DRUMMOND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2666, 19 April 1905, Page 35

DRUMMOND.

April 12. — We have had an exceptionally fine harvest. Mans' finished harvesting from a fortnight to three weeks ago, although there are one or two late just finishing. The mills have been veiy busy for some weeks, but none of them will have a very long run this season. In many cases the yields are disappointing, but the grain is in splendid order. Mr John Ewan has threshed his linseed, which has yielded nine bags per acre.

Changes. — On account of a dissolution of partnership a clearing ' sale is advertia xl at Idadale on the 19th inst., when all the ptevk and implements, as also all the horses, v;i!l be put to the hammer excepting Garthland. Mr Donald Ewan retires, and will take a trip to the Old Country, while Mr John Ewan will carry on horse-breeding in conjunction with farming.

Obituary. — An old identity and one of the oldest settlers in this district, Mr John Leith, passed away at the age of 74. He was a carpenter by trade, and was a bachelor. — On the 4th inst. Mr Alex. M. Hardy was laud to rest at Calcium, with which district he had been associated for about 40 years. It was, I think, in 1882 that he first came to Southland with cattle for Mr W. A. Lyon, Is] a Bank, and thereafter took up land. Mr M'Hardy was a man so highly respe"cted and so much identified with all the interests of the district, to wh : ch he so readily and ungrudgingly gave his services, that a brief note is qute inadequate to give him even a semblance of justice. " Alick, or sometimes "' Sandy," as he was designated by h s old and familiar friends and acquaintances, was a man always actuated by the purest motives, the most personally disinterested and unse^sh it was conceivable for anyone to be. '" Others he served • himself he could not serve." So much so was that the case that from church matters dov/ii to all the minor local interests everything was so much passed on to his shoulders, and he so absolutely trustworthy and reliable, that without him to fall back upon all will feel in a maze for some time, and the previous order be changed. Mr M'Hardy had received a good education, was highly intelligent, with a well-balanced and cultivated mind, and his wide and careful reading accounted for the deep interest he took in modern speculative thought and scientific investigations and discovery. He evidently always nisde himseli familiar with every new phase and development in the literary world that arrested public attention. I almost omitted to mention that Mr M'Hardy had been an office-bearer in the Limestone Plains church almost from the feme the church originated, and an elder foi about the latter half of tie at lengthy period. Accident. — With deep regret I have to record an accident which a few days ago befell an estimable young man of the rising generation, Mr John M'Leish. Whale riding round a few sheep his horse slipped and fell heavily on out of his legs, breaking it twice between the knee and the ankle, and also shattering the ankle. He was attended to by Dr Green, and has since been removed to the Riverton Hospital, where he will get every care and attention, and ct is to be hoped he will make a speedy and complete recovery.