently been experiencing, the capture of ths trcut by guddlmg becomes so easy that tkey are taken by thousands. And guddling and spearing arc bj no means the worst forms oi poaching; indeed, this kind of poachn:g is not infrequently winked at by licensed nol-bra when indulged in in moderation, but dynamiting and hmii:g are frequently resorted 1.0 witu such results that al l license holders, I am sxire. would be delighted to bring th,' culprits t.i book.

Oats continue to offer freely an tht local market, but the quality is very indifferent, and A and B grades will be very scarce till the new crop comes in. There is very little busines doing, and pric&s are' nominally Is 6did f.o b. for B grade and Is 6d for C.

The ryegrasa crop has bee a saved in splendid order, and the quality of the s«ed is excellent. Buyers are at present offering Is 3d to Is 6d per bushel, but there is likely to be a decline. _

There is about the same area of Chewin«s's fescue this year as usual, and buyers have heen opratmg at Ud per ib foi undressed seed. Considering the very largs quantity of last jears seed held in hand, this seems a very full price, and, lujless some new factor intervenes, the market for this seed is ilso likely to go back.

The welcome rain of the past few clays has done an immense deal of good throughout the country, especially to the turnip crops. As showing what splendidl growing weather we have had. this season, several farmers have mntioned that their drilled turnips were this year ready for thinning within three weeks of sowing.

The fat cattle market remains dull, but there has been moTe business doin^ in store cattle —especially in young stock. Farmers are buying this class instead of sheep to eat their autumn feed and their winteT turnips. In sympathy with the London market, the price for mutton is firm, and *ny I-ines 01 wethers offering are eagerly competed foi Store wethers are also in great demand, and farmers are paying big prices. Buyers are offering good rates for fat lambs, and I hear of sales at 11s 6di to 12s.

Our mild lan-f boon? continues, and I hear that .Mi Alexander Claughley has sold his property of 600 odd acres at Morton Mams 'at fS 10s per acre.

On Frid-ay there was an exclusion by train from Waimea- Plains to Bluff, comprising <r rr, fl hundreds of children and adults. The v turning train left Bluff for Invercargill a few minutes after 5, and had not gone more th*n a mil© when a man named Mr Carthy fell from a carriage platform, struck the stone-built embankment (the railway line cuts across a small bay at the place), and rolled 1 into the water. The trair was stopped at Ocean Beach, szk* a telephone message sent to Bluff fo. someone t-., go along the line to the man's assistance. "When the party reached the place, the man wa3 found lying face down in the water, quite dead. Thas this man was under the influence of drink when he got or board the train at the Bluff v us admitted by two young men of the party, who saicT that thej were concerned for hia safety and! locked him in the carriage. The harassed railway officials* hare quite enough to do on occasions like thia when hundreds of irresponsible children have to be looked after without the additional anxiety of more 01 J-es-s intoxicated) adult' to think of, and it should be the ckar duty of any wno aie aware of cases of iangerous intoxication to report them to the stationmastei or 4 guard. Quite apart from the danger to themselves, they are frequently a great nuisance to their fellow passengrs. At a public meeting held in the Invercargill Council Chambers 011 Wednesday evening to consider tho matter of getting the next intercolonial band contest held in Invercargill, a strong committee was appointed, with the town, clerk, Mr Young, as treasurer, and Mi ,T v, Taylcr a= secrotarv. It is proposed to hold tii» contest in November, to invite the Australian, Tac-rnaiiian, and North Island bands to compete, and the New Zealand Brass Band Association to co-operate.

On Sunday last a young man nam^d Neil Paterson, a shepherd on Biroh-.vood station, was drowned in the Orawia Creek w'lile bathing. Deceased was a son of Mr Paterson, of Richmond Grove, Ea.st Inveicargill, and a brother of Mr Ewen Paterson, manager of Glencoe station, Balfoui. A death bj drowning also occurred ir> the Aparima during the week, a. young mar named TVn> Loredy, employed by Mr .Storey, Otautau, having been drowned in the river while bathing on Wed=aeE-d-ay evening. Another death, the cause >f which has not yet been definitely ascertained, was that of a lad named Roff, belonging to Clifton. He Went to bathe with some other youths, and after dressing had a. fight with anothei boy named Gardinei, during which both gave and received blows. Roff fell on receiving a blow on the chest, and died soon afterward, frothing at the mouth. An inquest was held, medical evidence taken, and a verdict arrived at that deceased horn shock, but there was not enough evidence to show what caused the shock

Orepuki has been suffering somewhat from a smallpox scale luring, the past week. An cng-me driver named Forbes, who caught a, chill after being over-heated, developed a issh, which was at fiist thought to oe the >lread<;<? rbsrase, but has since been declared by Drs Ewart and Gordon to br a very slight form oi exzema like chickenpox.

Mi J. A. Sheriff, of Messrs Briscoe and Co , Tnvercargill, has gained ? partial pas: as Associate of the Institute o[ Accountants oi New ZcT-lancl

Poru id >n of the Irvplopment of thf flarlrulkns; mdu^tiy in Southland may b" iormeU Lv a •ownarisor o£ tlit exiioi^s ioi. Ui« jeaa-s

1902 and 1903. In the former year the total ■was 6700 bales, andl lart loar 15,655, or more than douDle, and unless the expert is checked by the canture of the American market by some 'Other country, the output is likc.y to still further increase.

The membership of the Sawmill TVorkers' Union is increasing still. Last year it was 500 odd, now it is nearly 600, the receipt visit of the president and secretary to the Western d'lbirict having added about 60 to the roll. If they do as well proportionately in the rest of Scutnland, the roll should stand at pretty nearly 700 -when they have finished!. Miss Henrietta M'Kibbm, 8.A., of limaru, has been, appointed to the position of assistant mistress of the local Girls' High School.

Mo- R. Donnelly, the well-known railway guard), who now runs on the Seaward Bush line, was accorded a welcome home by the Waimahaka people on ihis leturn from his Hioneymoon last week, and presented with a lhandsorrse dinner set, two armchairs, and a Japanese whatnot, in tolsen of the very high esteem in which he is held by the residents of •the district, the travelling public and 'his fellow employees. The presentation was made by Mr A. S. Holms.

Other presentations during the week were m, handsome liqueur stand, presented by Southland cricketers to Mr C. G. Wilson, in recognition of his fine score of 117 (not Gut) in the match against Otago; andl a handsome gold ■watch and chain, presented to Mr James Crombie by residents of One Tree Poim, on the occasion of his leaving the district after many years' residence.

The meeting of oheesernakens arid dairy factory directors held at the Club Hotel last Monday evening, -was fairly well attended, but the cbcesemakexs were in a minority, as they were also at the cheese-grading exhibition et the Bluff during the day. Mr Singleton, the Government instiuctor, deplored their absence, «ncs especially the absence of those -whose eheeso did not grade high, and who might profit most by seeing their makes graded in along ■with better qualities. Thic remark led Mr Jiliauchlan, "Wyndham, to explain that m ■mall .factories .where do assistant was employed it was impossible for the cheesemaker to get away, and the best thing the "Dairy Department could do was to appoint a leiieving staff. A good part of the evening was- taken up ■with the question of avoiding defective flavours in th cheese, and especially the turnipy taint in autumn, cheese. A suggestion that the ■utumn milk should be made into butter in ■which -the taste is less pronounced than in cheese was quickly disposed of," as the cost of a "butter plant was not justified for so short a period of each year, and there was a pretty general igree-ment that the evil could be xemediedi to a great extent by giving tihe cows mixed food* instead or turning them loose on Hie turnips as at present. Ther, was a very general feeling that Southland chee3e is at present greatly discounted by careless handling on trains, coastal steamers, and wha-rf sheds, and it "was decided to endeavour to get the Government to tun through night trains for dairy produce, and to have the Union Co.'s boats tranship directly into the Honxe vessels inBtead of unloading into sheds. There was also a feeling that the instruction given to the joung men of the Dairy Department isn't sufficiently educative; that they are taught that if they do certain things certain results will follow ; but the why and wherefore is iiot -taught. The Liberal and Labour Association of 'Southland held a meeting on Saturday eventing, when the question of pieferential trade •was discussed. During the evening the rrr sident of the association, Mr P. O'Byrne, said that while on a recent tour -through the Western district he had secured 200 new members for -the asEOciation.