THE COUNTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2664, 5 April 1905, Page 34

THE COUNTRY.

LAKE COUSTT.

April 1. — During the week we have had the somewhat broken weather which, as a rule, occurs about the middle o-f March. Frequent rain showers, occurring for the most part, duiing Ihe night, and strong gales have marked, the closing week. No harm has been clone to the- harvesting, for though the- farmers have open forced to cease work now and then, the ram has nob been sufficient to cause any dfimage. There has been ar. immeiice yie'd of fruit* in the district, and the only market for apples and so forth is* the pig trough. Theresult, financially, of the canning factory erected at Roxburgh, will be watched with interest by people m this district, for at present tons of fruit which could just as well be canjgetl goes to wasto every year. Through the Wee£ a. fair number of visitors have bsen here, though from now until Easter the traffic will be lighter. The Easter holidays usually mark the clos^j of the season, and things lie dorniantth rough the winter.

Sporting. — At Hawea. as everyone knows, deer aie plentiful, but I doubt if it is generally known that they are more plentiful there than ajvywhert in the colony, and the deerstalking is certainly the best. There are a large number of stalkers there at the present time — a. fact which malted thci residents at the other lake® regret that deer were not liberated all over the Lakes district at the same 'ime. At Hawea, they thrive splendidly, and in time will work over the ranges at the head of I/ake Wa-naka and Shctover River, and ultimately to the mountains at the head: of Lake "Wakatipn. Several consignments of deer have oome recently to Queenstown for liberation ?.t th.9 head of Lake Wakatipu, tho 'latest consignrei'ent being 9 Virginian, deer — 3 stags and 6 does. They resemble the fallow de&r, but are n-oi so large. These werft liberated at the Rees Valley. There have no<v been liberated: at different times red, fallow, and Virginian, deer, so that in a few years good shooting may be looked for. Another important step in providing sport will ba the liberating shortly of the Rainbow trout which the local Acclimatisation Society has been nursing in the Park pood. These have done remarkably well, and are now in fine condition aaid well grow;., large number should be liberated in the reaches of the Dart and Rees Rivers at the head ofthe lake. These rivers are secluded and good! rivers to fish, so that the j-oung trout would! doubtless thrive w*ll, and when plentiful would: be in waters likely to attract anglers. Further than this, as the deer are all liberated 111 that direction it would be convenient to find ono's field of srort somewhere in the one. locality. In after year* it is to bo hoped that fish and earns will be found in all tne accessible* places, but at present it would be well to stock one district at a tim-s. Inis country is eminently suited for moose, and I am "hopeful of seeing same of this game sent here for liberation. Nearly all the wild fowl of Canada and the States would timve well here. _ . , Bankruptcy Petition.— The New Zealand Hardware Company has presented a petition to have Mr Tyrrell adjudged a. bankrupt. The document avers, in .'hat coldl and unsympathetic language in use for sucb. o-csisions, that the debtor owes £170 odd, and! "nas departed from his dwelung house. Rumour hss it that the debts amoun. to some *1300 and the assets to nil. Mr Tyrrell le-ffc esven weeks ago for his projected marriage and kon-oymoon, and ha 3 not leturned, hence L nese vrooeedings. . , , gg a l es . a good attendance is anticipated at

It's good for the butcher, the baker, the brewer, , The carpenter, bricklayer, blaeicsmith, and shoer, . . The mistress, the servant, the maiden, demure, . . The toiler, the clerk, the disconsolate wooer; , , It's good for the wealthy; us good for the poor ; r , Of the system cold-stricken a perfect rencw-er — . . T When tho air of Now Zealand is cold and

It^mVailiblc— Woods' Gixe\c Pepi'LEUins C'UKS-

ihe Head of the Lake on Wednesday on the .occasion of C. E. E. Waller's cheep sale. A large number of sheep will bs sold by Messrs "Wright, Stephenson and Co., and the fact that a. steamer from Queenstown has been timed to run foT the sale should add largely to the attendance. In QueeHstown, during the week Mr M'GudgPon held a- small sale of furniture in an old standing estate — a Chinaman's; — but as it was a matter of common knowledge that ihe goods had been lying unused for a number •of years, the auctioneer had a difficulty to contend against. On the whole, however, the . ?^ile was satisfactory. Several Otago School Board leases -will be offered shortly by Messrs Cotter Bros, at Arrowtown. Mining. — Sluicing in the Upper Shotover has "been somewhat at a standstill of late, Gyring to scarcity of water. Almost all the claims are suffering from the same want, and at the quartz mine at Bullendale I believe scarcity cf water prevents much crushing-. However, in a quartz mine one may always go on getting out the stone.