LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 20

LOCAL A. AND P. NEWS.

Rabbit trappers in the Rivcrton district complain that tho price offering— 4-^d per pair — i s inadequate, and many do not feel disposed to supply at that price. ' Copies of the following petition are bemg largely s'gned in the North Otago .district by farmers and othei-3 interested:— "Owing to the continued dispute of the Auctioneers' Association during the past 12 months we,, the undersign 3d, have agreed to join ourselves into a company to try to get over the difficulty and to bring the auctioneers together again, so that farmers and dealers may have the benefit of full market rates for their stock. To accomplish this we have agreed to join om selves into a limited liability company to erect saleyards at the south and north ends of the town, and we respectfully ask every person interested to take shares a.nd as^t in wtting the unfortunate trouble* ended" The relation has been circulated for throe clays, and there are already considerably over 100 signatures. It is confidei.tly anticipated that nearly the whole of tbe farmers and dealers in the district will append their names to the. re qU Mr" M. Tweedio informs the Western Star that he has just dug his Northern Star potatoes, and from lib of seed (2 potatoes* he had a yield of 1351b. The crop returned only about 61b of small potatoes, and was grown rather at a die-advantage, not being planted till late in the season. The Oamaru Mail of- the Bth inst. says : : — We were grieved to seei the local dairy factory wind up, because it was a local factory, but we are now gratified to note evident signs of prosperity in the concern which succeeded it. It is only some four month* since bhe Taieri and Peninsula -Company took over the affairs of the local industry, yet for that time the bocks show a nro/t of about £1.600 It ,» expected that, after paying dividends at the end of tho year's working, a bonus of somethino- like id per lb will be paid to supJSs for each pound of butter-fat rapphea tO A tl wSSt l tSd meeting of the committee of the Taieri Agricultural boe.cty was ; held at Mcsgiel an the 2nd met Mr A. John,on (president) in the chair. The Secretary of £ Auckland A. and P. Scoety wrote re the agricultural conference to be held in Wellington in July, and asking the Taieri society tc snnd the name of its dolega.e, together with particulars of any business the delegate would bring up. The President reported that he had communicated! with the Hon Thos Fergus, who is gomg to Wellinston to represent the Otago A. an# P Society at tho conference, and' Mr Fergus had kindly consented to act as the Taieri society's delegate. The presidents action was approved of, and it was agreed that Mr Fergus be asked tc support the following motions at tho conference: Compulsory sterilising of bones in the colony, and tree carriage of ground lime on the railways, and: to vcte against tho proposed reduction by tho Government of the size of cornsacks to 2001b.— A letter was received from the Otago A. and P. Society stating that the Taiori society's request for more working room in the county bay's hall would be granted.— The Otago society also forwarded a circiilar re the Brydone Memorial Fund, ,*latmEf that the sub-committee had now recommended that a building ba added to the present Agricultural Hall buildings in Crawford street, to be called "The Brydone Memorial Hall," and asking for subscriptions towards same. A numbeir of members in the roeni put their names down for subscriptions.— -A largo amount of detail work wae gone through in connection with the Taieri bay at the Dunedin winter show. From the amount of work that the committee is doing, it is evident that tho Taiem Agricultural Society intends making a strong effort to have its name engraved on tho shield as the winner for the year 1905 ; A meeting of the committee of the North Otago A., and P. Association was held at Oamaru on Wednesday last, Mr Milne (president) in the chair. Respecting, the sums collected for the Brydone. memorial, the Dunedin society wroto forwarding a resolution passed at its recent meeting to devote the funds collected ih the building of a hall, and asked for an expression of opinion from the Oamaru society. Mr Jamas Reid moved that the. Otago &c,riety be asked to refund the £10 10s subscribed by this society. He objected to the Dunedin society halls at -this society's exp&nse. Mr Gardiner said that it was a pity that the Dunedin cooiety could' net make a stronger effort to carry out its proposal to found a Brydone scholarship. He too was opposed to contributing to building halls in Dunedin. He would prefer to subscribe the money towards tho Oamaru Benevolent Home or a kindred institution in Oamaru. He understood that the Otago society intended to build the hall. He had contributed a small sum, and as he objected to the money being devoted to that purpose, his donation had been returned to him at his request. He aeco.iK.led tho motion, which was carried.— Mr Milne suggested that .as the Dunedin .society had given up the idea of founding a scholarship, the "North Otago society should take the matter up. After further discussion, it was decided that the matter be brought up again at next meeting. — Mr N. M. Orbell wrote giving his reasons for objecting to the society charging an extra epecial entry fee for champions The Chairman Ktid the amount received for champion fres last year was £12 17s 6d, while the prizes awarded amounted to £46 16s. Mr Douglas agreed with the writer, and moved that the society forego the special foe for championships and come into line with other societies in the matter. %lf r Gardner said that while llie< siibject of the letter was worthy of consideration, this was not tho time to discuss it. He moved, a* an amendment, that the subject be deferred unlii the programme was being considered Tho amendment was carried. — The elec:i">:i of officers was then proceeded with, wl.en Mr Piper was re-elected secretary upon the pa-n/j terms as last year. The me-mbeis' roll stood at 354-, and it was resolved thii tho secretary endeavour to obtain an incre&fe of members. The Chairman snid he rcticed that the Pahnerston North Society had a membership of 1200 members, an'J he did not see why this society eho.uJ n-t have a membership as large. The Secretary said there were 1700 farmers in ihis district. The various committees v.''>o elected, and it was resolved that in future meetings be held afc 1.30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month, but that the next iLOctiiH- ta'k& place at 11.30 owing xo

the programme coming up for consideration. - Mr Hedley was elected a life member. - A committee was appointed to consider what -alterations are neoossary in the programme. The travelling correspondent of the Taieri Advocate writes:— After a spell of very flue "wvalher winter has set in in earnest. Geiiortly sneaking, farmers are well forward wiih their work, having taken full advirta^o of the fine weather while it hstel Must of. the potatoes are now out of th* c-:'j'jiicl, anJ in most cases have turned out h Her than was expected. The proportion of Miiali potatoes, however, is much larger Hi an usual. This is no doubt due to the p ■''•ato di=easo having attacked the plant hofoie the tuber was full grown. There is a good demand, however, for the mediumsi'.ec potatoes from Oamaru. The farmjiß there itne at last recognised the ben eft* of a change of seed from the south. Owing tj iV picseiit low prices of grain, the area of ciop in the Taieri will be smaller then last year. Farmers who have hitherto gone in largely for grain-growing and dairying ar-3 now turning their attention to raiding i.-rni>=. There is always a keen demand for them, both for local use and also for export, The Oamaru Mail states that Mr T. Hedley (Kakanui) has been appointed a director of the Taieri and Peninsula Dairy Company, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr Stewart. Mr Hedley was, we understand, appointed by the directors. This will give representation to North Oia-go shareholders, who have now a considerable and increasing interest in the company. The- following obituary notice appears in the .Southern Standard of the 9th inst. : — An old resident of the Charlton district, in the r-erson of Mr Benjamin Smith, died on Tuesday after a .short illness. Mr Smith had not been in good health for some considerable time, but only took to his bed a fortnight before his death. Mr Smith came from the S-eaelifi district to Gore in 1883, and took up a farm on the Charlton near Croydon. He prospered, and added an adjoining farm and ono at Middlovale to his holding, his sons now working them. A widow, three sons, and two daughters are left to mourn hi%, death. Messrs Mcorhead and Watson, the Glasgow agents for the Dalefleld Dairy Factory (says the Southland Times), have written expressing their great satisfaction at the quality of the cheese which is being turned out by the Dalefield factory. Thore^ have been no complaints, and the "make" was a credit to the manager of the factory (Mr M. Dumbletcn), who will doubtless be pleased to learn how his efforts have bee-n aprreciated. The factory is one of the be^t cheese factories in the colony. It has an output of 350 tons, and is supplied by 63 dairymen, who milk 1500 cows. About 270 tons of the output are shipped Home, and the balance of 80 tons is sold locally. The factory distributes to its suppliers during the season about £16,000. During the past season Mr Dumbleion gave the cool curing of cheese a six weeks' trial, but the excess of moisture caused much trouble. Ifc is anticipated, however, that that difficulty can be got over, and further experiments will be made. Mr Dumbleton is well known in the Southland district, and his many friends will be interested to learn the satisfactory position the Dalefield factory now stands in. The following items are taken from last week's Winton Record : — Avondale Station, Nightcaps, formerly the property of Captain 'Raymond, of Bluff, and latterly of Messrs Rowley and Staunton, has been sold to a Canterbury buyer, who takes possession immediately. Northern buyers are rapidly acquiring a large part of Southland. — The turnip crop this year is a first-class one, and as most farmers are lightly stocked, the condition of sheep and cattle should be- well maintained. The heavy crop will prove no mean factor in keeping the price of sheep up, as most farmers will risk buying sh&ep even at a high level, rather than let their turnips go to waste.— Sheop have recovered considerably from the drop which took place last month* and are now selling at very satisfactory prices. A large number of intending buyers, however, seem to be holding back, possibly with the view of seeing what effect a good storm may have on the market, or of getting spring nearer at hand, before they launch ; out. — Th© lot of the- co-operative dairy milk suppliers at the present time does not appear to be too happy a one. The life at beat is laborious, and requires all the ] remuneration that can be got. Uncertainty of market and fluctuation in prices do not j always re&ult just as hoped for, and a slump i sometimes occurs. It is currently; understood that some of the co-operative factories, even at the present low average being allowed for butter fat, are scarcely I able to maintain the price to suppliers, who are being asked to forego a considerable percentage of their season's 1 drawings as a contribution to balance a depleted exchequer. The correspondent of the Southern Standard writes as follows concerning Heriot and surrounding districts : —After a fairly good harvest the weather was all that could be desired for the finishing and stacking of crops. They were got in safely and in excellent condition. No doubt there will be some really good bright samples sent from this district. I hear that th© returns are well up to expectations. Threshing is well forward. In a fortnight or so all would hava been finished nicely had the good weather continued, but on Friday the winter started with a heavy fall of snow, which is general both on the" high and low country. On the latter it has drifted considerably. If frosts set in, stock will siiffer severely. Now is the time we may expect continuous frosts. Polato-I'fting was got over in a general way before the change came. I hear of no signs of disease, and potatoes are of fair quality, although not over r-rolific. There were not large quantities planted — only sufficient for local .requirements. Turniping stock has commenced generally, especially those for fattening purpose I*.1 *. Stock look well, and do not require much to top them off for market. Ploughing is somewhat stopped owing to the change of weather. It was in full i twing on all the farms in our district. The land was in excellent; condition for it, and turning up admirably. Grass has stood out very well, and seemed to have a spring in it till the change in the weather came. The Glenorohy correspondent of the Southlpnd Times writes: — An operation wa? carried out at the first of the month which will not make for the improvement of the financial position of the district — i.e., tl'O shipping of 6000 sheep from Rees Valley Station by James Dunery to his Mavora ai.d Burvood runs. Two stoamcrs were oocui led from Saturday till Monday co-i levins: them a distance- ol 20 miles. All

late harvesting is done, the weather being all that could be desired for such work, and potato-digging is about over. So far 1 have heard, nothing of blight, but a few, planters have been disappointed in yields The fine, clear, frosty weather has enabled all the winter mustering to be done, arid just in time, for on the 4th June We had 2in of snow on the flats, and now. we are c\pecting winter properly.