LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

Otago Witness, Volume 14, Issue 2648, 14 December 1904, Page 20

LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

A Waitahuna West correspondent writes. ' ' A violent thunderstorm passed over tho district on Friday afternoon, accompanied by heavy rain and hail; the thunder was the loudest ever heard in the district by the oldest settlors. It fairly shook the ground. The lightning was exceptional^ vivid, resembling fireballs bursting. Stoc/v of all kinds, and especially young horses, rushed -about wildly with fear, seeking shelter. The centre of the- storm appears to have passed over the property of Messrs W. and J. Cameron, wKo had two ewes and a lamb killed by th© lightning, the ground being torn up and wool carried for a considerable distance along th© course taken by the electrical current. Shearing operations were in full swing at the time, but MtJssrj Cameron very wisely stopped work on the approach of th© storm, and had the sheep cleared from the yards for shelter, us a storm of the kind has xisually a very severo effect on newly-shorn sheep. The weath.tr continues very unsettled."

The Oamaru Mail of the 10th inst. reports that the lato rain appeared to be pretty general throughout the district, and will freshen up the crops materially. Fortunately the hail experienced locally was but the fringe of a storm further inland, none having fallen in the country districts.

The monthy meeting of the North Otago A. and P. Association was held on Wed-

I nesday last. There was a good attendance, 1 and Mr James Reid (president) oeoupied | th© chair. The Chairman said that the I last show had been very successful, and the balance sheet showed a credit balance of £166 odd, which, he contended, was very creditable, even without the implements. He expressed the opinion that ife was the beet and most ably conducted held! anywhere in th© colony, a fact whioh had? been expressed by a large number of visitors, and also by several newspapers It afforded him great pleasure to welcomo back an esteemed member of the committee, Mr Thomas Little. Mr Little, wfio was greeted with applaus©, returned thanks for the hearty welcome accorded to him' He thought that the Oamaru show was aa well conducted as any in the world. While m the Old Country he attended severalshows, and he thought Oamaru had nothing to learn as far as conducting these was concerned. — Reference was mad© by Mr W Gardiner to th© excellent exhibition of buck-jumping given by Mr J. Carter o* the second day of the recent show He moved— "That Mr Carter be voted £2 2s» extra in recognition of th© exhibition he. had given after winning his prize." j.h& motion was seconded by Mr Douo-las and! earned.-Mr D. Borne moved— "That the association subscribe the sum of £10 10s to the fund for a scholarship to th© Lincoln Agricultural College, to commemorate the services of the late Thomas Brydone to * agriculture m the colony." The resolution | was seconded by Mr Milne and carried unanimously. The Secretary stated that a subscription list for the fund'- oould be found at his office, and he would be glad! to receive subscriptions.— Mr E. Piper read? the rough balarce sheet of the receipts and expenditure in connection with the show. lhis showed, that entry feeVand rent for space amounted to £259;' gate on th© fbsfc day, £63; second day, £218; catalogues, hih; stands, £11; guessing competition, ±.7; privileges, £87; private prizes, £39; members subscriptions, £330; Caledonian Society's rent, £42; making a total of receipts of £1085, as against £919 last year.On th© expenditure side, £469 was spent in, prizes ; salaries and commissions, " £101 • labour, £54; judges' expenses, £30- interest, £40; band, £20; private prizes, 2™J ep^' s to ground, £20; sundries, ±.146 16s 6d; leaving an estimated credit balano© of £166.— Mr H. F. Gibson was appointed auditor.

The Winton Record of the 9th inst reports:—A meeting of the shareholders of the newly-formed Thornbury Dairy Co was held at Thornbury last week. Mr John Wohlers was in the chair, and some 30 shareholders were present; while by request, Mr H. N. Bell, of Messrs Murray and! Co., also attended, and answered r number of questions. The Chairman sLated he was pleased to be able to report that; arrangements had been made with Messrs Murray and Co. to work under their cooperative basis. The arrangement made ■ would net suppliers (assuming the milk supply, was up to expectations), about Bdl for the butter fat, with skim milk back. It is anticipated that factory, which will b© erected on a site offered by Mr W. • Saunders, will open in about three weeks' time.

A competitor in the dairy produce section, ■ of an A. and P. show held this season , withm a hundred miles of Wyndham (says ' the Farmer),, was hoist with her own petard m a most unusual way. The judge, it 6« happened, ia a gentleman well known m " the trade, and when the time arrived for awarding the honours in the class for home-'-made loaf, imagine his surprise when, . among the exhibits, h© recognised one of c his own make of loaves, duly stamped with*,' his trade initials ! He promptly disqualified the exhibit. Going further around the • table, his eye caught another exhibit which, he detected as also being baker-made-, and! an appeal to the steward revealed that if; had been entered in the name of the same person as put in the loaf that was not home-made. Needless to say, this exhibit was also put under the ban. It is satisfactory to know that the exposure of such unfair tactics was so complete. The monthly meeting of the committee of the Tokomairiro Farmers' Club was held! at Milton on Thursday last, Mr J. Grey (president), in th© chair. Accounts in connection with the late show, amounting to £44- 8s- Sd, were passed tor payment. A slight discussion took place on the question of awarding prize-money for the buckjumping contest, and it was decided te award £1 10s to Sell, who gave the best; exhibition of riding, and 10s each to the other competitors. The secretary was authorised to pay all prize moneys in connection with the recent show. A vote of thanks was passed to Mr J. S. Rutherford, Albury, Canterbury, for granting the loan of an animal for the buck-jumping contest.

Writing on the 6th inst., the Wendott correspondent of the Mataura Ensign supplies the following items: — Th© weather for the past week or two has been fine and! warm, and a good fall of rain from Saturday to Tuesday morning has helped th© grass a great deal. It has again turned warm and should do the crops a great: amount of good. — Th© settlers in this district have held several meetings concerning the erection of a public sheep dip, and! it was eventually decided that work be gone on with. As it will be in a central place, the dip will be a great boon to the district, for some of the settlers have had <!b go five and six miles to dip their sheep, and not a very good dip either.— Most of the turnips have been sown, as the ground has been in splendid order for working. If we get some warm weather things will be looking better by Christmas than they are at present, the orops her© being farther behind than the oldest settlers can remember.